Corporate Governance and the Practice of Business Ethics in Slovenia

This article contributes both quantitatively and qualitatively to the discussion on implementation of business ethics, as a basic background of social responsibility leading to systemic behaviour. In the frame of business ethics the ethical core values, culture, ethical climate, informal, and formal measures of business ethics implementation is addressed. The article is also aimed to improve understanding of importance of (ethical) corporate governance, key stakeholders’ influence on the enterprise’s core values, culture, the ethical climate, and informal and formal measures of business ethics implementation as the constitutional elements of enterprise ethical behaviour. The article briefs important cognitions of various empirical researches on business ethics in the case of Slovenian enterprises. The business ethics strongly relates to, and matters in, achieving more enterprises’ social responsibility and humankind’s well-being.     

The Corporate Social Responsibility of Ukrainian Agroholdings: the Stakeholder Approach Revisited

The agricultural sector in Ukraine and other transitional and developing countries is distinguished by the prominence of agroholdings, i.e., large-scale industrialized corporations, that offer extensive support to their stakeholders through the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The stakeholder approach as a part of business ethics scholarship explains stakeholder salience in terms of the turbulence of the business environment. Drawing on the Luhmannian theory of complex social systems, the present paper shows this turbulence to be a relative concept that makes sense primarily in relation to the limited ability of dominant formal institutions, such as the function systems, to process the complexity of the societal environment. In line with this argument, the Ukrainian agroholdings are shown to direct their CSR efforts to stakeholders whose salience arises out of the transition-specific institutional shortcomings, such as the imperfections of land and labor markets. Paradoxically, the Ukrainian institutional environment has been conducive not only to the rise of agroholdings but also to the emergence of societal expectations which the agroholdings must face. The broader business ethics implication of the argument is the functional equivalence of the discretionary CSR activities and the quality of the dominant formal institutions, such as the function systems.     

Social Responsibility: Measures and Measurement as a Basis for Organizational Systemic Action

European Union (2011) supports conditions favorable to sustainable growth, responsible business behavior and durable employment generation. Social responsibility (SR) supports this effort; hence EU urges its member states and big enterprises to promote SR to innovate habits of humans, societies and especially decision-makers-towards requisite holism, based on ethics of interdependence, i.e. systemic behavior. Related criteria for measurement of SR of organizations are drafted here. In Slovenia, the ‘Horus award’ promotes public awareness about meaning and importance of SR and encourages it in organizations.     

Ethics of a Sustainable Enterprise—and the Need for it

In the modern global economy, new criteria are needed to describe the most modern enterprises: Sustainable Enterprise (SE) and Sustainable Enterprise Ethics (SEE). Long-term existence and development of humans and organisations depend, largely, on application of the sustainable development (SD) concept. Already, some enterprises consider the modern conditions and apply the requisite synergy of economic, ecological, social and ethical aims. They can be called Sustainable Enterprises (SEs). Suitable activities of SEs depend on their ethics even more than on their knowledge—Sustainable Enterprise Ethics. Attainment of SEE demands innovation of values, culture and behaviour of all critical SEs’ participants for them to understand, achieve and use SEE as a more/requisitely holistic practice, based on ethics of interdependence (EI). We offer some new suggestions on why humans need SE and SEE and suggest ways to create and implement EI as SEE in and for SEs rather than the traditional one-sided business behaviour.

企业营销道德测评体系的确立与模糊评价———来自外部顾客的数据分析

在实证研究的基础上,通过均值分析和主成分因子分析,建立了一套从消费者角度出发的企业营销道德测评体系,同时应用该体系对四家样本企业的营销道德水准进行模糊评价,得出了三个基本结论:1)从消费者(外部顾客)角度看,企业营销道德测评体系可主要由促销因子、诚信因子、社会责任因子、公平竞争因子四大指标确立;2)通过对四家样本企业的模糊评价结果,可推论出我国现阶段多数企业营销道德水准偏低;3)促销因子和公平竞争因子的道德水准建设应成为我国多数大企业营销道德建设的重点工作之一.     

Is Hypermobility a Challenge for Transport Ethics and Systemicity?

Modern modes of transport, in the developed world, were designed to achieve higher mobility (or speed) and increased accessibility, all in the name of growth and human progress. However, in the course of providing for this higher mobility, through the rapid expansion of the transport system, we have ended up with a condition of imbalanced mobility, which we refer to as "hypermobility," particularly with reference to the automobile mode. Ironically, this very expansion of the transport network, with the objective of providing higher transport speeds, has resulted in traffic congestion that has drastically reduced mobility and accessibility, thereby lowering business productivity, increasing fuel consumption, increasing pollution, and robbing the public of billions of hours of valuable time. In light of the present unsustainable conditions, we examine and analyze the concepts of mobility through an inquiry of time, space, human freedom, and social justice from an ethical and systemic viewpoint. We conclude that if hypermobility is not dealt with both as an individual and as a collective responsibility, the challenge to transport ethics and its systemicity could be further impaired.     

Ethical Issues and Role Duality in Insider Action Research: Challenges for Action Research Degree Programmes

Insider action research describes the process when a member of an organisation undertakes an explicit action research role in addition to the normal functional roles they hold in an organisation. Real-world work-based research is relevant and important to many full-time managers, consultants and members of organisations including those who choose to undertake higher degrees in business as part-time postgraduate students. Within these programmes a proposal for an insider action research project is often associated with important and interesting research projects that have already arisen in an organisation where the researcher works full-time, and are part of their existing role and established working relationships with key stakeholders. Ethical issues in organisationally located insider action research can differ from other forms of action research because of role duality, i.e. that the researcher holds an ongoing work role and power relationships associated with this as well as the action research role. Ethical issues can be associated with choices about alternative options, expected impacts and outcomes on the researcher, participants, organisation and stakeholders, and these are important considerations for academic supervisors, institutional review boards and human research ethics committees.     

System or Process? A Meta-theoretical Reflection on the Nature of the Firm

The paper revisits the fundamental question of the nature of the firm by contrasting two philosophic worldviews suggested by process philosophy and the Luhmannian systems theory. Whereas the former worldview takes reality to be internally related, the latter ones underscores the tendency of social systems, such as firms, to disregard much of this interrelatedness. The productive tension between these worldviews suggests that the firm provides a context where systemic imperatives meet the rich concrete reality of human life. The role of the firm is to house those aspects of this reality that are too organic to be accommodated by the abstract “language of prices” corresponding, in institutional economics terms, to the reliance on market governance. The major examples of these aspects explored in the paper are dynamic capabilities and business ethics, both of which hold the potential to improve the firm’s sustainability, both economic and social. The proposed contrast between the process-philosophic and systems-theoretic worldviews thus illuminates not only the nature of the firm but also the managerial relevance of corporate sustainability instruments.

     

Samaritan Ethics, Systems Science and Society

Contemporary approaches to ethics are centred upon utilitarian and formal ethics. Yet, these are not capable of counteracting the moral crisis in our society. We must move beyond self-interest or merely doing what is specified in codes, to Samaritan ethics, which means attending to the needs of our neighbour even when he is unable to repay us. This ethic has systemic properties; therefore, it can be incorporated into an appropriate systems science framework that includes the humanities and the historical mode of reasoning. Furthermore, rather than social, economic and political manipulation, education—in the classical humanist tradition—should be the appropriate method to help implement such ethics into our societies.     

个人伦理系统价值函数分析

本文在借鉴张华夏社会系统伦理价值分析的基础上,初步分析了个人伦理系统的价值。我们提出,个人伦理价值是由有限资源与环境保护原则、社会功利效用原则、社会正义原则、仁爱原则、个人功利原则、个人义务原则和个人美德原则这七个价值变量组成的。不同的人在不同的情景对这些价值变量的倾向不同,因而有不同的权重数值和不同的价值判断。我们认为,当我们把个人当作最小伦理系统单元时,就必然会将复杂性带入伦理学中,为伦理学研究提供新的研究方向。     

Roles,Politics, and Ethics in Action Research Design

For novice action researchers, issues of roles, politics and ethics are critical, particularly in design. The field of organization development (OD) provides many useful considerations of roles, politics and ethics. This article proposes a systemic design-based framework of the action research process that includes context, inquiry mechanisms, inquiry cycle and outcomes. Such perspective brings to the forefront the issues of context, roles, politics dynamics and ethics that are embedded in the action research process and influence its emergent process, quality and outcomes. A set of propositions for further explorations is advanced and briefly discussed.     

Wisdom, ethics, and information technology: Some philosophical reflections

An increasing need is felt for wisdom and ethics in our technological society. This is especially the case in connection with information use and decision making. It is one thing to manipulate data and generate information with our new technologies but quite another thing to make proper use of it once we have got it. In the search for wisdom and ethics, one must be alert to the risk that we mold them into the dominating scientific-technological framework. The wisdom and ethics lose their normative power and enriching potential for our human lives. In exploring the traditions that stand at the cradle of our culture, this paper explains the specific character of the Hebrew/Christian view on wisdom and shows how this can contribute to the wise use of our new machines.     

基于ECA规则的业务流程效率实时管理方法

业务流程效率是企业业务运营管理中非常关键的性能指标之一. 针对目前业务流程性能研究缺乏实时、定量分析的问题, 提出了应用ECA规则监控业务流程效率的实时管理方法. 从业务流程效率分析指标体系出发, 给出了业务流程效率实时管理框架, 构建了多维数据仓库关系模型, 探讨了业务流程效率监控的ECA规则以及业务流程效率实时管理控制引擎. 以某企业的服装订单合同评审业务流程为例, 通过对比测评, 表明采用本方法实施业务流程效率管理后, 整体流程执行效率提升了10%左右, 业务活动执行的平均时间减少了15%左右.     

多元化战略协同效应——以涉足房地产行业的企业为例

基于战略协同理论,从业务相关性的角度,以零售企业、餐饮、旅游、旅馆企业以及机械、装备、仪表制造企业2000～2010年涉足房地产业务的上市公司为样本,研究主营业务与房地产业务相关性不同的企业进入房地产行业多元化战略的协同效应差异。结果表明:主营业务与房地产业务具有相关性的企业进入房地产行业的多元化战略能够实现协同效应,有利于企业主营业务的发展;而主营业务与房地产业务没有相关性的企业进入房地产行业的多元化战略则损害企业主营业务的发展。     

基于业务对象的行政审批系统业务模型

基于业务对象对行政事务处理系统业务建模,并通过扩展的NAM对业务对象间的关系和规则进行语义描述。将此业务模型应用到行政审批系统中,利用关联函数矩阵方法提出了行政审批系统的业务关联模型,分析了该系统中业务对象间具体的关联关系,进而提出了一种基于行政审批业务规则的推理机制。从而将原来分散于各行政职能部门的行政审批业务进行集成,提高了系统的柔性。最后,给出了相应的一站式行政审批系统架构。     

基于回归方程的流通企业破产风险模型

流通企业与生产企业所处行业性质的差异,决定了其与生产企业破产风险的差异。对企业破产风险的估计,目前流行两种模型:一种是F.Lundberg提出的专门研究保险企业破产风险的古典模型,另一种是A ltm an提出的Z值模型。该两种模型预测企业破产风险非常有效,但它们只预测经济学意义上的企业破产风险。法律意义上的破产风险不同于经济学意义上的破产风险,它的影响因素取决于国家法律的规定。中国破产法规定企业破产的原因有两个:支付不能和资不抵债。本文以此为依据,提出了法律意义上的流通企业破产风险回归模型,并对其进行了检验,最后对与模型相关的问题和改良思路进行了介绍。     

面向实体的企业建模及仿真系统框架设计

面向实体的企业模型具有智能化、柔性化、协作化特点，能增强企业灵捷运作能力。文中说明了模型的基本结构及组成。应用主体模型和对象模型设计企业主体和企业客体，定义了消息对象，设计了基于自治机制与协作机制的模型运行机制。为支持模型在企业诊断与经营模式设计方案评价方面的应用，作者使用Swarm开发了内置实体模型的仿真系统框架，并展示了一个应用实例。     

Co-evolution:A New Perspective for Business Model Innovation

This paper combines the perspective of co-evolution with studies in the area of business model, reveals the phenomenon of business model co-evolution and explores the business model coevolution mechanism between firms through a case study. Findings and what other companies can learn from this study are as follows. Firstly, companies, be it leaders or not, can act as enablers for other party's business model innovation. Secondly, companies can enable each other's business model innovation by taking the perspective of business model co-evolution; Thirdly, the interdependence of the business model co-evolution process can be explained by the four levers named novelty, lock-in,complementarity and efficiency. Companies can select novelty, lock-in, complementarity, efficiency or the combination of the four as mediators to achieve business model co-evolution.     

The Use of Critical Systems Heuristics to Surface and Reconcile Users' Conflicting Visions for a Business Intelligence System

This paper describes an action research study where the business requirements analysis approach of a business intelligence development project was enriched. Critical systems heuristics, a critical systems methodology that is positioned in the critical systems thinking paradigm, was applied to surface the inherently conflicting views and visions (however unknown to them) that the various stakeholders had regarding a new business intelligence system and its underlying business process. It therefore enabled surfacing of human/cultural and organisational issues that would have negatively affected the adoption of the new system; these were successfully resolved. Accordingly, the various stakeholders reflected on their real requirements that constituted improvement, rather than mere automation, of a business process; it ultimately resulted in a successful new business intelligence system that realised business benefits.