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LUẬT VÀ ĐẠO ĐỨC KINH DOANH

ThS. LÊ HỒ TRUNG HIẾU

Business
ethics in
global
economy
Presented by LE HO TRUNG HIEU
Ethical
perception and
international
business
– Businesses expand internationally, they must not only
understand an organization’s mission, vision, goals, policies and
strategies but also must take into account the legal and ethical
issues in international business.
– When companies plan their long-term expansion into a foreign
environment, they must tackle serious moral and ethical
challenges and decision-making in order to make their
expansion a success.
– Some of the most common ethical issues in international
business include outsourcing, working standards and
conditions, workplace diversity and equal opportunity, child
labor, trust and integrity, supervisory oversight, human rights,
religion, the political arena, the environment, bribery and
corruption.
– Businesses trading internationally are expected to fully comply
with federal and state safety regulations, environmental laws,
fiscal and monetary reporting statutes and civil rights laws.
These reactions are based on meanings, values, and symbols
that relate to the culture of origin but may not have the same
relevance to people of other cultures.
In the United States, dumping - the practice of charging high
prices for products sold in domestic markets while selling the
same products in foreign markets at low prices, often below
the costs of exporting them - is viewed negatively, and the
United States has a number of anti-dumping laws.
– Culture consists of everything in our surroundings that is
made by people, both tangible items and intangible things
like concepts and values. Language, religion, law, politics,
technology, education, social organizations, general values,
and ethical standards are all included in this definition.
Each nation has a distinctive culture and, consequently,
distinctive beliefs about what business activities are
acceptable or unethical. Distinct subcultures can also be
found within many nations.
– When transacting international business, individuals
encounter values, beliefs, and ideas that may diverge from
their own because of cultural differences:
1) One significant area of cultural difference is language.
2) Cultural differences in body language can also lead to
misunderstandings.
3) Perceptions of time may likewise differ from country to
country.
GLOBAL
VALUES AND
ADAPTION
– Cultural relativism is the concept that morality varies from one culture
to another and that business practices are therefore differentially
defined as right or wrong by particular cultures.
– Ethical relativism is the belief that only one culture defines ethical
behavior for the whole globe with no exceptions. For the business
relativist, there may be no ethical standards except for the one in tie
transaction culture or none at all. Such individuals may adjust to the
ethics of a particular foreign culture or use their own culture as a
defense against something perceived as unethical in a foreign country.
– Many theorists have tried to establish a set of global or universal
ethical standards. Many of these efforts show a pattern of
shared values, such as truthfulness, integrity, fairness, and
equality, which suggest a universal set of ethics that can be
applied to business across the globe. The Caux Round Table in
Switzerland, in collaboration with business leaders in other
European countries, Japan, and the United States, has created
an international ethics code. The shared values assume that we
all have basic rights and responsibilities that must be adhered to
when doing business.
– If there is a universal set of ethics, why then do business people have trouble
understanding what is ethical and unethical?

– The concern is to develop not only the legal limitations for behavior but also
incentives for self-regulation and ethical conduct that are acceptable in a global
business environment. The key to improving global and legal performance is
determining the relationship between national differences in individuals' moral
philosophies and the corporate core values in management systems.
The ethical issues
on global
economy
Multinational
Corporations
– Multinational corporations (MNCs) are public
companies that operate on a global scale
without significant ties to any one nation or
region. MNCs represent the highest level of
international business commitment and are
characterized by a global strategy of focusing
on opportunities throughout the world.
– Because of their size and financial power, MNCs
have been the subject of much ethical criticism,
and their impact on the countries in which they
do business has been hotly debated.
Multinational
Corporations
– Critics also accuse MNCs of exploiting
labor markets of host countries. It is
perceived to be unfair for MNCs to
transfer jobs abroad where wage
rates are lower and MNCs have been
accused of increasing the gap
between the rich and poor nations.
The activities of MNCs may also raise
issues of unfair competition.
Discrimination

– Discrimination is defined as distinguishing

differences between things or treating
someone as inferior based on their race,
sex, national origin, age or other
characteristics.
– Various U.S. and European laws prohibit
businesses from discriminating on the basis of
sex, race, religion, or disabilities in their hiring,
firing, and promotion decisions. However, the
problem of discrimination is still a reality in
the world.
Discrimination
– Businesses around the world benefit by
acknowledging and attempting to curb
discrimination, including a decrease in employee
turnover; people who believe they are hired,
promoted, and treated according to their skills and
abilities rather than the r personal characteristics or
beliefs are more likely to remain loyal. In turn, this
can reduce the costs of hiring and training new
employees because productivity improves when
jobs are filled with the most qualified persons.

– Additionally, when companies hire a diverse local

work force, they are more likely to enjoy the
goodwill and support of the communities
surrounding their facilities. Companies that take
steps to eliminate discrimination may receive
favorable attention from such stakeholders as labor
and women's rights groups, enhancing the
reputation of the firm overall, as well as its brands.
Discrimination
– How Companies Might Address Discrimination
Issues

• Develop a company policy on discrimination

• Communicate the policy internally and externally

• Determine benchmarks for activities in which

discrimination can arise

• Determine indicators of possible noncompliance

• Establish methods for identifying noncompliance

• Develop a plan and implement the plan

Price
discrimation
– A major ethical issue in international
business is how products sold in other
countries are priced. When a firm charges
different prices to different groups of
customers, it may be accused of price
discrimination.
– Dumping occurs when companies sell
products in foreign markets at low prices
that do not cover all the costs of exporting
the products. Price differentials, gouging,
and dumping create ethical issues because
some groups of consumers have to pay more
than a fair price for products.
Bribery
– In many cultures, giving bribes, also known
as facilitating payments, is an acceptable
business practice. Companies that do
business internationally should be aware
that bribes are an ethical issue and that the
practice is more prevalent in some
countries than in others.

– But bribery is becoming more expensive

around the world because of business
transparency, leading more government
agencies to crack down on the practice.
Harmful products
– Governments in advanced industrialized nations have
banned the sale of certain products that are considered
harmful. However, some companies in those nations
continue to sell products in other countries where they
remain legal. Other ethical issues involve the export of
tobacco products and dumping of hazardous waste
materials in less-developed countries.
– Some products that are not harmful is some countries may
be so in others because of issues related to literacy,
unsanitary conditions, and cultural values. The concern is
growing over safe drinking water, genetically modified
products, and tainted foodstuffs entering the food chain.
Some companies are attempting to address the harmful
product issue.
Environment and
pollution control
– “In environmental philosophy, environmental
ethics is an established field of practical
philosophy “which reconstructs the essential
types of argumentation that can be made for
protecting natural entities and the sustainable
use of natural resources.”
– Environmmental ethics exerts influence on a
large range of disciplines including
environmental law, environmental sociology,
ecotheology, ecological economics, ecology and
environmental geography.”
Environment and Global warming, global climate
change, deforestation, pollution, resource
pollution control degradation, the threat of extinction are
few of the issues from which our planet is
suffering.
Environmental ethics are a key feature of
environmental studies that establishes the
relationship between humans and the
earth. With environmental ethics, you can
ensure that you are doing your part to
keep the environment safe and protected.
Telecommunication issues
– With the advent of satellites, e-mail, and the Internet, information can be accessed
in a matter of seconds instead of weeks; as a result, businesses can become the
victims as well as the perpetrators of unethical actions. The ease of information
access poses ethical issues, particularly with regard to privacy, that can differ by
country. The relevant ethical issues relate to access, information mining,
counterfeiting, knockoffs, day trading, and monopolies.

– Questionable financial activities, such as money laundering, have also been made
easier by global telecommunications. Money laundering consists of using or
transferring illegally received funds in a financial transaction, in order to conceal
their source of ownership or to facilitate an illegal activity.
Intellectual
property
– Intellectual property refers to ideas and
creative materials people develop to
solve problems, carry out applications,
educate, and entertain others. A patent
is a legal document issued to an
inventor that grants the right to exclude
others from using or selling the product
for a period of time. A copyright is
protection that covers published and
unpublished literary, scientific, and
artistic works.
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