Problem areas of business ethics

This chapter discusses three key problem areas of business ethics. The first topics covered are poverty and inequality: absolute and relative poverty are distinguished, and the concept of equality is scrutinized. Second, the authors discuss human dignity and human rights. The distinctions between negative and positive liberties and between moral universalism and relativism are explained. Default rules exemplify how the concept of human dignity can be made fruitful for the problem of institutional design. Third, the notion of sustainability is treated. Among others, the triple-bottom line approach with its economic, ecological, and social dimension illustrates the multiple facets of sustainability. Finally, time preferences are introduced and alternative solution strategies of efficiency and sufficiency are contrasted with each other.

Foundations and tools of business ethics

This chapter introduces the most important interdisciplinary foundations and tools of business ethics. First, the authors discuss the philosophical foundations and concepts. The most important normative ethical theories, the notion of a reflective equilibrium, and several tools for justifying norms under dissent are introduced. Second, economic and socio-scientific foundations and tools are discussed, scrutinizing different concepts of rationality and assessments of social conditions. The importance of dilemma structures lies at the core of this section. Third, the authors present psychological foundations and tools, introducing the behavioral approach to ethics, dual process theory, and Haidt’s social intuitionist model to moral judgment, with its emphasis on the limits of reason for moral judgment. Moreover, the relevance of bounded ethicality in individuals and organizations for business ethics is outlined.

Historical-economic background

First, this chapter distinguishes between an ethics of individual behavior that focuses on the individual’s actions and an ethics of conditions that focuses on the circumstances under which the individual is supposed to act. It is emphasized that much of today’s ethics was developed against the background of premodern societies, which implies the absence of economic growth and a high social control, both of which are in stark contrast to modern conditions. The ethical benefits of markets and competition are outlined. The market is interpreted as an instrument for the use of distributed and local knowledge, a method of discovery, an engine of innovation, a control mechanism, and an instrument of disempowerment and of self-discipline. Traditional concepts of business ethics are illustrated by the historical examples of the just price and the prohibition of lending money at interest.

An Economically Informed Approach to Business Ethics

Business ethics is now taught at many universities. In some places, it has become a compulsory subject in economics programs. This trend is expected to continue. In the light of this development, there is a need for a new textbook on business ethics that summarizes the state of the discipline and gives an overview of its main topics....

Business ethics in the age of globalization

This chapter discusses globalization from different angles and summarizes major critical voices raised against it. The implications of globalization for business ethics are discussed: there is substantial disagreement on a number of ethical topics across the globe, which makes it difficult for multinational companies to find a common ground for meaningful ethical dialogs. An alternative view on globalization is proposed. This view focuses on the establishment of an institutional order that enables the realization of win-win potentials through global networking. The chapter closes with illustrative case studies on the problem of child labor and the global transportation of food.

Business Ethics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Future Challenges

Over the years, business ethics has become an established discipline, which is taught in many business schools around the globe, often as a mandatory class. But its success reaches far beyond being an academic subject. Throughout the corporate world, and despite undisputable delays, sometimes mere lip service and real setbacks, business ethics, together with its sister enterprises like CSR, Corporate Citizenship, or Compliance, has seen a huge boost in terms of being respected and taken seriously. In spite of the necessary criticism against corporate practices that business ethicists daily raise, one should also not overlook this positive development....

Corporate ethics

This chapter aims to bring order to the multitude of different concepts that are discussed within corporate ethics. In the first part, compliance as a minimum ethical requirement is presented. Compliance risks are illustrated by examples from the fields of corruption, antitrust violations, and data privacy. Afterwards, the key tasks of compliance management are explained. In the second part, different perspectives on corporate responsibility are discussed: Friedman’s view, the honorable merchant, and the management of moral risks. In the third and largest part, different approaches to corporate social responsibility and their respective criticisms are presented. The chapter closes with some thoughts on corporate social irresponsibility and on the experimental approach to CSR.

Basic concepts

This chapter clarifies the most fundamental concepts of business ethics. Business ethics problems are characterized as interaction problems emerging from the interdependence of at least two actors. The problem of scarcity and the limits of individual moral action are introduced: business ethics starts where individually virtuous behavior cannot solve the problem of scarcity. The terms ethics and economics are defined. Business ethics is interpreted as an ethics from a broad economic perspective that examines which norms can be established under conditions of global economies. In this context, normative implications of economics are emphasized. Business ethics is then situated within philosophy, and the essential tension between two basic approaches to business ethics, the dualistic and the monistic, is discussed.