Facing Public Interest: The Ethical Challenge To Business Policy And Corporate Communications (issues In Business Ethics)

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as private business since business activities have widespread and sometimes far-reaching impacts on the community. The side-effects of entrepreneurial decision making - increasing unemployment, for instance, or pollution - increasingly expose corporations to the public gaze, with management in the limelight. __Facing Public Interest__ opens up new vistas on business policy and corporate communications facing public interest. The relationship between private enterprise and public interest is subjected to an ethical examination, highlighting the role of the general public as a locus of morality for business and the guiding concept of a corporate dialogue between management and the concerned public. Instructive case studies are also presented. The volume not only proposes corporate dialogue: it puts into practice. Business leaders, representatives of citizens' groups, public affairs consultants, and academics discuss the topics thoroughly and thoughtfully in the best contributions to the seventh conference on the European Business Ethics Network, held at the University of St. Gallen in September 1994. Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction Business in the Nineties: Facing Public Interest....Pages 1-8 Front Matter....Pages 9-9 Clash of Civilizations or World Peace through Religious Peace....Pages 11-27 The Responsibility Enterprises have Regarding the Big Problems of our Time....Pages 29-32 Public Expectations Toward Private Industry....Pages 33-40 Front Matter....Pages 41-41 The General Public as the Locus of Ethics in Modern Society....Pages 43-58 Business in Response to the Morally Concerned Public....Pages 59-72 Entrepreneurial Performance and Public Accountability....Pages 73-93 Front Matter....Pages 95-95 The Concerned Public: A Management Challenge....Pages 97-104 Business Policy and Corporate Dialogue in the Banking Field....Pages 105-111 Customer Focus in Abb Switzerland’s Communication Policy: An Ethical Challenge....Pages 113-118 Business Policy and Corporate Dialogue: Future Challenges....Pages 119-127 Front Matter....Pages 129-129 What Happens if Small Challenges Big?....Pages 131-135 Corporate Responsibility and Reputation Management in Crisis Situations....Pages 137-148 Dialogue Between Corporations....Pages 149-166 A Survey of Moral Conflicts among Norwegian Public Relations Professionals....Pages 167-181 Front Matter....Pages 183-183 Corporate Responsibility and Hazardous Technology: An Example of the Interaction Process Between Industry and Society....Pages 185-197 Environmentally Responsible Business Strategy....Pages 199-212 Experiences with Corporate Dialogue....Pages 213-217 The Marketing Dilemma: Marketers Between Consumer Wants and Ecological Requirements....Pages 219-224 Front Matter....Pages 225-225 Are Economic Realities Forcing EC Europe to Abandon Social Democracy in the Workplace?....Pages 227-240 Front Matter....Pages 225-225 Family Issues of Employees: The Case of Excel Industries, Inc.....Pages 241-250 Responsibility in Management: An Issue for Personnel Development in Major Companies?....Pages 251-265 Back Matter....Pages 267-275 The relationship between private enterprise and public interest has always formed the core of business ethics, explicitly or implicitly.