The Cultural Roots of Ethical Conflicts in Global Business

This study examines the cultural roots of ethical conflicts in the global business environment. It begins with a brief look at worldviews on ethical behavior in general. Based on this, it is argued that an in-depth understanding of ethical conflicts has been hampered by an overreliance on Western models and viewpoints. Three common sources, or bases, of ethical conflicts are discussed as they relate to business practices, including conflicts over tastes and preferences, the relative importance of moral imperatives compared to legal requirements, and people’s level of tolerance for different values among others. It is then argued that an understanding of ethical conflicts can be facilitated through different levels of understanding, including the meaning of universal values, the relationship between values and practices, and the existence of multiple levels of conflict within the same organizations or industries. These specific and interrelated ingredients in cross-cultural ethical conflicts form the basis for a broader discussion of the meaning of truth as it relates to such conflicts. The paper concludes with the need for more research that is cross-cultural and multidisciplinary in order to improve theory building and managerial practice.     

Confucian Business Ethics and the Economy

Confucian ethics as applied to the study of business ethics often relate to the micro consideration of personal ethics and the character of a virtuous person. Actually, Confucius and his school have much to say about the morals of the public administration and the market institutions in a more macro level. While Weber emphasizes the role of culture on the development of the economy, and Marx the determining influence of the material base on ideology, we see an interaction between culture – specifically Confucian business ethics – and the economy. In this paper, we are going to study this interaction in several crucial stages of development of Confucianism. The paper concludes by postulating the relevance of Confucian business ethics to the global knowledge economy.     

儒商鼻祖子贡的经商之道与人生智慧

端木赐,字子贡,春秋时卫国人。子贡从17岁跟随孔子学习,前后历经31年。子贡名列孔门十哲和七十二贤。在孔门弟子中,子贡属于言语科的高才生,他智慧高,能力强,善言辞,重德行。不论经商,还是出仕,子贡皆获得巨大成功,他的人生处处闪耀着智慧的光芒。老辈子经常把经商称为"陶朱事业,端木生涯"。子贡被后人尊为经商楷模、儒商鼻祖、中华第一儒商等。子贡还是尊师的榜样,一生弘扬儒学,尤其他为师庐墓六年,德衍千秋。当今,要培育中华新儒商,不仅要坚持文化自信,弘扬儒家文化,还要学习子贡的经商之道与人生智慧。     

新儒商的商业伦理观及其管理模式

在构建和谐社会的环境下,越来越多的企业家和学者认识到传统的企业管理模式已经受到了当今社会环境的制约,企业管理应建立以新儒商文化为基础的商业伦理观与经营观之上。本文从管理理念与模式的角度分析了新儒商的伦理价值及其经营观,提出了"新儒商管理模式",旨在为构建和谐企业提供理论依据。     

将儒商思想融入新时代企业管理中

在新时代,要实现中华民族伟大复兴必须坚持文化自信。我国儒家思想是中华民族弥足珍贵的精神财富,也是全国人民文化自信的思想基础。在新时代,我国正面临着复杂多变的社会环境,全球政治格局的重组以及国内产业经济转型,必然对企业产生重大而深远地影响。我国要在世界舞台上崛起,实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦,必须以习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想为统领,全力弘扬中华优秀传统文化,重建伦理秩序,必须坚定不移地把企业做大、做强、做好。在新时代,我国企业管理的灵魂是儒商精神,儒商思想及其智慧将全面融入企业管理中,成为企业生生不息的内在动力。儒是新儒商的灵魂,商是新儒商的载体,儒与商融为一体才是活生生的儒商,才能造就新时代的企业。这需要将儒家的仁者爱人、义以生利、尚中贵和等思想融合在企业管理与社会经济生活之中,促进我国的企业迈向新时代。     

儒商精神的内生境遇探析：历史溯源、存在特质及其实践内生

儒商精神在现代管理境遇中能否内生,从其历史溯源、存在特质和实践内生等几个维度进行递进式分析。儒商（精神）的存在特质就是基于中国本土文化场,以商业文化的探讨为指向,探讨管理哲学视野下的组织文化的儒商（精神）向度。这种定位在儒家强文化势能塑造的惯习下,在管理学理论与实践导向管理精致化的管理文化时代体现的管理模式中,其存在有实践需求。它的根基是具有中国本土传统文化支撑的商业意识形态。中国古代的儒商精神内生是从广域单一儒家文化场内生出儒商精神,而面向未来的儒商精神内生是从多元商业文化备选境遇中选择儒商精神,两种内生状态、程度迥异。面向未来对儒商（精神）在商业实践中内生应保持谨慎的乐观,因为在强国家主义主导下的传统儒家的强政治文化资源若仍主导儒商精神的塑造与重构,其既可以导向积极的儒商（精神）,也可以因传统儒家文化中的消极内容使儒商（精神）在面向未来中导向一种颓废的商业意识形态。儒商（精神）面向未来实践需要重构,面向儒家原生资源挖掘其创造性、生生不息、有情有义的精气神,这可以优化并更新儒商精神内涵,为新时代全球化中的工商业文明的塑造提供更多的希冀。     

基于儒家价值观的鲁浙商业文化比较研究简

资源、地理、人文和历史等方面的差异催生了各具特色的区域商业文化,区域商业文化又导致了区域间经济发展中的巨大差异。因此,商业文化的产生、影响因素和衍变过程成为理论界和实务界的研究热点。文章选择两个商业文化颇具特色的省份——浙江省和山东省,就两个省份在商业文化的形成、商帮特点、儒家文化对传统和新鲁浙商业文化的影响进行了比较分析,阐述了鲁浙两省商业文化的异同、优劣势及其作用效果,提出了优化鲁浙商业文化的若干对策建议,以期为我国商业文化尤其是鲁浙商业文化创新提供一定借鉴。     

The Business of Economics is Business

Advances in the subject have greatly developed the ways in which economists within a business can contribute to stategic decisions. Unilver is a case in point. The two keys to the change in the role of industrial economists have been the prevalence of strongly contested global oligopoly markets of the kind Unilver faces, and developments in the application of game theory. Economists still have to tread carefully inside companies and combine with other skills and especially with the decision-takers. Four examples are given of the contribution economists can make and should be making.     

Restructuring Japanese business through Kyosei: Capitalizing on international strategic alliances at the consumer level

Japan of the post-bubble era is the object of much reflection and speculation pertaining to risutora or restructuring of the economy. This study provides a novel, analytical perspective on the fundamental issues involved in the shift of momentum that characterizes Japanese business and economic restructuring. After examining the economic and corporate dimensions of the transitional forces that shape Japan's restructuring process, this study focuses on two powerful, yet often ignored, agents of change: the emergence of a new class of collaborative mandates, kyosei, and the rise of consumer power. The study further emphasizes the importance of planning and managing corporate-level restructuring activities with the interests of end users in mind, by empirically demonstrating the significance of strategic alliances, as a corporate restructuring option, on consumers. The results show that consumers' impression of alliances with Japanese firms have a strong effect on future attitudes toward each partnering brand. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

"Business Responsibilities in a Divided World": The Cold War Roots of the Corporate Social Responsibility Movement

Both business executives and management scholars have, in recentyears, focused a great deal of attention on the theme of corporatesocial responsibility (CSR). Calls for business leaders to expendresources on behalf of "social good" tend to downplay, if notignore, what is fundamentally an ideological question: justwhat is a "good" society and who defines "goodness"? The ideologicalunderpinnings of social responsibility and its relationshipto the "good" society can be explored through an historicalperspective. The roots of the CSR movement trace back to theearly years of the Cold War. Led by Donald K David, Dean ofthe Harvard Business School and supported by other academicsand executives given voice on the pages of the Harvard BusinessReview, advocates urged expanded business social responsibilityas a means of aligning business interests with the defense offree-market capitalism against what was depicted as the clear-and-presentdanger of Soviet Communism. Today's enthusiastic calls for businessto "do well by doing good" could benefit from a similar criticalanalysis not just of the goals of CSR but also the ideologicalassumptions, often unacknowledged, that underlie those goals.     

The Political Roots of Corporate Social Responsibility

This article argues that whether and how a firm chooses to adopt Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives is conditional in part upon the domestic political institutional structures present in its home market. It demonstrates that economic globalization has increased the pressure applied to companies to develop CSR policies that might help overcome specific governance gaps associated with the globalization phenomenon. Drawing upon an examination of domestic institutions and overall political structure, it argues that the political conditions and expectations present in a company’s home market will condition whether a firm might pursue CSR activity. For home markets, it is posited that perceived electoral salience will be filtered through government type and ideology, and state/societal structures will influence if and how firms will use CSR. Specific arguments are developed from these categorizations. The article concludes with a discussion of how researchers might further explore links between CSR, domestic political structures, and corporate political activity.     

The Business Brand

In the last issue but one, Jeremy Bullmore wrote on the importance of branding and Michael Clements explored the problems of industrial advertising. The author now links these two areas through the concept of the business brand—a concept that sharpens the effect of business-to-business marketing and brings client and agency into a more productive relationship.     

Teaching Business Ethics: The Role of Ethics in Business and in Business Education

The paper begins with an examination of traditional attitudes towards business ethics. I suggest that these attitudes fail to recognize that a principal function of ethics is to facilitate cooperation. Further that despite the emphasis on competition in modern market economies, business like all other forms of social activity is possible only where people are prepared to respect rules in the absence of which cooperation is rendered difficult or impossible. Rules or what I call the ethics of doing, however, constitute just one dimension of ethics. A second has to do with what we see and how we see it; a third with who we or what I describe as the ethics of being. Of these three dimensions, the first and the third have been most carefully explored by philosophers and are most frequently the focus of attention when teaching business ethics is being discussed. I argue that this focus is unfortunate in as much as it is the second dimension which falls most naturally into the ambit of modern secular educational institutions. It is here that moral education is most obviously unavoidable, and most clearly justifiable in modern secular teaching environments. I conclude by describing the importance of this second dimension for the modern world of business.     

The Sine-Egyptian Joint Business Council Business Forum Held

On December 25, Chairman Wan Jifei led the Chinese business delegation attending the Sino-Egyptian Joint Business Council Business Forum co-hosted by the CCPIT and the Sino-Egyptian Business Council in Cairo, Egypt. Chinese vice Premier Li Keqiang who was on a visit to Egypt attended the forum and addressed the opening ceremony.     

The Impact of Business Process Complexity on Business Process Standardization

Today??s organizations are struggling with increasing business process complexity and face serious problems when standardizing business processes. A?possible strategy seems to be to enhance standardization efforts in order to ensure standardization success. In this paper, we analyze the triangle relationship between standardization effort, business process complexity, and business process standardization. We test the hypotheses that higher business process complexity is related to higher standardization effort and lower business process standardization as well as that higher standardization effort is related to higher business process standardization. We report on the development and testing of a conceptual model that allows to understand the impact of business process complexity on business process standardization and standardization effort. Findings from a survey among 255 business process management experts are used to evaluate our hypotheses. Our results suggest that business process complexity has to be considered as an important driver of standardization effort and constrains business process standardization. Moreover, we show that higher standardization effort cannot compensate for higher business process complexity to ensure business process standardization.