Chapter 4 - Ethics in International Business

Introduction
Business ethics are the accepted principles of right or wrong governing the conduct of
business people
An ethical strategy is a strategy or course of action that does not violate these accepted
principles

Ethical Issues in International Business

Many of the ethical issues and dilemmas in international business are rooted in the fact that
political systems, law, economic development, and culture vary significantly from nation to
nation
In the international business setting, the most common ethical issues involve
- Employment practices
- Human rights
- Environmental regulations
- Corruption
- Moral obligation of multinational corporations
2.1 Employment Practices
Ethical issues associated with employment practices abroad include
- When work conditions in a host nation are clearly inferior to those in a multinationals
home nation, what standards should be applied?
- While few would suggest that pay and work conditions should be the same across
nations, how much divergence is acceptable?
2.2 Human Rights
Questions of human rights can arise in international business because basic human rights still
are not respected in many nations
- Rights that we take for granted in developed nations, such as freedom of association,
freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, and freedom from
political repression are by no means universally accepted
The question that must be asked of firms operating internationally is: What is the
responsibility of a foreign multinational when operating in a country where basic human rights
are trampled on?
2.3 Environmental Pollution
Ethical issues arise when environmental regulations in host nations are far inferior to those in
the home nation
- Developing nations often lack environmental regulations, and according to critics, the
result can be higher levels of pollution from the operations of multinationals than
would be allowed at home
Should a multinational feel free to pollute in a developing nation? (To do so hardly seems
ethical.)
Is there a danger that amoral management might move production to a developing nation
precisely because costly pollution controls are not required, and the company is therefore free
to despoil the environment and perhaps endanger local people in its quest to lower production
costs and gain a competitive advantage?
What is the right and moral thing to do in such circumstances: pollute to gain an economic
advantage, or make sure that foreign subsidiaries adhere to common standards regarding
pollution controls?
2.4 Corruption
Corruption has been a problem in almost every society in history, and it continues to be one
today
International businesses can, and have, gained economic advantages by making payments to
government officials
In 1997, the trade and finance ministers from the member states of the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) followed the U.S. lead and adopted the

Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business

Transactions
- Obliges member states to make the bribery of foreign public officials a criminal
offense
2.5 Moral Obligations
Multinational corporations have power that comes from their control over resources and their
ability to move production from country to country
Moral philosophers argue that with power comes the social responsibility for corporations to
give something back to the societies that enable them to prosper and grow
- Social responsibility refers to the idea that businesspeople should consider the social
consequences of economic actions when making business decisions
- Advocates of this approach argue that businesses need to recognize their noblesse
oblige (benevolent behavior that is the responsibility of successful enterprises)
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Ethical Dilemmas
Managers must confront very real ethical dilemmas
- The ethical obligations of a multinational corporation toward employment conditions,
human rights, corruption, environmental pollution, and the use of power are not
always clear cut
- Ethical dilemmas are situations in which none of the available alternatives seems
ethically acceptable

The Roots of Unethical Behavior

Why do managers behave in a manner that is unethical?
- Business ethics are not divorced from personal ethics
- Businesspeople sometimes do not realize they are behaving unethical because they
fail to ask if the decision is ethical
- The climate in some businesses does not encourage people to think through the
ethical consequences of business decisions
- Pressure from the parent company to meet unrealistic performance goals that can be
attained only by cutting corners or acting in an unethical manner
- Leaders help to establish the culture of an organization and they set the example that
others follow
4.1 Personal Ethics
Business ethics are not divorced from personal ethics
The personal ethical code that guides our behavior comes from a number of sources,
including our parents, our schools, our religion, and the media.
Managers working abroad in multinational firms (expatriate managers) may experience more
than the usual degree of pressure to violate their personal ethics.
4.2 Decision-making processes
Businesspeople sometimes do not realize they are behaving unethically, primarily because
they simply fail to ask, Is this decision or action ethical?
The fault lies in processes that do not incorporate ethical considerations into business
decision making.
4.3 Organization Culture
The values and norms that are shared among employees of an organization.
The climate in some businesses does not encourage people to think through the ethical
consequences of business decisions.
An organizational culture that deemphasizes business ethics, reducing all decisions to the
purely economic.
4.4 Unrealistic Performance Expectations
Pressure from the parent company to meet unrealistic performance goals that managers can
attain only by cutting corners or acting in an unethical manner.

4.5 Leadership
Leaders help to establish the culture of an organization, and they set the example that others
follow.
Other employees in a business often take their cue from business leaders, and if those
leaders do not behave in an ethical manner, they might not either.
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Philosophical Approaches to Ethics

5.1 Straw Man
Straw man approaches to business ethics are raised by business ethics scholars primarily to
demonstrate that they offer inappropriate guidelines for ethical decision making in a
multinational enterprise
- The Friedman Doctrine states that the only social responsibility of business is to
increase profits, so long as the company stays within the rules of law
Cultural Relativism believes that ethics are nothing more than the reflection of a culture
(When in Rome, do as the Romans)
The Righteous Moralist claims that a multinationals home-country standards of ethics are the
appropriate ones in all countries
The Nave Immoralist asserts that if a manager sees that firms from other nations are not
following ethical norms in a host country then they should not either
5.2 Utilitarian and Kantian Ethics
Utilitarian approaches to ethics hold that the moral worth of actions or practices is determined
by their consequences
- An action is judged to be desirable if it leads to the best possible balance of good
consequences over bad consequences
- One problem with utilitarianism is in measuring the benefits, costs, and risks of an
action
- The second problem related to utilitarianism is that it does not consider justice, so the
minority will always be at a disadvantage
Kantian ethics hold that people should be treated as ends and never purely as means to the
ends of others
- People are not instruments like a machine
- People have dignity and need to be respected
- Kantian ethics are viewed as incomplete
5.3 Rights
Rights theories recognize that human beings have fundamental rights and privileges which
transcend national boundaries and cultures
Rights establish a minimum level of morally acceptable behavior
Moral theorists argue that fundamental human rights form the basis for the moral compass
that managers should navigate by when making decisions which have an ethical component
The notion that there are fundamental rights that transcend national borders and cultures was
the underlying motivation for the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in
a spirit of brotherhood
Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable
conditions of work, and to protection against unemployment
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work
Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for
himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if
necessary, by other means of social protection
Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his
interests
5.4 Justice
Justice theories focus on the attainment of a just distribution of economic goods and services
- A just distribution is one that is considered fair and equitable

- There is no one theory of justice

- Several theories of justice conflict with each other in important ways
Valid principles of justice are those with which all persons would agree if they could freely and
impartially consider the situation
- Impartiality is guaranteed by a conceptual device called the veil of ignorance
- Under the veil of ignorance, everyone is imagined to be ignorant of all of his or her
particular characteristics
race, sex, intelligence, nationality, family background, and special talents
Rawls argues that under the veil of ignorance people would unanimously agree on two
fundamental principles of justice
- Each person be permitted the maximum amount of basic liberty compatible with a
similar liberty for others
- Once equal basic liberty is assured, inequality in basic social goods is to be allowed
only if such inequalities benefit everyone
Difference principle states that inequalities are justified if they benefit the
position of the least-advantaged person
Moral philosophers have a problem with Rawls concept of the veil of ignorance because
decisions generally include some of the factors