Business Ethics and Corporate Responsibility in South Africa

Synonyms

Business ethics; Professional ethics

Introduction

Business ethics and corporate social responsibility were conspicuous in their absence in South Africa prior to the first democratically elected government in the country in 1994. Since then they have developed rapidly. In the case of Business Ethics this has been most evident in its development as an academically respected area of teaching research. Corporate social responsibility has been subsumed as an academic focal area under the main discipline of Business Ethics, and as a widely implemented practice in progressive business organizations in South Africa.

Business Ethics in South Africa

Business ethics in South Africa prior to the establishment of the first democratic government and the demise of the apartheid state was virtually nonexistent in any meaningful way. Businesses were run and structured in a fully segregated and discriminatory manner, and jobs of certain kinds were the exclusive preserve of Whites, underwritten...