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Learning from History – The Relevance of the History of Business Ethics for the Practice of Business Ethics

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  • Bird, Frederick

Abstract

Why should those currently engaged in business ethics seek a fuller understanding of how others engaged in these practices in the past? This essay addresses this question by reviewing in broad historical strokes three typical expressions of the practices of business ethics: namely, efforts to cultivate fitting virtues, efforts to enhance the ethical problem solving capabilities of businesses, and efforts to establish publically enforceable normative standards/laws. Using seven huge, troubling contemporary ethical crises as a point of reference, the essay concludes by examining ways businesses learn from a critical review of the history of business ethics in order more responsibly to address these issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Bird, Frederick, 2016. "Learning from History – The Relevance of the History of Business Ethics for the Practice of Business Ethics," Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik - Journal for Business, Economics & Ethics, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 17(1), pages 8-36.
    • Handle: RePEc:rai:ethics:doi:10.1688/zfwu-2016-01-bird1
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    History; Ethics; Business; Stakeholders; Corporate Governance; Ethics as Social Practice;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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