FOCUS: Some Ethical Issues in British Insurance

Insurance is not well understood by most UK purchasers and many feel unease about it. Could this be partly due to the structure of the products on offer, and partly to the difficulties in obtaining good quality impartial advice? The author is Professor of Statistics, and a former Principal, at London Business School, Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College, London, and a past President of the Institute of Actuaries.     

FOCUS: Investment

'Although the empirical and conceptual underpinnings of New Finance have been rigorously tested, its ethical underpinnings have not been explored.'These are seen to derive from the social remoteness of late twentieth century individualism, which needs to be countered by sensitivity to the social context of finance and to the developmental nature of ethical behaviour. The author is Fellow in Finance at Templeton College, Oxford.     

FOCUS: Changing Regulations

When bad business behaviour is so much in the news is this a time for tighter regulation? But can standards be set for “good behaviour” in business? The author is Senior Lecturer in Public Relations and Philosophy at Leeds Business School, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds LS2 8AF.     

FOCUS: Equal Opportunities: The Challenges for Business

The equal opportunities issue constitutes one of the biggest ethical and practical challenges ever faced by business, because it strikes at fundamental cultural assumptions about the purpose and responsibilities of business and the rights of individuals which are ingrained from childhood. The author is chairman of Business in the Community's'Opportunity 2000'.     

FOCUS: Business Ethics in Austria

Our Associate Editor for Austria describes the unique national features which underlie the recent development of modern business ethics in his country. Univ.-Prof. Dr Franz Rupert Hrubi is a member of the Abteilung für Philosophie, the University of Economics and Business Administration, A 1090 Vienna, Schlagergasse 6, Austria.     

FOCUS: Moral Responsibilities to Competitors

Are there any moral restraints on how a company should behave towards its competitors, or is all fair in love, war - and business? Dr Higginson is Director of the Ridley Hall Foundation, Cambridge CB3 9HG. The Foundation is concerned with the application of Christian faith and values in business, and conducts research, seminars, publications and speaking engagements to that end. This paper was first presented at a Seminar on Teaching Business Ethics held at London Business School on Friday, 10 March, 1995.     

The Work Ethic Values of Protestant British, Catholic Irish and Muslim Turkish Managers

This paper examines the work ethic characteristics of particular practising Protestant, Catholic and Muslim managers in Britain, Ireland and Turkey. Max Weber, argued that Protestant societies had a particular work ethic which was quite distinct from non-Protestant societies. The Protestant work ethics (PWE) thesis of Weber was reviewed. Previous empirical and analytical research results showed that the number of research results which support Weberian ideas were more than those which did not support. Methodological issues were also discussed. Results revealed that there was a considerable difference between Muslim and other groups in terms of PWE characteristics. The Muslim group showed the highest PWE level, while the Protestant group was placed second and the Catholic group third. The Protestant group showed a slightly higher of PWE level than the Catholic group. The possible reasons for the higher level of the PWE values of Muslim managers are discussed in the light of historical, political, social and economic developments in Turkey.     

商海拾趣

随着经济全球化和科技进步在经济各领域不断深入,世界必将进行新一轮产业结构调整升级,由此带来新一轮全球产业转移。新一轮国际产业转移为发展中经济体由产业链低端向高端升级,由生产制造向高端服务转型创造了新机遇,为转变经济发展方式开拓新空间和路径。     

FOCUS: Sex-Discrimination in Job Evaluation

Job evaluation systems are becoming increasingly important in Europe to counter sex-discrimination, but evaluation criteria can themselves be discriminatory. Dr Jeanne de Bruijn is Professor in Women and Policy at the Free University of Amsterdam.     

FOCUS: Ethics in Business and Health

"The NHS may not, on a tight definition, be a business, but it has an obligation to its financial stakeholders (the tax-payers), and this implies an ethical obligation to be business- like. This means it must be as well-managed as it is well-meaning." The author is Chairman of St George's Healthcare NHS Trust. Until 1988 she was Head of the Department of Politics at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, where she is now Visiting Professor. She is a non-executive director of Norwich Union and of the HMV Group and her most recent book is Business Ethics at Work , Cambridge University Press, 1995.     

FOCUS: Key Issues in Ethical Investment

Welcome precision is brought to the idea, history, types and motives of ethical investment in what will become an authoritative review of the subject. Marc Cooper is a postgraduate researcher at the European Business Management School, University of Wales, and Bodo Schlegelmilch, recently British Rail Professor of Marketing there, has recently been appointed Professor of Marketing at the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird), Phoenix, Arizona.     

FOCUS: Ethical Problems in Ethics Research

Current research in business ethics gives serious cause for concern because it may be designed more to advance academic careers than to encourage ethical business. The author is completing his doctoral thesis in business ethics at the Management School, Imperial College, London.     

FOCUS: Corporate Dialogue - a new perspective for Public Relations

Recent initiatives in Germany illustrate how major companies have changed their attitudes towards a critical public - and thereby have improved their economic and ethical performance. Prof. Dr. Horst Steinmann and Dipl.-Kfm. Ansgar Zerfaß belong to the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany.     

FOCUS: Health Care as Business Introduction

One of the commonest complaints in Britain against the current National Health Service is that business and commercial values are being allowed, and even encouraged, to dominate the more humane values involved in caring for people in their weakness. What is the situation and where are the problems, and what can Britain learn from Germany and Holland? We are grateful to the distinguished author on business ethics and member of our Editorial Board, Professor Tom Sorell, for undertaking the production of this FOCUS section of the October Review on such a sensitive and topical issue.     

FOCUS: Ethics in Need of Regulation

How much real impact on business behaviour is achieved by ethical debate and discussion? The author contends that little ethical change will come about unless it is the subject of regulation and institutions, as instanced in equal opportunities, corporate governance and the quality of financial services. Dr Clarke is a member of the Department of Sociology, University of Liverpool, P.O. Box 147, Liverpool L69 3BX.     

FOCUS: Business Ethics Research: A Cultural Perspective

Why do certain ethical values and beliefs work within the realities of organisation life, while others do not? Research into corporate culture in its various expressions can provide a means of relating corporate rhetoric to actual performance and provide a deeper understanding of the conditions for practical change. Dr Brigley is a member of the Centre for the Study of Organisational Change in the School of Management, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY. He wishes to acknowledge the benefits received from discussion with his colleagues in the Centre and especially with its Director, Dr Paul Bate.