Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Common Good of Business: Addressing a Challenge Posed by «Caritas in Veritate»

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Caritas in Veritate (CV) poses a challenge to the business community when it asks for “a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise” (CV 40). The paper proposes the concept of the “common good” as a starting point for the discussion and sketches a definition of the common good of business as the path toward an answer for this challenge. Building on the distinction between the material and the formal parts of the common good, the authors characterize profit as the material part of the common good of business and work as the formal part that expresses the essential significance of business.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

CST:

Catholic Social Teaching

CV:

Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate

NE:

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

Compendium :

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

References

  • Abela, A. V. (2001). Profit and more: Catholic Social Teaching and the purpose of the firm. Journal of Business Ethics, 31(2), 107–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adler, M. J. (1970). The time of our lives: The ethics of common sense. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alford, H. J., & Naughton, M. J. (2001). Managing as if faith mattered. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alford, H., & Naughton, M. (2002). Beyond the shareholder model of the firm: Working toward the common good of a business. In S. A. Cortright & M. Naughton (Eds.), Rethinking the purpose of business. Interdisciplinary essays from the Catholic Social Tradition (pp. 27–47). Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aquinas, T. (1954). De perfectione vitae spiritualis. In R. M. Spiazzi (Ed.) Opuscula theologica (vol. II). Taurini: Marietti. [English translation: The Religious State, The Episcopate and the Priestly Office: A Translation of the Minor Work of the Saint on the Perfection of the Spiritual Life, trans. John Procter, 1950 (Newman, Westminster, MD)].

  • Argandoña, A. (1998). The stakeholder theory and the common good. Journal of Business Ethics, 17(9/10), 1093–1102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aristotle. (1985). Nicomachean Ethics (T. Irwin, Trans.). Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing.

  • Aristotle. (1988). The Politics, ed. Stephen Everson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Benedict XVI. (2009). Encyclical Letter Caritas in veritate. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html#_edn8. Accessed 24 August 2011.

  • Calvez, J., & Naughton, M. J. (2002). Rethinking the purpose of business. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canals, J. (2010). Building respected companies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Chirinos, M. P. (2002). Antropología y trabajos. Pamplona: Cuadernos de Anuario Filosófico, 157, Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornwall, J. R., & Naughton, M. J. (2003). Who is the good Entrepreneur? An exploration within the Catholic Social Tradition. Journal of Business Ethics, 44, 61–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drucker, P. (1955). The practice of management. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duska, R. E. (1997). The why’s of business revisited. Journal of Business Ethics, 16(12/13), 1401–1409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fama, E. F. (1980). Agency problems and the theory of the firm. Journal of Political Economy, 88(2), 288–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finnis, J. (1986). Natural law and natural rights. Oxford: Clarendon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fontrodona, J., Guillén, M., & Rodríguez-Sedano, A. (2008). Work, education and civil society: building a better society through a full understanding of work. Oikonomia, 7(1), 8–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fontrodona, J., & Sison, A. J. (2006). The nature of the firm, agency theory and shareholder theory: A critique from philosophical anthropology. Journal of Business Ethics, 66(1/II), 33–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fort, T. L. (1996). Business as mediating institution. Business Ethics Quarterly, 6(2), 149–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston, MA: Pitman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, R. E., Wicks, A. C., & Parmar, B. (2004). Stakeholder theory and “The corporate objective revisited”. Organization Science, 15(3), 364–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, M. (1970, 13 September). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. The New York Times Magazine.

  • Ghoshal, S. (2005). Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4, 75–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Handy, C. (2002). What’s a business for? Harvard Business Review, 80(12), 49–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartman, E. M. (2006). Can we teach character? An Aristotelian answer. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 5, 68–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartman, E. M. (2008). Socratic questions and aristotelian answers: A virtue-based approach to business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 78(3), 313–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenback, D. S. J. (2002). The common good and Christian ethics. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, M., & Meckling, W. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency cost and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3, 305–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • John XXIII. (1961). Encyclical Letter Mater et magistra. Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 53, 401–464.

    Google Scholar 

  • John Paul II. (1981). Encyclical Letter Laborem exercens. Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 73, 577–647.

    Google Scholar 

  • John Paul II. (1991). Encyclical Letter Centesimus annus. Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 83, 793–867.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, A. A. (2000). The end of shareholder value: Corporations at the crossroads. Cambridge, MA: Perseus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koehn, D. (1995). A role for virtue ethics in the analysis of business practice. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5(3), 533–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koslowski, P. (2000). The limits of shareholder value. Journal of Business Ethics, 27(1/2), 137–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Llano, C. (1990). El trabajo directivo y el trabajo operativo en la empresa. In C. Llano Cifuentes, J. A. Pérez López, G. Gilder, & L. Polo (Eds.), La vertiente humana del trabajo en la empresa (pp. 15–32). Madrid: Rialp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Llano, C. (1997). Dilemas éticos de la empresa contemporánea. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melé, D. (2009). Integrating personalism into virtue-based business ethics: The personalist and the common good principles. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(1), 227–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Messner, J. (1965). Social ethics, natural law in the modern world. St. Louis: Herder.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michelini, D. J. (2007). ‘Bien común y ética pública: Alcances y límites del concepto tradicional de bien común’, Tópicos. 15. http://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1666-485X2007000100002&lng=es&nrm=iso. Accessed 28 March 2011.

  • Moore, G. (2005). Humanizing business: A modern virtue ethics approach. Business Ethics Quarterly, 15(2), 237–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mortreuil, L. (2009). The profit of values Christian inspiration for businessmen around the world. The Uniapac experience and vision. Journal of International Business Ethics, 2(1), 107–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naughton, M. J., & Bausch, T. A. (1996). The integrity of a Catholic management education. California Management Review, 38(4), 118–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naughton, M., & Laczniak, G. R. (1993). A theological context of work from the Catholic social encyclical tradition. Journal of Business Ethics, 12, 981–994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, T. (2009). Reconsidering the common good in a business context. Journal of Business Ethics, 85, 25–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul VI. (1967). Encyclical Letter Populorum progressio. Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 59, 257–299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez López, J. A. (1993). Fundamentos de la dirección de empresas. Madrid: Rialp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. (2004). Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rourke, Th. R. (1996). Michael Novak and Yves R. Simon on the common good and capitalism. The Review of Politics, 58(2), 229–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sison, A. J. G. (2007). Toward a common good theory of the firm: The Tasubinsa case. Journal of Business Ethics, 74(4), 471–480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sison, A. J. G. (2008). Corporate governance and ethics. An aristotelian approach. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. A. (1995). Human dignity and the common good in the aristotelian thomistic tradition. Lewiston: Mellen University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Th. W. (1999). Aristotle on the conditions for and limits of the common good. The American Political Science Review, 93(3), 625–636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, R. (1992). Corporate roles, personal virtues: An Aristotelian approach to business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 2(3), 317–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, R. C. (2004). Aristotle, ethics and business organizations. Organization Studies, 25(6), 1021–1043.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundaram, A. K., & Inkpen, A. C. (2004). The corporate objective revisited. Organization Science, 15(3), 350–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vatican Council, I. I. (1965). Pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes, on the church in the modern world, December 7. Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 58(1966), 1025–1120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walshe, S. (2006). The primacy of the common good as the root of personal dignity in the Doctrine of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Rome: Pontifical University of St. Thomas.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Philosophy, University of Navarra, Campus Universitario, 31009, Pamplona, Spain

    Alejo José G. Sison

  2. Business Ethics Department, IESE Business School—University of Navarra, Avda. Pearson, 21, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    Joan Fontrodona

Authors
  1. Alejo José G. Sison
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joan Fontrodona
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joan Fontrodona.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sison, A.J.G., Fontrodona, J. The Common Good of Business: Addressing a Challenge Posed by «Caritas in Veritate». J Bus Ethics 100 (Suppl 1), 99–107 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1181-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1181-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation