Ethical values as part of the definition of business enterprise and part of the internal structure of the business organization

Journal of Business Ethics

Volumn 17, Issue 9-10, 1998, Pages 1015-1028

  Allinson, Robert E ^a  

^a CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG   (Hong Kong)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0032325846     PISSN: 01674544     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/a:1006063114697     Document Type: Article

References (19)

1. Paul A. Samuelson and William D. Nordhaus, Economics, Twelfth Edition, New York: McGraw Hill, 1980, p. 4.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Donald P. Robin and R. Eric Reidenbach, Business Ethics, Where Profits Meet Value Systems (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1989), p. 7.
8. Ibid., p. 161.
9. Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (ed.) Edwin Cannan (New York: Modern Library, 1937), p. 423. Patricia Werhane has argued in her Adam Smith and His Legacy for Modern Capitalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991, p. viii) that even this quotation of Adam Smiths was intended to be understood as applicable only in the context of a level playing field and a well-defined framework of justice. Cf., also, p. 130 et passim. Thus, Smith cannot be construed to be the patron of robber barons. What is true is that Smith thought that given a just society, the pursuit of self interest inevitably led in the direction of justice for society as a whole. Smith thus conceived of business interests as not merely inevitably linked with ethical interests but as causes of ethical outcomes.
10. Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (ed.) Edwin Cannan (New York: Modern Library, 1937), p. 423. Patricia Werhane has argued in her Adam Smith and His Legacy for Modern Capitalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991, p. viii) that even this quotation of Adam Smiths was intended to be understood as applicable only in the context of a level playing field and a well-defined framework of justice. Cf., also, p. 130 et passim. Thus, Smith cannot be construed to be the patron of robber barons. What is true is that Smith thought that given a just society, the pursuit of self interest inevitably led in the direction of justice for society as a whole. Smith thus conceived of business interests as not merely inevitably linked with ethical interests but as causes of ethical outcomes.
11. Milton Friedman, 'The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits', reprinted in Raziel Abelson and Marie-Louise Friquegnon, Ethics for Modern Life (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987). p. 287. [Originally taken from Friedman's, Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962), p. 133.]
12. Milton Friedman, 'The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits', reprinted in Raziel Abelson and Marie-Louise Friquegnon, Ethics for Modern Life (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987). p. 287. [Originally taken from Friedman's, Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962), p. 133.]
13. For a view which considers Smith to be closer to ethics than Friedman but for different reasons that mine, Cf., Thomas Donaldson, Corporations and Morality (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1982), pp. 62-69.
14. Analects, XV, 23; Chung Yung, ch. 13.
15. Analects, XV, 23; Chung Yung, ch. 13.
16. Hajime Nakamura, 'The Significance of "Harmony" in Buddhist Thought', in Robert E. Allinson and Shu-hsien Liu (eds), Harmony and Strife: Contemporary Perspectives, East and West (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1988, p. 102.16. For a fuller discussion of the Golden Rule, Cf., Robert E. Allinson, 'The Confucian Golden Rule: A Negative Formulation', Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 12 (1985), pp. 305-315.
17. Hajime Nakamura, 'The Significance of "Harmony" in Buddhist Thought', in Robert E. Allinson and Shu-hsien Liu (eds), Harmony and Strife: Contemporary Perspectives, East and West (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1988, p. 102.16. For a fuller discussion of the Golden Rule, Cf., Robert E. Allinson, 'The Confucian Golden Rule: A Negative Formulation', Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 12 (1985), pp. 305-315.
18. Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, p. 429. Cf., KANT'S Critique of Practical Reason And Other Works On the Theory Of Ethics, translated by T. K. Abbott (London: Longmans, 6th Edition, 1963), p. 47.
19. Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, p. 429. Cf., KANT'S Critique of Practical Reason And Other Works On the Theory Of Ethics, translated by T. K. Abbott (London: Longmans, 6th Edition, 1963), p. 47.