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Honorableness or Beneficialness? Cicero on Natural Law, Virtues, Glory, and (Corporate) Reputation

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Abstract

During the last decade corporate reputation as one of the central efforts of corporate citizenship behavior has gained increasing attention in scholarly research, as has the way that reputation can serve as an instrument for business purposes. This poses the question of how such reputation will be achieved. To answer these questions this article examines Cicero’s considerations concerning the interrelation of honorableness and beneficialness made in his work ‘On Duties’. Based on Cicero’s understanding of universal natural law and his idea that reputation derives solely from honorable behavior and the orientation in the common good, we show that also corporate reputation is achieved only if it is based primarily on ‘honorableness’, and that reputation is lost if financial interests override the intentions of honesty of a company.

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  1. International Institute Zittau, Technical University Dresden, Markt 23, 02763, Zittau, Germany

    Michael S. Aßländer

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  1. Michael S. Aßländer
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Correspondence to Michael S. Aßländer.

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Aßländer, M.S. Honorableness or Beneficialness? Cicero on Natural Law, Virtues, Glory, and (Corporate) Reputation. J Bus Ethics 116, 751–767 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1819-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1819-7

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