Page 63 - The Ethics of ASEAN

CHAPTER
5

The Rise of Corporate Ethics in

ASEAN

O ur second ECAAR dialogue is about the ethics of corporations and business. It

begins with the question of the purpose of a business organisation.
The shareholder-only ethic of responsibility was championed in the 1970s by
Nobel Prize economist Milton Friedman of the University of Chicago when he declared that
a corporation has no social responsibility to the public or society; its only responsibility is
to its shareholders. This has a consequence not only for the stakeholders of a corporation
who are not shareholders but also for employees and governments.
ASEAN business ethics have not culturally been so capitalistic and indeed ASEAN
businesses were largely born in a post-colonial world after the second World War. But the
ethics of business have risen in importance with corporate social responsibility (CSR) and
ethical investing which require companies to report on their progress in environmental,
social and governance (ESG) matters.
In this dialogue, we invited representatives of ASEAN institutions as well as business
leaders to share the realities and ethical principles of what could be called the ASEAN
model for business as distinct from the ethical models of companies from other regions
operating in ASEAN as a market.
Three short opening remarks provided an introduction to institutions working on
ethics in this area: Gil Gonzales provided an overview of the ASEAN Business Advisory
Council (ASEAN BAC), Le Hong Phuc gave an overview of the ASEAN Human Development
Committee (AHDO) and Thomas Thomas described the activities of the ASEAN Corporate
Social Responsibility organisation.

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