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Italian Economia Aziendale as a Model Inspired by Catholic Humanism

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Humanism in Economics and Business

Part of the book series: Issues in Business Ethics ((IBET,volume 43))

Abstract

The ongoing global economic and financial crisis has exposed the risks of considering market and business organizations only as instruments for creating economic wealth while disregarding their role in ethics and values. Christian Humanism based on Catholic Social Teaching (CST) could provide a useful contribution in a rethinking of the role of values in business organizations and markets because CST proposes an anthropological view that involves thinking of the marketplace as a community of persons with the aim of participating in the Common Good (CG) of society. In the light of the CST tradition, this article investigates the thinking of some of the historical scholars of the Italian Economia Aziendale (EA), by focusing on the concept of azienda, in order to reinterpret the role of business organizations in society in a more humanistic way. By linking CST and EA, the dichotomy between for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and the stereotype of the so-called business amorality that has, for a long time, driven business managers can be transcended. The conclusions imply a forward-looking application of the ethical concepts embedded in the Italian science of EA.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Arguments that support the choice not to translate the term Economia Aziendale (EA) can be found in works by several Italian authors (Zan 1994; Dagnino and Quattrone 2006).

  2. 2.

    The above note also applies to azienda but this term can be loosely translated as ‘firm’ (for more details see Viganò 1998, 382).

  3. 3.

    Original text in English by Signori and Rusconi (2009).

  4. 4.

    Numerous books and articles have been published on the relationship between business and ethics (e.g. Rusconi and Dorigatti 2005) at the national level.

  5. 5.

    Original text in English by Signori and Rusconi (2009).

  6. 6.

    A previous version was published by the authors, E. Costa, E., and T. Ramus, in 2012, under the title ‘The Italian Economia Aziendale and Catholic Social Teaching: How to Apply the Common Good Principle at the Managerial Level’ in the Journal of Business Ethics (Springer) 106(1), 103–116. With permission.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

    Ericka Costa

  2. Catolica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal

    Tommaso Ramus

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  1. Ericka Costa
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  2. Tommaso Ramus
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Correspondence to Ericka Costa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Navarra IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain

    Domènec Melé

  2. Markets, Culture and Ethics Research Center, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, Italy

    Martin Schlag

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Costa, E., Ramus, T. (2015). Italian Economia Aziendale as a Model Inspired by Catholic Humanism. In: Melé, D., Schlag, M. (eds) Humanism in Economics and Business. Issues in Business Ethics, vol 43. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9704-7_9

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