W. C. Zimmerli, K. Richter, M. Holzinger (eds): Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance
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W. C. Zimmerli, K. Richter, M. Holzinger (eds): Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2007 Patrizio Monfardini
Published online: 13 February 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2009
‘‘Corporations are under fire’’. This is the starting point of the book edited by Walther Zimmerli, Klaus Richter, and Markus Holzinger which provides an interesting collection of different perspectives on corporate ethics and corporate governance, contributed by Authors from diverse schools of thought. Thus, although the issue is not a new one at all, the book is unusual in that it brings together different branches of and approaches to the topic in a single volume. The book is divided into five parts, which are closely interrelated but at the same time offer independent observations on the wide range of topics. The reader is conducted along a path beginning from the individual dimension of business ethics in the introductory section, towards an organisational perspective that regards the role of businesses in society and global corporate ethics. Thus the reader is provided with a complete picture of business ethics in all its dimensions. The aim of the first part is to provide a comprehensive introduction to the relevant concepts dealt with later in the volume. Robert Solomon explains the meanings of the most common terminology in corporate ethics literature in some detail (for a similar analysis see Frankena 1988). By clarifying the differences between ethics and morality, ethos and ethics, egoism and altruism and so on, he provides a useful guide to sometimes misinterpreted concepts, summarizing very important steps in the history of philosophy in only a few pages (Lewis and Unerman 1999). The second chapter, written by Walther Zimmerli and Michael Assla¨nder, is a review of business ethics literature (Werhane and Freeman 1999). Starting from a recognition of the differences existing between business reality and economic rationality, the two Authors claim that economically rational actions do not necessarily lead to the best outcomes for all actors involved (Brickley et al. 2002). It is therefore necessary to develop decision making rules and ethical assessment methods that allow both economic rationality and fair results for the P. Monfardini (&) Department of Business and Social Studies, University of Siena, Siena, Italy e-mail: [email protected]
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agents involved. Business ethics deals with precisely such issues, offering solutions at both individual and organisational levels (Joyner and Payne 2002). The question of responsibility is therefore inherent to the discussion of rationality. But is it responsibility only a matter for individuals or can organisations be considered as moral agents (French 1979)? The chapter offers several useful observations concerning this important dichotomy; first of all different aspects of responsibility emerge from treating organisations as moral persons, and, secondly, ethical systems need to be set up in order to fulfil
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