Ethical Imperatives of CEOS: Creating the Virtuous Corporation

Abstract

Companies that are going to thrive must have a soul. Those that are only concerned with “maximizing shareholder wealth” or “maximizing profit” will find themselves going the way Enron went. CEOs will have to lead the revolution and should be the ones exhorting executives to make spiritual values or virtue, not just profit, the core values of a firm. A true measure of corporate performance is multidimensional and has to include the short-term, the long-term, risk, environmental issues, society, employees, customers, suppliers, and government. This paper shows how a firm can acquire a soul and even be profitable doing it.

Keywords: maximizing profit, maximizing shareholder wealth, corporate social responsibility, ethics, virtuous corporation

JEL Classification: A22, A23, D81, G18, G21, I20, L20, L21, M14, M19, M31, Q20, Q38