Ethics in International Business

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Ethics in InternationalBusiness

• Ali Zohery, Ph.D.
• Founder
• World Assembly for Ethics

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Multiethics

• As we are Multilingual, So we are multiethnic
• And as we are Multiethnic, so we are multiethical.

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Ethical Issues in International Business

• EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES
• Work conditions hot weather around toxic
  chemicals - of hours and pay salaries in
  developing countries.
• HUMAN RIGHTS
• Freedom is not universally accepted. South Africa
  white rule until 1994 investment in China
  Nigeria and Shell

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Ethical Issues in International Business

• ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
• The emission of pollutants, the dumping of toxic
  chemicals
• Amoral management might move production to a
  developing nation precisely because costly
  pollution controls are not required.
• No one owns the atmosphere or the oceans, but
  polluting both, no matter where the pollution
  originates, harms all.

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Ethical Issues in International Business

• CORRUPTION
• Economic advantages by making payments to
  corrupted government officials.
• 12.5 million payment to Japanese agents and
  government officials
• MORAL OBLIGATIONS
• BP, one of oil companies, has made social
  investments in Algeria, the desert town of
  Salah. it built two desalination plants to
  provide drinking water for the local
• Ethical Dilemmas
• in a poor nation, a 12-yearold girl works in a
  factory.

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Philosophical Approaches to Ethics

• STRAW MEN
• The Friedman Doctrine
• Cultural Relativism
• The Righteous Moralist
• The Naive Immoralist
• asserts that if a manager of a multinational sees
  that firms from other nations are not following
  ethical norms in a host nation, that manager
  should not either.

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Philosophical Approaches to Ethics

• UTILITARIAN AND KANTIAN ETHICS
• Utilitarian approaches to ethics the moral
  worth of actions or practices is determined by
  their consequences. Utilitarianism is committed
  to the maximization of good and the minimization
  of harm.
• Kantian ethics are based on the philosophy of
  Immanuel Kant (17241804). 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 as such

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Philosophical Approaches to Ethics

• RIGHTS THEORIES
• Developed in the 20th century, rights theories
  recognize that human beings have fundamental
  rights and privileges that transcend national
  boundaries and cultures
• United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
  Rights,
• JUSTICE THEORIES
• 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.

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Ethical Decision Making

• HIRING AND PROMOTION
• ORGANIZATION CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP
• DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES
• ETHICS OFFICERS
• MORAL COURAGE

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Nike code of ethics with subcontractors

• behaving ethically required going beyond the
  requirements of the law.
• establishment and enforcement of rules that
  adhere to accepted moral principles of right and
  wrong.

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Recommendations

• Courses in ethics should be required for
  graduation for all levels of school.

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Recommendations

• We have to find effective policies to
• counter corruption,
• reduce greed and self-centeredness,
• encourage honor and honesty,
• promote parental guidance to establish a sense of
  values,
• reduce the barriers to the freedom of inquiry,
• encourage respect for legitimate authority,
• support the identification and success of the
  influence of role models,
• implement cost-effective strategies for global
  education for a more enlightened world,
• and find ways to make behavior match the values
  people say they believe in.

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