Moralising Global Markets

The Creativity of International Business Discourse

verfasst von: Annette Cerne

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

Investigating how international market actors create market morality on a global level, this book reflects on the unresolved questions and debates regarding the relationship between business and society. The author explores how market actors in international business communication are unified in their attempts to make markets moralised. Providing detailed case studies and empirical evidence based on interviews with practitioners, Moralising Global Markets is a useful read for anyone interested in international business, and for those researching morality, ethics and corporate social responsibility.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

1. Introduction

Abstract

Cerne addresses an enduring theoretical conflict around whether markets are moral or immoral and draws our attention to how this issue is dealt with in practice. The first chapter demonstrates how this question of markets as moral or immoral has come into sharper focus in a globalised economy, and how market actors have dealt with it in practice. Rather than relying on the idea that market actors may say one thing while doing another, this chapter encourages embracing language as a social practice in order to understand how global markets are attempted to be moralised through the creativity of international business discourse. In this chapter, the reader is invited on a global journey exploring how language is used to (re)produce global markets as moralised.

Annette Cerne

2. The Moralisation of Global Markets as Business Knowledge

Abstract

This chapter offers an overview of morality as a form of knowledge in society, and of how markets through time have been suggested as a moralising entity in society. It then offers a contrasting perspective, of markets as an institution “amoralising” society. Going on to discuss markets as socially embedded, the chapter interlinks actors within and outside the boundaries of markets in attempts to moralise global markets. With a focus on the role of business organisations in the moralisation of global markets, this chapter outlines three leading approaches to the moralisation of global markets, in terms of a functionalist approach, a descriptive approach, and a critical approach. The chapter finishes by suggesting discourses as the building blocks for the moralisation of global markets.

Annette Cerne

3. The Creativity of International Business Discourse

Abstract

This chapter challenges a view of language as rhetorical strategy, different from social practices. Instead, it describes language as a central business practice, enabling creative possibilities in business contexts such as global markets. The chapter further suggests a view of language as merely “informing” market actors, rather requiring co-creation and interaction for meanings to occur. It then goes on to offer the reader a view of how language and communication have been used to create a certain moral order for market interaction, suggesting accounts as a specifically useful resource in international business, proposing a discursive repertoire as a resource for the moralisation of global markets. The chapter ends with the suggestion of a critical view on the outcomes of this discursive practice.

Annette Cerne

4. Moralising Global Markets through Corporate Public Reports

Abstract

This chapter presents an empirical study of public reports as part of an international business discourse in attempts to moralise global markets. It gives a discursive analysis of new empirical material in the form of sustainability reports from international fashion retailers, illustrating the different tensions that global market actors struggle with from a moral perspective and the symbolic solutions they offer in these reports. The chapter also suggests how market actors become interlinked through this market practice, and what discursive strategies can be found as tools for identity formation in this practice.

Annette Cerne

5. Personal Accounts from Retail Buying Managers on the Moralisation of Global Markets

Abstract

This chapter adds personal accounts from international fashion retailers and retailers from the home improvement industry to the public reports. Through new empirical material, the chapter offers a view on the various discursive tools that international retailers use in the moralisation of global markets. Using a detailed analysis of these personal accounts, we can see how market actors use language in order to moralise global markets.

Annette Cerne

6. Inviting the Suppliers to Join the Conversation

Abstract

This chapter offers exclusive material from global suppliers with headquarters in China, giving their views on the moralisation of global markets. The analysis is based on empirical material in the form of field notes from observed, international business meetings, along with personal accounts from CEOs and managers of international firms with their head offices in China. The chapter explores whether there is any need and room for resistance in this international business setting, and what possible outcomes this might have.

Annette Cerne

7. The Moralisation of Global Markets Through Language and Communication

Abstract

The final chapter takes the reader back to the question about what the moralisation of global markets in discursive forms offers market actors as well as society. The chapter searches for agency in this market practice, and questions whether the moralisation of global markets can be found through its industrialisation. Finally, the chapter suggests plurality as a possibility for the moralisation of global markets, and the acknowledgement of how—in all its complexity—the moralisation of global markets through discursive means is a double-edged sword with material consequences.

Annette Cerne

Backmatter

Titel: Moralising Global Markets
verfasst von: Annette Cerne
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-75981-4
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75980-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75981-4