Corporate Responsibility for Wealth Creation and Human Rights

Illustrates the importance of corporate responsibility by integrating wealth creation and human rights.

Georges Enderle (Author)

9781108830805, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 January 2021

275 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.1 cm, 0.63 kg

'Enderle promises a radically new understanding of corporate responsibility in the global context – and he delivers. He combines a comprehensive notion of wealth creation with the normative urgency of human rights to form an innovative new yardstick to understand and assess the role of corporations in a globalized world. A relevant and passionate book!' Florian Wettstein, Professor and Director, Institute for Business Ethics University of St Gallen

Georges Enderle proposes a radically new understanding of corporate responsibility in the global and pluralistic context. This book introduces a framework that integrates the ideas of wealth creation and human rights, which is illustrated by multiple corporate examples, and provides a sharp critique of the maximizing shareholder value ideology. By defining the purpose of business enterprises as creating wealth in a comprehensive sense, encompassing natural, economic, human and social capital while respecting human rights, Enderle draws attention to the fundamental importance of public wealth, without which private wealth cannot be created. This framework further identifies the limitations of the market institution and self-regarding motivations by demonstrating that the creation of public wealth requires collective actors and other-regarding motivations. In line with the UN's Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, this book provides clear ethical guidance for businesses around the world and a strong voice against human right violations, especially in repressive and authoritarian regimes and populist and discriminatory environments.

Dedication
List of Figures, Tables and Boxes
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
1. Introduction and Overview
2. The Context of Globalization, Sustainability and Financialization
Part I. Wealth Creation: The Purpose of Business and the Economy: 3. Semantics and the Wealth of Nations
4. Wealth Includes Natural, Economic, Human and Social Capital
5. Wealth Is a Combination of Private and Public Wealth
6. Wealth Creation Is about Producing and Distributing Wealth
7. Creating Wealth Involves Material and Spiritual Aspects
8. Creating Sustainable Wealth in Terms of Human Capabilities
9. Creating Means Making Something New and Better
10. Wealth Creation Needs Self-Regarding and Other-Regarding Motivations
Part II. Human Rights as Public Goods in Wealth Creation: 11. All Internationally Recognized Human Rights are at Stake
12. Human Rights Constitute Minimal Ethical Requirements
13. Cost-Benefit Considerations about Human Rights as Goals, Means and Constraints
14. Human Rights as Public Goods
Part III. Implications of Wealth Creation and Human Rights for Corporate Responsibility: 15. The Ethics of Business Organizations Is Called Corporate Responsibility
16. The Moral Status of the Business Organization
17. Mapping Corporate Responsibilities
18. Corporate Governance for Wealth Creation and Human Rights
19. A Case in Point: Corporate Responsibility for Less Income Inequality
20. A Case in Point: How can Universities Promote Corporate Responsibility in their Supply Chains?: The Experience of the University of Notre Dame
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index of Names
Index of Subjects.

Subject Areas: Company secretary: role & responsibilities [KJRS], Boards & directors: role & responsibilities [KJRD], Corporate governance [KJR], International business [KJK], Business ethics & social responsibility [KJG], Human rights [JPVH]