The Morality of Bluffing: A Reply to Allhoff

In a recent paper that appeared in this journal Fritz Allhoff addresses the morality of bluffing in negotiations¹. He focuses on cases in which people misstate their reservation price in negotiations, e.g., suppose that I am selling a house and tell a prospective buyer that $300,000 is absolutely the lowest price that I will accept, when I know that I would be willing to accept as little as $270,000 for the house rather than continue to try to sell it. Allhoff criticizes my (qualified) defense of bluffing in my paper Second Thoughts on Bluffing,² and offers what he takes to be a more plausible defense of bluffing. Allhoffs criticisms rest on several serious misinterpretations of my views. He ascribes to me several arguments that I dont make. He also attributes to me an unqualified defense of bluffing that I explicitly reject. I briefly document this in Section 1. In Sections 2 and 3 I explain and criticize Allhoffs positive views about bluffing and the morality of bluffing.Thomas Carson is professor of philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. He is the author of Value and the Good Life and The Status of Morality. He is the co-editor of Moral Relativism and Morality and the Good Life. He is the author of numerous papers on ethical theory and business ethics and is a member of the editorial board of Business Ethics Quarterly and Journal of Business Ethics. He is currently working on a book entitled Lying and Deception: Theory and Practice.     

Culture's Influence on Business Negotiations in Four Countries

The usefulness of a theoretical model of the determinants of business negotiation outcomes is tested in a simulation with business people from four countries (the United States, Japan, Brazil and Spain). The article is an extension of Graham, Mintu, and Rodgers (1994), and also directly tests Hofstede's and Hall's theories of culture. A problem-solving approach results in higher negotiation outcomes for Americans when their partners reciprocate. Role (buyer or seller) is the key determinant of profits for Japanese negotiations; that is, buyers do better than sellers. For the Spanish negotiators, a problem-solving approach actually yielded lower profits. For the Brazilians, interpersonal attractiveness lead to higher partner satisfaction.     

文化差异对国际商务谈判的影响及对策研究

在全球经济一体化的总框架内,国家间的贸易活动更加频繁,商业关系日益复杂,国际商务谈判成为跨国贸易交往中不可或缺的重要环节。如何能更好地融合不同文化背景的人进行国际商务谈判,解决文化差异将是谈判的一个关键部分。本文首先对关于文化差异对国际商务谈判影响的相关文献进行简单搜集和整理,然后从文化差异产生的原因及类型、文化差异如何影响商务谈判以及相应的应对策略这三个方面进行分析和阐述。     

Competitive Bluffing: An Examination of a Common Practice and its Relationship with Performance

Bluffing, a common and consequential form of competitive behavior, has been comparably ignored in the management literature, even though misleading one’s rivals is suggested to be an advantageous skill in a multifaceted and highly competitive environment. To address this deficiency and advance scholarship on competitive dynamics, our study investigates the moral reasoning behind competitive bluffing and, using a simulated market-entry game, examines the performance effects of bluffing. Findings suggest that decision makers’ views on the ethicality of bluffing competitors differ from their beliefs on the ethicality of misleading other organizational stakeholders. Analysis also indicates that decision makers who view competitor bluffing as more ethical (less unethical) are more willing to engage in competitive bluffing. Finally, while bluffing is often thought to be an effective business practice, results show that in the context of repeated interaction, bluffing is not conducive to high levels of performance and, in fact, can have undesirable consequences.     

Introducing Practical Wisdom in Business Schools

This article echoes those voices that demand new approaches and ‹senses’ for management education and business programs. Much of the article is focused on showing that the polemic about the educative model of business schools has moral and epistemological foundations and opens up the debate over the type of knowledge that practitioners need to possess in order to manage organizations, and how this knowledge can be taught in management programs. The article attempts to highlight the moral dimension of management through a reinterpretation of the Aristotelian concept of practical wisdom. I defend the ideas that management is never morally neutral and that Aristotelian practical wisdom allows the recovery of moral considerations in management practice. I analyze the impact and implications that the introduction of practical wisdom in business schools entails for the conception and objectives of management education. This view reconfigures management education in terms of attention to values, virtues and context. Therefore, management programmes should prepare students to critically evaluate what they hear and to make decisions coherent with their values and virtues. In the final section, I reflect on the pedagogical implications of this approach. I point out that an integrated model of ethics and practical wisdom promotes education of cognition and education of affect as well. I provide an example to illustrate my perspective and to support my conclusions.     

Business Ethics Books: A Bookshop Survey

This paper discusses the extent to which books about business ethics are purchased or read outside of tertiary institutions in Australia, whether the subject is commonly perceived as business, philosophy or both, what range of business ethics books is commonly offered for purchase, and what conclusions might be drawn from the above considerations. Investigation shows that the range and availability of business ethics books is quite limited outside of tertiary institutions, and that the general perception is that business ethics is something which pertains specifically to business rather than to moral philosophy. It is likely that this tends to isolate the subject from philosophy as broadly conceived in the minds of business practitioners.     

Teaching Business Ethics Through Literature

America's economic ideology lacks a vocabulary of ethics. If, as we assume, an economic system requires a moral component for long-term survival, students in business schools must be exposed to a vocabulary of ethics that is consistent with the ideology of capitalism. We present a vocabulary of ethics and describe an approach to teaching business ethics based on business-related classic literature and moral philosophy.     

The Importance of Wa When Doing Business in Japan

ABSTRACT

Japan has a reputation for being a non-litigious society. In Japan, the law and the minutiae of a written contract are not the guiding principles of relationships, but rather something to reluctantly fall back on if business people cannot act reasonably and fairly of their own accord. Under such a view, litigation serves only to make society more confrontational, less harmonious, and less orderly. An examination of the reactions of most Japanese in business settings can yield productive suggestions for those desiring to do business with the Japanese.     

电子商务商业方法专利战略

网络的出现在很大程度上改变了现行的经济运行模式。电子商务在全球范围内迅速发展起来,而商业方法专利也成为人们研究的一个新课题。在论述电子商务商业方法专利的相关理论问题的基础上,分析我国商业方法专利的保护现状,针对目前国外强大的商业方法专利的攻势,我国政府和企业的应对策略之一便是建立电子商务商业方法专利保护法。     

商业方法专利战略研究

随着网络技术和电子商务的迅猛发展 ,出现了一种全新的在网络中进行商业活动的商业方法专利。对于企业来说 ,谁制订了有效的商业方法专利战略 ,谁就能在激烈的市场竞争中处于优势地位。取得商业方法专利会获得丰富的利润回报。企业在制订有效的商业方法专利战略时应着重考虑专利保护、撰写专利权利要求书应注意的事项等问题 ,以使自己在网络环境下的商战中立于不败之地     

Religious belief and international business negotiations: Does faith influence negotiator behaviour?

Religious observance is widespread and continues to influence managerial behaviour in many parts of the world. However, its role in international business negotiations has not received much scholarly attention. This study explores some of the key ways in which religious belief shapes negotiation behaviour. Focusing specifically on the Islamic context, and drawing on interviews with 27 religiously observant Muslim managers in Malaysia, the study found that commitment to a common religion among negotiators positively influenced certain components of the negotiation process through, for example, the use of religious/emotional appeal, which emphasised their ‘spiritual camaraderie’. In some instances, however, we observed something of a paradox, whereby differing religious beliefs among negotiating counterparts were claimed to actually enhance, rather than hinder, negotiations.     

基于区域经济的复合型商务英语人才培养研究

商务英语人才的培养要根据区域特点,本着服务区域经济,满足区域大众需要的原则,积极开设本区域经济、文化发展迫切需要的课程。针对某一区域经济发展现状,明确复合型商务英语人才的本质内涵与社会需求,构建了商务英语人才培养体系,并提出相应的培养措施。     

东亚经济周期与次区域经济周期存在性检验

东亚经济一体化的迅速发展使“东亚经济周期(EABC)研究”的重要性与紧迫性日趋凸现,本文选取10个代表性国家(地区),以实证方法对1970-2004年东亚经济周期进行了相关性检验和聚类分析;得出东亚经济周期存在,NIEs、ASEANs等次区域经济周期存在,地区性大国经济周期独立性较明显,中国与东亚经济周期关联度逐渐加强等结论,分析结果为东亚经济合作进程中出现的诸多现实议题提供了理论支持。     

Ancient Observations on Business Ethics: Middle East Meets West

Drawing on a small sample of writings from distinguished philosophers and poets living in the Middle East in the period from the eighth to the first century BCE, it is shown that a variety of business practices provided familiar examples of how people ought to act and live, morally speaking, to enjoy the best sort of life and to be the best sort of person. The writings reveal that we share a common heritage and humanity with people living 20 to 28 hundred years ago, and that some of the observations are as important and useful today as they were when they were originally made.     

Can Business Ethics be Trained? A Study of the Ethical Decision-making Process in Business Students

The purpose of this paper is to examine the various guidelines presented in the literature for instituting an ethics curriculum and to empirically study their effectiveness. Three questions are addressed concerning the trainability of ethics material and the proper integration and implementation of an ethics curriculum. An empirical study then tested the effect of ethics training on moral awareness and reasoning. The sample consisted of two business classes, one exposed to additional ethics curriculum (experimental), and one not exposed (control). For the experimental group, ethics exercises and discussion relevant to each topic were completed. Findings suggested gender differences such that, relative to other groups, women in the experimental group showed significantly improved moral awareness and decision-making processes. An explanation of the underlying cognitive processes is presented to explain the gender effect.     

电子商务案例分析模型的改进探研

电子商务成功案例的不断涌现,使得越来越多的企业开始关注电子商务,那么如何借鉴那些成功或者失败的电子商务案例的经验和教训,势必需要一个科学的、规范的电子商务案例分析模型。在原有的电子商务案例分析模型的基础上进行研究,提出了改进的分析模型和分析内容。     

批发商业的SWOT分析

随着我国市场经济的建立和发展,批发商业的生存空间发生了巨大变化。大型生产企业建立自己的批发网络已经成为潮流;中小生产企业依赖广泛兴起的批发市场作为销售的主渠道;大中型零售企业的零售与批发兼营;个体批发商无孔不入。由此使批发商业处于来自生产企业与零售企业两方面的“双重挤压”之中,面临着被市场淘汰出局的危险。运用SWOT(战略分析工具)全面分析批发商业,为批发商业彻底走出困境、恢复生机和活力指明道路,必须进行经营战略调整与创新,以适应现代市场经济条件下生产、零售体制变革的要求。     

“商业劳动创造价值”的现代分析

商业劳动包括附带的生产性劳动、纯商业劳动以及管理性、开发性商业劳动,其中开发性商业劳动是最高级的商业劳动。商业劳动能否创造价值需要具体问题具体分析,对经营的单个商品来说,对商业企业的价值总量来说,有创造价值和不创造价值之分;从社会再生产全过程来讲,所有的商业劳动都是创造价值的。因此,"商业劳动创造价值"的命题且具有重大、深远的实践意义。     

我国商法设立营业转让规则的必要

当前商事活动中已经出现了越来越多的营业转让实务样态,国外已有很多营业转让的立法例,而我国目前关于营业转让的规定比较零散、杂乱、不成体系。营业转让所转让的是营业整体,而不着眼于具体的营业财产。由于营业转让的特殊性,民法不能解决营业转让中的全部问题。因此,应在商法上设立营业转让规则,在我国当前讨论制定的《商法通则》中规定营业转让是比较好的方案。