Here’s a capstone ethics module for Oud Academia / CI-ASASE, focusing on ethical dilemmas in high-value commodities with a special focus on agarwood. It builds on your previous modules and integrates principles of stewardship, fairness, and sustainability.
Course Module
Institution: Oud Academia
Under: Crown Institute for Agarwood Science, Art, and Sustainable Enterprise (CI-ASASE)
Module Code: OA-ETH-504
Level: Advanced / Capstone
Discipline: Ethics · Business Ethics · Cultural Heritage · Sustainable Trade
Module Overview
High-value commodities such as agarwood, gold, and rare spices often create complex ethical landscapes. Market pressures, cultural significance, and ecological vulnerability intersect, producing dilemmas that test fairness, honesty, stewardship, and trust.
This module examines real-world scenarios in which stakeholders—from harvesters and artisans to traders and luxury brands—must navigate competing values, legal frameworks, and moral imperatives.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this module, participants will be able to:
- Identify key ethical dilemmas in the trade of high-value commodities
- Analyze the competing interests of stakeholders (community, market, environment)
- Apply ethical frameworks to propose solutions that balance profit, culture, and ecology
- Design decision-making protocols for responsible trade and ritual practice
Unit Structure & Content
Unit 1: Nature of Ethical Dilemmas in Valuable Goods
Key Features:
- Conflict between profit motives and cultural/ecological responsibilities
- High risk of overexploitation, fraud, or inequity
- Challenges in enforcing ethics across international markets
Learning Activity:
- Case discussion: Compare agarwood, gold, and saffron in terms of ethical pressures
Unit 2: Stakeholder Conflicts
Primary Stakeholders:
- Local harvesters and forest communities
- Artisans and perfumers
- National regulators and international trade bodies
- Luxury consumers and brands
Potential Conflicts:
- Short-term profit vs. long-term sustainability
- Cultural access vs. global commercialization
- Transparency vs. competitive advantage
Learning Activity:
- Stakeholder mapping: Identify areas of ethical tension
Unit 3: Common Dilemmas in Agarwood
Examples:
- Selling ritual-grade oud into commercial markets
- Mislabeling or blending grades for profit
- Export pressures leading to illegal harvesting
- Cultural commodification without benefit-sharing
Learning Activity:
- Roleplay: Negotiating a solution to a high-value, high-pressure trading scenario
Unit 4: Ethical Frameworks for Decision-Making
Applied Theories:
- Virtue Ethics: Acting with fairness, honesty, and integrity
- Consequentialism: Weighing outcomes for communities, environment, and markets
- Deontological Ethics: Upholding sacred and legal obligations regardless of profit
- Stakeholder Ethics: Balancing multiple competing interests
Learning Activity:
- Ethical decision matrix: Apply frameworks to simulated dilemmas
Unit 5: Tools for Ethical Trade
Practical Strategies:
- Traceability and certification (CITES, blockchain)
- Community benefit-sharing agreements
- Cultural grading vs. commercial grading alignment
- Audits and transparency protocols
Learning Activity:
- Design a supply chain protocol that anticipates and mitigates ethical conflicts
Unit 6: Reflection and Integration
Critical Questions:
- When profit conflicts with cultural and ecological responsibility, how should stakeholders respond?
- Can ethical practices provide a competitive advantage in high-value markets?
- How do traditional harvesting ethics inform modern commercial decisions?
Learning Activity:
- Reflection essay: “Navigating Ethical Dilemmas in Agarwood Trade”
Learning Outcomes
Participants will be able to:
- Recognize and categorize ethical dilemmas in high-value commodity systems
- Evaluate trade-offs between profit, cultural integrity, and ecological stewardship
- Apply structured ethical reasoning to practical trade scenarios
- Implement policies and protocols that promote fairness, honesty, trust, and sustainability
Module Significance for Oud Academia / CI-ASASE
- Strengthens critical thinking for ethical leadership in high-value commodity markets
- Integrates all prior ethics modules (fairness, stewardship, greed, exploitation) into applied scenarios
- Prepares students and professionals to make principled decisions under market pressure
- Enhances credibility in both commercial and cultural spheres of agarwood
Suggested Next Steps / Extensions
- Combine with practicum: simulated trading scenarios
- Develop interdisciplinary case studies with law, ecology, and anthropology
- Integrate into comprehensive “Ethics & Heritage of Agarwood” certificate
If you want, I can now assemble all your ethics modules—from fairness, stewardship, exploitation, greed, commodification, to high-value dilemmas—into a full CI-ASASE “Ethics & Heritage of Agarwood” flagship curriculum with learning sequence, assessments, and certification framework.
Do you want me to do that next?