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A significant catalyst in global economic success has been the information revolution. The Internet, in particular, has facilitated a vast increase in the quantity of available information and multimedia, in general, has allowed corporate players to dramatically increase their market share by exploiting new channels of persuasion, inducing the consumption of yet more goods and services. Globalisation has enabled the discovery of new cultural influences, often transformed by marketers into yet another sales device. Marketers have routinely employed a number of psychological techniques with the cynical intention of subverting human emotions into a marketing tool. Beginning with Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud, who has been credited with pioneering these methods in the 1920's, a technologically‐aided ‘spinning’ of the ‘truth’ continues to be employed in the private and public sphere today. It has been alleged that governments have favoured such techniques in order to reinforce support for the global economy; whilst at the same time their own susceptibility to manipulation and coercion by the global forces of corporatism has resulted in action taken against the wider public interest. It is suggested in this article that societies need to re‐empower themselves against the global information manipulators who comprise a powerful elite. In order to realise a reflective, rational and truly reciprocal society, corporate practices must be subject to stringent statutory control and, finally, demonstrate a commitment to ethical, conscionable behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the usefulness to business education of aesthetics, literature and the ancient ideal of the rule of law in an increasingly complex global environment. Recent financial scandals have exposed a range of vulnerabilities in the management decision‐making process and, increasingly, big business is searching for ethical answers. It is suggested that there is a need to develop the necessary critical, analytical and empathic qualities of, in particular, the business student in order that future global corporate leaders might also be moral managers.

The abstract yet foundational concept of the rule of law is reworked in order to widen its application to business activities and ensure greater accountability. It is argued that the intellectual sensibilities need to be stimulated beyond the traditional business studies format, looking to various examples from the liberal arts. The paper proposes greater attention to, for example, the classics, as the lessons we can learn from fiction are highly pertinent to modern leadership and corporate conduct in general.

There is a relatively new literary genre of business books which is inspired by classic and popular works of literature, for example Power Plays: Shakespeare's Lessons in Leadership; however, such books are yet to appear regularly on business school recommended reading lists.

There are compelling reasons for a radical change in management style, one being that the single‐minded pursuit of profit has recently produced an unprecedented global economic crisis. The paper proposes that, by placing a greater emphasis on developing the intellectual and empathic sensibilities, future managers may be able to adopt a more conscionable approach to environmental and wider societal concerns.

Against the backdrop of an alarmingly amoral and inept set of global management practices, the paper urges a radical return to a classical or liberal arts education for the business student. A re‐imaging of the traditional rule of law also provides the basis for deciding the right course of action; tailored to meet the specific needs of the modern business community.

To investigate CSR initiatives and suggest how these might re‐legitimate, where necessary, current systems of democracy.

The CSR programmes of the world's largest 60 companies were examined, along with more unusual CSR activities of smaller companies worldwide. Democratic systems were analysed to elicit what deficiencies exist in this form of government. CSR initiatives were classified according to the balance of their benefit to the community against benefit to the company itself. This classification was used to suggest how CSR might fill the democratic gap left by the increasingly global scale of government.

Too often, CSR comprises companies claiming credit for programmes they would be legally obliged to undertake or which increase company profits, although some CSR is genuinely altruistic. Traditionally, local communities have little say as to what companies put back into their neighbourhood however if competitions, for example “best kept village”, were encouraged involving companies at a local level, CSR would then have greater relevancy. Perhaps global actors, both corporate and governmental, would in this way gain legitimacy.

Approximately 100 companies were used for this study. A larger sample could have been used although this selection covers most of the types of CSR currently being practiced. The findings are only applicable to democratic countries, although this system of government is practiced by the majority of countries worldwide.

This paper proposes a novel classification of CSR, by geographical scope and by type of initiative. New links are made between the concept of CSR and the deficiencies of the democratic system of government.

The modern social and political order is characterised by a range of disparate moralities which lead to a plethora of interpretations and competing perspectives as to what ought to be the appropriate ethical template for corporate social responsibility. The possibility of uniting these disparate threads into a unified whole is explored by addressing the complex philosophies of Immanuel Kant and his alleged successor, Hans Kelsen; paying particular attention to their contrasting views of the proper foundations of public consensus towards establishing an idealised moral community of corporate actors.

The research is library-based and suggests that philosophy (in this instance, Kant’s moral philosophy and Kelsen’s general theory of law and state, for example) is able to offer an alternative rational and morally grounded ethics of law and governance; pertinent to the effective governance of corporate behaviour and moral management practices.

Central concepts, characteristic of both the Kantian and Kelsenian philosophical methodologies, have the capacity to act as a positive influence on the development of effective CSR mechanisms for assuring greater accountability. In addition, it is suggested that by prescribing ethically appropriate corporate behaviour as a first consideration, such philosophical frameworks are capable of providing a powerful disincentive against corporate crime.

The paper is interdisciplinary and (in an era of mistrust, global financial impropriety and other corporate misdemeanours) explores the utility of a philosophical approach towards articulating the conditions for imposing a moral duty incumbent upon all corporate actors in addressing the practical and conceptual needs of their shareholders and wider society.

Previous research has extensively examined “food deserts,” where access to healthy food is limited. However, little is known of the buying behavior at the individual household level in terms of buying habits and consumption in these areas. The purpose of this paper is to determine to what extent other factors than access can account for the purchase of healthy food products, namely, fruits and vegetables.

This paper proposes to partially fill this gap through a qualitative (n=55) and quantitative (n=512) study of those people who are in charge of their household purchases in two food deserts in the city of Montreal.

Results show that geographical access to supermarkets is not the main factor fostering the purchase of healthy foods (fruits and vegetables). Indeed, food education (e.g. information, simple recipes, cooking classes), associated with a changing mediation process through product diversification (e.g. availability of local products in bulk) and supply (e.g. farmers) seems to be more significant.

Future studies could compare the results obtained through this study in different socio-demographic contexts. Longitudinal analyses could also increase the understanding of the social and commercial challenges.

In contrast to previous studies, the results show that geographical access to supermarkets is not the main factor fostering the purchase of fruits and vegetables. Indeed, food education (e.g. information, simple recipes, cooking classes), associated with a changing mediation process through product diversification (e.g. products in bulk) and supply (e.g. farmers) seem to be more significant.

This study investigated how college students’ pace of life and perceptions of communication technologies shape the choices they make when engaging in mediated communication with their parents.

We conducted 21 interviews to explore how students’ understandings of various communication technologies, the rules and patterns of technology use in their families, and the circumstances surrounding their use of technologies while at college influence the number and type of media they use to communicate with their parents.

We found that perceived busyness and generational differences played a large role in limiting technologies used, with environmental factors, the purpose of communication, and complexity of message also contributing to technology choices.

This study extends media multiplexity theory by investigating media choice and relational tie strength in an intergenerational context.