Industry and Chain Responsibilities and Integrative Social Contracts Theory

Journal of Business Ethics · 2009 · Volume 88 · Issue 4

Abstract

This article shows that business ethics is not capable of explaining the responsibility of limited organised collectives such as chains, sectors and industries. The responsibility of the pharmaceutical industry to make AIDS blockers available for patients in Africa is an example of such a sector responsibility. By using system theory, it is possible to understand responsibility at the level of a social system. The Integrative Social Contracts Theory has been extended to determine this system’s responsibility.

Keywords

social contract, integrative social contracts theory, moral free space, hypernorms, stakeholder theory

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