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Seen as a robust defence of a traditional property rights view of the company and of business, it provides a very clear statement of the practical principles which inform that view ... [Sternberg's] account does demonstrate how the doctrine of shareholder value can be connected to a traditional view of the company, and how the concept of ownership remains critical for understanding questions of accountability and business ethics. (Corporate Governance )
The arrival of a new book on business ethics that has something valuable to say is such a rare event as to be worth celebrating ... The volume in question is Just Business ... companies would be more profitable, the gross national product higher, and standards of behaviour better in a country where every manager read Just Business and took it to heart. (Sir Samuel Brittan, Financial Times )
Just Business is clear, readable and witty ... it may become a standard text before long ... deserves to be read by everyone with an interest in business ethics, whether teacher, student or business professional. (Philosophical Quarterly )
Business ethics can be a contentious field, and there are not many good guides. This book offers a model for resolving a set of business ethical issues. (Bookwatch )
The arrival of a new book on business ethics that has something valuable to say is such a rare event as to be worth celebrating ... The volume in question is Just Business ... companies would be more profitable, the gross national product higher, and standards of behaviour better in a country where every manager read Just Business and took it to heart. (Sir Samuel Brittan, Financial Times )
Just Business is clear, readable and witty ... it may become a standard text before long ... deserves to be read by everyone with an interest in business ethics, whether teacher, student or business professional. (Philosophical Quarterly )
Business ethics can be a contentious field, and there are not many good guides. This book offers a model for resolving a set of business ethical issues. (Bookwatch )
Philosophical Quarterly
"Just Business is clear, readable and witty...it may become a standard text before long...deserves to be read by everyone with an interest in business ethics, whether teacher, student or business professional."
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Chapter 3, The Business of Ethics, starts by eliminating q variety of dispensations that are normally claimed to justify unethical conduct in business. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Chapter 3, The Business of Ethics, starts by eliminating q variety of dispensations that are normally claimed to justify unethical conduct in business. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Business ethics ought to be a fascinating subject, and it is certainly one of the hottest topics today, but the literature in the field rarely lives up to its intrinsic interest. This book is a notable exception. It is very well thought out, clearly written and very readable. It is also sufficiently brief (300 pages including notes) that even a harassed commuter like myself can manage to finish it within a week! For most of its intended readership (students and practitioners of business) this is an important consideration.
Dr Sternberg argues that business ethics is not an oxymoron, but rather is central to both the concept of business, and the operation of real businesses. She carefully distinguishes the core of business ethics, from woolly notions of "ethical business". She argues that business ethics consists in maximising long term owner value, subject to ordinary decency and distributive justice. Decisions which do not conform to this trio of norms are "teleopathic", that is, they are strictly nothing to do with business, and contrary to the interests of businesses and their owners.
She applies these principles in fascinating studies of the ethics of personnel management, corporate finance, and corporate governance. Her many years of experience in international finance are invaluable here - as is her training as a philosopher. An unusual combination, but one which stands her and her readers in very good stead.
I recommend this book very highly to people in business, to philosophers interested in ethics generally, and to the interested general reader: Just Business will remove many confusions, and deserves to have a wide influence.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Elaine Sternberg makes the reader angry, at least if she/he is the type that thinks that social and environmental responsibility is important for businesses. She starts by defining the purpose of the business as maximising long-term owner value by selling products or services. That sounds like a return to the age of robber capitalists. All comes good in the end. To this definition is later added that this maximisation should be done respecting ordinary decency and distributive justice. Ordinary decency stands for honesty and fairness. Distributive justice is the principle of Aristotle that people should be rewarded according to the contribution they make to reach the objective. Some companies like Shell use the word "responsibly" instead of common decency and distributive justice. The advantage is that it is shorter and also covers careless decision-making. I consider careless decision-making also as unethical.She makes her definition totally acceptable by pointing out that companies have to take into consideration the expectations of society. If society expects businesses to become "green", active in community development, if ethical investment becomes an important factor, management is perfectly justified to take that into consideration. If they do not they are neglecting long-term owner value. Mind you, she only thinks it is justified to consider these factors if it has an impact on long-term owner value. The book attacks fuzzy thinking and do-good actions for the sake of being good. Businesses are not charities. Once you overcome the initial irritation the book presents the clearest thinking about what a business is and what its objectives should be I have so far come across. One of the advantages of Elaine Sternberg is that she is a "professional" philosopher with business experience.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book will provide you both mental and physical exercise: mental exercise through identifying the gaping flaws in Ms Sternberg's arguments; and physical exercise because you will probably wants to leap up after every page and shout "No you got that wrong , too!"
Cloaking outrageous statements in quotations from Aristotle in order to gull the innocent reader is no substitute for proper argument proceeding from premise through logical exposition to justified conclusion. Her method of constructing an argument --throwing out "facts" from which she then produces flimsy conclusions, like drawing rabbits out of a hat -- indicates that she has completely missed the point of Aristotle's teleological approach..
You get there in the end -- but not by following and agreeing with Ms Sternberg, only by sorting out your own arguments from her flawed ones as presented in this poor book.
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