Ethical Responsibility of Russian Business
How to Cite
Vittenberg E.Y. 2015. Ethical Responsibility of Russian Business — Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika. No. 3. P. 79-103.
Abstract
The author analyses the moral and ethical responsibility of Russian business, including aspects such as the culture of wealth, fair competition, involvement in corruption, socially crucial investments, and charity. The article is based on the findings of the author, who combined his engagement in business (heading an information-analytical firm that was engaged in collecting and processing the data on business in the post-Soviet countries) with scientific research for more than twenty yearsThe article analyses the results of a sociological study, which was completed in 2013, on the moral and ethical responsibility of businessmen among the representatives of the large, average and small business of the capital region.Based on the empirical findings, the author comes to several conclusions concerning the moral and ethical responsibility that Russian businesses have before the society. However, the majority of owners are in a transit state from the socially irresponsible to the socially critical behaviour. Finally, a substantial portion of the Russian businesses frequently disrupts moral and ethical standards, consciously participating in corruption, in raider takeover, pseudo-charity, etc.The author posits that given the complicated economic situation in Russia and the international sanctions, the Russian business will be confronted with new serious tests.
Keywords:
the moral and ethical responsibility of business, the culture of wealth, unconscientious competition, violent M&A, participation in the corruption, insider information, socially critical investments, charity
References
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Garriga E., Mele D. Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory. J. «Journal of Business Ethics», 53 (2004). P. 51 — 71.
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Blagov Yu. E., Ignat’ev Yu.A. Normy etiki v biznese. [Ethics in business]. SPb., 2004 — 86 s. (In Russ)
Blagotvoritel’nye organizatsii v Rossii. [Charitable organizations in Russia]. [Elektronnyi resurs] URL: http://referats. allbest. ru>sociology/00197218_0. html (data obrashcheniya: 22. 07. 2014). (In Russ.).
Veblen T. Teoriya prazdnogo klassa. [Theory of the Leisure Class]. Perevod s angliyskogo. M., «Progress», 1984. — 367 s. (Russ. Ed.).
Vittenberg E. Ya. Sotsial’naya otvetstvennost’ biznesa na postsovetskom prostranstve. [Social responsibility of business in theformer Soviet space] — M., 2011, Izdatel’skii tsentr RGGU. — 481 s. (In Russ.).
Vittenberg E. Ya. K voprosu ob effektivnosti sotsial’noi politiki rossiiskoi vlasti.[ On the question of the effectiveness of social policy of the Russian authorities]. J. Rossiya i sovremennyi mir. — M., 2013. — № 4. — S. 6 — 31. (In Russ.).
Gromov I. A., Matskevich I. A. Semenov V. A. Zapadnaya sotsiologiya. [ Western sociology]. — SPb.: OOO «Izdatel’stvo DNK», 2003. — 560 s. (In Russ.).
Doklad o tendentsiyakh v sfere KSO v Rossii v 2009 godu. [Report on trends in the field of CSR in Russia in 2009]. [Elektronnyi resurs]. J. RSPP Rossiiskii soyuz promyshlennikov i predprinimatelei URL: http://www. rspp. ru (data obrashcheniya: 23. 07. 2014). (In Russ.).
Zarubina N. N. Den’gi i kul’tura bogatstva: perspektivy sotsial’noi otvetstvennosti biznesa v usloviyakh globalizatsii. [Money and wealth of culture: the prospects of corporate social responsibility in the context of globalization]. J. «Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya», 2008, № 10, S. 13 — 23. (In Russ.).
Kara-Murza S. G. Anomiya v Rossii: prichiny i proyavleniya. [Anomie in Russia: causes and manifestations]. M.: Nauchnyy ekspert, 2013. — 264 s. (In Russ.).
Mirovoi reiting blagotvoritelnosti 2013. [ World ranking charity]. [Elektronnyi resurs] Filantrop. Elektronnyi zhurnal o blagotvoritel’nosti URL: http://www.philanthropy. ruwp-content/uploads/2013/12/ (data obrashcheniya: 23. 07. 2014). (In Russ)
Otnoshenie rossiyan k privatizatsii: 1990-e i 2000-e gody. [Russians ’attitudes toward privatization: 1990 and 2000]. [Elektronnyy resurs] // Tsentr problemnogo analiza i gosudarstvenno-upravlencheskogo proektirovaniya URL: http://problemanalesis.ru>puls/ puls/puls/-1044html (data obrashcheniya: 13.08.2014). (In Russ.).
Peregudov S P, Semenenko I S Korporativnoe grazhdanstvo: kontseptsii, mirovaya praktika i rossiiskie realii. [Corporate citizenship: concepts, international practice and the realities of Russia]. M.: Progress-Traditsiya, 2008. — 448 s. (In Russ.).
Printsipy Mikhaila Gutserieva. [Principles Mikhail Gutseriev]. [Elektronnyi resurs]. Forbes http://www.forbes.ru/svoi-biznes-opinion/predprinimateli/76217- printsipy-mihaila-gutserieva (data obrashcheniya: 23.07.2014). (In Russ.).
Sobstvennost’ i biznes v zhizni i vospriyatii rossiyan. [Property and business in life and the perception of Russians] M, 2006 — 392 s (In Russ)
Sovremennye klassiki teorii predprinimatel’stva. [Modern classical theory of entrepreneurship]. M., ID VShE, 2013. — 526 s. (In Russ.).
Solodskaya M. S. Moral’no-eticheskaya otvetstvennost’ sub”ekta upravleniya. [Ethical responsibility of the subject of management]. // Credo Orenburg — 1998. — № 5 [Elektronnyi resurs]. J. Credonew URL: http://credonew. ru/content/ view/99/50/ (data obrashcheniya: 22.07.2014). (In Russ.).
Sotsial’no otvetstvennyi biznes Rossii. Opyt luchshikh kompanii. Spravochnik-sbornik. [Socially Responsible Business in Russia. Experience the best companies. Directory compilation]. — Sankt-Peterburg: RIA «Leningrad», 2007. — 271 s. (In Russ.).
Khor’kova E. P. Istoriya predprinimatel’stva i metsenatstva v Rossii. [History of entrepreneurship and philanthropy in Russia]. M., 1998. — 362 s. (In Russ.).
Arthaud-Day M. L. Transnational Corporate Social Responsibility: A Tri-Dimensional Approach to International CSR Research. J. Business Ethics Quarterly 15 (2005). P. 1 — 22.
Carroll A. B., Buchholtz A. K. Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management. 5¬th ed. Australia: Thomson South-Western, 2003.
Garriga E., Mele D. Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory. J. «Journal of Business Ethics», 53 (2004). P. 51 — 71.
Smith N. Craig. The Moral Responsibility of Firms: For or Against? [Electronic resource]. Insead Knowledge URL: http://knowledge. insead. edu/ethics/the-moral-responsibility-of-firms- for-or-against 3243?nopaging=1#Gs8w5SoYjqX4SebW. 99 (date of reference: 13.08.2014).
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Harvard
Vittenberg, E. Y. (2015) ’Ethical Responsibility of Russian Business’, Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika, (3), pp. 79-103. Available at: https://jour.fnisc.ru/index.php/socnp/article/view/3080 (Accessed: 5December2025).
Section
UNTITLED
Publisher: Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FCTAS RAS)