Current research in business ethics gives serious cause for concern because it may be designed more to advance academic careers than to encourage ethical business. The author is completing his doctoral thesis in business ethics at the Management School, Imperial College, London.

Brian Harvey, Henk van Luijk and Horst Steinmann, European Casebook on Business Ethics, Prentice Hall, London, 1994, pp. xiv + 226, £18.95, ISBN 0‐13‐298242‐0.

I will argue that there are difficulties with the application of the four principles approach to incompetent children. The most important principle – respect for autonomy – is not directly applicable to incompetent children and the most appropriate modification of the principle for them is not clear. The principle of beneficence – that one should act in the child’s interests – is complicated by difficulties in assessing what a child’s interests are and to which standard of interests those choosing for (...) children should be held. A further problem with the four principles approach is that parental authority does not follow clearly from the four principles. (shrink)

Brief thumbnail sketches capture group interest and show the relevance of ethical considerations in real life situations. Bill Bain has considerable experience of business and is currently a PhD student at the Management School of London University's Imperial College, 53 Prince's Gate, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2PG.

Brief thumbnail sketches capture group interest and show the relevance of ethical considerations in real life situations. Bill Bain has considerable experience of business and is currently a PhD student at the Management School of London University's Imperial College, 53 Prince's Gate, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2PG.

Current research in business ethics gives serious cause for concern because it may be designed more to advance academic careers than to encourage ethical business. The author is completing his doctoral thesis in business ethics at the Management School, Imperial College, London.