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INTRODUCTION F Multinational managers face complex ethical issues F With an understanding of key ethical problems in multinational management, managers can make more informed ethical judgments
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BUSINESS ETHICS F Ethics - the rules and values that determine what goals and actions people follow when dealing with other human beings F Business ethics: all business decisions with ethical consequences
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F The unique ethical problems faced by managers conducting business operations across national boundaries INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ETHICS
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SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY F The responsibility businesses to society beyond making profits F Often reflect the ethical values and decisions of the top management team F Ethics and social responsibility not easily distinguished in practice
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Excepts from Exhibit 15.1 show examples of ethical/social responsibility issues faced by MNCs
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EX 15.1
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BALANCING THE NEEDS OF THE COMPANY WITH ETHICAL CONSEQUENCES F Managers must weigh and balance the economic, legal, and ethical consequences of their decisions
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F Economic F Legal F Ethical FORMS OF ANALYSES
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ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY
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TRADITIONAL VIEWS F Two basic systems of ethical reasoning – Deontological – Teleological
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DEOLONTOLOGICAL THEORIES F Actions have a good or bad morality regardless of the outcomes they produce
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TELEOLOCIAL F Morality from the consequences of an act F Utilitarianism
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MORAL LANGUAGES F A contemporary view F Basic ways that people use to make ethical decisions and explain ethical choices
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F Virtue and vice F Self control F Maximize human welfare F Avoiding harm F Rights/duties F Social contract SIX BASIC ETHICAL LANGUAGES
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NATIONAL DIFFERENCES F National culture and social institutions affect ethical behavior/social responsibility F See Exhibits 15.2-15.5
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EX 15.3 ETHICAL ISSUES IDENTIFIED BY SENIOR U.S. AND EUROPEAN MANAGERS
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EX 15.4 THE MANAGEMENT OF KEY ETHICAL ISSUES
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EX 15.5 BELIEFS REGARDING ETHICAL CODES
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ETHICAL RELATIVISM VS ETHICAL UNIVERSALISM F Ethical relativism - each society's view of ethics considered legitimate and ethical F Ethical universalism - basic moral principles transcend cultural/national boundaries
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PRACTICAL PROBLEMS OF FOLLOWING EITHER F Convenient relativism - companies use ethical relativism to behave any way they please F Cultural imperialism with ethical universalism
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ETHICAL CONVERGENCE F In spite of wide differences in cultures and social institutions, growing pressures for multinationals to follow same rules
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PRESSURES FOR ETHICAL CONVERGENCE F Growth of international trade – Creates pressures for uniformity F Increased cross national imitation F Mixed cultural background employees
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FOREIGN CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT F Forbids U.S. companies to make or offer payments or gifts to foreign government officials to get or retain business F “Reason to know" provision F See Exhibit 15.6
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F FCPA does not prohibit some forms of payments that may occur in international business – Payments made under duress to avoid injury or violence are acceptable
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EFFECTS OF THE “ETHICS GAP” F FCPA and proliferation of ethical codes in US are creating and ethics gap F FCPA blocked some gains in export market share and FDI F Pressure on other countries to follow US rules
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PRESCRIPTIVE ETHICS FOR THE MULTINATIONAL F Donaldson suggests – Guides based on the moral languages of avoiding harm, right/duties, and the social contract – Specified in contracts and international laws
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CODE OF CONDUCT F For moral language to work, there must be codes of conduct F Current codes exist based on codes from international governing bodies (UN, ILO) and international agreements
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WHY MULTINATIONALS DO NOT ALWAYS FOLLOW ETHICAL PRINCIPLES? F Governments make agreements F Compliance voluntary F Not all governments subscribe F Each guide is an incomplete moral guide
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HOW SHOULD THE MANAGER DECIDE? F Consider whether the action makes business sense F Conduct and ethical analysis – See Exhibit 15.8 next
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CONCLUSIONS F Multinational managers face ethical challenges magnified by the international context F Need to understand home ethical codes and impact on ethics of foreign culture/social institutions
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