Abstract
How does a company with integrity1 compete in international business? The short answer, from an ethical point of view, is: with care and with difficulty. The care needed involves gathering knowledge of and being sensitive to different customs, mores, ethical viewpoints, and cultural norms as the company moves from country to country. The difficulty stems from the lack of international enforcement of standards to keep competition fair, from the fact that governments are set up to foster the interests of the people they represent, and from the present-day reality that although business is global, there is no effective or efficient way of dealing with problems--such as the depletion of the ozone level--that fall beyond the competence of both individual corporations and individual governments.
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By focusing attention on companies of integrity I am speaking to those firms that are already interested in acting ethically and in accordance with some standards. I suggest that that is the proper place to start, rather than with any attempt to convince unethical, amoral, or unprincipled companies that they should behave ethically. There is not only one set of rules, however, governing all firms that act with integrity, and different firms will emphasize different values consistent with their own history, home country, and corporate culture. For a discussion of personal integrity, see Martin Benjamin, Splitting the Difference: Compromise and Integrity in Ethics and Politics, Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1990, Chapter 3.
This myth parallels the Myth of Amoral Business in the United States, which I develop in Business Ethics, 3rd ed., New York: Macmillan, 1990, Chapter 1.
The cases of Michael Milken and Drexel Burnham in 1988 in the United States are well known. Among other reports, see James B. Stewart, “Scenes from a Scandal: The Secret World of Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky,” Wall Street Journal, October 2, 1991, p. Bi. On cases in Britain, see Gary Putka, “British Face Finance-Industry Scandals Just as They Move to Deregulate Markets,” Wall Street Journal, August 12, 1985, p. 22. For a discussion of some of the cases in Japan, see James Sterngold, “Another Scandal in Japan, This Time Involving Billions,” The New York Times, February 23, 1992, p. E3.
On the still evolving Maxwell story, see “An Honour System Without Honour,” The Economist,December 14, 1991, pp. 81–82.
For a discussion of human rights as a basis for ethical standards and international business, see Thomas Donaldson, The Ethics of International Business, New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
The exact number is difficult to determine, since different surveys define “codes” in different ways. The 1987 Conference Board survey of 300 major corporations reports that 76% of such companies have written codes of conduct (Corporate Ethics,Research Report No. 900, p. 13). The number of companies adopting codes in countries other than the U. S. is still relatively small.
United Nations Economic and Social Council, E/1990/94, 12 June 1990, contains the “Proposed Text of the Draft Code of Conduct on Transnational Corporations.” The Code is strongly criticized by some businesses. Since it is the product of negotiation, it is unlikely to completely satisfy everyone, all businesses, or all interests. For an overview and discussion of other codes see, John M. Kline, International Codes and Multinational Business: Setting Guidelines for International Business Operations, Westport, Conn.: Quorum Books, 1985.
Item 20(a) of the Code reads: “Transnational corporations shall refrain, in their transactions, from the offering, promising or giving of any payment, gift or other advantage to or for the benefit of a public official as consideration for performing or refraining from the performance of his duties in connection with those transactions.” This would preclude the bribery of public officials, but not the paying of bribes to non-public officials.
See, International Code of Breast-milk Substitutes, Geneva: World Health Organization, 1981.
In 1984 Nestlé signed an agreement with the Infant Formula Action Coalition, which had sponsored a boycott of Nestlé products starting in 1977. In 1988 a group called Action for Corporate Accountability alleged violations of the Code and sought to renew the boycott, extending it to American Home Products Corp. as well (New York Times, Oct. 5, 1988, p. D2 ).
The ads appeared on April 11, 1990.
For a discussion of the free-rider problem in international business, see Manuel Velasquez, “International Business, Morality, and the Common Good,” Business Ethics Quarterly, II (1992), pp. 27–40, with comments by John E. Fleming and Walter B. Gulick.
For a fuller discussion of compromise in ethics on international issues, see Richard T. De George, “Coherence and Ethics” (Presidential Address delivered before the Eighty-Eighth Annual Central Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, April 27, 1990), Proceedings and Addresses of The American Philosophical Association, 64 (1990), pp. 39–52. See also, Benjamin, op. cit.
This might be taken as an application of’what is known in the Catholic tradition as the principle of subsidiarity. Although compatible with that principle, it does not depend on acceptance of it.
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De George, R.T. (1993). Developing Ethical Standards for International Business: What Roles for Business and Government?. In: Minus, P.M. (eds) The Ethics of Business in a Global Economy. Issues in Business Ethics, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8165-3_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8165-3_8
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