Publications

Luk Bouckaert, Hendrik Opdebeeck, & Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Why Frugality?’ , in Frugality: Rebalancing Material and Spiritual Values in Economic Life, eds. Luk Bouckaert, Herndrick Opdebeeck, and Laszlo Zsolnai, Peter Lang, Oxford, 2008. (This book may be available at: Amazon) The present unsustainable lifestyle of mankind requires drastic changes. Western-style consumer capitalism has failed. It has resulted in global climate change, dramatic ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss. Also, it has caused massive unhappiness and emptiness in rich countries and social… Read More »Why Frugality?

Laszlo Fekete, & Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Responsible Business Conduct: Establishing Harmony among Ethical, Business and Societal Values.’ , in Freedom and Responsibilities in China: Governments, Corporations, and Civil Cociety Organizations, ed. G.J. Rossouw, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai, 2008. The recent years the fast growing Chinese economy produced serious imbalances between the urban and the rural populations, as well as between society and nature. Achieving a socially and ecologically balanced economic development path is badly needed in the… Read More »Responsible Business Conduct: Establishing Harmony among Ethical, Business and Societal Values

Daniel Deak, & Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Law and Business Ethics Research Intiative.’ Business Ethics: A European Review, 2008, vol.17, no. 1, pp. 108-109 There are growing ethical, social, and environmental problems one can experience in the current corporate world. The deepening crisis of the legitimacy of corporate functioning requires particular attention that need be paid to legal issues. For this reason, the Business Ethics Center of the Corvinus University of Budapest is launching a Law & Business Ethics Research… Read More »Law and Business Ethics Research Intiative

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Business, Ethics, and Spirituality: Europe-Asia Views.’ Business Ethics: A European Review, 2007, vol.16, no. 1, pp. 87-92 There is no inherent conflict between spirituality and business in the major Eastern and Western traditions. In the Hindu tradition, material accomplishments provide a strong and stable foundation in personal and organizational life while spiritual wisdom charges business with a higher purpose. The Christian tradition requires a three-dimensional goal-portfolio in which humans measure themselves on three layers: material (financial),… Read More »Business, Ethics, and Spirituality: Europe-Asia Views

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Why Ethics Needs Spirituality?’ , in Spirituality as a Public Good, eds. Luk Bouckaert, and Laszlo Zsolnai, Grant, Antwerpen-Apeldoom, 2007. (This book may be available at: Maklu) Ethics needs spirituality as an underlying background and as a major motivational force. However, we should not cultivate spirituality in order to improve the ethicality of our actions. Spirituality is a value in itself, is a major gift in our life. It is a positive by-product of spirituality that it… Read More »Why Ethics Needs Spirituality?

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Extended Stakeholder Theory.’ Society and Business Review, 2006, vol.1, no. 1, pp. 37-44 The paper proposes a normative reinterpretation of the stakeholder concept. It argues that all stakeholders are morally considerable, and only those parties are stakeholders, which are morally considerable. Business organizations affect the fate and survival of natural ecosystems and the life conditions of present and future generations thus nature, society and future generations should be included among the stakeholders of business. The paper… Read More »Extended Stakeholder Theory

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Ethical Decision Making.’ , in Interdisciplinary Yearbook of Business Ethics, ed. Laszlo Zsolnai, Peter Lang, Oxford – Bern – Berlin – Bruxelles – Frankfurt am Main – New York – Wien, 2006. (This book may be available at: Amazon) The self-centeredness of modern organizations leads to environmental destruction and human deprivation. The principle of responsibility developed by Hans Jonas requires caring for the beings affected by our decisions and actions. Ethical decision making creates a synthesis of… Read More »Ethical Decision Making

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Competitiveness and Corporate Social Responsibility.’ CSR Papers, Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation, Milano. , 2006, pp. 1-14 The paper addresses the problem of the relationship between competitiveness and CSR, and analyses the reasons why the opportunistic use of CSR is counter-productive. It attempts to establish how ethical behaviour can survive in highly competitive markets, and tries to find the new meaning of competitiveness in the light of CSR. The final section of the paper describes how a… Read More »Competitiveness and Corporate Social Responsibility

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘The Rationality of Trust .’ International Journal of Social Economics , 2005, vol.32, no. 3, pp. 268-269 Russell Hardin is one of the most respected scholars in political science and rational choice theory. His book is a summary of his decade long preoccupation with trust research. He has been a key figure in the Russell Sage Foundation monumental Trust project. His present book is a groundbreaking achievement, which gives a highly consistent and systematic account of trust… Read More »The Rationality of Trust

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Genuine Business Ethics.’ Ethics Matters, 2004, pp. 1-3 Ethics is fundamental to and relevant at all levels of economic activity, from the individual and the organizational to the societal and the global. Yet there is a paradox in the proposition that higher standards of behavior in today’s world will automatically lead to higher profits and better performance. If the aim of top executives is merely to use ethics to achieve greater efficiency their efforts will… Read More »Genuine Business Ethics