The Political Role of the Business Firm: An Ordonomic Concept of Corporate Citizenship Developed in Comparison With the Aristotelian Idea of Individual Citizenship*

This article contributes to the debate about the political role of the business firm. The article clarifies what is meant by the “political” role of the firm and how this political role relates to its economic role. To this end, the authors present an ordonomic concept of corporate citizenship and illustrate the concept by way of comparison with the Aristotelian idea of individual citizenship for the antique polis. According to our concept, companies take a political role if they participate in rule-setting processes and rule-finding discourses. Though this political role of the corporation is in principle ambivalent, the authors conclude that in such processes of “new governance” the economic and political roles of the firm need not contradict each other but can follow the same win-win logic of individual self-perfection through cooperative social interactions. 1Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany 2Friedrich-Alexander-University, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Nuremberg, Germany *All three authors contributed equally to the paper. Corresponding Author: Markus Beckmann, School of Business and Economics, Friedrich-Alexander-University, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Findelgasse 7, 90402 Nuremberg, Germany. Email: [email protected] 483484 BAS53210.1177/0007650313483484Business & SocietyPies et al. research-article2013 at UNIVERSITAETSBIBLIOTHEK on June 22, 2015 bas.sagepub.com Downloaded from