What's a company for? : a problem in business ethics (or... when Socrates met Milton Friedman) / Alexander Pepper.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pepper, Alexander, 1958- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Corporate purposes.

Business ethics.

Economics--Philosophy.

Economics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 163 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London : LSE Press, 2026.

Summary:

Is the job of a company director simply to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible for shareholders? Do businesses have obligations to employees, other stakeholders, and society as a whole? And, most pressingly of all, do they have any responsibility for the environment, for social inequality, and to sustain fair competition in a world dominated by mega-corporations? In this book, Professor Alexander ('Sandy') Pepper considers the controversial subject of corporate purpose. Drawing on ideas from philosophy, economics, law, and management studies, he critically examines competing answers to the question 'What's a Company For?'. To help answer this, Pepper imagines the conversations that might take place if 20th-century economist Milton Friedman, who famously argued for the primacy of shareholders' interests, engaged in dialogue with Socrates. The Athenian philosopher proves a playful and provocative interlocutor for questions of how a company operates ethically when faced with 21st-century questions of responsibility towards people, society, and the planet. Ultimately, through academic argument and creative philosophical dialogues, Pepper makes the case for responsible business. Building on Alasdair MacIntyre's virtue ethics, he argues that a company's purpose encompasses not just profit, but prosperity for all those who contribute to its work, particularly employees. It also has moral obligations to society in general. This book is a concise, witty, and engaging exploration of these knotty debates, and an essential read for students, researchers and even company directors looking to understand the bigger picture.

Contents:

1. Introduction

Dialogue I: Socrates and Milton

2. Shareholder primacy

Dialogue II: Socrates and Milton

3. Stakeholder theory

Dialogue III: Socrates and Milton

4. On ‘mastery’ – reconciling shareholder primacy and stakeholder theory

Dialogue IV: Socrates and Milton

5. On ‘virtue’ – business ethics after ‘mastery’

Dialogue V: Socrates and Milton

6. What’s a company for? A call for responsible business

Afterword: A letter from socrates

Appendix: ‘A friedman doctrine – the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits’ / Milton Friedman

Notes:

This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution + Noncommercial + NoDerivatives 4.0 license. Copyright is retained by the author(s).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Pepper, Alexander What's a Company For?

ISBN:

9781911712732

9781911712725

9781911712749

OCLC:

1593368871

Access Restriction:

Unrestricted online access