This book points to a necessary relationship between ethics and business; the success of such an alliance depends directly on sound business leadership. Without the sort of leadership that upholds the dignity and rights of employees and clients, as well as the interests of shareholders, even the most meticulously prepared ethics statements are destined to founder, as evidenced at Enron and elsewhere. Over the past 30 years or so, since business ethics became established as a discipline in its own right, much progress has been made in the ethical conduct of business at all levels. In short, business people, like politicians, doctors and church leaders, have come to realize that it is not possible to avoid involvement in ethics, for much of what business people do and cannot do may be subject to ethical evaluation. While the history of business ethics as currently practised may be traced to the medieval and ancient periods; our principal concern is with developments in the ?eld over recent decades. A consideration of how the topic has been treated by the Harvard Business Review, the business world'sleadingprofessionaljournal,provideshelpful insights into past progress and present challenges. In 1929, just as business ethics was beginning to evolve, Wallace B.

This book seeks to contribute to a more adequate coalescence of ethics and business with innovative models for such coalescence, for the mutual benefit of business ethicists, professors teaching in the undergraduate and MBA classroom, corporate executives, and businesspeople. While each of the contributions in this collection is distinct, each invites us to examine our own mind sets about corporate responsibility and the future of free enterprise as Western multinational corporations expand into a global economy. The world has become a 'village' and what were once thought of as externalities can no longer be dismissed as not part of the decision equation in business ventures. The alleged separation of business from ethics can no longer be a viable approach, if it ever was, as companies move into alien cultures and affect, both positively and sometimes questionably, traditional, non-western and nonindustrial mores of local communities. Globalization has challenged our parochial management thinking. This collection of essays helps to refocus our conceptual work about commerce and business practices in this new century of global enterprise.