Transnational

Corporate Ethical
Responsibilities

12/07/10 1
• The likelihood of increasingly close
economic, cultural, and political linkages
within the Pan American Community is
manifestly evident, as are the potential
benefits. Also, African communities of
nations, closer Pacific Rim associations,
and Asian Economic Communities are not
inconceivable.
 TRANSNATIONAL AND
MULTINATIONAL FIRMS
• Shue ( 1983) made an interesting and important
distinction. He noted that the latter live simultaneously
in many countries, buying supplies and paying labor
wherever they cost the least, and selling their products
wherever they cost the most--an advantage not shared
by even the most powerful of governments.
• Shue ( 1983) argued that transnational corporations'
greatest strength is in their unique position. While the
multinationals' impact may, indeed, extend across
several nations, transnational corporations are unique
because they neither belong to, nor must they pledge
any patriotic allegiance to, any home nation-state.
 The Need for Ethics and
Mutually Agreed
Responsibilities
• Johan Galtung argued that many injustices
throughout the world are due to "structural
violence," which he defines as the exploitation
of one group by another through the
dominant practices and institutions of a
society.
• Moreover, all groups, both central and
peripheral, are intent upon development
without regard to the ecosystem or to the
future of the human species.
 Are Corporations "Moral
Agents"?
• Western European thought usually
attributes moral guilt, responsibility,
and merit to discrete individuals
( Elfstrom, 1991).
 Elfstrom
• Corporations have the attributes of
freedom and rationality required for
moral agency. This agency is more
complex in its nature and distribution
than that of individual human beings.
Nonetheless, careful analysis reveals
ways in which this agency is distributed
among the particular human beings
holding various positions within an
institution.
 Difficulties inherent in
assessing corporate moral
responsibility
• The absence of established and
authoritative procedures to identify those
breaching standards, together with little
means for remedial action; lack of means
to acknowledge exemplary conduct; and
large participant numbers, hampering an
evolving international commercial moral
community.
 At What Level Is Moral
Accountability?
• RELATIVISM VERSUS
UNIVERSALISM
• When in Rome, do as the Romans
do?