It is the nature of powerful ideas that they can summarize a ground-breaking concept in a plain and simple message. In this sense, the concept of sustainability is one such idea. It translates into a compelling orientation towards the future. It is this orientation towards the future that is...

Drawing on an ordonomic approach, this paper argues that a theory of global justiceshould incorporate as a pivotal cornerstone a theory of corporate citizenship whichconstructively addresses business firms as agents of social value creation. We arguethat, instead of relying exclusively on...

This paper argues that the perspective of ordonomic—a rational-choice based analysis of (interdependencies between) social structure and semantics—can provide new insights into the changing role of business in society. We claim (a) that the proper role of business is societal value creation,...

At the start of 2007, the newly founded academic network of the United Nations Global Compact (GC) assigned an international task force to work out guidelines for integrating the GC principles into university management education in business ethics. The results of this task force were given to...

The United Nations Global Compact (GC) is an international learning network thatlinks companies with United Nations agencies, labour and civil society. Neither aregulatory regime nor a voluntary code of industry conduct, it is a unique contribution to the process of global governance, where the...

Empirically, responsibility is a concept increasingly made use of in order to address societal issues. At the same time, it is a concept mainstream economics has, so far, hardly touched on. The paper shows that the application of economic reasoning to the responsibility concept can instruct a...

Based on economic ethics, this paper reflects on and aims to improve the semantics of responsibility. The traditional concept of responsibility is threatened with erosion when responsibility is attributed to an actor who is unable to exercise individual control over the outcome of his actions....

Economic ethics is a research program that employs instruments of economic analysis in order to reflect upon problems of morality, e.g. the legitimization of market and state in shaping individual conduct. From the perspective of economic ethics, this paper examines the concept of social...

The concept of "sustainability" deals with a moral concern. The pursuit of sustainability is aimed at building a society which is worth living in, now and in times to come. In this, two dimensions have to be considered: a longitudinal dimension of time spanning several generations, and a...

We ask how normative statements are possible within an economic theory framework that recognises the importance of institutional arrangements. Instead of applying established outcome-oriented criteria of social welfare, we examine whether the rules of economic interaction allow the acquisition...