Abstract
I address the issue of justifiable profits from distinct perspectives in economics, strategy research and ethics. Combining insights from Austrian economics, the resource-based perspective, and finders, keepers ethics, I argue that strategy is about the discovery of hitherto unexploited possibilities for exchange. To the extent that strategy is about the discovery/creation ex nihilo of products, ways of producing products, etc., the resulting profits are argued to be justifiable from a finders, keepers perspective.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ansoff, H. I.: 1965, Corporate Strategy (McGraw Hill, New York).
Barney, J. B.: 1986a, ‘Types of Competition and the Theory of Strategy: Toward an Integrative Framework’, Academy of Management Review 11, 791–800.
Barney, J. B.: 1986b, ‘Strategic Factor Markets: Expectations, Luck and Business Strategy’, Management Science 32, 1231–1241.
Barney, J. B.: 1991, ‘Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage’, Journal of Management 17, 99–120.
Cowan, R. and M. J. Rizzo: 1995, ‘Fundamental Issues in the Justification of Profits’, in idem, Profits and Morality (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).
DeGeorge, R.: 1989, Business Ethics. 2nd ed (Macmillan, New York).
Dierickx, I. and K. Cool: 1989, ‘Asset Stock Accumulation and Sustainability of Competitive Advantage’, Management Science 35, 1504–1511.
Foss, N. J.: 1996, ‘Whither the Competence Perspective?’, in N. J. Foss and C. Knudsen (eds.), Towards a Competence Theory of the Firm (Routledge, London).
Grant, R. M.: 1995, Contemporary Strategy Analysis (Blackwell, Cambridge, MA).
Hausman, D. M.: 1992, ‘When Jack and Jill Make a Deal’, in E. Frankel Paul, F. D. Miller Jr. and J. Paul (eds.), Economic Rights (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
Hayek, F. A. von: 1948, Individualism and Economic Order (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).
Hoffman, W. M. and J. M. Moore (eds.): 1990, Business Ethics: Reading and Cases in Corporate Morality (McGraw-Hill, New York).
Hosmer, L. T.: 1994, ‘Strategic Planning As If Ethics Mattered’, Strategic Management Journal 15, 17–34.
Jacobson, R.: 1992, ‘The “Austrian” School of Strategy’, Academy of Management Review 17, 782–807.
Kirzner, I. M.: 1973, Competition and Entrepreneurship (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).
Kirzner, I. M.: 1979, Perception, Opportunity, and Profit (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).
Kirzner, I. M.: 1989, Discovery, Capitalism, and Distributive Justice (Basil Blackwell, Oxford).
Kreps, D. M.: 1990, ‘Corporate Culture and Economic Theory’, in J. E. Alt and K. A. Shepsle (eds.), Perspectives on Positive Political Economy (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
Learned, E., C. R. Christensen, K. R. Andrews and W. D. Guth: 1965, Business Policy; Text and Cases (Richard D. Irwin, Homewood, IL).
Lippman, S. J. and R. P. Rumelt: 1982, ‘Uncertain Imitability: An Analysis of Interfirm Differences Under Competition’, Bell Journal of Economics 13, 418–438.
Littlechild, S. A.: 1981, ‘Misleading Calculations of the Social Costs of Monopoly Power’, Economic Journal 91, 348–363.
Mahoney, J. T. and J. R. Pandian: 1992, ‘The Resource-Based View Within the Conversation of Strategic Management’, Strategic Management Journal 13, 363–380.
Miles, C.: 1993, ‘In Search of Ethical Profits: Insights from Strategic Management’, Journal of Business Ethics 12, 219–225.
Mises, L. von: 1949, Human Action (William Hodge, London).
Nelson, R. R. and S. G. Winter: 1982, An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change (The Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA).
Nozick, R.: 1974, Anarchy, State and Utopia (Basil Blackwell, Oxford).
Porter, M. E.: 1980, Competitive Strategy (New York: Free Press).
Porter, M. E.: 1994, ‘Towards a Dynamic Theory of Strategy’, in R. P. Rumelt, D. Schendel and D. J. Teece (eds.), Fundamental Issues in Strategy (Harvard Business School Press, Boston).
Rumelt, R. P.: 1984 ‘Towards a Strategic Theory of the Firm’, in R. B. Lamb (ed.), Competitive Strategic Management (Englewood Cliffs, NJ).
Rumelt, R. P.: 1987, ‘Theory, Strategy, and Entrepreneurship’, in D. J. Teece (ed.), The Competitive Challenge (Ballinger, Cambridge, MA).
Schendel, D. and C. Hofer: 1979, Strategic Management: A New View of Business Policy and Planning (Little, Brown, Boston).
Scherer, F. M.: 1980, Industrial Market Structure and Economic Performance (Houghton-Mifflin, Boston).
Vickers, J.: 1995, ‘Concepts of Competition’, Oxford Economic Papers 47, 1–23.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Foss, N.J. Ethics, Discovery, and Strategy. Journal of Business Ethics 16, 1131–1142 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005734914833
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005734914833