It is a well-known claim today that pressure on companies to become more responsible in increasing. However, is this based on fact or is merely wishful-thinking? The evidence obtained across nine stakeholder groups in Europe is sobering indeed in the context of globalization and the constant striving for competitiveness. This book provides an honest and in-depth analysis of how stakeholders themselves assess and influence corporate sustainability. It is an eye-opener, both for companies and for the stakeholders.

At this critical time in history, the imperative to reimagine our economies and companies could not be more urgent. Yet division and discord risk undermining our response.

Fortunately, many in the business community are helping to solve our most profound challenges, deploying long-term, purpose-led business models that put people and planet first. The key question has flipped from “Why would you do sustainability?” to “Why wouldn’t you?”

In this paradigm-shifting book, former Unilever CEO Paul Polman and sustainable business guru Andrew Winston provide a model to help leaders build companies that contribute more to the world than they use or take—that is, net positive companies. Net Positive outlines the principles and practices for surviving and thriving based on the experience of one world-leading company, Unilever, and other ground-breaking global organizations.

This essential book is for leaders, executives, managers, and professionals who want to succeed but know that winning requires caring deeply about serving the world.

The authors have conducted extensive research into the role of business in public life, and this book developes the themes of that work. It takes a practice-oriented look at corporate citizenship, and uses real, behind the scenes examples from well-known companies to show that for many firms social responsibility is becoming more integrated into corporate strategy.

Sarah Owen-Vandersluis critically examines approaches to cultural policy within the global economy. This study taps into the growing debate on ethical theory and International Political Economy. It challenges the normative positions of nationalists and welfare economists, before developing an alternative communitarian ethics for cultural policy in a global economy. The study concludes with an examination of the practical implications of this ethics in several case studies.

This book explains why moral beliefs can and likely do play an important role in the development and operation of market economies. It shows why the maximization of general prosperity requires that people genuinely trust others - even those whom they know don't particularly care about them. It then identifies characteristics that moral beliefs must have for people to trust others even when there is no chance of detection and no possibility of harming anyone. It shows that when moral beliefs with these characteristics are held by a sufficiently high proportion of the population, a high trust society emerges that supports maximum cooperation and creativity while permitting honest competition at the same time. The required characteristics are not tied to any specific religious narrative and have nothing to do with the moral earnestness of individuals or the set of moral values. What really matters is how moral beliefs affect the way people think about morality. The required characteristics are based on abstract ideas that must be learned so they are matters of culture, not genes, and are therefore potentially capable of explaining differences in material success across human societies. This work has many theoretical and empirical implications including but not limited to social capital theory and trust-based economic experiments.

This book examines the scriptural concepts that apply to leading and managing people. It begins with a chapter that contrasts leaders, managers, and administrators and the roles they each play. The book then presents the seven virtues from the Beatitudes and how these virtues result in leaders and managers' behaviors. The book then reviews the 15 characteristics of what love is and what love is not from the 1 Corinthians 12 passage. The book presents the four modalities of leaders as conveyed in the Ezekiel 1 and 10 chapters, as well as Revelations 4 where Ezekiel and John describe the four faces of the winged beings. The modalities are described in terms of contemporary leaders interacting with employees in the workplace. A chapter follows, based on the Parable of the Vineyard and how leaders should provide a minimum living wage. The book then compares the wife in Proverbs 31 to a good leader/manager in today's contemporary organization. The book ends with an admonition from Ecclesiastes 3:1 about the need for leaders/managers to step away and not meddle when the leader/manager's role is finished. Throughout the book, composite case examples provide practical application of the concepts to contemporary organizations.

It's not that most businesspeople lack moral convictions. Rather, they tend not to voice them and are inattentive when others do. Dr. Bird sees this behavior as moral silence, deafness, and blindness, and, following this analogy to the senses, he argues that the practice of ethics is a form of communication. Thus, instead of focusing on specific moral issues, Dr. Bird examines the things that stifle communication about moral issues - factors that have a costly impact on business. His book presents a new, alternative view of ethics, in which ethics can be construed as a practical social activity, not a utopian concept to be contemplated in the abstract. With numerous examples and case studies from business life and a logical, sensible analysis of what causes moral silence, deafness, and blindness, Dr. Bird's book will be challenging reading, not only for professionals and academics in various fields of business, but also for their colleagues in philosophy, religion, and the social sciences. The author begins by discussing the nature of moral silence in contemporary business and asks what kind of problem it is. He examines what it means to voice or not voice moral convictions and what it means to be inattentive or deaf to moral issues. He continues the analogy into moral blindness - the problem of not perceiving moral issues clearly. From there he explores the consequences of moral silence, deafness, and blindness and traces their causes to a variety of cultural, individual, and organizational factors, all of them interconnected. The book concludes with a way in which businesspeople and others can understand ethics as a social activity in which everyone can and must participate. Dr. Birdsees the practice of ethics as a form of conversation, a way in which people establish and maintain agreements among themselves, and in doing so help each other overcome their sensory incapacitations. Dr. Bird provides ways in which this can be done, from the use of workshops on interpersonal skills to seminars on conflict resolution - tools and aids that are already prevalent in organizations but that have not, until now, been seen as facilitators of moral awareness and action.

This book focuses on the concepts of social capital, corporate social responsibility, and economic development in relation to economic theory of institutions and behavioural economics. It also takes a macroeconomic and empirical approach, on the relationship between social capital, ethical behaviour and economic development.

The contributors take a hard look at the soft practice of corporate governance. This volume grew out of a series of contributions to the 3rd ISBEE World Congress on Business Ethics that took place in July 2004 in Melbourne.

An incredible forced march of Indian laborers into the steaming Mexican jungle by vicious, madmen labor agents. They are goping to the monterias, the mahogany forest camps where they work as indentured slaves. Many of these human beings will die in these camps by beatings and hanging (depicted in B. Traven's THE REBELLION OF THE HANGED). Along the way, they make their mark against two of these agents who themselves don't survive the march - right, and justly so - the Indians kill them! These Indians of Southern Mexico become another determined group for "land and freedon' by armed struggle in the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Besides "The Rebellion of The Hanged" - "The General From The Jungle" is another novel dealing with the exploitation of the Indians in Mexico. Bruno Traven captures the spirit of these Indians in his writings. These same Indians in the 1990's revolt against the State as the modern day Zapatista's commanded by sub-comandante Marcos. A Coillector's Edition.

This book presents conscious business as a constantly expanding and powerful approach to reinvent and shape organizations in a human and beneficial manner. In particular it examines the core characteristics, main drivers and challenges of conscious businesses in Germany. The book offers a structured overview of the current situation of the concept and outlines important issues that need to be considered in order to make independent decisions. Four case studies of successful conscious companies - differing in terms of their size, industry, legal form and international orientation - reveal concrete best practices and provide evidence for the approach's ability to deliver business paradigms that are simultaneously purposeful and profitable.

Ronald F. Duska, who began his career as a philosopher, has, over the last 30 years, established himself as one of the leading scholars in the field of business ethics. In the past decade, he has concentrated on ethics in the financial services industry because of his affiliation with The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, an institution that specializes in educating financial services professionals. This affiliation gives Duska regular interaction with producers, managers, and top executives in the financial services industry. This book includes a selection of the articles Duska has written throughout the years on ethics, business ethics, teaching ethics, agency theory, postmodernism, employee rights, and ethics in accounting and the financial services industry. The articles reflect Duska's underlying philosophical concerns and their application to the real-world challenges of practitioners.

Lapses in the ethical behavior of individuals can seriously and permanently affect the moral health of an organization. In "Organizations and Ethical Individualism," Kolenda's edited volume, this complex problem is treated from a multi-dimensional, interdisciplinary approach; each author considers organizational life from his own professional perspective while maintaining the focus on ethical individualism. This format allows for wide-angled coverage and will thus be useful to a broad range of readers: professionals and students of philosophy, professional ethics, business ethics, social psychology and the sociology of values will all find this an informative and valuable source.

Most ethical categories are based upon philosophical concepts rather than scientific laws. The truth can be known with theanthropic ethics, which understands theology as a scientific discipline. By using this approach, author Brian Keen, president of the Ethics Institute, describes a method for applying professional ethical standards using scientific methodologies. Individuals can use this approach to become successful, and businesses can apply these concepts in preparation of achieving a Certified Ethical Enterprise status. Keen considers what the nature of the universe's creator, the Bible, and competing religious ideas mean for humanity and individuals, exploring along the way what thinkers such as Martin Luther, John Calvin and others said about the nature of God. Other topics include the life of Jesus, the study of ethereal beings, anthropology, the study of sickness, and more. Determine the difference between truths and lies and answer any ethical dilemma with a detailed study of religion. Start achieving your goals with "Power Living Through Science."

While the field of management has developed as a research discipline over the last century, until the early 1990s there was essentially no acknowledgement that the human spirit plays an important role in the workplace. Over the past twenty years, the tide has begun to turn, as evidenced by the growing number of courses in academia and in corporate training, and an exponential increase in the publications emerging through creative interaction of scholars and practitioners in organizational behaviour, workplace diversity, sustainability, innovation, corporate governance, leadership, and corporate wellness, as well as contributions by psychotherapists, theologians, anthropologists, educators, philosophers, and artists. This Handbook is the most comprehensive collection to date of essays by the preeminent researchers and practitioners in faith and spirituality in the workplace, featuring not only the most current research and case examples, but visions of what will be, or should be, emerging over the horizon. It includes essays by the people who helped to pioneer the field as well as essays by up and coming young scholars. Among the questions and issues addressed: * What does it mean to be a "spiritual" organization? How does this perspective challenge traditional approaches to the firm as a purely rational, profit-maximizing enterprise? * Is faith and spirituality in the workplace a passing fad, or is there a substantial shift occurring in the business paradigm? * How does this field inform emerging management disciplines such as sustainability, diversity, and social responsibility? * In what ways are faith and spirituality in the workplace similar to progressive and innovative human resource practices. Does faith and spirituality in the workplace bring something additional to the conversation, and if so, what? The aim of The Handbook of Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace is to provide researchers, faculty, students, and practitioners with a broad overview of the field from a research perspective, while keeping an eye on building a bridge between scholarship and practice.

This book proposes a critical analysis of the new corporate responsibilities in a globalizing world. It is built around the creative and entrepreneurial power of the business firm and the new opportunities and challenges offered by science and technology, globalization and deregulation. Rather than focusing on tools, techniques and existing practices, it is the first to offer a conceptual and critical analysis of the new trend towards Corporate Social Responsibility. It argues that the legitimacy of the corporation will depend more and more on the contribution it wants to bring to our transition towards sustainable development.

What effect does creativity have on individuals, groups and societies, and on the fundamental values on which they base their actions and institutions? What constitutes good and evil, right and wrong, and how does creativity disrupt these beliefs? 'The Ethics of Creativity' brings together an impressive collaboration of thinkers from several countries and disciplines to illuminate the thorny issues that arise when novel ideas and products brought forth by creativity collide with the rules and norms of what we believe to be right or good.

This study explores the relationship between social characteristics of scientists and the interpersonal sharing of technological knowledge. The findings illuminate attributes of reputation conducive to the voluntary transfer of timely, relevant, technological knowledge among individual R&D scientists in the same multidivisional, multinational firm.

This book tackles the ethical problems of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" (4IR) and offers readers an overview of the ethical challenges connected to Artificial Intelligence (AI), encryption and the finance industry. It specifically focuses on the situation of females in these industries, from women lawyers, judges, attorneys-at-law, investors and bankers, to portfolio managers, solicitors and civil servants. As the 4IR is more than "just" a technology-driven transformation, this book is a call to policymakers and business leaders to harness new technologies in order to create a more inclusive, human-centered future. It offers many practical cases of proactive change agents, and offers solutions to the ethical challenges in connection with implementing revolutionary disruptive products that often eliminate the intermediary. In addition, the book addresses sustainable finance in startups. In this context, education, training, agility and life-long learning in financial literacy are some of the key solutions highlighted here. The respective contributors supply a diverse range of perspectives, so as to promote a multi-stakeholder approach.

The book is divided in 3 sections, each containing several chapters: Section 1 includes chapters that identify and discuss several ethical issues along the food chain, with particular detail of issues in the food industry and in consumer behavior; Section 2 includes chapters that present the basis of a code of conduct in the food profession as well as the description of existing codes of conduct of food industry and food scientist professionals, including ethics of publishing, and also ethics in risk communication; Section 3 includes chapters based on case studies with examples of teaching approaches currently used in teaching food ethics, easy to implement and already tested and confirmed as successful examples that engage students in this topic. Although professional ethics in food supply chain is claimed as an essential topic to be addressed in any degree program, few higher education institutions that currently include a module on ethics in their study programs. In g eneral, it is argued that ethics is a topic addressed along the curriculum and embedded in the contents of the modules. However, ethics, for its importance, needs a different teaching and educational approach, and this book achieves that..

In recent years it has been recognised that stronger environmental regulation of trade and industry has been required. Both the US and European Union have put in place new stringent controls on business. This coupled with increased public pressure has meant that companies now have to pay greater attention to environmental issues. This is especially true as the public perception of a company will affect greatly its share price.

This book describes the issues surrounding business practice and the environment, both for corporate directors and for investors.