Japan Society for Business Ethics (JABES) was founded in 1993 and, as of Jan. 2022, there are 491 members consisting of academic researchers and business practitioners interested in business ethics. The aim of JABES is to promote and contribute to the sound development of business ethics studies and researches in Japan. JABES members have been conducting academic and practical research and improving its results through group study meetings, domestic and international exchange activities, symposiums and annual conferences for research presentation. Besides business ethics study, with the growing interest in corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, sustainability, creating shared value (CSV), ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing and sustainable development goals (SDGs), JABES members have constructed diversified special interest groups (SIGs). As of Jan. 2022, there are nine SIGs, including Business Philosophy SIG, Corporate Behavior SIG, Organizational Governance SIG, Corporate Social Responsibility SIG, Business Ethics Education SIG, ESG investing and SDGs SIG, Law and Compliance SIG, and two chapters (Kansai and Chubu) in JABES. As for publications, the Society publishes Journal of Japan Society for Business Ethics and Sustainability Studies in Business annually and JABES Newsletter three times a year. The journal articles are in Japanese with a brief abstract in English which can be retrieved from CiNii (Citation information by National institute of informatics). Please visit LINK page of this website and search the articles of the Society by clicking CiNii and putting a key word JABES.
JABES has signed a Partnership Agreement with GLOBETHICS on October 10, 2012.
The language used in meetings and publications is almost exclusively Japanese and English translation is provided depending on the necessity of an occasion. For further details please send us a fax : +81 03- 6441-0641 or an e-mail to:
Japan Society for Business Ethics
c/o Association for Supporting Academic Societies
5-3-13 Otuka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-0012, Japan
Message from JABES President 2023
The past JABES publication (ABSTRACTS in English)
English naming of JABES organization
Information Bulletin of The Union of National Economic Associations in Japan
Report in 2016-2020
Report in 2015(N.A)
Presidential (Chairman's) Report 2014(N.A)
Report in 2010(N.A)
Report in 2009(N.A)
Oxford Dictionaries pro defines ethics as follows:
ETHICS
plural noun
(1) [usually treated as plural] moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting of an activity
(2) [usually treated as singular] the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles
Schools of ethics in Western philosophy can be divided, very roughly, into three sorts. The first, drawing on the work of Aristotle, holds that the virtues (such as justice, charity, and generosity) are dispositions to act in ways that benefit both the person possessing them and that person's society. The second, defended particularly by Kant, makes the concept of duty central to morality: humans are bound, from a knowledge of their duty as rational beings, to obey the categorical imperative to respect other rational beings. Thirdly, utilitarianism asserts that the guiding principle of conduct should be the greatest happiness or benefit of the greatest number.
Richard T. De George points out that the term 'business ethics' is used in a lot of different ways, and summarizes three strands of the usage of this term: (1) the "ethics in business" sense of business ethics, (2) Business Ethics as an Academic Field, and (3) Business Ethics as a Movement.