Strategic planning as if ethics mattered

Abstract

Ethics and the moral obligations of management were an accepted component in the planning process during the early development of Corporate Strategy as a field of study. It is proposed that ethics must be brought back into that planning process in order to build trust on the part of all of the stake-holders of the firm. Trust generates commitment. Commitment ensures effort, and effort that is cooperative, innovative and strategically directed is essential for success in a competitive global economy. Ethics should be central, not peripheral, to the overall management of the firm.