Why is Business Talking about Ethics?: Reflections on Foreign Conversations

Drucker Peter , “What is Business Ethics?” The Public Interest, 63 (Spring 1981).

See Cicero , De Officiis, Bk. III, 54.

For more information on the history of business ethics, see Ciulla Joanne , “Casuistry and the Case for Business Ethics,” in Donaldson Tom , ed., Business Ethics and the Humanities, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, forthcoming 1991).

Hirschman Albert O. , The Passions and the Interests (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977); also see Vogel David , “The Ethical Roots of Business Ethics,” Business Ethics Quarterly (January 1991).

Najita Tetsuo , Visions of Virtue in Tokugawa Japan (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1987).

Some of my most fruitful conversations took place at a Ditchley Foundation Conference called “Maintaining Cultural and Ethical Values in a Free Market.” Unfortunately, the proceedings of Ditchley conferences are not for attribution. Portions of this paper were delivered at the following Universities: St. Gallen Univesity Nijenrode Business School, Instituto De Estudios Superiores De Administracion, St. Johns College (Cambridge University), Green College (Oxford University), and The Stockholm School of Economics. I am grateful for the comments of those in attendance.

A far more detailed account of the teaching of business ethics is Mahoney Jack , Teaching Business Ethics in the U.K., Europe and the U.S. (London: The Athlone Press, 1990).

Here I am working from the assumption that the meaning of a term emerges from the way in which people use it. While all people may not have the same definition of this term, their understanding of the term resembles in some way the understanding that other people have of the term. For complete explanation of this theory of meaning, see Wittgenstein Ludwig , Philosophical Investications, translated by Anscomb G.E.M. , (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1968).

This world view was particularly strong during the Victorian era and was expressed by British writers such as Ruskin Dickens Carlyle . In the U.S., the Progressives shared these same fears. For the most part their worries were justified. Child labor laws, zoning restrictions, liability laws, health and safety regulations, and anti-trust laws were enacted in both countries to moderate the seamy side of capitalism.

Handy Charles , The Age of Unreason (London: Hutchenson, 1989), p. 71.

Mahoney Jack , “The Role of Business in Society,” Gresham College Public Lecture, April 19, 1989.

“Capitalism's Visible Hand,” The Economist, May 19, 1990, p. 11.

Uchitelle Louis , “Surplus of College Graduates Dims Job Outlook for Others,” New York Times, June 18, 1990, p. 1.

For example, according to Aristotle, the goal of a liberal arts education is to teach people how to live in a free society. In particular, Aristotle believed education gave people the ability to enjoy their leisure (skolé), which does not mean rest or recreation, but rather spending time doing something that is worthwhile and valuable for its own sake, not for the sake of some external or instrumental good. See Aristotle, Politics, Bk. VIII, Ch. 14.

Ferguson Adam , An Essay on the History of Civil Society (Philadelphia, PA: Wm. Fry, 1819), p. 32.

Abbs Peter , “Victorian Values v. Tabloid Glitz,” The Sunday Observer, October 15, 1989.

Skapinker Michael , “Clarifying the Ground Rules,” Financial Times, July 22, 1988.

Webley Simon , Company Philosophies and Codes of Business Ethics (London: The Institute for Business Ethics, 1988).

Langlois Catherine Schlegelmilch Bodo , “Do Corporate Codes of Ethics Reflect National Character?: Evidence from Europe and the U.S.,” Journal of International Business Studies, 4 (1990).

Melrose-Woodman J. Kvernda I. , “Towards Social Responsibility: Company Codes of Ethics and Practice,” British Institute of Management Survey Reports, 28 (1976).

For example, in Germany a large part of the public discussion about business ethics centers on environmental issues.

Gutmann Amy , Democratic Education (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987), p. 61.

Wolfe Alan , Whose Keeper? (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1989), p. 20.

Ibid., p. 2.

Unnia Mario , “Business Ethics in Italy: The State of the Art,” unpublished remarks delivered at the Society of Business Ethics, Washington, D.C., August 11, 1989.

Also see Hobsbawn E.J. , Nations and Nationalism Since 1780 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).

See Barzini Luigi , The Italians (New York, NY: Atheneum, 1964), ch. 11.

Banfield Edward C. , The Moral Basis of a Backward Society (New York, NY: Free Press, 1958), p. 10.

Arlacchi P. Forte D. Martinelli A. Unnia M. , “Tecnostruttura, Lobbystruttura, Mafiostruttura,” unpublished paper from Prospecta, Milano, June 1986.

Hatchoji T. Nishikawa T. Ohinata Y. Ichihari G. Takahashi S. , Future Stage of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Era of Overseas Production (Tokyo: Hitachi Research Institute, 1988), p. 1.

Ibid., p. 2.

For a more complete description of morality within a national domain, see Benedict Ruth , The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1946).

The quotes are from a participant in a management seminar that I taught at The Oxford School of Tropical Forestry, Oxford, September 26, 1989.

Ciulla Joanne B. , “A Report on Integrating Ethics into Professional Education at Pontificia Universidad Madre y Maestra,” unpublished 1988.

Perdomo Rogelio Pérez , “Corruption and Business in Present Day Venezuela,” Journal of Business Ethics, 9 (1990). Also see Perdomo Rogelio Pérez Capriles Ruth , eds., Corrupción y Control (Caracas: Ediciones IESA, 1991).

Ibid., p. 560.

See De Soto Hernando , The Other Path, translated by Abbott June (New York: Harper & Row, 1989).

Perdomo , op. cit., p. 561.

The Diccionario de la Corrupción is edited by Capriles Ruth . Volume I was published in 1990, volume II in 1991, and volume III will be published in late 1991 (Caracas: Capriles Publishing).

See Polanyi Karl , The Great Transformation (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1944).