Business History and Europe Conference

In this article this dialectical approach is adopted in re-analysing of four European case studies. They are (i) the alliance of Rover and Honda (UK), which involved contrasting political and cultural value priorities; (ii) the drug donation programs of the German company Boehringer-Ingelheim, which can be interpreted from different commercial and ethical perspectives; (iii) the experiences of Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria, in the 1990’s, involving corporate ethics and responsibilities in the context of political corruption, and (iv) the activities of Sir James Goldsmith and his French based Occidental Corporation. In all cases, a form of dialectical reasoning augments the standard myopic narratives found in the business case study literature. Topic: European sectoral case studies.