Business ethics in a competitive market

Consequentialist reasoning and neoclassical assumptions about perfectly competitive markets encourage business school faculty and students to overlook the role of ethics in a market system. In a perfectly competitive economy, self-interest suffices to bring about a desirable outcome. However, discre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics
Main Author: Nelson, Julianne (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 1994
In: Journal of business ethics
Further subjects:B Market Economy
B Business Ethic
B Social Structure
B Business School
B Economic Growth
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
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Description
Summary:Consequentialist reasoning and neoclassical assumptions about perfectly competitive markets encourage business school faculty and students to overlook the role of ethics in a market system. In a perfectly competitive economy, self-interest suffices to bring about a desirable outcome. However, discrepancies between an economist's assumptions and the realities of a market economy establish a need for business ethics. This essay, written as a lecture for MBA students, first reviews Pareto optimality as an argument in favor of market allocations. It then uses the discrepancies between actual and hypothetical markets to derive a Rawlsian duty of civility. This neoclassical case for business ethics requires individuals to avoid exploiting the defects that are inevitable in any social structure.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/BF00881324