Corporations and the Third Way

The search for an ethical foundation for corporate behaviour has been a powerful theme of scholarship in company law since the middle of the last century. In an era of social democracy the search has intensified, fuelled by the demise of the new right both in economic and social terms. The author of this path-breaking and provocative work argues that third way politics offers a means of identifying that foundation by emphasizing the need for social co-operation and partnership through shared agendas rather than regulatory pressure. In contrast to many contemporary "globalization" theorists the author argues that corporations are in fact profoundly concerned with national political and social agendas rather than global ones. The reasons for the demise of the new right are intimately connected with the position of corporations within civil society. Corporations have little choice but to become involved with third way politics and its accompanying social agendas. These ideas are traced through into a blueprint for corporate behaviour which looks at Aristotelian ethics as a way of creating a position for the corporation which permits the goal of profit to be placed alongside others such as community participation. These goals, it is argued, can be achieved through an ethics of care approach.