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Religion and culture can influence ethical behavior in business. It is suggested that there has been and continues to be, a deep interrelationship between religion, business ethics, and economic activity in India. As India is becoming a major global economic business partner, understanding its unique ethical business infrastructure is gaining in importance. The purpose of this paper is to intend to further the understanding of Indian (“Vendantic”) business ethics, as opposed to Greco – Roman business ethics, as the foundation of business culture in India. This paper further elaborates on the evolution of business ethics and its implications on doing business in and with Indian companies.

The authors undertook a conceptual approach in order to understand the evolutionary process of Indian business ethics in a holistic view in order to understand better its workings and effect on business interaction.

The paper explains the constructs of business ethics in India and shows its evolution over time.

This original theoretical paper examines the evolution of Indian business ethics over time in line with environmental changes in the Indian business landscape.

The purpose of this chapter is to shed light on humanistic knowledge traditions and highlight their value in informing educational administration and leadership curricula designed for graduate students. We argue that, despite their distinctive features, humanist traditions such as the Confucian, Buddhist, Islamic and European share many core values and practices that should be incorporated into the educational administration and leadership curricula. However, these traditions tend to be overlooked or marginalised by curriculum designers. We argue that incorporating these traditions into educational administration and leadership curricula can contribute to greater internationalisation and achieve a greater diversity. The chapter starts with an exploration of the origins, nature and definitions of humanism. The following parts discuss Confucian, Buddhist, Islamic and European humanist traditions and examine how they can contribute to shaping educational administration and leadership curricula.

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

Rulers from as long ago as ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia have tried to control various aspects of their economies, whether to ensure adequate supplies of basic commodities in times of war or famine, or to protect the power and incomes of the rulers themselves. There have been various ancient price edicts, which have had some effectiveness, at least during the lifetimes of their promulgators, principally because they referred to products which were largely produced under the direct control of the state. It was obvious even to the most ancient observers that radical changes in the equilibrium between buyers and sellers, such as those caused by sudden shortages in times of war or natural disaster and their attendant famines, gave opportunities to those in possession of goods necessary for the maintenance of life itself, to raise their prices and “profiteer” thereby. The same phenomenon was the reason for the frequent attempts to set ceilings on interest rates, which, in an era when almost all loans were for personal consumption rather than for commercial or investment purposes, had the effect of wiping out financially the borrowers who could not repay their loans in time, which in turn led to serfdom and slavery. Such crises were frequently the occasions for appeals to rulers to protect the population from such exploitation. It was undoubtedly against such a background that the Jews of Talmudic times interpreted the biblical rules against “oppression” to mean a total prohibition of the taking of interest, and limits on “overcharging”, as will be discussed below. In the Greco‐Roman world the idea of control of prices was a result partly of philosophical inquiry into general economic theory, and partly the desire of moralists to prevent the “injustice” of some people gaining “immoderate” profits at the expense of others. Plato saw the desire of merchants for “unbounded” gain rather than “reasonable” profit as a dangerous social evil resulting from the acquisitive nature of man. In his ideal conception, the state ought to set prices in accordance with the cost of production plus fair reward for the seller's efforts (i.e., profit), and to have these standards enforced by market overseers. Such officials, generally called agoranomoi, actually existed in a number of Greek states, but were more often concerned with regulating weights and measures and maintaining orderliness in the market place rather than with controlling prices.

The study of “wisdom” is a subject normally outside the traditional bounds of management studies. Recent financial scandals and management blunders suggest that the time is ripe to introduce, via management development programs, an introductory study into the nature of “wisdom”, and followed by further study into the nature of “managerial wisdom”. Decisions are being made by people practising management which demonstrate that they do not know how to exercise good judgement, nor do they demonstrate that they have an understanding of what it means to be “wise”. This paper looks at the way philosophers have addressed the topic of wisdom from Greco‐Roman times. It includes references to wisdom in history and literature. The paper summarises some of the ideas and developments of more recent research published in psychology journals. It is an extension of ideas expressed in an earlier paper published in this journal viz. “Philosophy in management: a new trend in management development”. Both these papers suggest that management development studies should include areas of study more akin to the great classical tradition, where education is aimed at developing the “whole person”. An introductory study of “philosophy in management”, and “wisdom” in particular, are seen as two ways of expanding the present offerings in management studies

The purpose of this paper is to examine the underlying differences in European Union (EU) country approaches to corporate governance and business ethics given the conformity imposed by the EU's recent standardization directives.

The authors conducted a multivariate statistical analysis, involving a two‐stage procedure where hierarchical and non‐hierarchical methods are used in tandem, using data from the 27 EU countries and 38 factors from the economic freedom of the world (EFW) index. This method is suitable for structured statistical data and allows for identification of groups that share similar characteristics – in this case among 38 criteria.

Despite the call for standardization by the EU's Transparency Directive, countries within the EU are adapting their governance and ethics practices, according to their own technical, cultural, and political process, creating unintended changes to the directive, especially in the implementation phase. The paper finds that in countries representative of four different clusters derived from the 27 countries making up the EU, specifically Sweden, Spain, Bulgaria, and Greece, have chosen to significantly adapt their ethics and governance protections to their specific context. While these alterations may serve to inhibit the goals envisioned by the convergence and standardization of the EU's directives, they may also present some improvements as well.

The paper provides empirical support for the comparative governance perspective at the cross‐cultural level for differences in the implementation practices of governance and business ethics across a representative set of four clusters within the 27 EU countries. This paper suggests new avenues of future research for institutional perspectives of corporate governance by suggesting that surface level conformity is only part of the story masking important underlying differences.

The paper offers insights for policy makers interested in enhancing the efficacy of corporate governance regimes across diverse regions such as the EU such that allowing for localization may come at the expense of standardization and comparison, foreign investment, job creation and other intended benefits of such policy initiatives but may also create opportunities for improvements to governance models.

The paper presents a unique cluster analysis based on the 38‐factors used in the EFW index. As such, the authors provide an alternative categorization of countries from previous research in an attempt to capture the current state of corporate governance and business ethics in four detailed case studies in order to move beyond comparisons of two countries which, to date, have dominated the governance research landscape.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of requirements for firms’ codes of conduct when addressing homophobia in the context of continued colonialism and coloniality.

This paper is a literature study.

First, occidental firms’ codes of conduct are shown to endanger indigenous homosexual individuals by endangering the protection offered by their indigenous ethics and society. Second, it is shown that tackling homophobia in firms’ codes of conduct on the foundation of occidental ethics forces homosexual individuals to conform to occidental homosexual identities in a world of a multitude of indigenous and hybrid homosexualities and identities render firms’ codes of conduct expressions of continued colonialism and coloniality. Third, a sole reliance on occidental conceptualizations of homophobia is shown to potentially camouflage unethical nationalistic and xenophobic intents.

Additional research is needed on the dynamics of coexisting multiple indigenous homosexual identities, and reliable ways to determine the substance of indigenous homosexual identities need to be developed in the context of continued colonialism and coloniality.

Firms need to be cognizant of conflicting identities, hybrid identities and changing identities over time while avoiding to use purported protection against homophobia as a camouflage for nationalistic and xenophobic purposes.

The paper ways to address the protection against homophobia in firms' codes of conduct in the context of continued colonialism and coloniality.

This paper closes a gap in the literature by considering firms’ codes of conduct as favouring homophobia as a result of continued colonialism and coloniality.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the role of management in first century Palestine, and point to implications this has for subsequent management scholarship, especially Weber's widely accepted argument that contemporary management theory and practice is grounded in a Judeo‐Christian ethic.

The literature on the role and activities of managers in first century Palestine is reviewed and used to evaluate management scholarship that draws on biblical writings from this era.

Managers played an increasingly important role in all aspects of social life in first century Palestine, and functioned as go‐betweens amongst households that were embedded in a web of patron‐client relationships. Based on analysis the paper contends that it seems unlikely that the core features of the Protestant Ethic would have been a prominent part of the Judeo‐Christian ethic in first century Palestine. The paper's contention is consistent with the observation that in first century Palestine, the hallmarks of the Protestant Ethic – such as “calling,” “rationalization” and “spiritual (vs political) salvation” – would have been welcomed by the social elite but would have been perceived as a threat by the poor, whereas the historical record indicates that first century exemplars of the Judeo‐Christian ethic were instead welcomed by the poor and perceived as a threat by the elite.

The paper questions whether the hallmarks of the Protestant Ethic as described by Weber represent a plausible interpretation of the biblical record. The paper also provides a basis for challenging common assumptions in the literature that contemporary management theory is based on a biblical Judeo‐Christian ethic.

This paper may facilitate a more accurate interpretation of historical texts as they relate to management, and inform the study and development of alternative ways of managing.

The research described here provides a foundation for examining aspects of Weber's widely accepted thesis, as well as the writings of modern scholars.

Codes of conduct have been adopted very broadly on both sides of the Atlantic in the last two decades. They have been introduced for both elected representatives and appointed officials. Though the accountability mechanisms vary, elected politicians prefer self-policing and enforcement. For appointed officials who carry out specialized functions with exposure to particular, clearly identifiable, ethical risks, where the need for public trust and confidence is great, it is important but also relatively straightforward to develop codes of practice. For generalist public servants, the situation is different. The range of ethical risk to which civil servants are exposed is broader. It is less easy to be specific about the risks involved.