ABSTRACT
Our purpose in showcasing and in exploring the selected cases in this volume has been to present models of effective practices. We have included those practices that, if replicated by others in their industry or elsewhere, would most likely create value-added for many of a company’s primary stakeholders, those most affected by the organization, including shareholders. Prior to publication, the editors discussed the title, bantering about the now well-accepted expression, “best practices” to describe these activities, knowing that this term would be easily accepted and recognized by the cross-disciplinary readers whom we sought to inspire. However, in this volume, we do not contend that the companies whose practices we describe are perfect companies. There are no perfect companies; and some of these firms have made egregious errors of judgment. Moreover, we claim neither to have observed the practices of all firms such that we could conclude, even by mere exaggeration, that these practices are anywhere close to “The Best” nor do we in any sense contend in the cases chosen the superlative that the term implies. To the contrary, there are myriad means by which to respond systemically and with moral imagination to both the extraordinary and the ordinary ethical challenges facing global corporations in today’s complicated environment.
