The Ethical Rational of Business for the Poor – Integrating the Concepts Bottom of the Pyramid,Sustainable Development,and Corporate Citizenship

The first United Nations Millennium Development Goal calls for a distinct reduction of worldwide poverty. It is now widely accepted that the private sector is a crucial partner in achieving this ambitious target. Building on this insight, the ‹Bottom of the Pyramid’ concept provides a framework that highlights the untapped opportunities with the ‹poorest of the poor’, while at the same time acknowledging the abilities and resources of private enterprises for poverty alleviation. This article connects the idea of business with the poor to sustainable development and especially to the notions of inter- and intragenerational justice. These principles of justice can be linked with the ‹Bottom of the Pyramid’ approach directly through the Rawlsian principles to foster holistic thinking. On this basis, the article offers a normative-ethical reasoning of corporations’ possible responsibilities for the poorest of the poor. Today’s state of worldwide inequalities is likely to generate future tensions between the privileged western world and the uncounted mass of poor (let alone the ethical dubiousness of this status). However, it is at the same time problematic if not even impossible to improve the situation of the poor by simply copying the resource intensive western way of living to the ‹Bottom of the Pyramid’ due to the limited carrying capacity of the earth. After highlighting possible moral dilemmas which may occur through such a potential trade off, this article concludes with an outlook on how the concepts ‹Bottom of the Pyramid’ and sustainable development could be combined.     

The Effects of Proximity and Empathy on Ethical Decision-Making: An Exploratory Investigation

The goals of this research were to (1) explore the direct effects of and interactions between magnitude of consequences and various types of proximity – social, psychological, and physical – on the ethical decision-making process and (2) investigate the influence of empathy on the ethical decision-making process. A carpal tunnel syndrome vignette and questionnaire were administered to a sample of human resource management professionals to test the hypothesized relationships. Significant relationships were found for the main effects between magnitude of consequences and principle-based evaluation, cognitive empathy and principle-based evaluation, and empathy and moral intention. Physical proximity moderated the relationships between magnitude of consequences and utilitarian evaluation as well as magnitude of consequences and moral intention. Cognitive empathy moderated the relationships between magnitude of consequences and principle-based evaluation and physical proximity and utilitarian evaluation. Affective empathy marginally moderated the relationship between physical proximity and principle-based evaluation. Future research directions, management implications, and strengths and weaknesses of the research are discussed.     

博弈论视角下的广泛竞争与社会稳定——基于鹰-鸽模型及两个扩展型的分析

鉴于人类社会和动物世界的广泛竞争以及有别于动物世界的人类社会独特的稳定性,通过采用鹰-鸽博弈的基本模型和扩展型,尝试以一种博弈的视角分析这种广泛的竞争性和人类社会独特的稳定性,以证明明晰道德基础(共识)对社会稳定的重要作用。     

课程德育探析

德育分为课程德育和非课程德育,课程德育有自身的特点,是历史现实的必然选择。课程德育是德育的主渠道,要从确立对话式教育模式、更新德育内容、提升教师队伍三方面进行课程德育的构建。     

Redefining Accountability As Relational Responsiveness

The way in which accountability is currently employed in business ethics practice is based on a few central assumptions. It is assumed, for instance, that ethical failures result from the deliberate, rational decision-making of moral agents. A second important assumption is that there is a direct cause and effect relationship between the decisions and actions of individuals and the consequences of those decisions. Furthermore, the current approach towards accountability failures relies on the ability on legal sanctions to deter agents from ethical lapses. This paper will argue that these three assumptions do not survive critical interrogation and that our understanding of accountability therefore has to be reconsidered. It will propose that accountability be reconceived as a relational responsiveness towards stakeholders.     

Occupational Safety and Paternalism: Machan Revisited

In 1987, Machan provided a libertarian case against the right to occupational safety. Since before Machan’s essay appeared, many business ethicists and legal scholars have given considerable attention to the overall position Machan endorses: the acceptance of employment at will and the rejection of employee rights. No one yet has given adequate attention, however, to the fact that Machan’s argument against the right to occupational safety actually stands or falls independently of his overall position on employee rights. His argument ultimately rests on two values: the promotion of employee interests and anti-paternalism. Insofar as those who support the right to occupational safety share those values, they must find a strategy for opposing Machan’s argument that preserves those values. In this paper, I demonstrate why Machan’s argument ultimately rests on the promotion of employee interests and anti-paternalism. Then, I develop an objection to Machan’s argument that preserves those values.     

Accountants’ Value Preferences and Moral Reasoning

This paper examines relationships between accountants’ personal values and their moral reasoning. In particular, we hypothesize that there is an inverse relationship between accountants’ “Conformity” values and principled moral reasoning. This investigation is important because the literature suggests that conformity with rule-based standards may be one reason for professional accountants’ relatively lower scores on measures of moral reasoning (Abdolmohammadi et al. J Bus Ethics 16 (1997) 1717). We administered the Rokeach Values Survey (RVS) (Rokeach: 1973, The Nature of Human Values (The Free Press, New York)) and the Defining Issues Test (DIT) (Rest: 1979, Development in Judgment Moral Issues (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN)) to164 graduating accounting students enrolled in capstone courses at two universities in the Northeastern United States. As potential entrants into the accounting profession, these subjects bring their values and moral reasoning to bear on attitudes and behaviors in the workplace. We find a highly significant inverse relationship between “Conformity” values and principled moral reasoning (i.e., those who prefer Conformity values have lower levels of moral reasoning). However, we also find that accounting students as a group do not prefer Conformity values above other values such as Self-actualization and Idealism, and we find positive relationships between Self-actualization and Idealism values and moral reasoning. Implications for values and ethics research are discussed.An earlier version of this paper was presented at a workshop at Bentley College and we have greatly benefited from participants comments, especially those of Jean Bedard, Marty Howe, James Hunton, Mark Nixon, and Jay Thibodeau.Mohammad J. Abdolmohammadi is the John E. Rhodes Professor of Accountancy at Bentley College. Having interest primarily in behavioral auditing and ethics research, professor Abdolmohammadi has published extensively in Accounting and Business Research, The Accounting Review, Advances in Accounting, Auditing: a Journal of Practice and Theory, Behavioral Research In Accounting, Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Business Ethics, Teaching Business Ethics, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes among others.C. Richard Baker is Professor of Accounting at Adelphi University. His primary research interests are in regulatory, ethical and disciplinary aspects of the public accounting profession. He has published over fifty journal articles in accounting and ethics research.     

德法并举的社会控制新论

在我国建立社会主叉市场经济的今天，建设社会主义法治国家和实施依法治国已成为我国首选的治国方略。然而，人们在强调法治的同时，却叉弱化了道德对社会的引导调节作用。加之，新的社会道德体系还未充分建立起来，使得道德对社会的引导调节功能弱化的问题就更加突出。因此，本文从社会学的角度，阐释了德法结合的必要性和可能性。以期在当前大力实施依法治国的背景下，强化道德对社会的调节和引导作用，加速新的社会道德体系的构建。     

ASPEM as the New Topographic Analysis Tool for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Performance Models Utilization

Quantifying and measuring small firm performance is vital in our understanding of how internationalization influences firm performance. That is also important when attempting to grasp the mechanisms of the internationalization processes. There are few methods used for the evaluation of performance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SMEs). These methods can be either macro or micro economic in nature. Hazard Modeling, Stochastic Models, and Learning Models are examples of macro economic models while Z-Scores, ZETA-Scores, Neural Networks, and the SIV^® model are examples of micro models. Choosing the most suitable performance model is an essential step in order to maximize our knowledge in relation to firm performance. Utilizing SMEs performance measures without thinking about the category of model, will bias the outcome of the majority of SMEs studies. However, using firm performance diverse models in an efficient manner requires strategic thinking. In this paper, we are re-introducing a tool that can accommodate that aspect. Abouzeedan (2002) designated the new tool: the Arena of SMEs Performance Models or an ASPEM diagram. The horizontal axis in the diagram indicates the Information Intensity Requirements of the model. The vertical axis indicates the Coverage Intensity of the model varying from an individual firm up to a whole group of firms. By allocating each of the SMEs performance models, at the suitable region of the ASPEM Diagram, researchers can better build a sound strategy for the application of these methods.     

Universal Moral Values for Corporate Codes of Ethics

How can one establish if a corporate code of ethics is ethical in terms of its content? One important first step might be the establishment of core universal moral values by which corporate codes of ethics can be ethically constructed and evaluated. Following a review of normative research on corporate codes of ethics, a set of universal moral values is generated by considering three sources: (1) corporate codes of ethics; (2) global codes of ethics; and (3) the business ethics literature. Based on the convergence of the three sources of standards, six universal moral values for corporate codes of ethics are proposed including: (1) trustworthiness; (2) respect; (3) responsibility; (4) fairness; (5) caring; and (6) citizenship. Relying on the proposed set of universal moral values, implications are discussed as to what the content of corporate codes of ethics should consist of. The paper concludes with its limitations.