The impossibility of corporate ethics: for a Levinasian approach to managerial ethics

The moral philosophy of Levinas offers a stark prospectus of impossibility for corporate ethics. It differs from most traditional ethical theories in that, for Levinas, the ethical develops in a personal meeting of one with the Other, rather than residing in some internal deliberation of the moral subject. Levinasian ethics emphasises an infinite personal responsibility arising for each of us in the face of the Other and in the presence of the Third. It stresses the imperious demand we experience to be open to, prepared for and impassioned with that which we may not know, or recognise, about ourselves or about the Other. Such a demand transcends our intellectual and/or rational potential; it involves us in a carnal and somatic bodily experience of otherness. If we are to speak of Levinasian ethics in a business context, it cannot be a matter of corporate ethics but only a matter of individual managerial ethics. What such an ethics would be like is yet to be outlined. This paper proposes a series of questions and suggestions that will explicate some key terms of a practice organised around a Levinasian vocabulary of otherness, responsibility, proximity, diachrony and justice.     

论企业社会责任报告基本理论框架

企业社会责任报告基本理论框架由报告的模式、主要内容和指标、形式和质量标准构成。文章比较了国际上企业社会责任报告不同模式、报告的主要内容和指标、报告的形式,指出中国企业社会责任报告是政府与非营利组织的双重主导模式,以经济、环境、社会三重底线为视角,构建中国企业社会责任报告的重点内容和关键指标,以及报告的形式。文章根据信息产品的特性论述了企业社会责任报告的基本质量标准。     

Corporate Legal Responsibility: A Levinasian Perspective

In this article I will look into Corporate Legal Responsibility taking into account Levinas’s notion of infinite responsibility, as well as his understanding of ethical language. My account of Levinas’s philosophy will show that it challenges – breaking down – deeply entrenched distinctions in the dominant strands of moral philosophy, within which the theory of individual responsibility is embedded, such as between:(1) duty to others on the one hand and supererogation on the other; (2) perfect duty to others on the one hand and imperfect duties to others on the other; (3) insiders and outsiders; kith and kin on the one hand and strangers on the other; Levinas’s moral vision is an inclusive one which embraces all of humanity (at least of those present today) irrespective of historical, linguistic, cultural differences and diversities. In other words, each has responsibilities for and duties towards all others. Of course, one might say that there is nothing new about a universalising ethics – after all Kantianism, liberalism as well as utilitarianism are well known instances. However, more crucially, all these traditional moral philosophies uphold the theory of individual responsibility, which is rooted in the philosophy of individualism. Such a philosophy can make sense only of the concept of individual moral/legal agency but not corporate agency. Therefore, in this article I will attempt to show that the Levinasian vision is able to help us change our view with respect to corporate responsibility.     

How can leaders of multinational organizations be ethical by contributing to corporate social responsibility initiatives? Guidelines and pitfalls for leaders trying to do good

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a laudable goal for multinational enterprises (MNEs) because of the significant positive impact they can bring to the society and environment around the world. However, there are significant challenges to the practice of CSR in MNEs. This article discusses two major barriers to CSR that are especially significant for MNEs: leaders’ attitudes and cultural variance. We then apply insights from Rest’s ethical decision-making and cross-cultural research to offer guidance to leaders of MNEs to implement CSR in their organizations. We present a multistep process by which leaders first reflect on and clarify what goals they want to accomplish in the realm of CSR and then how to build consensus for those goals and modify them to incorporate the values and beliefs of local constituents.     

The Influence of Corporate Psychopaths on Corporate Social Responsibility and Organizational Commitment to Employees

This study investigated whether employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) were associated with the presence of Corporate Psychopaths in corporations. The article states that, as psychopaths are 1% of the population, it is logical to assume that every large corporation has psychopaths working within it. To differentiate these people from the common perception of psychopaths as being criminals, they have been called “Corporate Psychopaths” in this research. The article presents quantitative empirical research into the influence of Corporate Psychopaths on four perceptual measures of CSR and three further measures of organizational commitment to employees. The article explains who Corporate Psychopaths are and delineates the measures of CSR and organizational commitment to employees that were used. It then outlines the research conducted among 346 corporate employees in Australia in 2008. The reliability of the instrument used is commented on favorably in terms of its statistical reliability and its face and external validity. Results of the research are described showing the highly significant and negative influence of Corporate Psychopaths on all of the measures of CSR and of organizational commitment to employees used in the research. When Corporate Psychopaths are present in leadership positions within organizations, employees are less likely to agree with views that: the organization does business in a socially desirable manner; does business in an environmentally friendly manner and that the organization does business in a way that benefits the local community. Also, when Corporate Psychopaths are present in leadership positions within organizations, employees are significantly less likely to agree that the corporation does business in a way that shows commitment to employees, significantly less likely to feel that they receive due recognition for doing a good job, to feel that their work was appreciated and to feel that their efforts were properly rewarded. The article argues that academics and researchers in the area of CSR cannot ignore the influence of individual managers. This is particularly the case when those managers have dysfunctional personalities, or are actually psychopaths. The article further argues that the existence of Corporate Psychopaths should be of interest to those involved in corporate management and corporate governance because their presence influences the way corporations are run and how corporations affect society and the environment.     

Who will Guard the Guardians? The Social Responsibility of NGOs

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) comprise the sector of society that attempts to hold business and other institutions accountable for their social responsibility. Yet NGOs rarely have established governance mechanisms whereby their members and supporters can hold them accountable for their activities. In contrast, other major actors in the society – notably governments, corporations, and unions – maintain long established albeit imperfect instruments of governance and responsibility. This article presents a variety of ways in which NGOs could voluntarily strengthen their internal governance and thus become more accountable to their members and supporters as well as society at large. In the process, these important civil society organizations would enhance their effectiveness in achieving improvements in key areas of public policy.     

Economic criteria versus ethical criteria toward resolving a basic dilemma in business

Today's headlines suggest that economic criteria alone is the basis for business decision-making. This paper argues that while profitability is a legitimate end of business, it must be moderated by ethical considerations. But can business be both successfuland ethical? Practical examples highlight individuals who chose profitability over ethical responsibility and those who chose and continue to choose both. The authors propose that there is an ethical person profile. Corporate managers can resolve the profits vs ethics dilemma by modeling ethical behavior.     

Stakeholder Management, Reciprocity and Stakeholder Responsibility

Stakeholder theory advocates that firms bear responsibility for the implications of their actions. However, while a firm affects or can affect stakeholders, stakeholders can also affect the corporation. Previous stakeholder theorising has neglected the reciprocal nature of responsibility. The question can be asked whether??in a spirit of reciprocity, loyalty and fairness??stakeholders should treat the corporation in a fair and responsible way. This study based on different definitions of stakeholders argues that various stakeholder attributes differ for different categories of stakeholders. This analysis presumes that the attribute of stakeholder reciprocity can probably be restricted to real stakeholders, labelled stakeowners: genuine stakeholders with a legitimate stake, the loyal partners who strive for mutual benefits. Stakeowners own and deserve a stake in the firm. Stakeholder reciprocity could be an innovative criterion in the corporate governance debate as to who should be accorded representation on the board. Corporate social responsibility should imply corporate stakeholder responsibility.     

Peter French, Corporate Ethics and The Wizard of Oz

For more than two decades, Peter French has been arguing in books, articles and symposia that corporations are genuine actors in the moral universe. Like adult human beings, they can and should take moral responsibility for their actions and be held accountable by the other actors in this universe. I have always argued with my students that the position is both metaphysically incorrect and practically harmful. Now (1995) French has redeveloped his position through 380 pages in Corporate Ethics, probably the most challenging and original Business Ethics textbook yet to appear. It is a work of intellectual sophistication with real world applications. Using the metaphor invaders throughout the book, French argues not only that corporations are moral agents, but also that their moral agency has made the business world of the late twentieth century and of the coming century different from anything of preceding epochs. It is, in his argument, an agency of great potential danger and of great potential benefit, one in terms of which we can address every ethical problem of business. In the essay, I explore Corporate Ethics both on the metaphysical and the practical level.     

Let Them Eat (Genetically Re-engineered) Cake and the Little Purple Pill: A Rejoinder to Miles, Munilla and Covin

This paper critiques a recent article in this journal in terms of its use of persuasive techniques. The central issue of the original article by Miles, Munilla and Covin and this paper is whether there should be a change in intellectual property rights to address the needs of impoverished people who are HIV positive or have full blown AIDS and the countries that do not have the means to buy AIDS medication in the absence of subsidies. This paper argues that patents are state sanctioned monopolies that worked effectively for nearly a century. However, new circumstances and a globally interdependent world represent a new environment calling for an adjustment in the conventional public policy premises underlying patents. Most of the meaning and complexity of this issue is lost to the persuasive techniques of the original article.Dennis Ray teaches and researches international and comparative entrepreneurship, technology entrepreneurship and business in Asia. He teaches the international business strategy capstone course.     

What’s Wrong with Executive Compensation?

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) comprise the sector of society that attempts to hold business and other institutions accountable for their social responsibility. Yet NGOs rarely have established governance mechanisms whereby their members and supporters can hold them accountable for their activities. In contrast, other major actors in the society – notably governments, corporations, and unions – maintain long established albeit imperfect instruments of governance and responsibility. This article presents a variety of ways in which NGOs could voluntarily strengthen their internal governance and thus become more accountable to their members and supporters as well as society at large. In the process, these important civil society organizations would enhance their effectiveness in achieving improvements in key areas of public policy.     

A dynamic stakeholder model: An Other‐oriented ethical approach

In this paper, we reflect on the role of the Other in ethical decision‐making in corporations. The Other, in the form of a corporation's stakeholders, has already been discussed in the scientific literature, but there are still some Others that remain unconsidered and that call on corporations to be responsible. Drawing on the philosophy of Levinas, we wish to highlight a green earth and future generations as two non‐immediate Others within a corporation's group of stakeholders whose voices are silenced. We argue that Levinasian ethics can be used as a framework to extend traditional stakeholder theory in a dynamic sphere. With this model, corporations can understand the vital role that both a green earth and future generations play in their existence and can respond to contingencies by considering delays. We enrich our paper with illustrative cases to present some serious environmental disasters that have occurred as a result of ignoring the Other. Finally, we show that understanding the Other as a part of a corporation's identity can create new avenues for “infinite responsibility” towards Others. We contribute to the relevant literature by highlighting that both a green earth and future generations are important but ignored stakeholder parties whose claims urgently need to be addressed.     

Ethics programs and their dimensions

All organizations have ethics programs which consist of both explicit and implicit parts. This paper defines corporate ethics programs and identifies a number of their components. Corporate ethics programs' structural and behavioral dimensions are proposed which may allow further examination of such program components and their impacts. Finally, fifteen propositions are suggested which describe the influence of founder values, competitive pressures, leadership, and organizational problems on corporate ethics programs and the manageability of such programs.Steven N. Brenner is currently Sponsored Professor of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. He served from 1983 through 1987 as Associate Dean for Graduate Programs in its School of Business Administration. Dr. Brenner has written articles forHarvard Business Review, The Academy of Management national MeetingsProceedings, The JAI PressResearch on Corporate Social Performance and Policy, and other publications. He has served as the Chairman and Program Chairman for the Social Issues in Management Division of the Academy of Management and is Chairman of the International Association of Business and Society's 1992 meeting to be held in Leuven, Belgium. He teaches courses in corporate social responsibility, business ethics, managing in a regulated world, business/government relations, business policy and organizational politics. During 1989–90 he was on a sabbatical leave doing research on corporate social responsibility and acting as Chair of the Academy of Management's Ethics Task Force which wrote the Academy's Code of Ethical Conduct.This work was supported in part by a grant from the Chiles Foundation, Portland, Oregon.     

Thirty years of social accounting,reporting and auditing: what (if anything) have we learnt?

In an increasingly complex world with increasingly powerful organisations it seems inevitable that society – or groups in society – would become anxious about whether these organisations could be encouraged to match that power with an appropriate responsibility. This is the function of accountability – to require individuals and organisations to present an account of those actions for which society holds them – or would wish to hold them – responsible. And the history of social accounting, at its most fundamental, is a history of attempts to develop this accountability. It seems to me that the widespread and systematic practice of social and environmental accounting is a deeply essential element in any well‐functioning, complex democracy. The corollary is that the absence of such mechanisms raises fundamental questions about the nature of modern democracies. This article briefly outlines what I believe to be the three strands of social accounting. It then identifies a few of the lessons that we may be able to learn from current experience and, in particular, how social accounting is related to accountability, democracy and sustainability. The central issue of the tension between accountability and control is touched upon: I then illustrate how the stakeholder model can be used to help define the social account, and conclude with a few words on attestation.     

Online communication of Corporate Environmental Citizenship: A study of New Zealand's electricity and gas retailers

This paper presents a study of how companies in New Zealand's electricity and gas retail sector communicate their Corporate Environmental Citizenship (CEC) on the World Wide Web. The natural environment is the focal issue for analyzing the way these companies present their commitment to the community and society in general, for two reasons. First, concern for and management of the natural environment is one of the most important social issues facing corporations. Second, prior empirical studies of corporate communication of social responsibility initiatives have investigated the extent and content of these messages without focusing on a particular issue. A content analysis of the web pages of 18 companies in an environmentally sensitive industry was chosen to investigate which environmental issues and stakeholder groups are given priority and how companies' attitudes to stakeholders and relationships with them are described. The results demonstrate an instrumental reformist moral position underlying their online communications. This philosophy was present in the environmental issues most frequently mentioned and in the principles motivating their Corporate Environmental Citizenship activities. While the majority of companies presented their environmental initiatives on their web sites, most did not employ interactive features to encourage dialogue with stakeholders and enhance these relationships.     

Materialism and Consumer Ethics: An Exploratory Study

As the issue of marketing's social responsibility grows in significance, the topic of materialism surfaces. While many marketing efforts encourage materialism, the materialism that is encouraged may have negative societal effects. An understanding of the effects of materialism on individuals, families, society, etc., is important in evaluating whether or not it is socially irresponsible for marketers to encourage materialism. However, the adequate empirical work has not yet been done on the overall effects of materialism. The current paper asks and addresses one important empirical question in this area. Do consumers who are more materialistic have different ethical standards than those who are not? Empirical evidence is presented which would indicate that materialism is negatively correlated with people's higher ethical standards as consumers. The implications for this in understanding social responsibility are discussed.     

Permissive Marketing The Effect of The AIDS Crisis on Marketing Practices and Messages

In 1981, in a Harvard Business Review feature, we described a marketing condition which we called "unmentionability" and, through a series of case studies, showed how it could frustrate the marketing of a wide range of products and services, despite the fact that many of them need to be actively marketed. AIDS and the massive anti-AIDS promotional campaigns that it spawned have dramaticaly accelerated the pace of change and created a new environment in which products, services, concepts and ideas that were previously regarded as unmentionable can now be marketed openly and explicitly. The marketing climate has changed profoundly and, although not always for the better, the added freedom and punch that the AIDS campaigns have engendered in the marketing world, have been eagerly accepted by those who feel it can enhance their marketing programmes.     

Corporate Social Responsibility in Supply Chains of Global Brands: A Boundaryless Responsibility? <Emphasis Type="Italic">Clarifications,Exceptions and Implications</Emphasis>

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly becoming a popular business concept in developed economies. As typical of other business concepts, it is on its way to globalization through practices and structures of the globalized capitalist world order, typified in Multinational Corporations (MNCs). However, CSR often sits uncomfortably in this capitalist world order, as MNCs are often challenged by the global reach of their supply chains and the possible irresponsible practices inherent along these chains. The possibility of irresponsible practices puts global firms under pressure to protect their brands even if it means assuming responsibilities for the practices of their suppliers. Pressure groups understand this burden on firms and try to take advantage of the situation. This article seeks to challenge the often taken-for-granted-assumption that firms should be accountable for the practices of their suppliers by espousing the moral (and sometimes legal) underpinnings of the concept of responsibility. Except where corporate control and or corporate grouping exist, it identifies the use of power as a critical factor to be considered in allocating responsibility in firm–supplier relationship; and suggests that the more powerful in this relationship has a responsibility to exert some moral influence on the weaker party. The article highlights the use of code of conducts, corporate culture, anti-pressure group campaigns, personnel training and value reorientation as possible sources of wielding positive moral influence along supply chains.     

企业社会责任的法律思考

企业社会责任最初以道德责任的形式出现,后来,一部分企业社会责任逐渐发展为法律责任和软法责任,并同道德责任并存.由于法律责任能够依靠国家强制力保障实现,因而法律责任化后的企业社会责任的实现便变得非常确定.当然,企业社会责任的法律责任化也会受到诸多因素的限制,在条件允许的情况下应尽可能扩大法律责任化的范围.企业社会责任的发生原因、主要机制和发展趋势等问题在理论上值得探讨.     

The Research on the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Common Prosperity

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and common prosperity have the consistency of philosophy and goal. In the process of delivering CSR, enterprises can merge their tangible and intangible assets to realize a positive cycle of sustainable development and common prosperity. Enterprises can also open up space for both commercial and social value by integrating altruism with self-interest, public welfare with utilitarianism, cost with capital, and today's developmentwith tomorrow's development. Indeed, the unification of commercial value and social value can extend pathways to common prosperity and improve common prosperity. By way of the super CSR, enterprises can spread the wealth of their culture and values to society through material products, ethical products, and intergenerational inheritance based on the high compatibility of enterprise high-dimensional culture, enterprise craftsmanship, and enterprise civilizations. They can thus play a leading role in promoting the ethical wealth of the whole of society. Public and private enterprises should maximize their respective advantages in promoting common prosperity of society for realizing the common progress of the people, and should strike a balance between efficiency and fairness.