African American Business Ethics

Business Ethics: A European Review

Out of Africa: an introduction
Gedeon J. Rossouw
Business ethics as academic field began its existence in North Atnerica. Its early development was dominated by the North American discourse about ethics and its relevance in the business context. The various approaches to the study of business ethics, as well as the issues that emerged there, made a lasting impact on the landscape of this area of study. Since this period of inception in the 1970s business ethics has become an established academic field in other parts of the world (Enderle 1997). It first came of age outside North America in European countries, and is now maturing in most regions of the globe. The formation of business ethics networks on
On the other hand this dominant role of the public sector in many African economies has resulted in business ethics not focusing exclusively on ethical issues related to economic activity in the private sector, but also including within its scope the ethical dimensions of economic activity in the public sector. • On the meso-level the unique features of the business ethics discourse in Africa centre around the moral responsibility of business towards the reconstruction of African societies. Businesses are often portrayed as having been in collusion with colonial and neo-colonial powers, and are now expected to play their part in undoing the wrongs of the colonial and neo-colonial era. The question of whether the African ethical values of the societies within which business operates are in collision with capitalist business values, or whether these values can and/or should be integrated and turned into a competitive advantage for business, constitutes a key feature of discussion on this level. • On the micro-level the legacy of a history of injustice is reflected in the way in which individual businesses deal with affirmative active measures to overcome the consequences of racism, sexism and economic exclusion. The overriding reality of the rampant AIDS epidemic in Africa shapes much of the moral discourse on this level. Many of the above features that are emerging in business ethics in Africa are reflected in the
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