Business Realism: A New Movement In Business Theory

In this article I introduce and argue for business realism – a new movement in business theory. Business realism, so I argue, will be a middle way between two false extremes: approaches to business that either overstate or understate the moral dimension in business. I transfer the idea of realism in political theory, a view that emphasizes the autonomy of politics against ethics and the importance of interests and power to the economic sphere and thus business practice. Hence the name of my view of business: business realism. That way business realism emerges as a view of business as practice that gives greater autonomy to distinctively businessy thought without making business a moral-free endeavor. Such an understanding of business has implications for business ethics. In general, I argue that business realism brings better results than other approaches – be it in the sense of the power to explain a practice or when it comes to the ethics of that practice, business ethics