Jaana Woiceshyn

Jaana Woiceshyn taught business ethics and competitive strategy for over 30 years at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, Canada, where she is now an emerita professor.How to Be Profitable and Moral” is her first solo-authored book. Visit her website at profitableandmoral.com.

Should Business Be Selfish?

Selfishness guides business to trade value for value with all parties – wages for employees’ productivity, products and services for customers’ payment, payment for suppliers’ products, and so on – by mutual consent, for mutual benefit, with no deception or fraud. This is the only way business can maximize long-term profits – and the reason it should be selfish.

Acting on Principle Pays

Acting on Principle Pays

An MBA student of mine who had just read my book commented: “Those principles you write about make a lot of sense, but at the same time, business is ruthless, and most people do not follow such moral principles. How can you act on principle when others don’t?” My...

A shareholder-employee conflict?

A shareholder-employee conflict?

Marx was wrong: shareholders will benefit, not from the exploitation of workers but from their motivated, productive, fairly-compensated contribution to wealth creation. It is not a win-lose but a win-win; the alleged conflict between shareholders and workers is a myth.

No Impact Man

No Impact Man

University of Calgary, my employer, recently announced that this year it will require all newly-admitted students to read “No Impact Man,” the New York-based author Colin Beavan’s account of living for a year in Manhattan in an effort to strive for “zero environmental...

Apple Computer Should Not Have To Pay Taxes

Apple Computer Should Not Have To Pay Taxes

Apple, the most highly valued technology company and the creator of wonderful products that millions enjoy and use to enhance their productivity, has been accused of not paying enough taxes at a congressional hearing where CEO Tim Cook was grilled yesterday. (See the...

Corporate Welfare is Immoral

Corporate Welfare is Immoral

In its recently released budget the Canadian (Conservative!) government announced $6.4 billion of new corporate welfare spending. The aerospace sector will receive $1.2 billion of it over the next five years, Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario...

Is Egoism Obvious?

My book, How to Be Profitable and Moral: A Rational Egoist Approach to Business, has been translated into Finnish and was recently published in Finland. At the book launch in Helsinki, an appreciative reader (of the English-language original) and a business owner...

Selling Horse Meat as Beef: Buyer Beware, Too?

Selling Horse Meat as Beef: Buyer Beware, Too?

In my last article I wrote about stores selling products past their best before date—such as the expired canned lobster pate, which raised demands for legislation against selling expired food products in Canada. I argued that such legislation would be a violation of...

Consumer Protection: Regulation vs. Reputation

Consumer Protection: Regulation vs. Reputation

A Canadian woman recently bought a can of lobster pate at a Wal-Mart store. The pate was about a year and half past its best before date, and the woman claimed that she felt ill about four hours after consuming some of the pate. In this era of the nanny state, the...

Eating Quinoa: Capitalist Exploitation?

Eating Quinoa: Capitalist Exploitation?

The newly rediscovered, nutritious “miracle grain” quinoa, eaten increasingly by health-conscious consumers in the developed countries, is making the rich richer and the poor poorer. At least if we are to believe the recent article in The Guardian newspaper of the...

It’s Good—But Hard—to Be Selfish

Most people think that it is unethical to be selfish. They have been taught that we should always put others’ interests ahead of our own and that pursuing self-interest is immoral. That is why they also think that business—which by definition pursues self-interest:...

Income Inequality is Moral

I was listening to the radio on the weekend and heard a leading Canadian socialist, Stephen Lewis, lament about the big income gap between the rich and the poor as one of the worst ills in society today. Reflecting on that and on the exodus of millionaires from France...

Giving is Not a Duty

At this time of the year, many of us are giving presents out of benevolence, goodwill, appreciation, and love—I hope. Gifts are a means of showing that we value their recipients in some way, whether friends, loved ones, causes, or charities. Giving gifts out of duty...

Free Market Should Win Over Government Control

After months of deliberation, the Canadian government has finally approved the $15 billion takeover of the Canadian-based oil and gas producer Nexen Inc. by CNOOC, one of the state-owned oil companies of China. While I applaud the government for the approval, it...

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