Business Ethics: The Promise of Neuroscience

Recent advances in cognitive neuroscience research portend well for furthering understanding of many of the fundamental questions in the field of business ethics, both normative and empirical. This article provides an overview of neuroscience methodology and brain structures, and explores the areas in which neuroscience research has contributed findings of value to business ethics, as well as suggesting areas for future research. Neuroscience research is especially capable of providing insight into individual reactions to ethical issues, while also raising challenging normative questions about the nature of moral responsibility, autonomy, intent, and free will. This article also provides a brief summary of the papers included in this special issue, attesting to the richness of scholarly inquiry linking neuroscience and business ethics. We conclude that neuroscience offers considerable promise to the field of business ethics, but we caution against overpromise

Equal treatment and corporate criminal liability : need for EU intervention in public procurement?

A comparison of the different EU criminal justice systems reveals a significant diversity in the legal frameworks surrounding corporate criminal liability. There are differences in the typology of legal persons that can be held reliable, differences in the attribution mechanisms and differences in the offences in general and more specifically the offences legal persons can be held criminally liable for. Academic debate on this diversity is far from new. The novelty of this contribution consists of the combination of two totally different branches of law; it combines corporate criminal liability with the functioning of the EU’s internal market. Using the equal treatment requirement in public procurement procedures as a case study, it is demonstrated that diversity in the legal frameworks surrounding corporate criminal liability is not a mere theoretical and practical obstacle, but gives way for profound and complex legal questions. It is unclear whether—in light of the diversity in corporate criminal liability—it is feasible to ensure equal treatment of all participating procurement candidates. This contribution elaborates on possible interpretations of “equal treatment” in light if the principles underlying the proper functioning of the internal market and more specifically the functioning of public procurement given the diversity in the legal framework surrounding corporate criminal liability to substantiate the need for EU intervention