MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Finding Good News for Human Rights After Khashoggi

Companies must respond to Jamal Khashoggi’s murder by standing up for human rights.

We look in horror at the unfolding story of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Many business leaders feel they can lie low and, if pressed, assert that business interests trump human rights. As business ethicists, we believe it is possible to draw good news for business and human rights from the Khashoggi story. This is not because an absence of moral leadership provides cover for business complicity in human rights abuses; it is because the Khashoggi case is so blatant and so clearly demands moral courage and a principled response from leaders.

About the Author

N. Craig Smith (@insead) is the chair in ethics and social responsibility at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. His latest book (with Eric Orts) is The Moral Responsibility of Firms. Markus Scholz holds the Endowed Chair of Corporate Governance and Business Ethics at the University of Applied Sciences for Management & Communication in Vienna and is a visiting scholar at INSEAD. He tweets (@ccgbe).

Learn more about MIT SMR.