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Zynga CEO Mark Pyncus, scolds new HBS dean on ethics (2006)

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Re: Zynga CEO Mark Pyncus, scolds new HBS dean on ethics (2006)

#11

Post by randomguy123 »

I never understood the pursuit of ethics by all business schools. I mean business schools select and reward people with questionable ethical practices. They should at least stop putting up all this hypocrisy at least. I mean Harvard considered Jeff Skilling as the best student ever until he came out as a complete sham.

At least everyone in oil industry and academia has guts to speak out against climate change and to deny it. in similar fashion i expect HBS and others to show how unethical behavior is good for human kind. A la The Selfish Gene or something.

Re: Zynga CEO Mark Pyncus, scolds new HBS dean on ethics (2006)

#13

Post by teej »

twir wrote: post #7

An ethics lecture from a man whose company sells spyware (Zwinky toolbar) and highly profitable add-ons to games under the pretext of charity (Farmville "donations" to Haiti)? EDIT: oh, and whose company essentially ripped off the idea of Farmville from someone else. Forgot about that one.

>> An ethics lecture from a man whose company

This was written a year before Zynga was formed. I still think he's hypocritical, but let's be clear about the context.

>> sells spyware (Zwinky toolbar)

I have no idea where you got this idea from. Zynga does not make Zwinky, Mindspark Interactive Network does.

>> highly profitable add-ons to games under the pretext of charity (Farmville "donations" to Haiti)?

A 50% charity split isn't shabby. Sure, Zynga should have given 100%, but there are higher profile initiatives with MUCH lower splits. Product (red) is a great example where buying a $150 iPod nets a whopping $10 for The Global Fund.

--------------------------

Disclosure: Current Zynga employee.

Re: Zynga CEO Mark Pyncus, scolds new HBS dean on ethics (2006)

#14

Post by blehn »

twir wrote: post #7

An ethics lecture from a man whose company sells spyware (Zwinky toolbar) and highly profitable add-ons to games under the pretext of charity (Farmville "donations" to Haiti)? EDIT: oh, and whose company essentially ripped off the idea of Farmville from someone else. Forgot about that one.

And isn't he the one who said, "I don't fucking want innovation. You're not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers."

Not that innovative companies are inherently ethical, but I'd say using your market clout to squash competitors while blatantly stealing from them is at least ethically questionable.

Re: Zynga CEO Mark Pyncus, scolds new HBS dean on ethics (2006)

#16

Post by fleitz »

blehn wrote: post #14
twir wrote: post #7

An ethics lecture from a man whose company sells spyware (Zwinky toolbar) and highly profitable add-ons to games under the pretext of charity (Farmville "donations" to Haiti)? EDIT: oh, and whose company essentially ripped off the idea of Farmville from someone else. Forgot about that one.

And isn't he the one who said, "I don't fucking want innovation. You're not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers." Not that innovative companies are inherently ethical, but I'd say using your market clout to squash competitors while blatantly stealing from them is at least ethically questionable.

Copying is not stealing, at best it's IP infringement. For further clarity consider Thomas Jefferson: "That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them, like fire, expansible over all space, without lessening their density in any point, and like the air in which we breathe, move, and have our physical being, incapable of confinement or exclusive appropriation. Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property."

Re: Zynga CEO Mark Pyncus, scolds new HBS dean on ethics (2006)

#17

Post by alphaoverlord »

abyssknight wrote: post #3

I tried to read this, really I did, but the lack of capitalization makes me want to die a swift death. You're writing to the Harvard Business School. Man up and use the shift key already.

well, he was able to capitalize HBS, which obviously is much more important.

rather a lack of ability, perhaps this indicates a lack of regard.

Re: Zynga CEO Mark Pyncus, scolds new HBS dean on ethics (2006)

#18

Post by rbanffy »

fleitz wrote: post #16
blehn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And isn't he the one who said, "I don't fucking want innovation. You're not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers." Not that innovative companies are inherently ethical, but I'd say using your market clout to squash competitors while blatantly stealing from them is at least ethically questionable.

Copying is not stealing, at best it's IP infringement. For further clarity consider Thomas Jefferson: "That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them, like fire, expansible over all space, without lessening their density in any point,…

> Copying is not stealing

But it does nothing to, as Jefferson would certainly point out, improve the human condition, to simply copy what someone else did and crush that someone else with your market dominance.

This is just plain evil.

Demonstrating, BTW, his own point - he too became an hypocrite that's capable of doing anything immoral in order to make more money, much like the HBS alumni he was criticizing.

Re: Zynga CEO Mark Pyncus, scolds new HBS dean on ethics (2006)

#20

Post by bl4k »

teej wrote: post #13
twir wrote: post #7

An ethics lecture from a man whose company sells spyware (Zwinky toolbar) and highly profitable add-ons to games under the pretext of charity (Farmville "donations" to Haiti)? EDIT: oh, and whose company essentially ripped off the idea of Farmville from someone else. Forgot about that one.

>> An ethics lecture from a man whose company This was written a year before Zynga was formed. I still think he's hypocritical, but let's be clear about the context. >> sells spyware (Zwinky toolbar) I have no idea where you got this idea from. Zynga does not make Zwinky, Mindspark Interactive Network does. >> highly profitable add-ons to games under the pretext of charity (Farmville "donations" to Haiti)? A 50% char…

> Zynga does not make Zwinky, Mindspark Interactive Network does.

But they need distribution, and they got that through Pincus - See: "I did every horrible thing in the book just to get revenues" : http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/06/zynga-scamville-mark-pinkus...

> Product (red) is a great example where buying a $150 iPod nets a whopping $10 for The Global Fund.

You really can not compare the two. The BOM and cost of production on an iPod is probably $120. The incremental cost of a Farmville credit is thousands of a cent.

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