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Ethics in International Business
Ethics in International Business
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ETHICAL ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS The most common ethical issues in business involve employment practices, human rights, environmental regulations, corruption, and the moral obligation of multinational companies.
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Employment Practices When work conditions in a host nation are clearly inferior to those in a multinationals home nation, companies must decide which standards should be applied, those of the home nation, those of the host nation, or something in between
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Human Rights Basic human rights taken for granted in the developed world such as freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, and so on, are by no means universally accepted
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ETHICAL DILEMMAS Ethical dilemmas are situations in which none of the available alternatives seems ethically acceptable.
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Business ethics reflect personal ethics (the generally accepted principles of right and wrong governing the conduct of individuals) Expatriates may face pressure to violate their personal ethics because they are away from their ordinary social context and supporting culture, and they are psychologically and geographically distant from the parent company
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If leaders are not acting ethically, other employees may not act ethically
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The nave 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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Problems with the approach is measuring the benefits, costs, and risks of a course of action, and the fact that philosophy fails to consider justice Kantian ethics are based on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant who argued that people should be treated as ends and never purely as means to the ends of others
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It is important to recognize that employees in an international business may need significant moral courage
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