Why Companies Must Merge Social and Financial

The Enron affair has produced a flood of books on business ethics. Far too few of them engage fully with the real issues. This one does. The author has produced a definitive guide to the factors that make attention to organizational ethics an imperative in business thinking and to sound practical approaches to dealing with ethical issues.

In the process, she demolishes the sloppy thinking that has surrounded much of the discussion of business ethics, in particular the view that an organization is and should be an amoral entity and the related view that the only ethical duty that a corporation owes is that to maximize the wealth of its stockholders.

Why Companies Must Merge Social and Financial

More important, she establishes clearly that ethical commitment and economic advantage are separate domains, with a degree of overlap that depends on context and timescale. The ethical dimension cannot be absorbed into the financial dimension with the cosy, but often untrue, assertion that 'ethics pays'. There is an area of activity within which ethical and economic considerations run together, but there are areas of activity where they are opposed. If one wants a simplistic assertion to support ethical behaviour, the author suggests that it should be 'ethics counts' rather than 'ethics pays'. The advantage of this formulation is that it establishes the ethical domain as existing in its own right. The author suggests that the two domains are different but complementary and need to be recognized as such.

What are the circumstances in which ethical behaviour and profitable behaviour are most likely to coincide? Read more **

Why Companies Must Merge Social

Why Companies Must Merge Social

Why Companies Must Merge Social

Value Finance Value Shift: Why Companies Must Merge Social and Financial Imperatives to Achieve Superior Performance [Kindle Edition]

In this book Lynn Paine does an excellent job of unravelling and clarifying the complicated issues surrounding business ethics. She convincingly argues that a new definition of business success is emerging, one which includes financial performance but also embraces wider considerations.
A lot of current writing on the topic of corporate social responsibility is based on the vaguely defined concept that "ethics pays". Paine agrees that there are many tangible benefits for companies embracing wider responsibilities, but shows that ultimately an "ethics counts" approach has more to offer. She backs up her perspective with business examples from around the world, and with illuminating philosophical and legal analysis.
I strongly reccommend this book for anyone interested in the future of business.

Why Companies Must Merge Social

Creating Competitive Advantag

Creating Competitive Advantag

Creating Competitive Advantag

 This book gives good introduction and overview of VE/VM methodology. As a manager and lean six sigma practitioner, this book serves its purpose. I can intergrate this with TRIZ and lean product development.

The only problem I have is typos.
Creating Competitive Advantag