André Habisch

Practical wisdom for management from the Chinese classical traditions

Purpose – This paper aims to provide an overview of this special issue.Design/methodology/approach – The guest editorial introduces the papers in this special issue, focusing on practical wisdom for management from the Chinese classical traditions.Findings – Chinese culture increasingly will permeate international culture and move from peripheral to mainstream status. To ignore this in management education would be a grave oversight.Originality/value – The issue offers insights into the value of practical wisdom from Confucianism, the origins of Chinese classical trditions and Daoism, and the various streams of thought within the classical Chinese traditions and their contemporary relevance.

Politicization of Companies? Empirical Evidence on Corporate Citizenship Activities in Europe

This chapter critically discusses the thesis of ‘politization of companies’ developed by some academic scholars. The ‚Good Company Ranking’ of Manager Magazin screened the social engagement of EuroStoxx and DAX listed companies biannualy from 2005 onwards. The architecture of the Ranking in general and the criteria for Corporate Citizenship Engagement in particular are explained. Drawing on best practice cases and tendencies of Corporate Citizenship Engagement derived from the ranking the business logic of CC is described. In spite of a academic conceptualization the chapter pledges for more careful analysis of real world projects and proposes first analytical tools in that respect.

Media Management in the Digital Age: Toward a Practical Wisdom-Based Approach

In this article we consider how the virtue of practical wisdom (prudence) rooted in the Aristotelian philosophy helps to develop a value-based media management in today’s age of digitalization. We argue that the integrative and the normative dimension of practical wisdom contribute to a wisdom-based, multi-dimensional perspective of media management which might counteract the information-based, one-dimensional perspective of a digital rationality. We proceed, first, by identifying the main challenges for value-based media management in the age of digitalization. Second, we introduce the concept of practical wisdom recently rediscovered and adapted in economics and explore its transformative potential for management practice. Finally, we conclude by suggesting the scope of possible applications.

CSR in the Context of Transition Economy: An Evaluation of Enterprises CSR Practices in China

The structure between economic, social and environmental dimensions has to be rebuilt and rebalanced since China has been entering an accelerative transforming period. CSR is perceived as an effective way to achieve sustainable development, and regime actors’ engagement in CSR practices is essential and influential. We thereby evaluate the engaging extent of large enterprises and main industries in CSR practices. Also, the role of ownership in CSR practices is revealed.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL VALUES AND TRUST FOR INNOVATION — A EUROPEAN STUDY

Cultural values and social capital are important parts of the context that determines countries’ innovation performance (and, hence, economic development). This paper investigates the culture–innovation relationship in a European context, as well as the mediating role of the national-level trust in this connection. Data are used to test the hypotheses that a country’s innovation performance is influenced by its cultural value emphases and societal trust, and that the culture–innovation relationship is mediated by societal trust. Based on data from the Global Innovation Index and the European Social Survey covering 27 European countries, we find that innovation at the country level is positively correlated with the level of societal trust and with three cultural value dimensions: “Autonomy versus Embeddedness”, “Egalitarianism versus Hierarchy”, and “Harmony versus Mastery”. A multivariate SEM analysis reveals that when “Autonomy versus Embeddedness” is controlled, the two other cultural value dimensions are no longer significant. Further, a SEM path analysis confirms that the relationship between cultural values and innovation performances is completely mediated through the level of trust in a society. Overall, “Autonomy versus Embeddedness” has a stronger total effect than societal trust on a country’s innovation performance, but most of this effect is indirect, mediated through societal trust. Implications of our findings for the corporate level (i.e., entrepreneurs and managers) as well as for the institutional settings (i.e., policy makers) are discussed. It is suggested that for successful innovation to blossom, the actors on both levels should aim at strengthening the cultural emphasis on individual autonomy, institutional integrity and mutual trust.

Closing Remarks: Practical Wisdom as a Global Research Project in the Twenty-First Century

The contributions in this volume in multiple ways represent an innovative approach towards a more integrated concept of business education. ‘Practical Wisdom’—basically reflected by the Greek philosopher Aristotle (2004)—served as the crucial point of reference of Western medieval and early modern moral educational philosophy. For centuries not only in the West but in cultural traditions all over the World, the personal character of leaders has been formed in the context of spiritual and religious traditions (Bay et al. 2010; Dyck 2012; Tracey 2012; Tracey et al. 2014; Weaver and Agle 2002; Zinbarg 2001). Thus, spiritual traditions served as cultural capital for handing over basic normative orientations throughout history. The goal of chasing Practical Wisdom connected knowledge acquisition with personal fulfillment (Naughton et al. 2010; Lenssen et al. 2012). Only with the advent of Enlightenment philosophy had Practical Wisdom lost its role as an integrating educational concept and was gradually replaced by Human reason (Bachmann et al. 2014). During this process, Practical Wisdom saw itself reduced to a term describing merely technical skills. Ultimately towards the modern age, spiritual contents are gradually suppressed from Leadership education (King 2008; Roca 2008).

(Wie) Sollen Unternehmen über Nachhaltigkeit berichterstatten? Ein rechnungslegungsorientierter Ansatz

Nachhaltigkeitsfragen gewinnen in den letzten Jahrzehnten schnell an Relevanz – und zwar sowohl aus einer unternehmensethischen wie aus einer genuin betriebswirtschaftlichen Perspektive. Aus unternehmerischer Sicht spricht man nunmehr in der Regel von corporate social responsibility (CSR) oder – etwas weiter gefasst – von corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSER), da der Umweltbezug in den letzten Jahren immer mehr zunimmt.