Why Firms Should Not Always Maximize Profits

Though corporate social responsibility (CSR) is on the agenda of most major corporations, corporate executives still largely support the view that corporations should maximize the returns to their owners. There are two lines of defence for this position. One is the Friedmanian view that maximizing owner returns is the social responsibility of corporations. The other is a position voiced by many executives, that CSR and profits go together. This article argues that the first position is ethically untenable, while the latter is not supported by empirical evidence. The implication is that there may be good reason for firms to deviate from a maxim of profit maximization. Ivar Kolstad is Senior Researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI). He is the head of the CMI Human Rights Programme, and the coordinator of the institute programme Business Ethics for Multinational Corporations in Developing Countries. He has published internationally on the topics of social norms and development economics.     

Why Corporations Should Not Abandon Social Responsibility

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, in his recent book Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life (2007), rejects outright the call for increased corporate social responsibility. He believes that social responsibility advocates are wasting resources and efforts on a doomed project. This article suggests that while Reich raises several interesting concerns in his counter-intuitive book, especially about the rise in corporate political power, ultimately his argument is unconvincing. Worse yet, a careful reading suggests that Reich does not contemplate fully what it is he is asking business and society to give up in his call to jettison corporate social responsibility. The notion of corporate social responsibility is itself an extremely, valuable, and hard-won social asset. It is a vehicle for promoting transparency, more nuanced accountability, integrity, better communication, mutually beneficial exchange, and sensible development. In providing a language and vocabulary to critique business from both inside and outside its boundaries, it has becomes a necessary condition for business ethics and modern capitalism. It is especially important in a world of increasing global economics. Nevertheless, it is an extremely fragile asset. Books, like Reich’s Supercapitalism, that dismiss corporate social responsibility in such a facile way, are dangerous and risky in ways that perhaps even the authors themselves are unaware.     

Why Markets in Proto-Deceptive Goods Should Be Restricted

In recent years there has been much philosophical discussion over the question of whether the prohibitions on markets in such items as human body parts and gene sequences, and services such as human reproductive labor and sex, should be lifted. Yet despite the attention paid to this issue there are been surprisingly little discussion of the question of whether markets in certain items that are currently freely traded should be restricted or eliminated. In particular, there has been little discussion of the question of whether markets in items that could be readily used to deceive people should be restricted. I argue in this paper that one of the central moral values of the contemporary West – respect for personal autonomy – requires that such markets be restricted.     

Why Agents for Automated Negotiations Should Be Adaptive

We show that adaptive agents on the Internet can learn to exploit bidding agents who use a (limited) number of fixed strategies. These learning agents can be generated by adapting a special kind of finite automata with evolutionary algorithms (EAs). Our approach is especially powerful if the adaptive agent participates in frequently occurring micro-transactions, where there is sufficient opportunity for the agent to learn online from past negotiations. More in general, results presented in this paper provide a solid basis for the further development of adaptive agents for Internet applications.     

政府采购不应强制买国货

现在产业界和学术界都有一股强音,要求政府采购强制买国贷,嫌政府采购法第十条关于政府采购应当采购国货的条款不够具体,不够严格。还有人建议加紧制定买国货专门法规,把政府采购和自主创新挂钩。     

There Should Be More Advertising

A world without advertising would be a world in which economic choices were made as rationally and efficiently as solicitors, for example, are chosen by the general public—with a pin. The best way to appreciate the benefits of advertising, argues the author, is to follow through the impact that advertising would have on a market in which it is not, at present, allowed, such as the market for legal advice in the UK.     

高职教学改革应该正确处理八大关系

高职院校要培养社会所需要的高技能专门人才,应当依据教育规律和高技能专门人才成长规律深化教学改革,并在教学改革中正确处理成人与成才、培养"专业通才"与个性发展、理论教学与实践教学、通识课程与专业课程、教师与学生、第一课堂与第二课堂、学历教育与考证、学校与社会等八大关系.     

“We Are Friends to Enterprises”

Old name,new born As a matter of fact,Shanghai Pudong Chamber of International Commerce(Shanghai Pudong CCOIC) is very young,as young as we could call it a new born. In the aim of serving for member enterprises,Pudong CCOIC was founded on April 28 last year.However,the name of Pudong CCOIC is as long as Pudong CCPIT."In the past years,the Pudong CCOIC was just a name. We mixed the function of CCOIC and CCPIT together. But the world develops so rapidly that it requires us to head for a professional servic...     

Business Should Be Its Own Therapist: Observing the "Governance Ethics" of Taiwanese Enterprises

Taiwanese enterprises generally display a tacit acceptance and practice of globally-recognized business ethics such as the respect of human rights. Yet some Taiwanese business supervisors subscribe instead to a philosophy of leadership, dubbed "pseudo-harmony", which actively seeks to evade responsibility and any conflict of interest with profitability. Meanwhile other Taiwanese entrepreneurs are even less enlightened, dictatorially upholding self-serving regimes which operate on a philosophy which is euphemistically referred to as "householder management".These attitudes result in the sub-optimal development of "organizational democratization" within Taiwanese enterprises and hi-light the fragility of "ethical leadership" in Taiwan. There is a strong argument, therefore, that Taiwanese business needs to become both its own analyst and therapist if it is to enhance its "governance ethics". Only this way can the nation's enterprises evolve their ethical responsibilities to stakeholders and sustain their competitiveness in a global market that increasingly demands an adherence to ethical standards.     

生死麦加城

沙特阿拉伯境内的麦加城是伊斯兰教最重要的圣城。相传公元610年先知穆罕默在城郊希拉山洞受到安拉的启示，在此开始传播伊斯兰教。公元630年，穆罕默德攻克玫加并清除克尔白神殿中的偶像后，遂成为全世界穆斯林朝觐瞻仰的圣地。按照伊斯兰教教义的规定，对于任何身体和经济善允许的信秆来说，一生至少应去圣城麦加朝觐一次。这是伊斯兰教     

When and Why Usury Should be Prohibited

Usury ceilings seem indefensible. Their opponents insist these caps harm the consumers they are intended to help. Low ceilings are said to prevent the least advantaged agents from accessing legal credit and drive them into the black market, where prices are higher and collection methods are harsher. But in this paper, I challenge these arguments and show that the benefits of interest-rate limitations in the most expensive credit markets clearly outweigh the costs. The test case is payday lending. Deregulated pricing in this market produces negative externalities that justify usury restrictions. Unless prices are capped, the more solvent majority of borrowers is compelled to cross-subsidize the least solvent debtors, who have a high rate of default. Rationing the riskiest debtors out of this market by means of a moderate usury cap puts an end to this unfairness and produces fewer bad consequences than the advocates of deregulated pricing recognize. I argue that only an extreme principle like maximizing the minimum could justify a free market in payday credit.     

Non-registered Trademarks Should Not Be Protected: Protection of Non-registered Trademarks as Viewed in the Little Fat Sheep Case

Many reports are positive comments on the case,arguing that the protection of the nonregistered famous service mark, the Little Fat Sheep,should be under the same protection for a registered well-known trademark and holding that the Little Fat Sheep Corporation is entitled to the exclusive right to use the LITTLE FAT SHEEP trademark.     

Non-registered Trademarks Should Not Be Protected: Protection of Non-registered Trademarks as Viewed in the Little Fat Sheep Case

Many reports are positive comments on the case,arguing that the protection of the nonregistered famous service mark, the Little Fat Sheep,should be under the same protection for a registered well-known trademark and holding that the Little Fat Sheep Corporation is entitled to the exclusive right to use the LITTLE FAT SHEEP trademark.……     

Seven Issues Should Be Focused on Investment

According to the investment situation of the first half of this year, under macro-control of the central government, the super high-speed investment momentum in the first half of this year was controlled and some overheated industries were becoming normal. Influenced by many positive factors, the targets of macro-control as expected will be achieved. However, in order to further settle this policy and realize the economic soft-landing, the following seven issues should be focused on.     

座谈会需注意的一些细节问题

座谈会要求一些彼此不熟识的人在特定的时间聚集到一起就某一问题展开深入讨论,由此可见组织场座谈会是一个复杂的系统工程,需要调配好各个方面资源,并且要在一些细节问题上必须引起足够的重视。“细节决定成败”不应该只是作为口号,应该在实际工作中予以具体体现,本文结合笔者     

人口学要坚守自己的话语权

新世纪 ,新千年 ,我们为我国步入低生育水平国家行列、人口控制工作取得举世瞩目的成就而欢欣鼓舞的同时 ,却发现我国的人口学发展正处于一种“尴尬”的境地。有人认为人口学研究处于“萎缩”的趋势 ,也有人认为人口学研究面临“第二个春天”。我们常常说人口学不等于计划生育 ,那么 ,人口学到底是一门什么样的科学 ?人口学是朝阳学科还是夕阳学科 ?我国的人口学研究到底该如何发展 ?这些都是我们每一个从事人口学研究工作的人需要认真思考的问题。2 0 0 1年 9月 2 4日 ,《市场与人口分析》编辑部在北京大学交流中心组织召开了“中国人口学现状、问题与发展”学术论坛。来自北京大学、中国人民大学、清华大学、中国人口信息研究中心、中国社会科学院、首都经济贸易大学、中国人口学会等教学与研究机构的 2 0多位人口专家应邀参加了座谈。这是新世纪关于我国人口科学发展问题的首次专题学术研讨会。会上有鲜明的观点 ,有激烈的争论。与会者认为是近年来不可多得的一次富有学术和争辩气氛的研讨会。本编辑部现将会上发言整理成文并按发言次序摘要刊登。刊登时除努力表达清楚作者的观点和认识外 ,还尽可能地保留了作者发言时的语气。本编辑部热切希望能通过论坛这一形式 ,一方面尽可能地表达诸多学者从不同     

确立以人为本的人口与发展

随着社会经济的发展,人们的生育意愿已经发生了重大转变,生育政策的约束已经不是主导人们生育行为的首要因素.要尊重人口发展的内在规律和多年实践得出的经验成果.在提倡以人为本的今天,国家应该立即广泛推行二孩生育政策.     

人口学要坚守自己的话语权

当写下这个题目的时候,我格外怀念北大老校长、我尊敬的浙江老乡马寅初先生.正是因为马老先生在1957年发表<新人口论>而因言获罪泰山压顶之际仍坚守了自己风韵独标的话语权,才给人口学界留下了光耀千秋、最可骄傲的一笔财富.在世纪之交的时候来讨论人口学的未来是很有意义的,因为不同的学格取向在很大程度上决定着学科的命运.在我看来,中国人口学的未来就在于直面事实的同时能够始终坚守自己的话语权.     

和谐社会应当是公平社会

和谐社会应当是公平社会。公平社会体现在政治法律、经济社会、教育卫生等各个方面。目前我国还存在着一些不公平的问题。这些问题的产生有复杂的原因，如政策导向、制度漏洞、体制弊端等等。社会不公有很多危害，如扩大贫富差距、引发社会危机、影响政权稳固等。解决社会不公问题的关键是深化各项改革，尤其是政治体制改革。