Business Ethics Across Culture, Article Review Example

Introduction

The behavior that a business adheres to in its daily dealings with the world is referred to as business ethics (Margaret s, 2007). These Businesses ethics differ from one another given that businesses are particular in nature. These ethics not only apply to the way the business interacts with the globe but also to its dealing with individual customers. Ethics help shape the reputation of the business in the global market. It is unfortunate that many businesses have gained bad reputation by being in business with wrong motives of wanting to make profits alone without putting into consideration other important aspects of the society and the world at large (Margaret s, 2007). This paper presents two articles that discuses business ethics of two countries and the perspectives the involved countries have taken concerning business ethics globally. This article will begin by providing a brief summary of the articles being reviewed followed by into details the countries ethical perspectives on global business.

Provide a brief summary of overview of the articles you selected.

The article “business ethics in china” by Miriam Schulman provides a brief history of business ethics in Chinese economy. The business culture of the Chinese is different from other countries in the world. This is because the Chinese are not open to accept western interference into their business activities. This has led to Chinese companies venturing into businesses without putting into consideration corporate social responsibility, which is one of the major ethical business behaviors. In this article the authors presents that the Chinese are open to considering ethical issues in the line of business so that they can become global players. This has to begin with the elimination of corruption, which is common in Chinese markets. The article is based on the message given by Stephan Rothlin the secretary general of the centre for international business ethics in Beijing in remarks to the business and organizational ethics partnership of Markkular Centre for Applied Ethics on 23^rd march 2011. On the other hand, the article entitled “business ethics in global world: an introduction to issue presents business perspectives of India and the rest of the world. This article discus the ways Indians react to business social responsibility. This article begins by explaining the aims of corporate social responsibility: to ensure sustainability of natural resources and use market economy to deal with the gaps in income distribution to enable people move out of poverty. The article also highlight the fear of westerners have about the growth of India and china as economics powerhouses.

Explain the primary ethical perspective of the countries disused in the article

The development of business ethics in both china and India is being shaped by the emergency of a generation of new business leaders. The leaders who have been educated and worked in western countries have really brought significant ethical behaviors in both Chinese and Indian markets. Indians see corporate social responsibility, which is a basic business ethic as an issue of philanthropy (Margaret, 2007). This has prevailed for many years but of late, the emergency of a new team of business leaders has done a lot in changing that perspective. China lacks drivers of business ethics that are common in the west like media and aggressive press. This has been the reason why the perspective of the country toward corporate social responsibility has been low. Bur of late the influx of forcing investors have tried to shape this perspective until now, the country is aware that it has to be green (Miriam, 2010).

China and India see social corporate responsibility as western countries trying to impose values on other countries. This perspective has hindered the enforcement of labor standards in these countries especially in china. The article highlights that by enforcing local laws issues of viewing corporate social responsibility as foreign import in this countries will be solved.

Chinese and Indian companies are becoming so influential in third world countries and as a result they have entered in the markets they do not understand just like many western countries entered into international markets which they didn’t understand and made many mistakes. This entry of china and India into new markets is perceived as a step towards market expansion. However, emphasis on profits by the involved companies has undermined corporate social responsibility (Miriam, 2010).. In the expansion of the markets, they have disregarded corporate social responsibility leading to increased income gaps and un-sustainability in third world countries where they venture. By the fact that china is an upcoming economic powerhouse, it perceives itself as capable of driving its own field of ethics. This has made it to perceive external ethics from western countries are irrelevant to them. More so Chinese does not want to pattern with western countries. In addition, this makes it hard for the two countries to share business ethics (Miriam, 2010).

The article emphasizes that china traditions have affected business ethics. Corruption involving fovourism of families and colonies is common. In general, Indi and china countries have different perspectives to business ethics especially corporate social responsibility. They see any interference from other countries as a threat to their business and economic growth.

They do not want outsourcing as there see it as one way their industrial technology will be stolen by western countries. Chinese and Indian companies are doing business and are gaining a lot of profits by selling their products to the society(Miriam, 2010). These companies should thus support the community development activities like health centers, emergency responses, school recreational facilities and environmental initiatives. Instead of supporting the community, most companies are ethically rotten to an extent of not even wanting to support such activities.

Understanding global business ethics

In my view, the general business ethics across these two nations are more or less the same. The ultimate aim of these practices is to achieve fair practices in all business deals. These articles greatly contribute to understanding of global ethical perspectives. This can be outlined in brief as follows:

Finance: this area has for a long time been considered free from ethical considerations but as this articles point out, finance is part and parcel of business ethical considerations. For instance the decision to pay or not pay dividend may be considered ethical because the finance manager is not in any way obliged to pay share holders any dividends. This has in one way or another been greatly contributed by these articles.

Human resource: this is yet another important business function that harbors many business ethics than professional or law issues. For instance, matters to do with sexual harassment, employee privacy, discrimination among others are more ethical oriented than professional. These two articles greatly support this idea. As an HRM manager you have access to most of the employee’s personal information which you may decide to use positively or negatively against the employees especially if you have personal differences. Such an issue is hard to be handled on a law ground unlike if it were ethical one. Therefore, these articles contribute to understanding of global business ethics.

Sales and marketing: this function deals with promoting the firms products and services to achieve maximum sales. At least according to marketing professional requirements, the question is what about if the products have unseen immediate side effects or even working against customer’s cultural background? For example, a cigarette manufacture will be seen advertising a cigar product to potential customers without bothering the health implications such a product is causing to the consumers. The marketer is only interested to persuade customers to buy more and more and reap profits at the expense of customer’s health. Such issues are better solved on business ethical grounds that on legal or professional ground.

Comparing business ethics

In a cross examination I have come to realize that the business ethics practices of my home country have a lot to share with ethics of these foreign jurisdictions. To start with, both countries recognize the importance of business ethics in day-to-day operations of their businesses. There is a clear-cut line between business ethics, legal frameworks and professional standards. Another comparison is that both this jurisdictions have embedded some elements of business ethics practices in their constitutions. Therefore it becomes easier to defend on self in court if need arises. Lastly, I can say that in all this countries there has been considerable success in as far as use of business ethics to settle some disputes is concerned. This is very encouraging for business ethics manias across the globe.

Conclusion

Whilst the application of business ethics is limited in nature, it is importance in all business practices should not be over looked. Wherever applicable they should be applied to settle some scores that will otherwise be difficult to settle elsewhere. The differences of these practices across the world are due to differences in culture of the people and not perception of the importance of this practice.

Reference

Miriam S., (2010). Taking my Business to China; Podcast of a May 17, talk by Stephan Rothlin, S.J. Stephan Rothlin, S.J.; Business Ethics in China.

Margaret s., (2007) Business Ethics in a Global World: An Introduction to the Issues;