
Contents
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1. Introduction 1. Introduction
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2. Corporate Responsibility and Business Ethics 2. Corporate Responsibility and Business Ethics
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2.1 What is a Corporation? 2.1 What is a Corporation?
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2.2 Corporate Moral Agency 2.2 Corporate Moral Agency
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2.3 Are Corporations Merely Aggregates? 2.3 Are Corporations Merely Aggregates?
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2.4 Corporations as Moral Agents 2.4 Corporations as Moral Agents
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2.5 Are Corporations Moral Persons? 2.5 Are Corporations Moral Persons?
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2.6 Collective Moral Agency 2.6 Collective Moral Agency
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2.7 Collective Moral Responsibility 2.7 Collective Moral Responsibility
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3. Corporate Responsibility 3. Corporate Responsibility
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3.1 The Shareholder Thesis and Moral Minimalism 3.1 The Shareholder Thesis and Moral Minimalism
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3.2 Corporate Responsibility as Role Responsibilities 3.2 Corporate Responsibility as Role Responsibilities
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3.3 Corporate Responsibility and Integrative Social Contracts Theory 3.3 Corporate Responsibility and Integrative Social Contracts Theory
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3.4 Corporate Responsibility and Employee Rights 3.4 Corporate Responsibility and Employee Rights
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3.5 Corporate Responsibility and Stakeholder Theory 3.5 Corporate Responsibility and Stakeholder Theory
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3.6 Corporate Responsibility as Social Responsibility 3.6 Corporate Responsibility as Social Responsibility
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3.7 Corporate Responsibility and the Limits of Minimalism 3.7 Corporate Responsibility and the Limits of Minimalism
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4. Conclusion 4. Conclusion
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References References
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20 Corporate Responsibility
Get accessPatricia H. Werhane is Wicklander Chair in Business Ethics, and Director of the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics, at DePaul University. She formerly taught at the University of Virginia and Loyola University Chicago, and held visiting appointments at Dartmouth, Cambridge, and the University of Canterbury (New Zealand). Professor Werhane has published numerous articles and is the author or editor of thirteen books including Ethical Issues in Business (with T. Donaldson, 6th edn.) (2002), Persons, Rights and Corporations (1985), Adam Smith and his Legacy for Modern Capitalism (1991), and The Business of Consumption (with Laura Westra) (1998), and Moral Imagination and Managerial Decision-Making (1990). Her latest book is Organization Ethics in Health Care, edited with E. Spencer, A. Mills, and M. Rorty (2000).
R. Edward Freeman is Elis and Signe Olsson Professor of Business Administration and Director of the Olsson Center for Ethics, at the Darden School, University of Virginia. He works in the area of business ethics and business strategy. Freeman's books include Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach (1983), Corporate Strategy and the Search for Ethics (1988), and Environmentalism and the New Logic of Business: How Firms Can be Profitable and Leave Our Children a Living Planet(2000). He is the editor of the Ruffin Series of Business Ethics published by Oxford University Press. Mr Freeman has received outstanding teacher awards at the Wharton School, the Carlson School University of Minnesota, and Darden. He has been a consultant and speaker for companies across the world.
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Published:02 September 2009
Cite
Abstract
Given some examples of what appear to be responsible behaviour, this article explores the dimensions of corporate responsibility. It begins by studying the nature of organizations, such as corporations, to determine whether, or in what ways, corporations, like individuals, are morally responsible. It explores the scope of corporate responsibility — to think about what responsibilities corporations have or should have, and whether one can understand those responsibilities as residing in the corporation or in individuals acting on behalf of the corporation. It investigates what factors contribute to corporate moral decision making and how these play a role in corporate responsibility.
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