Anti-Corruption as Strategic CSR: A Call to Action for Corporations

Corruption is not a peripheral social concern that corporations can ignore or passively address -- it is a bottom-line issue that directly affects companies' ability to compete. Widespread in emerging markets, corruption is becoming an increasingly important issue for business to address. Furthermore, it inflicts enduring harm on disadvantaged populations by diverting resources for critical services like education, clean water and health care into the pockets of dishonest public officials. This white paper presents a critical assessment of corporate anti-corruption efforts in the developing world and offers a guide for corporations to move beyond traditional ethics and compliance activities to strategic anti-corruption efforts. Sponsored by The Merck Company Foundation and developed in collaboration with the Ethics Resource Center, the paper reveals opportunities for corporations to engage in more comprehensive and effective anti-corruption reform as a business imperative

Can the Philanthropic Imperative Enhance International Health Care?

Elsewhere I have argued that, historically, the public and private funding of health care has been fueled primarily by four mixed motives, namely, the redemptive, the utilitarian, the prudential, and the charitable motives. In this paper, I further explore what I call the unifying moral force of the philanthropic imperative. The philanthropic imperative interfaces these four motives by potentially appealing to the consciences of wealthier Northern countries to provide medical resources to the sick and hurting in the typically poorer South. This, as a matter of our collective duty to others consistent with the teachings of Immanuel Kant, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Peter Singer, among others. Essentially, the philanthropic imperative states that we have a duty to reduce sickness and suffering and promote, as generously as possible, the health of our fellow human beings. The philanthropic imperative thus invites individuals and governments to ponder the related questions: How ought we proceed to effectively and sustainably relieve the suffering of others? And why ought we give away valuable medical resources to the hurting in foreign countries, resources that we may eventually need for the welfare of our own citizens at some future date? I conclude by confronting the twin objections from futility and from limited medical resources. At bottom, I indicate how the philanthropic imperative both transcends and overrides these objections and, in so doing, potentially strengthens the funding of both national and transnational public health care programs. Finally, the philanthropic imperative is shown to complement the environmental and public health goals of The Earth Charter

Peacemaking and Victory: Lessons from Kant’s Cosmopolitanism

In the texts in which Immanuel Kant discusses the principles governing international relations—including texts explicitly dealing with the sources leading states to armed conflict and the circumstances enabling its cessation—he does not directly engage the question “What constitutes victory in war?” This should not be surprising, given that Kant’s treatment of war may be read as consonant with just war thinking for which victory seems an unproblematic concept Yet there are elements in the tone and the substance of his discussion that destabilize a placement of his views as unproblematically part of that tradition. The mordant tone of his dismissal of the Realpolitik guiding “political moralists” suggests a trenchant skepticism about almost any justification offered for leading a state into war. More substantively, an antinomy is at work in the contrast Kant makes, in the two sets of articles for perpetual peace, between a “state of nature” that, construed from the standpoint of the theoretical use of reason, defines the order of international relations as necessarily one of constant war, and the radical transformation of that order, enacted by moral reason in the definitive articles of perpetual peace, into a cosmopolitan order that heeds the categorical imperative “there shall be no war.” In consequence, one may construct a Kantian answer to the question “What constitutes victory in war?” by framing it in reference to this cosmopolitan hope for an international order securing enduring peace. Within the moral horizon of cosmopolitan hope, victory in war—like war itself—is unmasked as morally unintelligible

War As Morally Unintelligible: Sovereign Agency and the Limits of Kantian Autonomy

Kant’s treatment of war is usually discussed as part of his political philosophy or philosophy of history. In contrast, this essay locates these discussions in direct reference to major elements of his moral philosophy: autonomy, the categorical imperative, and the moral relationality of the kingdom of ends. Within this context, Kant’s account of war, particularly in writings from the 1790s, can be read as affirming war as morally unintelligible: It is the expression of a collective withdrawal from the constitutive relationality of moral community. This results in a radical disparity in the exercise of moral autonomy by the sovereign agency of the state with respect to peace, on one hand, and with respect to war, on the other

Marketing to the Base of the Pyramid: A Corporate Responsibility Approach with Case Inspired Strategies

The economic and political outcomes of market globalization continue to be complex. As international corporations engage developing markets, they increasingly find consumers who lack market sophistication, meaningful purchasing options and economic leverage. Such conditions are ripe for the exploitation of these market segments but also can be mitigated by enlightened managers willing to thoughtfully consider their ethical and professional obligations to vulnerable consumers. This paper builds on a normative ethical framework, labeled the integrative justice model (IJM) for impoverished markets that was introduced in the marketing and public policy literature. Specifically, the paper will extend the normative ethics of the IJM by proposing logically reasoned decision principles for managers, particularly in MNC subsidiaries, that might better shape ethical business strategy when targeting impoverished segments. Additionally, numerous case examples are given to illustrate how a number of these decision principles are already being applied by companies around the world. Such an approach can serve as a counterweight to the difficulty of crafting global regulations for market development

Social Entrepreneurship That Truly Benefits the Poor: An Integrative Justice Approach

The phenomenal growth of social entrepreneurship over thelast decade has ably demonstrated how technology, innovation, and anentrepreneurial spirit can afford better solutions to the vexing social andenvironmental problems of our time than can traditional aid and charitybasedefforts. In most cases, but not always, the poor and disadvantagedhave benefited from the growth of social entrepreneurship. In order toensure that social entrepreneurship does indeed benefit the poor, it isimperative that there be normative guidelines for fair and just engagementwith impoverished populations. A model that has been presented in themarketing and public policy literature is the integrative justice model (IJM)for impoverished populations. While the IJM was developed primarily in thecontext of multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in emerging markets,its applicability extends beyond MNCs. This article attempts to apply theIJM principles in the context of social entrepreneurship in order to providesocial entrepreneurial organizations (SEOs) with a normative frameworkaimed at ensuring that the poor truly benefit from their activities. Basedon this framework, the article suggests certain areas to which SEOs oughtto be particularly attentive in their practice. The article also makes somesuggestions for further research

When Helping Really Helps: How to Effectively Help Without Hurting the Poor at the Bottom of the Pyramid in Developing Countries

The issue of poverty alleviation at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) in developing nations is a hot topic on the global platform. The staggering numbers of people living below the poverty line, coupled to the detrimental impact of extreme poverty on people in developing countries, creates a moral imperative for people to help the poor at the BOP. In response to the plight of the poor, many efforts have been put in place to help the poor in developing nations. In order to understand poverty at the BOP, in this paper, I provide a historical analysis of colonialism and the global systems (IMF, World Bank, and GATT) and their substantial effect on the poor in developing countries. Then, the efforts to help those at the BOP are categorized into three helping models: the Government Aid Model, the Entrepreneurship Aid Model, and the Grassroots Aid Model, each of which is analyzed. The paper concludes with seven guiding principles that can be used to effectively help without hurting the poor at the BOP when working at the grassroots level