在低迷时创新

人们通常会认为,资金越充裕,将会越有利于创新。但在克里斯坦森看来,企业越是对创新充满期待,越是投入大量的资金,越会使创新者长时间地追逐一个错误的方向。     

关于现代企业脑体分离发展的探讨

现代企业从全能生产到专注于某个环节的生产的过程,就是脑袋产业和躯体产业分离的过程,也就是企业从实体经营过渡到虚拟经营的过程。脑体产业分离后,企业实行虚拟经营就不再是事事亲历亲为,而是把主要精力用于构建网络。当然,企业要拥有竞争优势,就要努力在由供应商、制造商、销售商和客户构成的相关利益网络中处于最具增值价值的核心地位。过去,是实体经营高于虚拟经营;现在,则是虚拟经营高于实体经营。越是能成功地构建网络进行虚拟运作的企业,就越是有可能在激烈的市场竞争中拥有优势地位。     

“魔幻音响”，怎样打开市场？——“i-mu系列”产品“解决方案”沙龙侧记

编辑手记： 企业发展的过程里，存在一个障论——越是在起飞阶段，经验相对缺乏的阶段，企业越是必须做出最重要的决策；而当运作经验丰富起来的时候，面对的决策事项反远不如先前的那样性命攸关了。     

关于现代企业脑体分离发展的探讨

现代企业从全能生产到专注于某个环节的生产的过程,就是脑袋产业和躯体产业分离的过程,也就是企业从实体经营过渡到虚拟经营的过程.脑体产业分离后,企业实行虚拟经营就不再是事事亲历亲为,而是把主要精力用于构建网络.当然,企业要拥有竞争优势,就要努力在由供应商、制造商、销售商和客户构成的相关利益网络中处于最具增值价值的核心地位.过去,是实体经营高于虚拟经营;现在,则是虚拟经营高于实体经营.越是能成功地构建网络进行虚拟运作的企业,就越是有可能在激烈的市场竞争中拥有优势地位.     

第三方物流企业的客户关系建立和维系

拓展客户难,维持客户更难,经济越是不景气,客户资源就越是稀缺,于是建立和维系客户关系就成为重中之重。通过与客户之间建立起长期、良好的合作关系,通过满意的客户介绍和推荐,企业将会挖掘更多的潜在客户,获得更多的物流服务项目,与此同时也就提高了第三方物流企业的市场知名度和美誉度,提高了第三方物流企业的竞争力。     

以责任助推经济复苏——“经济复苏的责任动力”主题论坛

去年的这个时刻，在全球应对金融危机时，我们呼吁：越是在经济危机的时候，越是需要企业履行社会责任，有责任才能抗御危机。     

不动摇 不懈怠 不折腾

◇追求企业做强做久是第一要务，稳定是第一责任。◇逆境是企业的试金石。◇好公司和差公司开发的房子一样赚钱，这种局面对经济的发展和企业的提升并无裨益。◇一个国家，越是改革开放，就越安全。     

供应链管理中的牛鞭效应

牛鞭效应会导致企业对市场变化的过激反应。越是处于供应链的后端，需求变化幅度越大，企业对市场响应速度越慢。     

家装企业的财务管理之道

通过家装企业树立一户一个精品的核心理念;抓住人才和质量两个关键;建立以财务管理部为中心三个部门;关注行业四个核算特点;强化家装企业的五个财务管理;得出结论,一个好的财务管理方法,是一个企业健康发展的重要保障,企业应该在自身的发展过程中根据情况的变化,不断总结完善,只有这样,企业才能一步一步发展壮大。     

浅谈企业领导干部管理

在当前形势下,强化对企业领导干部的管理,对于搞好企业的改革发展,全面建设小康社会的奋斗目标有着非常重要的意义。目前,越是深化企业改革,就越要加强对企业领导干部的管理工作。本文主要对如何强化企业领导干部管理的环节进行了详细的分析,希望能够对当今的企业领导干部管理工作产生积极影响,以促进企业的长远发展。     

Establishing Moral Business Culture in Newly Formed Democracies

Business Ethics is often regarded as a low priority in newly formed democracies, because it seems there are more urgent demands that have to be dealt with first. In this paper it is argued that this perception is not only wrong, but also dangerous. A lack of morality in business can undermine exactly those priorities that newly formed democracies regard as most urgent.It starts by indicating why morality in business is a precondition for the legitimacy of a market economy as well as for excellence in a global market economy. It continues to argue that ethics in business is also a precondition for establishing a legitimate political democracy. Once the necessity of moral business behaviour has been argued, the focus shifts to the main stumbling blocks that impede the development of moral business culture in newly formed democracies such as South Africa.In the final part of the paper, measures are discussed that can be taken to foster the development of moral business culture in these countries. The role that business leaders, politicians, civil society and the media can play in this regard are highlighted.     

Two views of business ethics: A popular philosophical approach and a value based interdisciplinary one

I distinguish between two problems related to business ethics. (1) How can business ethics help morally conscientious business people to resolve moral problems in business? (2) Given the widespread belief that immorality, or at least amorality, is too prevalent in business, how can one discover both the sources of business amorality and immorality and make business as morally respectable an institution as possible? Philosophers who have concerned themselves with business ethics have emphasized (1), i.e., they consider the normative ethical principles applicable to solving moral questions in business. Although some benefit can be derived from this approach, there are a number of problems with this position. I then argue that, in considering (2), we ought to analyze business life styles (ideals) that have determined the character of American business people, and show both their negative and positive moral consequences. This analysis reveals the morality, or lack of it, in modern American business, possible changes in business morality, and possible ways of developing a desirable and viable business ethic. In a sketchy way, I show how this project can be developed.     

From Bounded Morality to Consumer Social Responsibility: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Socially Responsible Consumption and Its Obstacles

Corporate social responsibility has been intensively discussed in business ethics literature, whereas the social responsibility of private consumers appears to be less researched. However, there is also a growing interest from business ethicists and other scholars in the field of consumer social responsibility (ConSR). Nevertheless, previous discussions of ConSR reveal the need for a viable conceptual basis for understanding the social responsibility of consumers in an increasingly globalized market economy. Moreover, evolutionary aspects of human morality seem to have been neglected despite the fact that private consumers are undoubtedly human beings. In addition to that, empirical studies suggest that many consumers believe themselves to be responsible but do not act according to their alleged values or attitudes. This raises the question of what deters them from doing so. Therefore, the contribution of this conceptual paper is threefold: we (i) (re-)conceptualize ConSR in terms of a combination of a Max Weber-inspired approach (social action and the ethic of responsibility) with the social connection approach to shared responsibility proposed by Iris Marion Young; (ii) shed light on the previously neglected implications of an evolutionarily induced bounded morality for ConSR, and (iii) identify potential obstacles to socially responsible consumption, particularly against the backdrop of shared social responsibility and bounded morality. In this latter respect, the paper focuses specifically on the obstacles of low moral intensity, moral stupefaction, informational complexity, and the lack of perceived consumer effectiveness. In sum, the paper advances knowledge in the field of ConSR by using a transdisciplinary, literature-based approach.     

The business of ethics and the ethics of business

This is an essay in personal business ethics of executives as distinguished from the institutional ethics of corporations. Its purpose is to give practical moral guidance to executives for the conduct of their lives both as corporate decision-makers and as human beings. The pivotal concept in this model of personal business ethics is a direct appeal to the self-interest of executives in their being moral. Our thesis is that generally there is a twofold return on investment in ethics (ROIE) for executives. The first one is related to employee output: by becoming a self-actualizing moral type, executives indicate commitment to excellence. Accordingly, they so manage employees that the latter can also live up to their full potential and excell. And that would increase corporate productivity and product or service quality. The second payback of morality is personal: fully developed, self-actualized managers are generally happier people than those whose growth has been arrested. In brief, moral self-actualization is the same as commitment to excellence and there is a payback in being the best. Return on investment in ethics and return on investment in excellence can both be abbreviated as ROIE. We accomplish the purpose and establish the thesis of this essay by seeking answers to the following questions: What business does ethics have in business? What business does business have in ethics? Is there a return on investment in ethics for executives? and Does being moral help executives become more effective managers? In sketching answers to these questions, we first show why executives need a personal business ethics especially in today's world. Then, we sketch the nature of ethics and of business. After these introductory materials, the body of the paper argues for a personal business ethics for executives by correlating elements of management theory with ethics. Specifically, it links a theory of employee motivation with a scale of values, management character types with moral types, and management leadership styles with morality. Then, the practical technique of life by objectives (LBO) is explained. It can help executives manage their lives more effectively in both the business and ethical sense. We conclude by explaining ideals of excellence which can guide executives in their work and development both as managers and as human beings.     

Is there “no such thing as business ethics”?

What are we to make of the claim that we often hear, that there is no such thing as business ethics? This essay first examines two arguments that might be in people's minds in making such a claim — that business is a “game,” and hence the ordinary constraints of morality do not apply, and that one cannot survive in business if one is too “ethical.” The critique of these arguments begins the process of making clear what business ethics is. The paper then proceeds in a more positive vein to define and explain for the sceptic what business ethics is. Everyone must confront the question, what should I do in my business relationships? Business ethics is defined, then, as the effort to develop Socratically one's answer to this question, that is, through the critical examination of alternatives. In the process of explaining this notion, several other senses in which someone might say that there is no such thing as business ethics are explored and the basic distinction between the moral point of view and ethical egoism is introduced.     

Religion and Business Ethics: The Lessons from Political Morality

The issue of whether religious belief should be an appropriate grounding for business ethics raises issues very similar to those raised in asking whether religious belief should be an appropriate grounding for political morality. In light of that fact that writings in political morality have been a common resource for contemporary business ethics, this paper presents contemporary arguments about the role of religion in political morality while noting the relevance of these debates for business ethics.The paper takes the position that rather than excluding religion from public morality, political morality (and business ethics) ought to take an inclusive, ecumenical approach. To argue this position and to present fully a range of literature normally not studied in business ethics circles, the paper presents and critiques the major contemporary authors in the field of political morality and contrasts them with the inclusionists who seek to keep public grounds open for all moral perspectives.     

The Good Manager – A Moral Manager?

In this article two problems with the recently developed "practice or virtue approach" to business ethics are discussed. The first problem concerns an alleged harmony between common demands of morality (generally understood) and the internal goods of actual business practice. The claimed harmony is strong in essence since it holds that the role expectations a good manager has to live up to, do in fact coincide with what morality demands. The second problem is related to the first and concerns the alleged relevance of a virtue perspective for business ethics. According to the virtue perspective discussed in this article, moral reasoning should take actual practice, and only actual practice, as a point of departure. In so doing ethics is claimed to become insulated from e.g. putting irrelevant demands on practitioners. Such demands are understood as based on abstract principles alien to the practice in question. The thesis of this article is that neither of the above mentioned two claims are plausible. This is so basically because one needs to turn elsewhere than to actual business practice in order to detect a morally laden notion of managerial goodness.     

Environmental Performance Focus in Private Family Firms: The Role of Social Embeddedness

The macro-level business ethics in Scholasticism contrasts with modern Anglo-Saxon Capitalism, which is very influential worldwide. Scholasticism, developed between the thirteenth and the mid-seventeenth centuries, deals with key elements of free market morality, including private property, contracts, profits, prices, and free competition. For over 500 years Scholasticism tried to understand economic phenomena and business activities and reflected on them from an ethical perspective. Scholasticism offered the crucial lesson of the centrality of justice and the role of practical wisdom in considering market morality. Justice is seen as both a virtue and a principle, and commutative justice (justice in exchanges) with the common good of society as the reference for the Scholastics, is regarded as being especially important.     

Theological ethics and business ethics

Philosophers have constituted business ethics as a field by providing a systematic overview that interrelates its problems and concepts and that supplies the basis for building on attained results. Is there a properly theological task in business ethics? The religious/theological literature on business ethics falls into four classes: (1) the application of religious morality to business practices; (2) the use of encyclical teachings about capitalism; (3) the interpretation of business relations in agapa-istic terms; and (4) the critique of business from a liberation theological point of view. Theologians have not adequately addressed the questions of whether there are particular theological tasks in the field as they define it, and whether, if they define it, the theological definition is different from the philosophical.     

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.