Evolution Of Business Ethics And Its Implications To China

1970s witnessed in America a revival of business ethics, an ideological system dating back to philosophers of ancient Greece and Confucian philosophers of ancient China. People's concern about it was awakened by the sharp conflicts between organizations/individuals and society and environment in social economic activities, resulting from western world's erroneous understanding of "economic man". Western society, through popularizing business ethics, has reviewed the concept of "economic man" and the development and existing problems of capitalist market economy, while in China business ethics did not draw any attention until 1990s and thus is yet under construction.Currently, great success has been accomplished in China's economic reform. However, the subjects of China's market economy are facing with unprecedented challenges in ethical and moral issues. The country is in urgent need of ethical construction of market economy. Against the current social background of constructing socialist market economy of Chinese characteristics, this thesis explores the theoretical evolution of business ethics both in China and the West, based on a reflection of Western and Chinese traditional business ethics theory and an observation of Marxist theory (including Deng Xiaoping theory) of business ethics of market economy, which in turn elucidate the close tie between economy and ethics. Besides, the thesis analyzes the theoretical and practical problems of constructing business ethics in China and their reasons, and proposes the objective, content, approach and suggestions to the ongoing ethical construction of socialist market economy of Chinese characteristics.