The Corporation, Ethics, and the Environment

by W. Michael Hoffman, Robert Frederick, Edward S. Petry Jr.

Overview

For the past few years, a growing chorus of concern has been raised over the way humanity is mistreating the earth and its environment. Animosity has traditionally existed between environmental advocates and those they perceive as the enemy—the business community—as evidenced by a recent survey that showed that 75 percent of Americans believe business has a definite responsibility to reduce pollution. But business has also not always been recognized for what it has done for the environment. This volume seeks to address those issues, as well as the extent of the corporate world's ethical responsibility for cleaning up the environment.

The book focuses on the role of corporations and businesses in protecting the environment, utilizing studies of previous cases and crises as well as strategies and methods for future corporate conduct. The work begins with a foreword by Gregory H. Adamian, an introduction by Robert Frederick, and collected essays in four main subject groups. The first section provides an overview of the topic of business, ethics, and the environment, treating such issues as the ethical dilemmas of hazardous waste, the corporate commitment to the environment, and the corporation's environmental conscience. Section two presents a series of cases and analyses, including the Exxon Valdez crisis and the Union Carbide Bhopal gas incident, while section three probes corporate strategies such as the development and implementation of industry-wide codes of practice. Finally, section four looks to the future of and new approaches to business and environmental problems, considering the need to move environmental issues into the business school and to retool cultures for an ecologically sound future. As a companion to Business, Ethics, and the Environment this volume is an important resource for courses in business, public policy, and environmental issues, as well as a useful addition to business, academic, and public libraries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780899306032
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/30/1990
Series:	NATO Asi Series B: Physics; 221
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.94(d)
Lexile:	1440L (what's this?)

About the Author

W. MICHAEL HOFFMAN is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College. He is a co-author, with Dr. Frederick and Dr. Petry, of the Quorum books Business, Ethics, and the Environment (1990) and The Ethics of Organizational Transformation (1989).

ROBERT FREDERICK is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Assistant Director of the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College. He is the co-author, with Dr. Hoffman and Dr. Petry, of the Quorum books Business, Ethics, and the Environment (1990), and The Ethics of Organizational Transformation (1989.

EDWARD S. PETRY, Jr., is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Research Associate at the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College. He is the co-author, with Dr. Hoffman and Dr. Frederick, of the Quorum books Business, Ethics, and the Environment (1990) and The Ethics of Organizational Transformation (1989).

Table of Contents

Foreword by Gregory H. Adamian
Introduction by Robert Frederick
Business, Ethics, and the Environment: An Overview
Terre Gaste by Peter A. French
Animism Redivivus: Are New Visions of Nature a Threat to Homo Sapiens? by Walter W. Benjamin
Can a Corporation Have an Environmental Conscience? by Kenneth E. Goodpaster
Hazardous Waste: Ethical Dilemmas of Ends and Means, Heroes and Villains by Paul Steidlmeier
Straws in the Wind: The Nature of Corporate Commitment to Environmental Issues by D. Kirk Davidson
Corporations and the Environment: Cases and Analyses
Du Pont and Corporate Environmentalism by B. W. Karrh
Total Quality: Ethics and the Environment by Van C. Campbell
Martin Marietta's Commitment to Environmental Protection by George Sammett, Jr.
The Chainsaws of Greed: The Case of Pacific Lumber by Lisa H. Newton
The Exxon Valdez Crisis by Joan Whitman Hoff
Rational Risk and Moral Outrage: Arthur D. Little, Inc., and the Toxic Alert by John A. Seeger
Union Carbide Limited and the Bhopal Gas Incident: Issues and Commentary by Arthur Sharplin
Business Ethics When a Crisis Occurs by Ronald S. Wishart
Union Carbide Corporation's Liability for the Bhopal Disaster: Multinational Enterprise Liability by Bruce A. Finzen and Roberta B. Walburban
The Proposal of Multinational Enterprise Liability in the Bhopal Litigation by Robert A. Butler
New Corporate Strategies for Controlling Environmental Risks
Environment and Business in the 1990s: Threats, Opportunities, and Prospects for Cooperation by Richard Seibert
The Development and Implementation of Industry-Wide Environmental Codes of Practice by David Powell
Dilemmas of Disclosure: Ethical Issues in Environmental Auditing by Karen Blumenfeld
Anthropocentric Ethics in Organizations: How Different Strategic Management Schools View the Environment by Thierry C. Pauchant and Isabelle Fortier
Explaining Corporate Responses to Environmental Crises: A Game Theoretical Approach by Joao S. Neves and Rajib N. Sanyal
Looking to the Future: New Approaches to the Problems of Business, Ethics, and the Environment
Economics, Ethics, and the Environment by Willard F. Enteman
The Principle of Integrity and The Economy of the Earth by Laura S. Westra
From Environment to Biosphere: The Necessary Reanimation of Ethical Discourse by Brian Edward Brown
Ecological Sabotage and the Ethics of Radical Environmentalism by Edwin C. Hettinger
Getting the Environment into the Business School by James E. Post
Environmental Attitudes, Behaviors, and Decision Making: Implications for Management Education and Development by Gordon P. Rands
From Environmentalism to Ecophilosophy: Retooling Cultures for the Twenty-First Century by Hazel Henderson
Index