Laszlo Zsolnai edited the book “The European Difference—Business Ethics in the Community of European Management Schools” published in 1998 by Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, Dordrecht, London. The book collects the business ethics visions, programs and experiences of member universities of the Community of European Management Schools (CEMS).
The book includes the following papers:
Peter Pruzan (Copenhagen Business School): “Theory and Practice of Business Ethics in Denmark”,
Hans De Geer (Stockholm School of Economics): “Business Ethics at the Stockholm School of Economics”,
Nel Hofstra and Luit Kloosterman (Erasmus University Rotterdam): “‘Polder-Ethics’: Business Ethics in the Netherlands”,
Yvon Pesqueux (HEC Paris): “Business Ethics in France: ‘Comment faire sans philosophie?’”,
Josep M. Lozano (ESADE Business School, Barcelona): “From Teaching to Learning of Business Ethics in Barcelona”,
Peter Ulrich and Thomas Maak (University of St. Gallen): “Integrative Business Ethics
—A Critical Approach in St. Gallen”,
Lidmila Nemcova (University of Economics, Prague): “Business Ethics at the University of Economics in Prague”,
Laszlo Zsolnai (Corvinus University of Budapest): “Establishing Business Ethics in Budapest”.
The main message of the book is that European business ethics is deeply rooted in culture and less influenced by abstract principles or ideas. In European countries, culture is probably the main regulating force that provides a solid basis for ethics in general, and for business ethics in particular.