Business & Nature

Business firms everywhere are surrounded by, and they interact with, an organic natural world. Business managers need to know how these natural ecological forces affect business, and how their business decisions and activities affect organic nature. Such nature-based business decisions can achieve long-term sustainability for business, society, and the Earth’s ecosystems. In the long-run, a business firm’s success depends upon its ability to understand and manage these natural ecological processes.

BILL'S BOOKS ABOUT BUSINESS AND NATURE

Values, Nature, and Culture in the American Corporation. 1995. Oxford University Press.

BILL'S ARTICLES ABOUT BUSINESS AND NATURE

"Anchoring Values in Nature: Toward a Theory of Business Values." 1992.
Business Ethics Quarterly, 2, 3: 283-303.

“Economy and Ecology: More Alike than Different?” 1995.
Socioeconomia y Communitarismo. La Busqueda de Paradigmas Alternativos. Valencia, Spain: Universidad Internacional Menendez y Pelayo.

“Creatures, Corporations, Communities, Chaos, Complexity: A Naturological View of the Corporate Social Role.” 1998.
Business & Society, 37, 4: 358-389.

“Nature and Business Ethics.” 1999.
In Robert E. Frederick & Edward Petry (eds.). A Companion to Business Ethics. Blackwell, 100-111.

“Relativism, Feminism, and Theology: A Naturalist Response.” 1999.
Business & Society, 38, 2: 237-245.

“Nature’s Place in Legal and Ethical Reasoning: An Interactive Commentary on William Frederick’s Values, Nature, and Culture in the American Corporation.” 1999.
American Business Law Journal, 36, 4: 633-670. Coauthors: Robbin Derry, Timothy L. Fort, Nancy Hauserman.

“Pragmatism, Nature, and Norms.” 2000.
Business and Society Review, 105, 4: 467-479.

“Seeking Common Ground: A Response to Dunfee.” 2000.
Business and Society Review, 105, 4: 502-504.

“Evolutionary Social Contracts.” 2002.
Business and Society Review, 107, 3: 283-308. Coauthor: David M. Wasieleski.

“The Evolutionary Firm and Its Moral (Dis)Contents.” 2004.
In R. Edward Freeman & Patricia H. Werhane (eds.), Business, Science, and Ethics, Ruffin Series No. 4, Society for Business Ethics, 145-176.

“T2 + D2 + E2 = ISCT-II: A Biocultural Guide to Social Contract”
November 13, 2004. Conference on Contractarian Approaches to Business Ethics: The Evolution of Integrated Social Contracts Theory. The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.