A transcript of a talk on business ethics, given in Pretoria last fall, found its way to our offices half a world away in Boston.
Excerpts from this talk, "Morality in the Market Place," were published in the "Second Thought" column of the January 21 Christian Science Sentinel. In his brief remarks, the speaker challenged some basic assumptions underlying much of current business practice—for instance, that maximization of bottom-line profits should be the driving force of business policy. The Bible, he said, and, in particular, the life of Christ Jesus, offer quite different priorities. And, given a massive upheaval in the world's economy, the search for new business models takes on special urgency.
The speaker, Robert S. K. Tucker, is the chief executive officer of a large South African corporation in the field of home financing, and a Christian Scientist. We thought it would be of interest to Journal readers to explore further with Mr. Tucker the Biblical priorities of service to God and man and whether these can really be termed "good business" in the everyday corporate world of meetings, borrowing and lending, personnel policy, red tape, strategic planning, research and development.
