Title: Ethical Foundations of Sustainability Transformation in Business
 

Short description: In order to enable companies to become more sustainable, it is of critical importance that the existing normative assumptions and ethical principles of business, as well as the image of human beings in business, are critically scrutinised. This project seeks to do this, and moreover, to analyse which alternative assumptions and ethical principles enable sustainability transformations in companies.

Question: What alternative assumptions and ethical principles do we need for a sustainability transformation in business?

Aim: Research on alternative assumptions and ethical principles underpinning a sustainability transformation in business.

Method: Hermeneutics, analysis of normative assumptions and ethical principles of existing alternative business concepts, development of a synthesis.

Content/Concrete research goal: (1) Identify and critique existing normative assumptions regarding entrepreneurial action in light of the necessity of a sustainability transformation (including understandings of humanity, corporate goals, competition, time horizons), (2) Identify and research alternative assumptions and ethical principles that could enable a sustainability transformation in business.

 

Time frame: 4 years

Participating institutions/persons: Habilitation project