Corporate Governance and Ethics

Corporate Governance and Ethics is an illuminating and practical reading of Aristotle’s Politics for today’s corporate directors. With a deft synthesis of ethics, economics and politics, Alejo Sison elevates the discussion of corporate governance out of the realm of abstract rules and structures into a more effective form of Aristotelian politics. He argues that corporate governance is a human practice where subjective, ethical conditions outweigh the mastery of techniques, since the firm is not a mere production function but, above all, a community of workers. Corporate governance issues are discussed in a holistic fashion, using international case studies to embed the discussion in environments defined by their economic, legal and cultural systems. One of the author’s key messages is that reform starts with the ethical and political education of directors.

Alejo Sison uses an integrative approach to corporate governance that incorporates ethical-political considerations with the economic and legal dimensions of issues. He backs his theoretical claims with a series of case histories including Fiat from Italy, Cheung Kong Holdings and Whampoa Limited from China, Banco Popular from Spain and United Airlines from the US. He provides a special focus on the education of corporate directors in accordance with the principles of Aristotle’s Politics.

This accessible book will appeal to corporate directors, executives and managers; academics and students with an interest in corporate governance, leadership and ethics, corporate citizenship and corporate social responsibility; and modern readers of Aristotle’s virtue theory and politics in relation to business ethics.