Business ethics
• The business case vs. the ethics case
• www.oxymorons.com
• Awareness & decision-making skills
Corporate Social Responsibility:
“CSR is the continuing commitment by
business to behave ethically and contribute to
economic development while improving the
quality of life of the workforce and their
families, as well as of the local community and
society at large.”
World Business Council for
Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
From Friedman to Freeman
• Milton Friedman: ”The social
responsibility of business is to
increase its profit”
• R. Edward Freeman:
”Organizations must take
multiple stakeholder groups into
account”
Stakeholder theory:
• Shareholder perspective: Main focus on
profit, i.e. the companies responsibility
towards its owners.
• Stakeholder perspective: A company
should take all of their stakeholders into
account through a stakeholder dialogue.
Business
CSR
Government
Civil society
Greenwashing/Bluewashing
UN Global Compact
Voice vs. exit?
• Ethical dilemma for
responsible companies:
Withdrawal or influence?
Transparency/Accountability
• Trust me
• Tell me
• Show me