Italian Economia Aziendale as a model inspired by Catholic Humanism

The ongoing global economic and financial crisis has exposed the risks of considering market and business organizations only as instruments for creating economic wealth while disregarding their role in ethics and values. Christian Humanism based on Catholic Social Teaching (CST) could provide a useful contribution in a rethinking of the role of values in business organizations and markets because CST proposes an anthropological view that involves thinking of the marketplace as a community of persons with the aim of participating in the Common Good (CG) of society. In the light of the CST tradition, this article investigates the thinking of some of the historical scholars of the Italian Economia Aziendale (EA), by focusing on the concept of azienda, in order to reinterpret the role of business organizations in society in a more humanistic way. By linking CST and EA, the dichotomy between for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and the stereotype of the so-called business amorality that has, for a long time, driven business managers can be transcended. The conclusions imply a forward-looking application of the ethical concepts embedded in the Italian science of EA.