BAHRIA UNIVERSITY

KARACHI CAMPUS

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ANALYSIS

ASSIGNMENT # 2 (Summaries for Chapter 3&4)

Class: MBA (WEEKEND) [3.5]-4 (B) Weekend

Date: 21/03/2020

Submitted By: Submitted To:

OSAID AHMED Sir Asif Shamim
Enrollment No: 02-220173-005
Chapter 4 (Ethics in International Business):

Ethics describes the recognition of right or wrong values that control a person's behavior,
occupation and organization. Company ethics is an embrace of right or wrong values. Ethical
policy is a course of action which is not in violation of agreed values. Global company ethical
issues include: fair policies, human rights, environmental legislation Corruption, and global
corporate moral responsibility.
Employment Practices: If a foreign nation's working conditions are weaker than the home
nation of a corporation, businesses can adhere in these cases: home country standards, third
country standards, or anything between the options mentioned.
Human Rights: Developing countries ' fundamental human rights, such as: freedom of
association, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement; are taken
for granted. In other countries that do not have such rights.
Environmental pollution: Ethical problems occur when host countries have much poorer
environmental laws than the home country. Environmental issues are of added concern as
certain aspects of the world are a public asset that no one owns but that can be abused by
anyone.
Corruption: The U.S. International Corrupt Practices Act banned the practice of paying bribes
to officials in foreign governments for business benefit.
Moral Obligations: Social responsibility applies to the principle that business people, when
making business decisions, should take into account the social implications of their behavior.
A presumption would be in favor of decisions which have both good economic and good
social implications.
Ethical Dilemmas: Ethical dilemmas are cases where none of the solutions available appear
ethically appropriate. A global corporation's ethical responsibilities aren't always straight
cutting: terms of work, human rights, corruption, and environmental pollution.
The Origins of Unethical Behavior: There is no simple explanation for unethical conduct by
managers. Expatriates actively tackle the gaps between countries. How did they become legal
decisions? Determinants of ethical actions the origins of unethical behavior.
Personal Ethics: Expatriates can be under pressure to compromise their personal ethics
because they are far from their ordinary social background and mainstream culture. They
detach themselves mentally and physically from the parent company. People can behave
unethically because when making decisions they depend on economic analysis, and fail to ask
the relevant question: Is this decision or action ethical?
Organizational culture: Organizational culture refers to the values and norms shared by an
organization's employees. Unethical actions can occur in businesses with an organizational
culture that does not prioritize the company culture. Global and local are capable of being
different.
Unreasonable performance expectations: Managers will cut corners or behave in an unethical
manner when the parent company sets unreasonable performance goals. Organizational
culture may legitimize unethical behavior or make ethical conduct more important.
Leadership: Leaders help create an organization's culture, and set the precedent others are
following. If members behave unethically, subordinates may also behave in an unethical
manner.
Organization Culture and Leadership: Businesses need to develop a culture to promote ethical
behaviour: create a code of ethics Business leaders give life and sense to the code of ethics by
consistently stressing its value, and then acting on it. The organization creates a system of
rewards and consequences that acknowledges individuals who participate in ethical conduct
and punish those that do not. In order to assess if a decision is ethical, managers will ask:
Does my decision fall within agreed moral principles usually applicable in the organizational
setting? Am I able to see the decision passed on to all concerned parties impacted by it? Will
the decision be accepted by all people with whom I have important personal relations? Am I
at peace with the decision myself?
Ethics officers: Ensures that all staff get ethics training. In the decision-making process,
ethics is considered. The code of conduct of the business is followed.
Moral courage: allows managers to walk away from a lucrative, yet unethical, decision and
gives an employee the strength to say no to a superior who instructs them to follow unethical
acts. It gives workers the dignity of making media public and blowing the whistle on
persistent. Unethical behavior does not come naturally in a organization and workers have
lost their jobs while acting on such bravery.
Chapter 3 (Differences in Culture):
This chapter discusses the essence of the social culture and draws some of the business
practice implications. Culture is that complex whole which includes culture, values, art,
morality, law, customs and other skills that people learn as members of society.
Values and norms are the cornerstones of a society. Values are abstract concepts of what a
culture feels is fair, right and desirable. Norms are social rules and guidelines which
recommend suitable behavior in specific situations. Political and economic ideology, social
structure, religion, language, and education all shape values and norms.
A society's social structure is a guide to its basic social organization. The human dimension-
group and the dimension of stratification-are two main dimensions in which social structures
differ. The person is the basic building block of social organization, in certain societies.
These cultures rely above all else on individual accomplishments. Community is the basic
building block of social organization, among many cultures. Such groups primarily
emphasize group membership and group accomplishments. Each society is stratified into
various groups. Limited social mobility and a high degree of stratification are characteristics
of class-conscious societies.
Religion can be described as a system of shared creeds and rituals associated with the sacred
realm. Ethical structure refers to a collection of moral concepts or standards used for
controlling and influencing behavior. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are major
religions in the world. While not a religion, Confucianism has as profound an effect on
behavior as that of other religions. The moral structure of different religious and ethical
systems has varying consequences for business practice.
Language is one distinguishing aspect of a society. It has both a spoken aspect and an
unspoken one. We prefer to find only one culture in other countries with more than one
spoken language.
Formal education is the process in which individuals develop competences and are socialized
through society's ideals and norms. Education plays an important role in determining a
competitive advantage for the nation.
Geert Hofstede researched the manner in which culture contributes to workplace interest. He
identified four dimensions which he thought were summarizing various cultures: detachment
from power, ambiguity, and evasion, individualism versus collectivism and masculinity
versus femininity. Culture is not constant; it's changing over time. Economic growth and
globalization tend to be two powerful engines of change in culture.

One danger facing a business which first goes abroad is being misinformed. International
companies need to recruit host-country citizens, create a network of cosmopolitan executives
and protect against the danger of ethnocentric actions in order to improve cross-cultural
literacy. The country's value system and norms will impact the cost of doing business in the
country.