Laszlo Zsolnai’s paper “Corporate Legitimacy” was published in the book “Business Ethics and Corporate Sustainability” edited by Antonio Tencati, and Francesco Perrini (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, Northampton, MA, USA, 2011).
The paper suggests that the theory of ‘Just War’ provides an excellent methodological device for determining the conditions for assessing the legitimacy of companies. The Just War theory has different sets of criteria. The first establishes the right to go to war (“jus ad bellum”), the second establishes right conduct within war (“jus in bello”) while the third establishes justice about the results of war (“jus post bellum”). In business ethics we can make an analogous distinction. A specific company can be considered ’just’ if the company’s activities are substantively right, procedurally fair, and bring justice to the company ecosystem.
If the company’s activities are substantively right, procedurally fair and bring justice to the company ecosystem then the specific company may have strong legitimacy. This means that the company’s “raison d’être”, its operations and end results are morally justifiable.