Together with the Centre for Ethics of the University of Antwerp, the Business Ethics Center was co-organizer of the Annual Conference of the European SPES Forum entitled “Responsibility in Economics—The Legacy of E.F. Schumacher” from September 22–23, 2011 in Antwerp, Belgium.
The 100th anniversary of E.F. Schumacher’s birth was an opportunity for launching a discussion on responsibility in economics. It invited us to rediscover the author of Small is Beautiful (1973) and his philosophy of responsibility as elaborated in his Guide for the Perplexed (1977). In his last publication, Good Work (1979), Schumacher was one of the first economists who urged to integrate the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability (CSRS) in economic discourse.
Over 100 scholars and practitioners participated in the Antwerp conference from Europe, North America and Asia.