BOOK REVIEWS
Scott Rae and Kenman L. Wong. Beyond Integrity: A Judeo-Christian Approach to Business Ethics (Zondervan, 1996), $34.99. This is a great business ethics textbook which provides the important standard articles and cases with a distinctively Judeo-Christian supplementary commentary at the end of each chapter that interacts with the previous articles and cases. The format of this 16-chapter book seems to work well as each chapter begins with a short introduction to the chapter’s topic, followed by a few standard articles, a few case studies with discussion questions, and then a brief (10 page) commentary by the authors which is often to the point. Without the commentary, this textbook would compare to many secular textbooks. Those who like the distinctively Judeo-Christian approach need not fear that they are neglecting non-Christian articles. Here your will find the classic articles (Carr, Bowie, Friedman) from solid journals (Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Harvard Business Review, New York Times Magazine) alongside standard case studies (“Unocal in Myanmar”, “Nike and Cheap Labor”, “General Motors Flammable Gas Tanks”, etc.) Authors Rae (Biola) and Wong (Seattle Pacific) have divided the book into four sections. The first, “Christians, Markets and Postmodern Morality” examines the differences between Christian ethics and the ethics of contemporary business culture in three chapters, using Carr and Bowie, among others, as exemplars of compartmentalized and relativistic secular business thinking. Section two, “Capitalism and Christian Values” consists of just two chapters which critically assesses the free-market system from a Christian perspective. Here you will find articles by Michael Novak and Jim Wallis. Section three, “Business and Society”, is by far the largest section, with 8 chapters dealing with corporate responsibility, employee rights, discrimination, harassment, advertising, product safety, environment, and “The Ethics of Insider Trading, Mergers, and Acquisitions” (ch 13). Section four, “Ethics and Individuals”, contains three chapters which deal with individual personal responsibility and how to encourage and make moral decisions in the business and corporate world using some basic models of decision-making. Teaching Business Ethics 3: 301–302, 1999.
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BOOK REVIEWS
I like this book and recommend it for introductory business ethics courses where a Judeo-Christian approach would be appropriate. It gets students into some of the standard literature on these business issues, provides interesting and relevant contemporary cases with useful discussion questions, and interacts with those articles and cases from a distinctively Judeo-Christian perspective. Marquette University Philosophy Department Coughlin Hall 139 Box 1881 WI 53233 Milwaukee U.S.A.
ANDREW GUSTAFSON
Isaak, Robert. Green Logic: Ecopreneurship, Theory and Ethics. Sheffield, England: Greenleaf Publishing, 1998. 144 p. The book is a acceptable for undergraduate students who many times have poor or disconnected information about Ecology and Ethics. Besides the clarity of writing and the broad scope, the work presents accurate information, which may strongly motivate young business people to become ecopreneurs. Isaak introduces the topics explaining how the environmental management has often been discussed under the perspective of economics and technology, while greener aspects have been left behind. His intention is to highlight key points related to entrepreneurship and sustainability, through the tripod of motivation, government and ethics. He refers to the “green logic” as what it takes to motivate entrepreneurs to design and start up green businesses, or what makes them stay away from activities harmful the environment. Opening the book, Globalization and Ecopreneurship are discussed at the light of the global trends and the obstacles to cope with them. Some solutions proposed for Europe vary from clash of cultures towards universal sustainability. The entrepreneur is analyzed as a creative freerider that works across the cultures with the logic of perception, collective actions and creative green design. Two simple assumptions are taken as guidelines: everywhere you live and work on the earth is home, meaning that if every place is home, you are always expecting guests; therefore the design must not only be carefully ordered but must have an automatic cleaning-up device built in to maintain the order once established. Given these assumptions, the free-riding
Teaching Business Ethics 3: 302–304, 1999.
