Papers

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Taking Spirituality Seriously.’ , in Spirituality and Ethics in Management, ed. Laszlo Zsolnai, Springer, 2011. (This book may be available at: Springer) The paper summarizes the main findings of research in ethics and spirituality to stimulate the development of a new agenda for spirituality and management. One facet of the agenda concentrates on practice: how businesses (and other organizations such as  universities, government entities, not-for-profit health organizations and so on) should be transformed into more inclusive, holistic… Read More »Taking Spirituality Seriously

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Redefining Economic Reason.’ , in Spiritual Humanism and Economic Wisdom, eds. Hendrik Opdebeeck, and Laszlo Zsolnai, Garant, Antwerpen and Apeldoom, 2011. The paper gives a critique of the profit principle and redefines economic rationality in a more holistic, substantive and humanistic form. It argues that despite of Martin Heidegger’s warning not modern technology but modern economizing destroys the Being. With its exclusive focus on profit-making modern economizing endangers the integrity and diversity of natural ecosystems, autonomy… Read More »Redefining Economic Reason

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Respect for Future Generations.’ , in Respect and Economic Democracy, eds. Luk Bouckaert, and Paquale Arena, Grant, Antwerp/Appeldom, 2010. (This book may be available at: European SPES Forum) Activities of present generations may affect the fate of future generations for the better or for the worse. What we do with our natural and cultural heritage mainly determines the way future generations may live their own life in the future. We as presently living human beings have an… Read More »Respect for Future Generations

Antonio Tencati, & Laszlo Zsolnai ‘The Collaborative Enterprise Framework.’ , in The Collaborative Enterprise: Creating Values for a Sustainable World, eds. Antonio Tencati, and Laszlo Zsolnai, Peter Lang Academic Publishers, Oxford, 2010. The paper aims to explore collaborative ways of doing business where enterprises seek to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with all stakeholders and want to produce sustainable values for their whole business ecosystems.  Based on the arguments developed by the Group of Lisbon, chaired by Riccardo… Read More »The Collaborative Enterprise Framework

Laszlo Zsolnai, & Laszlo Podmaniczky ‘Community Supported Agriculture.’ , in The Collaborative Enterprise: Creating Values for a Sustainable World, eds. Antonio Tencati, and Laszlo Zsolnai, Peter Lang Academic Publishers, Oxford, 2010. The paper shows the overall failure of competitiveness-oriented modern agribusiness, which produces low quality food and generates detrimental effects on nature, human health, and society. Community-supported agriculture presents a major alternative to unsustainable modern agribusiness. Ecological sustainability and social integration require strict limitations on both the supply… Read More »Community Supported Agriculture

Laszlo Zsolnai, & Antonio Tencati ‘Beyond Competitiveness.’ , in The Collaborative Enterprise: Creating Values for a Sustainable World, eds. Antonio Tencati, and Laszlo Zsolnai, Peter Lang Academic Publisher, Oxford, 2010. The paper argues that economics is rightly called a “dismal science.” It propagates a negativistic view of human nature. In this view economic agents are always self-interested and want to maximize their own profit or utility. Their interactions are based on competition only and their criterion of success… Read More »Beyond Competitiveness

Knut Ims, & Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Self-realization in Business: Ibsen’s Peer Gynt.’ , in Heroes and Anti-heroes. European Literature and the Ethics of Leadership, eds. Rita Ghesquiere, and Knut Ims, Garant, Antwerp-Apeldoom, 2010. (This book may be available at: European SPES Forum) The paper takes Henrik Ibsen’s dramatic poem Peer Gynt as a point of departure to discuss what does self-realization in business mean from a moral point of view. Does it mean to realize one’s faculties in a virtue ethics sense,… Read More »Self-realization in Business: Ibsen’s Peer Gynt

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Ethics, Competitiveness and the Sustainability of Companies.’ Journal of Creativity and Innovation, 2010, vol.3, no. 1, pp. 15-32 The paper addresses the problem of the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and competitiveness of companies. It argues that an exclusive focus on competitiveness is self-defeating. It also shows that the opportunistic use of CSR might be counter-productive. Evidences are presented that ethical behavior can survive in highly competitive markets, which provides new meaning of competitiveness. The… Read More »Ethics, Competitiveness and the Sustainability of Companies

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Ethics needs spirituality.’ , in Spirituality and Business. Exploring Possibilities for a New Management Paradigm , eds. Sharda S. Nandram, and Margot Esther Borden, Springer, Heidelberg, Dordrect, London, New York, 2010. (This book may be available at: Springer) The article argues that ethics needs spirituality as an underlying background and as a major motivational force.  Ethical initiatives in business fail if they are not based on genuine ethical commitments. Serving the well-being of communities, nature and future generations requires authentic care, which may develop… Read More »Ethics needs spirituality

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Business as a Profession.’ , in The Future International Manager: A Vision of the Roles and Duties of Management , eds. Laszlo Zsolnai, and Antonio Tencati, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. (This book may be available at: Amazon) The irresponsible and insensitive behavior of business leaders worldwide shows that business is an underprofessionalized occupation today. Occupations are defined as professions to the degree to which they serve society. Unless managers demonstrate that they serve the common good  in their daily… Read More »Business as a Profession