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The Social Value of Business: Lessons from Political Economy and Process Philosophy

Applied Ethics: Remembering Patrick Primeaux

ISBN: 978-1-78052-988-2, eISBN: 978-1-78052-989-9

Publication date: 31 July 2012

Abstract

In this study we consider the role of business management in delivering good in society, from the perspective of the philosophical work of Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Alfred North Whitehead. We find that Whitehead's process explanations of the nature of experience and consciousness articulate meaningfully with Smith's idea of ‘self-love’ and Marx's conceptualisation of ‘rich-experience’. As a result, we argue that business practice must reconnect with society in a more appropriate understanding of a good as something beyond a mere economic entity. Using principles of process thought, we make recommendations as to how this might be achieved in daily management practice.

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Citation

Neesham, C. and Dibben, M. (2012), "The Social Value of Business: Lessons from Political Economy and Process Philosophy", Schwartz, M. and Harris, H. (Ed.) Applied Ethics: Remembering Patrick Primeaux (Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations, Vol. 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 63-83. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-2096(2012)0000008010

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited