Business ethics can often be squeezed out of the core curriculum because it is not fully represented in the curriculum development process.

Curriculum committees are concerned with maintaining efficiency and effectiveness in designing course offerings. Including an elective course in business ethics and/or business and society does require a tradeoff, as it is simply added to a menu of options for students. However, adding such courses as a requirement might often comes at the expense of another course, especially when programs must remain competitive in the length of programs. Because most business faculties are largely focused on traditional business disciplines, business ethics—with few faculty representatives—is more likely to be squeezed out.

This obstacle might be overcome with bold leadership from the dean and advisory councils. Other solutions might include providing more business ethics content in business law courses. Another approach is to integrate business ethics into a variety of courses dealing with topics such as entrepreneurship, human resource management, organizational behavior, and leadership. Of course, this approach will require much diligence to ensure consistent coverage over time.