As a text book, this is slightly unusual in that it takes a definitive position on a number of issues. Indeed, the title of the book (which appears as "Business Ethics" on the front cover, "Business Ethics: a European Perspective" inside the front cover and only subsequently gets its full rendition (see above)), seems a misnomer. A more informative title would be Managing Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability in the Age of Globalisation: a European Perspective - but it's understandable why such a mouthful was eschewed! Nonetheless, such a revised title would have clearly indicated the three positions, as well as the European perspective, that the book takes. So, while mentioning other terms such as CSR, it argues for Corporate Citizenship as a new term for business ethics, a term which acknowledges the "extended" political role of the corporation in society. Then it argues that sustainability (incorporating environmental, economic and social perspectives) is a new goal for business ethics. And third, it suggests that the context for business ethics is a global one which needs to contend with cultural, legal and accountability issues. In addition, it argues that a European perspective is necessary, partly by way of contrast to the American approach to business ethics.

It is quite possible to be critical of each of these positions, but one strength of the book is that it not only defines and defends them in the first two chapters, but then integrates them throughout the "contextualisation" of business ethics that forms Part II of the book (Chapters 6 to 11) and returns to a discussion of them in the concluding chapter. So it is, at least, consistent in its approach. It is not clear that it is so successful in providing a European perspective, particularly when there could be argued to be fairly extensive differences between the U.K. and continental Europe, as well as differences within continental Europe itself that make a single perspective on Europe difficult to sustain. But it is, clearly, not an American text.

While the book is admirably linked into the literature and includes an extensive set of references, it is perhaps not surprising, given the three positions that it takes, that it comes across as practically rather than theoretically oriented. Thus, the one chapter on normative ethical theories covers the standard material but ends with a summary entitled "towards a pragmatic use of ethical theory" and the authors admit in the concluding chapter that, "this book could be argued to be closer to a postmodern perspective than anything else: ethical theories are at best tools to inform the 'moral sentiment' of the decision-maker …" (p. 442). A strength, however, is that there is again an attempt to integrate, with "Think theory" boxes in each chapter that relate back to normative theory. But, to repeat, it is not a "business ethics" text with a heavy dose of moral philosophy.

Strengths of the book, from the perspective of subject coverage, include the chapter on managing business ethics, which provides a neat overview of tools and techniques such as codes, social accounting and ethics programmes. The chapter on shareholders which includes a section on corporate governance, a discussion of competitors as stakeholders and, not surprisingly, chapters on "Civil Society" and "Government / Regulation" all provide useful material that is not covered well in other texts.

There is certainly, then, sufficient material for it to be a core text without necessarily either 'buying into' the positions that the authors take, or using the whole of the book. Modules which take a stakeholder perspective, for example, would find plenty of material not only providing an introduction to stakeholder theory, but also discussing most stakeholder groups in turn. From a teaching perspective, the book is admirable, with 22 mini-cases typically one page in length, and each chapter containing an "Ethical dilemma" and concluding with study questions, a research exercise and a more extended case study. There is also an OUP companion web-site which has a 'lecturers only' section providing suggestions for teaching, answers to set questions, links to additional resources and Powerpoint slides of a lecture for each chapter.

Inevitably, there are aspects where the coverage is not extensive. For example, although sustainability is a core theme and, as noted above, is integrated well into the text, there is very limited coverage of ecological issues. The text also has a 'big business' focus - there is nothing on business ethics and SMEs, or ethics and entrepreneurship. And occasionally there are particular topics - industrial democracy and works councils being an obvious example - where coverage would have been expected but is absent. But these are relatively minor grumbles. As it stands, the book makes a valuable contribution and is likely to become a core or supporting text for many modules - whatever their title!

Review by Geoff Moore is Professor in the area of Corporate Responsibility, Accountability and Governance at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University and was until recently Chair of EBEN-UK

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