Ethics and the gender equality dilemma for U.S. multinationals

U.S. multinational enterprises must now follow the policies of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in their overseas operations, at least with respect to U.S. expatriate employees. Doing so in a culture which discourages gender equality in the workplace raises difficult issues, both practically and ethically. Vigorously importing U.S. attitudes toward gender-equality into a social culture such as Japan or Saudi Arabia may seem ethnocentric, a version of ethical imperialism. Yet adapting to host country norms risks a kind of moral relativism. This article supports the view that MNEs which promote workplace equality in a host country such as Japan, which is actively involved in the international economic and political community, is not ethical imperialism in any pejorative sense and is preferable to a moral relativism or social contract approach.We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain rights — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1776 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948Don Mayer teaches Legal Environment of Business at Oakland University School of Business Administration. He received his L.L.M. in International and Comparative Law. Professor Mayer's work has appeared in the American Business Law Journal, the Midwest Law Review, and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. An article entitled Sovereign Immunities and Moral Community appears in the October 1992 issue of theBusiness Ethics Quarterly.Anita Cava teaches Business Law and Business Ethics at both the graduate and undergraduate level at the University of Miami's School of Business Administration. She received her B.A. with Distinction and her J.D., Professor Cava has published in the area of ethics in law reviews and business journals.     

Business Ethics in Brazil and the U.S.: A Comparative Investigation

In this comparative survey of 126 Brazilian and U.S. business professionals, we explore the effect of national culture on ethical decision-making within the context of business. Using Reidenbach and Robin's (1988) multi-criteria ethics instrument, we examined how these two countries' differences on Hofstede's individualism/collectivism dimension are related to the manner in which business practitioners make ethical decisions. Our results indicate that Brazilians and Americans evaluate the ethical content of actions or decisions differently when applying utilitarian criteria. By contrast, business people from both countries do not differ significantly when they use egoistic criteria in evaluating the ethical nature of business decisions.     

Critical Events in the Ethics of U.S. Corporation History

The history of corporations in the United States (U.S.) is much older than the country, as it must be understood in the context of the history of peoples of Europe who eventually dominated the North American continent in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These European settlers came, in part, to achieve economic prosperity for themselves and, in many cases, for early forerunners of the modern corporation. These business organizations had predecessors in Europe millennia earlier as ancient Romans had developed a functional and successful form of corporation for the purpose of conducting commerce in the Roman Empire. In the decades that followed the founding of the U.S. in 1776, corporations evolved from rare, small, closely controlled business organizations with a multitude of restrictions to very large, very powerful modern institutions that enjoy many of the legal rights of humans. With this evolution came ethical issues, as (1) the ethical distance was altered between corporate decision-makers and those affected by those decisions, and (2) many of the legal rights of individual humans were extended, through litigation, to corporations. This article explains the historical development of the U.S. corporation and identifies 20 Critical Events in the Ethics of Corporation History (CEECH). An understanding of these historical events may facilitate comprehension of many of the current ethical issues associated with a legal organizational form that profoundly affects business and society.     

Governmental versus self-regulation of derivative markets: examining the U.S. and Brazilian experience

This paper contributes to the discussion on the choice between governmental regulation and self-regulation of derivative markets (i.e., by financial exchanges) by analyzing in a comparative manner these two alternative regulatory mechanisms and by focusing on regulatory, instead of market, failures. Four types of failures are discussed in the case of governmental regulation: (1) the costs to run regulation bureaus, collect information and monitor the markets, (2) the credibility of the proposed mechanism, (3) rent seeking behavior by constituencies directly or indirectly affected by the regulation, and (4) constraints on financial innovation. Regarding self-regulation, three failures are discussed: (1) lack of competition between exchanges and alternative suppliers of derivative contracts, (2) agency problems in the organizational structure of the exchange, and (3) nonsocially optimal provision of goods. To illustrate this analysis, we contrast the regulation of derivative markets in the U.S. and Brazil. The former is as an example of strong governmental regulation, whereas the latter is an example of how self-regulation can function without strong governmental support (and, sometimes, with governmental actions that apparently run against market efficiency).     

The Ethics of Organizations: A Longitudinal Study of the U.S. Working Population

The ethics of organizations has received much attention in recent years. This raises the question of whether the ethics of organizations has also improved. In 1999, 2004, and 2008, a survey was conducted of 12,196 U.S. managers and employees. The results show that the ethical culture of organizations improved in the period between 1999 and 2004. Between 2004 and 2008 unethical behavior and its consequences declined and the scope of ethics programs expanded while ethical culture showed no significant improvement during the same period. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for future research and practice.     

What Can We Learn from the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizational Ethics

In November, 1991, the U.S. Congress enacted the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines legislation which had a dramatic impact on corporate America. Can the Guidelines be used as a model or framework by other countries? Could other countries in the world benefit from adopting a similar piece of legislation? Are there any limitations to consider? In addressing these issues, the authors make the argument that the time has arrived for other countries to consider the development of legislation similar to the Guidelines in order to improve organizational ethics.     

U.S.-American and German Business Ethics:An Intercultural Comparison

The differences between the "habits of the heart" in German and U.S.-American corporations can be described by analyzing the way corporations deal with norms and values within their organizations. Whereas many U.S. corporations have introduced formal business ethics programs, German companies are very reluctant to address normative questions publicly. This can be explained by the different cultural backgrounds in both countries. By defining these different "habits of the heart" underlying German and American business ethics it is possible to show the problems and questions within the intercultural management of values, but also the possible solutions.     

Values and the Perceived Importance of Ethics and Social Responsibility: The U.S. versus China

This study examines the effects of nationality (U.S. vs. China) and personal values on managers’ responses to the Perceived Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility (PRESOR) scale. Evidence that China’s transition to a socialist market economy has led to widespread business corruption, led us to hypothesize that People’s Republic of China (PRC) managers would believe less strongly in the importance of ethical and socially responsible business conduct. We also hypothesized that after controlling for national differences, managers’ personal values (more specifically, self-transcendence values) would have a significant impact on PRESOR responses. The hypotheses were tested using a sample of practicing managers enrolled in part-time MBA programs in the two countries. The results indicate that nationality did not have a consistent impact on PRESOR responses. After controlling for national differences, self-transcendence values had a significant positive impact on two of the three PRESOR dimensions. Conservation values such as conformity and tradition also had a significant association with certain dimensions of the PRESOR scale. William E. Shafer is an associate professor in the Department of Accountancy at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. His primary research interests are professionalism and ethics in accounting and corporate social and environmental accountability. His publications have appeared in a variety of academic and professional journals, including Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory; Accounting Horizons; Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal; Business Ethics Quarterly; Journal of Business Ethics; Journal of Accountancy; and The CPA Journal. Kyoko Fukukawa is a lecturer in marketing at Bradford University School of Management and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham, UK. Her research interests include ethical decision-making in consumption and business practices; corporate social responsibility (CSR) of MNCs concerning their policies and strategic communication; and CSR and corporate branding. Her publications appear in the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Corporate Citizenship and others. Grace M. Lee is an assistant professor is the Department of Accountancy at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. Her primary research interests are corporate financial disclosure and corporate social responsibility disclosure in the Greater China Region. She has published in the Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting and the Journal of Information Systems.     

Hirschman’s Rhetoric of Reaction: U.S. and German Insights in Business Ethics

In recent times, representatives of American management science have been arguing increasingly for a functionalization of ethics to change economic thinking: what they are seeking is the systematic integration of ethics into the economic paradigm. Using the insights developed by Hirschman, I would like to show how one must first expose the rhetoric of those critics of change (referred to below as conservatives or reactionaries) in order then to implement that which is new (representatives of this approach are referred to below as progressives). Such an ‹unmasking’ works particularly well when one can defuse the arguments of the reactionaries – which is precisely what one achieves by strategically integrating ethics into economics. In his work The Rhetoric of Reaction Hirschman examines three basic forms of reactionary thought: the perversity thesis, the futility thesis, and the jeopardy thesis. According to the perversity thesis, intended goals are transformed into their opposites. The futility thesis argues that the setting of goals is useless since history runs its own course independent of those goals. The jeopardy thesis claims to preserve what already exists since change might substantially endanger that which has already been achieved. The importance of Hirschman’s ideas for the strategic interplay between the academic disciplines can be seen quite clearly in the example of German business ethics. This will be displayed below with reference to Hirschman’s three theses. Finally, implications will be drawn for business ethics in general and for management theory in particular.     

The Retail Travels of the U.S. Greenback: A Comparative Study of Currency Substitution Along the U.S.-Canadian and U.S.-Mexican Borders

This currency substitution study explores the extent of retail firm-level U.S. dollar acceptance in Canada and Mexico. Employing a stratified random sampling approach of retail business in the border region, results demonstrate that all Mexican firms (N = 300/300) and nearly all Canadian (N = 257/261) firms accept the U.S. dollar in retail transactions. Of greater interest is the difference between firms in the two countries in how acceptance of the U.S. dollar is operationalized. On average, U.S. dollar sales of Canadian border firms comprise just 3.4% of total sales whereas U.S. dollar sales of Mexican firms encompass 23.7% of total sales. Our results also indicate a stark contrast as to the effective exchange rate for U.S. dollar acceptance— Canadian firms typically charge a premium (2.1% on average) while 69.3% of Mexican firms transacted business at a discount (?0.8% on average). Additional analyses further refine the currency substitution distinctions between Canadian and Mexican firms in the sample including a logistical regression which reveals significant differences as to firm-level predictors of U.S. dollar acceptance (whether at a discount or premium).     

‘Consumer Ethics: The Role of Acculturation in U.S. Immigrant Populations’

This study examines the role of acculturation in shaping consumers’ views of ethics. Specifically, it examines the relationships between the desire to keep one’s original culture, the desire to adopt the host culture, and the four dimensions of the Muncy and Vitell (Journal of Business Research Ethics 24(4), 297, 1992) consumer ethics scale. Using two separate immigrant populations – one of former Middle-Eastern residents now living in the U.S. and the other of Asian immigrants in the U.S. – results indicate that those who want to keep their original culture are less tolerant of unethical consumer activities, while those who are more willing to adopt the host culture are more tolerant of these same consumer activities. Furthermore, the immigrants in both studies who are more tolerant of unethical consumer activities are those who are generally somewhat younger and with less formal education. The relationship between gender and consumer ethics was not significant.     

投资美国需要注意些什么

中美两国经贸关系，随着20多年前《中美贸易关系协定》的签定、相互给予最惠国待遇，迅速发展，贸易额连年增长。进一步推动中美两国的经贸发展，显然是符合两国人民根本利益的。在全球经济一体化的大背景下，在中国企业“走出去”呼声日高的今天，如何解读美国的投资环境？[编者按]     

Evaluative criteria for purchasing leisurewear: Taiwanese and U.S. students in a U.S. university

The purpose of this research was to provide exploratory information relating to the young consumer market in terms of purchase criteria for leisurewear. Data were obtained from 105 Taiwanese and 126 U.S. students at a major mid-western U.S. university. Direct hand-in questionnaires were employed to obtain a higher usable questionnaire rate. Purchase criteria used for this survey were price, style, brand, fabrication, size/fit, media exposure, colour, country of origin, and quality. Several factors under each criterion were provided. Students were asked to rank the importance of each criterion/factor. Results indicated that much similarity existed between these two groups of students in purchasing leisurewear. However, U.S. students rated highest (in descending order) price, size/fit, style and quality while Taiwanese students ranked highest (in descending order) price, style, quality and size/fit.     

美国纺职业反倾销已显端倪

亚洲金融危机后,亚洲货币贬值促使亚洲廉价纺织品大量销往美国市场,给美纺织业造成极大冲击;加之北美自由贸易协定亦使美国纺织业面临压力,纺织业规模大幅缩小.据资料显示,2000年美国的纺织品和服装的进口量同比增长了14.8%,美国纺织业亏损5.19亿美元,第一次呈负增长.日前,美国的纺织品和服装企业向美国政府提出,针对进口的增长,应根据WTO的有关规定,限制外国的纺织品和服装向美国出口.