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Ethical blog

New Business Models for Human Flourishing & Ecological Regeneration

    As part of The Economy of Francesco program the Business Ethics Center organized a workshop entitled “New Business Models for Human Flourishing & Ecological Regeneration” on September 23, 2022 in Assisi, Italy. Contributing faculty of the workshop included Laszlo Zsolnai (Corvinus University of Budapest & Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford), András Ócsai (Corvinus University of Budapest), Antonio Tencati (University of Brescia & Bocconi University Milan), and Jozsef Veress (Corvinus University of Budapest). The workshop presented… Read More »New Business Models for Human Flourishing & Ecological Regeneration

    Global Perspectives on Indian Spirituality and Management

      The forthcoming book “Global Perspectives on Indian Spirituality and Management” edited by Sanjoy Mukherjee (Indian Institute of Management, Shillong) and Laszlo Zsolnai (Corvinus University of Budapest) was presented at the Corvinus Institute for Advanced Studies. The main argument of the book is that rationality and spirituality are not necessarily antagonistics in business and economics. Business actors can rationally pursue objectives based on spiritual values and priorities. Zsolnai & Ócsai CIAS lecture 2022

      In Memoriam Janos Kornai

        Janos Kornai, Professor of Economics at Harvard University and Corvinus University of Budapest died on October 18, 2021. He was one of the most influential economists of his generation. He developed an anti-Walrasian economic framework within which both capitalist and socialist systems can be described and analyzed. I had the privilege of knowing Janos Kornai for 40 years. I collaborated with him on several occasions. My first academic publication was a methodological analysis of his… Read More »In Memoriam Janos Kornai

        Inspiring Moral Thinkers

          Socrates, Aristotle, Albert Schweitzer, Hans Jonas, Carol Gilligan, Mother Theresa, Immanuel Kant, Gandhi, St. Francis of Assisi, His Holines the Dalai Lama

          Why do we need new business models for a sustainable Earth?

            In our book Progressive Business Models, we write about the changing role of business in the “Anthropocene” era, the epoch since human life on Earth began to have an impact on the nature of our planet. The severe deterioration of the Earth can be tracked to current patterns of production and consumption, as business activities have come to dominate nearly all the life spheres almost everywhere in the world. Big business has been seen to play… Read More »Why do we need new business models for a sustainable Earth?

            Fight in the Artic

              For millennia, a thick layer of sea ice has defended the pristine, beautiful and utterly unique marine world of the Artic waters around Svalbard, in the Barents Sea. But global warming is melting the ice and industrial fishing has started moving in, leaving a trail of destruction behind. Svalbard’s seas hold some of the last pristine environments left on earth, home to some of our planet’s most incredible and mysterious creatures which thrived in this… Read More »Fight in the Artic

              Tribute to Peter Pruzan

                In April 2016 we celebrated the 80th anniversary of Peter Pruzan, Professor Emeritus at Copenhagen Business School and Visiting Professor at Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning in India. Peter Pruzan made important contributions to systems science, management, and business ethics. He is a leading scholar in spiritually-based leadership and one of the initiators of the Europe-India dialogue on spirituality and management. This occasion I recall my most important  encounters with Peter Pruzan during the last… Read More »Tribute to Peter Pruzan

                Phishing for Phools

                  In their book “Phishing for Pools. The Economics of Manipulation and Deception” Nobel-prize-winning economists George Akerlof and Robert Schiller argue that in a free economy when opportunities appear, phishers are always there to manipulate and deceive customers. The book engagingly documents this phenomenon in the markets for alcohol, tobacco, gambling, food, houses, cars, pharmaceuticals, and on the financial markets. Akerlof and Shiller identify two main sources of phishing: one is distorted information and the other is psychological bias.  In… Read More »Phishing for Phools

                  Angels and Economics

                    Angels are non-physical beings who perform benevolent acts as intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and Earth. The role of angels includes protecting and guiding human beings, and carrying out God’s tasks. What is remarkably about angels is the fact that they do good things without consuming physical matter or energy and hence they do not make any negative impact on the geochemistry of the Earth. The ecological footprint of angels is zero but their overall… Read More »Angels and Economics

                    How to Teach Sustainability?

                      Teaching sustainability requires taking a truly holistic and deeply personal approach. To address issues of sustainability in business I suggest to use the four-dimensional framework developed by Ian Mitroff at USC in Los Angeles. It says that every important problem has four irreducible aspects: scientific/technical, interpersonal/social, systemic, and existential. The technical/scientific perspective is the dominant perspective in today’s Western culture and favors technical solutions to most problems, even when other solutions  are more appropriate. We use this perspective in most of our teaching at… Read More »How to Teach Sustainability?