With cutting-edge insights from leading European and North American scholars, this authoritative book addresses the fundamental problems of business in an age of crisis whilst presenting radical, but practical, solutions.

The contributors explore three main value shifts: from inequality to equality, from the technical-materialistic to the ecological-spiritual, and from compliance and enforcement to autonomy and responsibility. A number of striking issues are addressed including the doctrine of self-interest, the purpose of business, codes of conduct, personal responsibility, existential perspectives on business ethics and the development of ethical competence.

This book will be an essential point of reference for academic researchers and postgraduate students in business ethics and corporate social responsibility, as well as practitioners interested in the relevance of business ethics to leadership, management, strategy and finance.

Critical Acclaim

‘Bringing together business and the greater good is not a piece of cake. In Knut J. Ims‘ and Lars Jacob Tynes Pedersen’s book, internationally known scholars from both sides of the Atlantic develop deep reflections on the relationship between business and society. The authors show conflicts between business and the greater good and also demonstrate how business can be transformed, in order to align the goals of business and society. This is not only a book about the future of business ethics, it is a book about the future of business in general.’
– Thomas Beschorner, University of St.Gallen, Switzerland

‘Business and the Greater Good does what it promises: rethinking business ethics in a competent, inspired and committed way. Its in depth analysis of the current failures of business and business ethics, while at the same time opening unexpected windows for the future, is its hallmark. . . Reading this book has convinced me that business ethics is entering a new phase of pioneering research and practice.''
– Luk Bouckaert, KU Leuven University, Belgium

Contributors

Contributors: G.G. Brenkert, J. Brinkmann, W. Cragg, G. Enderle, K.J. Ims, K. Jackson, O. Jakobsen, J.M. Lozano, E. O’Higgins, P. Pruzan, D.H. Schepers, S.P. Sethi, A. Tencati, L.J. Tynes Pedersen, L. Zsolnai

Contents

Contents:

Introduction

1. Rethinking Business Ethics in an Age of Crisis
Knut J. Ims and Lars Jacob Tynes Pedersen

PART I: FROM INEQUALITY TO EQUALITY
2. The Business of Inequality
George Brenkert

3. The Profit Maximization Mantra and the Challenge of Regaining Trust, Humanity and Purpose in an Age of Crisis
Wesley Cragg

4. Business and the Greater Good as a Combination of Private and Public Wealth
Georges Enderle

5. The Tortoise and the Hare: Alternative Approaches to Capitalism
Eleanor O’Higgins

PART II: FROM THE TECHNICAL-MATERIALISTIC TO THE ECOLOGICAL-SPIRITUAL
6. Materialistic versus Non-materialistic Value-orientation in Management
Laszlo Zsolnai

7. The Source of Ethical Competency: Eastern Perspectives Provided by a Westerner
Peter Pruzan

8. Aesthetics, Human Rights and Economic Life: Temporal Perspectives
Kevin T. Jackson

9. Ecological Economics: A New Paradigm Ahead
Ove Jakobsen

PART III: FROM COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT TO AUTONOMY AND RESPONSIBILITY
10. Personal Responsibility for the Greater Good
Knut J. Ims and Lars Jacob Tynes Pedersen

11. Developing a Framework for Critiquing Multi-stakeholder Codes of Conduct
S. Prakash Sethi and Donald H. Schepers

12. Socratic Dialogue – Designed in the Nelson–Heckmann Tradition: A Tool for Reducing the Theory–Practice Divide in Business Ethics
Johannes Brinkmann

13. The Future of Business Ethics: A Structured Dialogue between the Participants
Knut J. Ims and Lars Jacob Tynes Pedersen

Index