The Purpose of Business ― Contemporary Perspectives from Different Walks of Life

Business is a central social institution, but there is mounting concern about its role in distorting wealth distribution, enabling and rewarding unethical behavior and despoiling the natural environment. The Purpose of Business brings together academics and experts from around the world to discuss the role and responsibility of business enterprise in our ever-evolving global society.

This volume features scholarship from The Fordham Consortium, a group dedicated to stimulating critical, creative and constructive dialogue on business functions in the 21st century. Contributors from North America, South America, Europe and Asia bring culturally and intellectually diverse perspectives on these critical questions: What is the purpose of business in the world? What is the purpose of the business school within the academy? How do these purposes connect? This multifaceted work offers an exploration of business in relation to religion, art, neuroscience, geopolitics and beyond to inspire students and scholars to learn from and influence the conduct of business.

Albert Erisman is Executive in Residence and past Director of the Center for Integrity in Business in the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University, USA. He is also Executive Editor of Ethix magazine, which he co-founded in 1998. Albert has been with The Boeing Company for 32 years, serving as director of R&D for computing and mathematics for the last decade.

David Gautschi is Dean Emeritus and holds the Joseph Keating, S.J. Professorship at Fordham University, USA. He was previously the Kirby Cramer Scholar of Marketing and International Business at the University of Washington and has served on the faculties of Cornell, INSEAD, Yale, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has founded three start-up companies in marketing analytics and served for four years as a Firm Director of Deloitte & Touche LLP in its e-business practice.