Business Ethics Center

OUR RESEARCH FOCUS

The activities of the Center for Business Ethics are based on the conviction that ethics is a relevant aspect at all levels of economic activities, from individual and organizational actions to macroeconomic and international levels. Complex economic problems require a multidisciplinary approach, in which models from economics and management psychology, and ethics play an indispensable role. We practice business ethics as a transdisciplinary science, in which critical-analytical and action-oriented knowledge can be creatively combined. Our main research areas focus on: ethics in economic organizations, spirituality in the economy, sustainable business models.

Value Creation for a Sustainable World – project

The project addresses the need for ecological regeneration in a systematic way and connects it with human wellbeing, presents dozens of innovative working models, and uses an integrated concept of sustainable value creation. The project collects innovative economic, business, and social models of sustainable value creation globally. It critically examines the existing mainstream models of business and financial value creation. In reviewing both traditional and sustainability-oriented models, the analysis focuses on both the challenges and opportunities inherent in a possible shift from models based on single-stakeholder wealth creation to models that propagate multidimensional value creation. The main argument is that the ecological, social and technological challenges of the Anthropocene require developing and implementing new economic, business, and financial models to create sustainable value for a wide range of stakeholders including nature, society, and future generations. The project defines ‘sustainable value creation’ as bringing forth products, services, organizational forms, processes, actions, and policies which satisfy real social needs and contribute to the ecological regeneration of nature.