Business and Professional Ethics Journal

published on July 21, 2015

"The Global Economic Manifesto: A Retrospective"
A Response from Two Co-Authors

This article responds to the review of Hemphill and Lillevik, “The Global Economic Manifesto: A Retrospective.” It aims to contribute to the worldwide discussion of global accepted norms and values of corporate behavior by addressing universal ethical principles and implementation strategies. A focus is set on the means of specifying values to serve the action orientation of an organization and its management. Since external normative expectations rise in context of the upcoming Post-2015 Development Agenda, corporate responses need to take local specifics as well as international accepted norms into account. Therefore, a distinctive implementation design is outlined. Key strategic steps contain elements such as (1) awareness of common values, (2) differing consequences due to cultural environments and economic conditions, (3) integration of practical experience to gain impact-related insights, and (4) fostering global leadership education. Consequently, corporate value management approaches and Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda are connected through universal values.