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The purpose of this paper is to explore the complexities and tensions that international organisations face in managing ethics.

Three levels of ethics are identified and discussed in the paper in the context of three international strategies.

The study finds that an organisation's approach to ethics depends on its level of ethics and the type of international strategy adopted. These two dimensions have the potential to create identifiable tensions between head office and subsidiaries that will need to be understood and managed.

The paper offers practical guidance to managers by providing a framework for better understanding the tensions and challenges faced by head office and subsidiaries when operating in international markets. Hence, it makes explicit an aspect of strategic management that may not be obvious, but that could influence the organisation's ability to achieve its strategic goals.

This paper extends previous research on ethics and international business by proposing that an organisation's approach to ethics depends on the level of ethics at which it operates and the type of strategy it has adopted.

The reasons for teaching an explicit ethical component in business courses are reinforced in contemporary contexts where governments have ceded roles to private organisations. However, new approaches to business ethics teaching are needed that take into account this changed environment. This chapter argues that the recent controversy surrounding Mark Moore's theory of public value (1995) invites an investigation into the use of his theory in courses spanning business management and public sector management. Further, we argue that public value incorporates several approaches to corporate social responsibility, as well as providing a theory of liberal government and an account of virtue ethics which are strong teaching tools.

This paper explores ways in which different dimensions of sustainability can be addressed at the strategic level within organizations.

Building upon previous research, the authors provide a conceptual overview before developing a framework that outlines how sustainability can be addressed during the strategic decision‐making process and as part of the organization's corporate, business and functional level strategies.

Research has demonstrated that many managers do not understand how to make their organizations more sustainable, even though they recognize the benefits of doing so. The framework developed in this paper suggests a way for managers to integrate sustainability into strategy. It focuses on the strategic decision‐making process, including the cognitive characteristics of strategic decision‐makers and the strategy content at the corporate, business and functional levels. The authors also address the role of organizational culture and vision in supporting sustainable strategies. The framework is illustrated by case examples of BHP Billiton, Loving Earth, the Australian Wine Industry, and Migros.

The framework can be used by managers and scholars to assess the degree to which organizations have strategically addressed sustainability and to identify opportunities for further improvements.

The value of this paper lies in the treatment of sustainability as a strategic, as opposed to an operational, issue. By adopting a strategic approach to sustainability, organizations are more likely to include economic, environmental and social considerations in all aspects of business on an ongoing basis.

Despite the attention being paid to business ethics, it seems the behaviour of business leaders and employees has not improved. This paper takes a different approach to understanding why this is the case. A distinction made in the higher education literature between surface and deep approaches to learning is adapted to provide an insight into the reason for the difference between the rhetoric concerning ethics and actual business practice. It is argued that a surface approach to ethics, which is associated with self‐interest, will not promote ethical behaviour, while a deep approach, motivated by the desire to do the right thing, does have the potential to do so. The difference between the rhetoric and business practice suggests that most businesses either intentionally or unintentionally adopt a surface approach to ethics.

Most of us, you would hope, would like to think that the profits we take home at the end of day were earned in fair practice. Given the choice, we prefer to sleep easy in the knowledge that business decisions have been made ethically, and with a clear conscience. Considering the increasing number of organizations who are now declaring commitment to ethical practice, as well as the time allocated to studying business ethics on academic courses, most of us presume without question that the firm we work for operates by an ethical code of conduct. But it is not as simple as that.

Peter Bowden's background is in institutional strengthening. Formerly Professor of Administrative Studies at the University of Manchester, he has been Advisor and Consultant to a number of international agencies including the World Bank and the United Nations. He has, since 2003, used this background in teaching and research on ethical practices. Currently Research Associate in the Department of Philosophy and Lecturer in Ethics in the Faculty of Engineering, at the University of Sydney, he is also Secretary to the Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics. His edited book, Applied Ethics, is to come out by mid-2012.