An exploration of the interplay between social responsibility, entrepreneurship and the common good which is organized into four sections: business and the common good; educating responsible entrepreneurs; corporate social responsibility (CSR) challenges and the common good; and CSR and entrepreneurship in emerging economies

Is business just a way to make money? Or can the marketplace be a venue for service to others? Scott B. Rae and Kenman L. Wong seek to explore this and other critical business issues from a uniquely Christian perspective, offering up a vision for work and service that is theologically grounded and practically oriented.

Can business activities and decisions be virtuous? This is the first business ethics textbook to take a virtue ethics approach. It explains how virtue ethics compares with alternative approaches to business ethics, such as utilitarianism and deontology, and argues that virtue ethics best serves the common good of society. Looking across the whole spectrum of business—including finance, governance, leadership, marketing and production—each chapter presents the theory of virtue ethics and supports students’ learning with chapter objectives, in-depth interviews with professionals and real-life case studies from a wide range of countries. Business Ethics: A Virtue Ethics and Common Good Approach is a valuable text for advanced undergraduates and masters-level students on business ethics courses.

This book brings together a number of important essays on the intersection of servant leadership and social entrepreneurship, examining them through a shared focus on ‘the will to serve’. This combination bears out the insight that inspiring social and economic leaders are able to transform a conflictual human settlement into a collaborative and caring human community. The book seeks to answer the question of whether we can induce from their ‘way of doing things’ a model of civic entrepreneurship and leadership that can inspire people in profit, non-profit and public organizations. It also examines the extent to which the will to serve is compatible with the will to maximize profit or the will to gain economic, political or religious power. Furthermore, it asks how far different spiritual traditions create different models and examples of servant leadership and social entrepreneurship. This book will be of interest to researchers working in the fields of business ethics, business spirituality and corporate social responsibility.

This book provides an expansive review of the public goods theme and highlights the inherent linkage between sustainable development and corporate responsibility for improving the current and future welfare of communities both at home and abroad. The main proposition here is that sustainable development is focused on preserving and maintaining public goods. Consequently, whoever uses public goods is liable for their preservation, their maintenance, and, where they are underdeveloped, for their expansion. Successful delivery, both now and in the future, depends on a positive relationship of the public sector with the private sector. This book will serve to stimulate discussions of scholars and policy makers in the field of sustainable development with business leaders, and will close the gap between the public and the private sectors by building a common understanding and common methodologies for implementing and measuring sustainable development in the macro- and the micro-spheres.

Globalization and information technology are driving the world into a new era. Is it the responsibility of business to pursue the common good - and more precisely, to participate in the construction of the global common good? This book brings together contributions from various disciplines, written by scholars who are at the forefront of this debate. It provides multiple insights into a tripartite relationship: business, globalization and the common good. It helps explain why the business sphere will probably not be in a position to ignore the common good much longer, and why this latter concept, widely ignored in today's management realm, is likely to become part of tomorrow's corporate policies and practices in the global context. Finally, this work opens up a plethora of avenues for future research, calling for the development of transdisciplinary approaches and for the elaboration of a research program embracing theoretical, empirical and spiritual perspectives to tackle this complex issue.

With funding for nonprofits shrinking and global markets shaky, our business and social sectors are both confronting an increasingly uncertain future. Many organizations are searching for innovative strategies that will counter the mounting pressures felt by communities and corporations alike. Common Interest, Common Good argues that forward-looking businesses and social sector organizations (both nonprofit and government) can solve many of their problems by working together-while serving the common good in the process. According to Shirley Sagawa and Eli Segal, alliances between for-profit and the not-for-profit industries yield enormous benefits for both. Businesses can boost their bottom line by leveraging a nonprofit partnership to enhance their image, reach new markets, increase consumer loyalty, and build a positive reputation with current and prospective employees. The upside is just as powerful for nonprofits, because an alliance with a corporation can provide crucial funds and visibility while helping to attract new volunteers and donors. Common Interest, Common Good showcases many such successful partnerships, from corporate sponsorships and cause-related marketing to employee volunteer programs and school-to-work initiatives. The authors also offer some much-needed guidance for avoiding many of the pitfalls that can undermine even the best alliances. A convincing, deeply felt book by two authors who have devoted much of their careers to helping public and private sectors find profitable new ways of working together, Common Interest, Common Good is a guided tour of the progressive new strategies that can contribute to the purpose of our businesses and the prosperity of our communities.

Because of a management model emphasizing standardization and a one-size-fits-all approach, the previous good health of firms depended on economic performance and maximizing shareholder value. The enduring financial crisis and the ensuing leadership void have forced us all to reconsider the rules of the game and to take into account economic and social factors, in order to address the needs of an unpredictable world. In Uncertainty, Diversity and The Common Good, contributors from leading academic institutions around the World discuss different models of socially responsible global leadership. Their perspectives embrace philosophy; sociology; psychology; ecological and environmental economics; management; and entrepreneurship. Together they explore unpredictability and how being responsible for social as well as economic outcomes requires intelligences that enable managers to adapt and to develop a sustainable, lasting and consistent managerial approach. Working with local communities, integrating minorities, and redistributing wealth, they say, requires a new model of socially responsible leadership that brings together dimensions that are incompatible within existing paradigms. This book indicates what new paradigms might look like, with particular regard to the issue of diversity as an asset with which to confront uncertainty. Case studies tell of leaders working with diversity to create social change and new visions of leadership that are impacting social and cultural norms. This leads to discussion of the nature and diversity of leadership itself which will be helpful to academic researchers and higher level students, as well as policy makers and practitioners.

The basic moral significance of neo-classical economics and the competitive market system it represents is founded on the classical liberal tradition in which the "simple system of natural liberty" is claimed to give expression to the harmony of each with all. Though such a common good would not be the outcome of the intentions of individual agents or state planning, nevertheless, the impersonal forces of a capitalist market would so allocate resources as to lead the self-interested participants in such an economy, as if by an "invisible hand", to a coherent social order of mutual advantage. The papers in this volume critically examine central aspects of the preceding social ethos underlying contemporary political economy and our increasingly globalized market culture. The inquiry is undertaken from a variety of disciplinary perspectives at the intersection of philosophy, economics, political science, sociology, psychology, and computer science.

Meeting the societal effects of demographic change, globalization, digitization and growing social inequality requires collective action on the part of government, civil society and the private sector. But what do businesses offer in developing effective solutions to the challenges we face as a society? The Bertelsmann Stiftung conducted global research on this question for the Reinhard Mohn Prize 2016. The findings presented here are accompanied by contributions from experts on the role of business and entrepreneurship in society. They examine how businesses are integrated into international networks and how they help advance society through social innovations. As a contribution to debates on these issues, this volume offers recommendations for a blueprint of responsible entrepreneurship and a policy framework designed to promote it.