300026 The moral corporation (english) (S) (SoSe 2007)

The seminar's ambition is to present, discuss and reflect upon problems of the logic and rationality of globalized corporations within the context of a world economy. The guiding question is: How are these organizations to handle the demands for social responsibilities and ecological accountability that are raised from various actors in global policy making?

Structure:

• Rationality of economic action
• Is there a moral corporation?
• Case: Triple bottom line accounting

Seminar Plan:

5.4. Introduction: prerequisites, seminar presentations, term papers etc.

Basic terms and concepts

12.4. The logic of the global corporation
(Scholte 2005)
19.4. Governing the global economy
(Willke 2007: ch. 1-2)
26.4. Capitalism and moral values
(Lal 2003)
3.5. The role of morals in global contexts
(Willke 2007: ch. 7)

The moral corporation?

10.5. Is there a moral corporation?
(Palazzo and Scherer 2006)
24.5. The moral corporation II
(Palazzo and Scherer 2006)
31.5. Critique of the moral corporation
(Willke and Willke 2007)
14.6. Critique of the moral corporation II
(Willke and Willke 2007)
21.6. The role of morals in corporate governance
(Scherer, Palazzo and Baumann 2006)
28.6. Case: Triple bottom line accounting
(Norman and MacDonald 2004)

Reflexion

5.7. The prospects of the moral corporation
(Norman and MacDonald 2004)
12.7. Consequences for global governance

Requirements for participation, required level

A passion for arguing, thinking and learning. Basic knowledge in theories of society and theories of the political system.

Bibliography

Lal, Deepak. 2003. "Private morality and capitalism: Learning from the past." Pp. 41-60 in Making globalization good. The moral challenges of global capitalism, edited by John Dunning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Norman, Wayne, and Chris MacDonald. 2004. "Getting to the bottom of "Triple Bottom Line"." Business Ethics Quarterly:1-19.
Palazzo, Guido, and Andreas Georg Scherer. 2006. "Corporate legitimacy as deliberation: A communicative framework." Journal of Business Ethics 16:71-88.
Scherer, Andreas Georg, Guido Palazzo, and Dorothée Baumann. 2006. "Global rules and private actors: Toward a new role of the transnational corporation in global governance." Business Ethics Quarterly 16:505-532.
Scholte, Jan. 2005. "The sources of neoliberal globalization." United Nations Reserach Institute for Social Development. Overarching Concerns. Prgramme Paper Number 8. October 2005. Available at www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/bwi-wto.
Willke, Helmut. 2007. Smart governance. Governing the global knowledge economy. Frankfurt und New York: Campus.
Willke, Helmut, and Gerhard Willke. 2007. "Corporate moral legitimacy and the legitimacy of morals: A critique of Palazzo/Schere's communicative framework." Journal of Business Ethics 67.