Introduction

To put humans first in business and to implement humanistic values in management are noble endeavors. In order to make room for more humane business practices, however, a new kind of business ethics is requisite: one that does not subordinate its principles to the narrow confines of short-term profit maximization. Since discussion in business ethics is often influenced and framed by the theoretical foundations of academic economics, the demand for a new business ethics translates into the need for a critique of the economic paradigms underlying traditional business ethics. In that vein, a departure from certain reductionistic economic theories, namely from basic assumptions of neoclassical economics, becomes crucial. Instead of construing human agency within a matrix of self-centered utility calculations, the real human being needs to be reintroduced into economic theory, and we must recognize the eminent role of human freedom. In pursuit of a humanistic business ethics, an economic philosophy based upon the notion of human freedom must be advanced.

The ethical challenges of globalization

With astounding speed, the global exchange of products and services is transforming the natural and cultural face of the earth. Biological systems vanish, customary rules of behavior fade, legal frameworks dissolve, languages die out, and many traditional religions are on the wane. In their stead, driven by an exponential increase in information exchange, novel forms of interaction are taking hold; various new ways of life are quickly spreading, from their origins in the remotest localities on earth and even from cyberspace, all around the globe.