Business Ethics and Efficiency

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham A. Singer
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Corporate Law ◽  
Competitive Market ◽  
Moral Principle ◽  
Social Cooperation ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Ethical Duty ◽  
Starting Point

This and the next chapter articulate a theory of business ethics that fits with how the book has approached corporate governance and corporate law. It takes the “market failures approach” (MFA) to business ethics as a starting point, a view that takes efficiency to be the primary moral principle for business. The MFA holds that businesses have an ethical duty not to exploit “market failures,” the inefficiencies and misallocations systematically and predictably effected by markets. This view is strong because it provides a robust account of business’s ethical duties within the framework of contemporary economic theory; business ethics is neither a wet blanket draped over the C-suite nor a self-serving rationalization of business’s self-interested activities. Instead, business ethics is shown to fit within a larger scheme of social cooperation, taking seriously businesses’ place within that scheme, particularly within a competitive market characterized by deontic weakening.

On Social Psychology, Business Ethics, and Corporate Governance

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 725-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy L. Fort
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Corporate Law ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ethical Business ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Large Corporations ◽  
Business Behavior

Abstract:This paper is a response to a recent colloquy among Professors David Messick, Donna Wold, and Edwin Harman. I defend Messick’s naturalist methodology, which suggests that people inherently categorize others and act altruistically toward certain people in a given person’s in-group. This paper suggests that an anthropological reason for this grouping tendency is a limited human neural ability to process large numbers of relationships. But because human beings also have the ability to modify, to some extent, their nature, corporate law can organize small mediating institutions within large corporations in order to take ethical advantage of this grouping tendency. Within a corporate law taking seriously a mediating institution’s formulation of business communities, a virtue ethics approach can be integrated with a naturalist approach in a way that fosters ethical business behavior while mitigating the dangers of ingrouping tendencies.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham A. Singer
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Chicago School ◽  
Corporate Law ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Immanent Critique ◽  
Methodological Reflection ◽  
Normative Account

The conclusion reviews the arguments that have been offered throughout the book. This book started with some basic presuppositions that represent the underlying normative commitments of the liberal democratic market societies we find ourselves in. This chapters reviews the critique offered of the Chicago School of economics, the normative account of corporate productivity, as well as the prescriptions offered for corporate law, corporate governance, and business ethics, that were offered in light of these presuppositions. Graphical representations are offered for each of the theories reviewed. The chapter concludes with a methodological reflection on the nature of immanent critique and the role of idealizing assumptions in political theory.

Where MLM Intersects MFA: Morally Suspect Goods and the Grounds for Regulatory Action

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-161
Author(s):  
Jeff Frooman
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Regulatory Action ◽  
Pareto Optimal ◽  
Pareto Optimal Solutions ◽  
Optimal Solutions ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Market Failures Approach

The market failures approach (MFA) to business ethics argues that economic theory regarding the efficient workings of a market can generate normative prescriptions for managerial behaviour. It argues that actions that inhibit Pareto optimal solutions are immoral. However, the approach fails to identify goods that should be regulated or prohibited from the market, something common to the moral limits to markets (MLM) approach to business ethics. There are, however, numerous assumptions underlying Paretian efficiency, including some about the preferences of market participants. Trade in some goods violates some of these assumptions, and so these goods are morally suspect and can be understood to indicate that the market for these goods is not moral. This creates grounds sufficient for regulating, and possibly prohibiting, these goods. To help determine whether it is then necessary to regulate the goods, I propose a supplementary economic analysis to ascertain why an assumption regarding a particular preference is being violated.

Corporate governance and business ethics: Evidence from a sample of Algerian corporations

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-29
Author(s):  
Nour El Houda Yahiaoui ◽  
Abdelmadjid Ezzine
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Structural Equations ◽  
Path Modeling ◽  
Senior Managers ◽  
Corporate Scandals ◽  
Governance Systems ◽  
Sustainable Value ◽  
Governance Practices

Corporate governance systems are developed to govern corporations, build trust and create sustainable value for all stakeholders. Paradoxically, in spite of massive efforts in developing governance systems, corporate scandals are persisting. Different studies have strongly recommended business ethics as a solution to this paradox. Thus, this study explores if business ethics supports corporate governance practices in a sample of Algerian corporations. The study used a mixed methodology; qualitative: since this subject is poorly addressed in the Algerian context that requires an exploratory study. Quantitative by developing a structural model demonstrating the relationship between business ethics and corporate governance, Data for the study were collected by means of a questionnaire distributed on an anonymous basis to corporations’ senior managers in Sidi Bel Abbes district. Treatment of collected data is done using two types of analysis: the structural equations modeling approach by using the PLS Path approach (PLS Path Modeling) and linear regression. The study finds out that business ethics leads to better levels of corporate governance and supports its practices; and the reason is mainly due to an implicit involuntary commitment to laws as a minimum required level of compliance, and that the protection of stakeholders’ rights are the most important corporate governance’s dimension affected by business ethics.

scholarly journals Between Market Failures and Justice Failures: Trade-Offs Between Efficiency and Equality in Business Ethics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlie Blunden
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Private Firms ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Efficiency Losses ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Hybrid Theory ◽  
Market Failures Approach ◽  
Ethical Obligations

AbstractThe Market Failures Approach (MFA) is one of the leading theories in contemporary business ethics. It generates a list of ethical obligations for the managers of private firms that states that they should not create or exploit market failures because doing so reduces the efficiency of the economy. Recently the MFA has been criticised by Abraham Singer on the basis that it unjustifiably does not assign private managers obligations based on egalitarian values. Singer proposes an extension to the MFA, the Justice Failures Approach (JFA), in which managers have duties to alleviate political, social, and distributive inequalities in addition to having obligations to not exploit market failures. In this paper I describe the MFA and JFA and situate them relative to each other. I then highlight a threefold distinction between different types of obligations that can be given to private managers in order to argue that a hybrid theory of business ethics, which I call the MFA + , can be generated by arguing that managers have obligations based on efficiency and duties based on equality to the extent that these latter obligations do not lead to efficiency losses. This argument suggests a novel theoretical option in business ethics, elucidates the issues that are at stake between the MFA and the JFA, and clarifies the costs and benefits of each theory.

The effect of the adoption of an alternative corporate governance system on firms’ performances

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 517-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Bellavite Pellegrini ◽  
Bruno S. Sergi ◽  
Emiliano Sironi
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Propensity Score ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Corporate Law ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Alternative System ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Board System

Purpose – Alternative corporate governance systems (CGSs) have attracted a significant bulk of research recently. While the connection between the adoption of an alternative system (one tier board or two tier board system) and firms’ performances has not been fully analysed yet, the purpose of this paper is to analyse whether companies which have turned into an alternative board system have eventually improved their performance over time. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of more than 15,000 Italian unlisted joint stock companies, the authors compare performance outcomes in 2009 of firms adopting alternative systems with performances of firms that maintained the system in force before the 2003 Corporate Law Reform (defined as “traditional”). Because of the choice of an alternative system (one tier or two tier board) instead of a traditional one is not random, the authors reduce selection bias implementing matching methods and comparing firms that are close in terms of propensity score measured in 2003 (the year before the new CGSs have been introduced by a corporate law reform). Findings – The authors do not find evidence of a significant improvement of performances in 2009 concerning those firms that have adopted a one tier or two tier board systems with respect to those which maintained a traditional one. Originality/value – The novelty of the study concerns the application of propensity score matching for the evaluation of the impact of the change of the CGS that is possible in presence of two conditions that are all verified in our setting: first, to have a country where corporate law allows for choosing among different systems; in this case Italy is a good laboratory, because it allows for the choice among three different systems; and second, to have the opportunity to evaluate the effect of the change in light of a relatively recent “pre-treatment” condition; this is made possible by the fact that before the 2003 Reform of corporate law all the companies had a traditional system.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document