Visions of Ethical Business 3 - Softcover

Malcom McIntosh

Softcover

ISBN 10: 087778468X ISBN 13: 9780877784685

Publisher: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2000

Synopsis

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"Just as we, as human beings, are asked about our 'human character' , enterprises should be asked about their 'corporate character'. In other words, they are also bound by ethics, morality, ideas and philosophy as corporate citizens." -Mitsuko Shimomura, Journalist and President of Asahi Shimbun Foundation-
The debate about the role of business in society, local and global, is both ongoing and sometimes savage, some people and businesses seeing any discussion about corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship as a distraction from the real business of business- to produce goods and services that society wants and to make money. The dialectic of shareholder (or stockholder) value versus stakeholder value, which occupies much political and academic space, grossly over simplifies the issue involved. Business does not operate in vacuum and it is not separate from society's values. Its leaders share the rest of humanity's values even if they do sometimes act as though they have a God-given right to behave as if they are working from another script from the rest of us.
This third edition of Visions of ethical business features three men and three companies that have enormous power and vast wealth. It is to their credits that they are willing, to some small degree, to stand up and be held accountable.
Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Sir John Browne and Sir Robert Wilson respectively run the Royal Dutch/ Shell Group, BP and Rio Tinto Plc and have been subjected over the last few years to a torrent of criticism about their activities around the world. In Visions of ethical business, they write of the nature and the definition of corporate citizenship.
John Brown defines corporate citizenship in BP's term-
"Corporate citizenship is about commitment and engagement in areas of real difficulty and public controversy where society has problems and where solutions are not readily apparent - the global natural environment, for instance, or human rights, or the use of child labour, or the legal and tax framework within each international companies have to operate in many transition societies."
He is echoed by Mark Moody-Stuart who puts his company's case-
"In Shell, we believe that a responsible business must operate on the basis of core global values. It should listen to society's messages, justify its legitimacy in the eyes of societies and opinion leaders, and regulate itself effectively and openly."
Robert Wilson from Rio Tinto argues-
"Over the last few years there has been a flourishing of interest in the concepts of corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship. This is a welcome trend as I believe responsible behaviour is essential for the creation of long-term shareholder value... A key idea behind all these initiatives is that responsible behaviour makes good business sense. This is undoubtedly true, At Rio Tinto, we have found that maintaining the trust of local communities is essential for the long-run success of our operations. A sound reputation on ethical issues also helps us to recruit and to retain high-calibre employees."
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About this title

Synopsis

Over the last few years there has been a flourishing interest in the concepts of corporate social responsability and corporate citizenship. This edition of Visions of ethical business features Sir Mark Moody -Stuart of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Sir John Browne of BPand Sir Robert Wilson of Rio Tinto plc who share with us their visons of "Corporate Citizenship".

Edition details

• Publisher: Financial Times Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 087778468X
• ISBN 13: 9780877784685
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English