Business Ethics Across Cultures, Article Review Example

According to management teams, various issues involving ethics are gaining exposure due the increase in globalization. In a country where ethics proves to be a dilemma, issues such as the diversity of the cultures, foreign languages and the growing number of people involved in globalization is also problematic. The ethical perspectives of India and China will be identified in this paper along with how global ethics may be understood due to the contributions of these two articles. A comparison between the United States’ business ethics and those of China and India will be drawn up.

A 2009 article published in the journal of business ethics, “A Chinese Perspective: Business Ethics in China Now and in the Future”, analyzed the state of business ethics within China. The article further describes China’s growing concern in regards to matters such as its products, enterprises and business ethics. Over 50% of the products in the world are either manufactured as assembled by China; however, due to the defective products made in China, the world has been reeling. From the perspective of Chinese business ethics that are evolving, the recent events surrounding the Made in China label are analyzed within this article. The emergence and development of business ethics in China can be divided into two periods relative to China’s entry into the WTO. The rise of China’s business ethics wasn’t viewed as an oxymoron unlike the emergence of business ethics within the United Stated.

The moral dimensions that play a part in economic activity is emphasized by Marxist ethics, traditional Chinese ethics and the Western business ethics. Even though China’s business ethics has made a transition to being a discipline, the filed must develop and progress if its goal is to satisfy the public because a variety of challenges still exist within the field of Chinese business ethics. Along with concerns in regards of food safety, various other incidents also exhibit the problems China faces in terms of quality. Aside from problems concerning the quality of services and products, China faces issues of greater seriousness that are connected with labor rights, distributive justice, corruption and the like. By taking measures such as issuing anti corruptions rules and the Labor Contract Law, bettering the surveillance and inspection of quality and safety, and the use of other administrative and institutional means, the government has been trying to resolve these problems. However, I feel that these problems should be examined at a level deeper than this. The responsibility of facing these issues as well as others in their new form and offering solutions and insights as to how they should be addressed fall upon the business ethics in China.

The other article analyzed for the purpose of this paper is “Business Ethics in a Global World: India’s Changing Ethics” by Margret Steen. This article provides a review for the address given by Jagdish Sheth, an Emory University professor of marketing and the executive director of the Indian, Chinese, and American Institute, at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics where he explained how the business ethics and practices within India are rather unique and different (Steen, 2007).

It was his belief that business tactics such as these would discourage unethical behavior of well-known point of view of the west. Friendship, favoritism, accountability, corporate societal accountability and clanship are a few of these exclusive business tactics (Steen, 2007).

According to Sheth, the main reason behind the transformation of the earlier business ethics of the 20^th century to the current 21^st century business model was Communism’s collapse. Countries such as India and China that used to be communistic countries are now considered to be among the greatest run capitalistic countries, argues Sheth. Today, aging wealthy nations with traditional industries are not producing the number jobs that they used to and this is considered to be an added factor. “The next problem for nations that are shifting is that people who are in positions of authority have brought forth the fact that, in elections, economics plays a key role. The last key factor that has had a role in shifting business ethics in to those of the 21^st century is the major revolution that has occurred in information technology which has helped level the playing field for all economies (Steen, 2007).

In his article, Sheth expressed that the Indian and Chinese economies aren’t just about the locations of jobs that are considered low end but are also on the edge of economies that are innovative. The business tactics of India are exclusive and may someday prove to be competition for the western business tactics; however, factors that are considered to be a conflict of interest in western business ethics, such as clanship, friendship and favoritism, play a significant part in business ethics of India. Friendships are of great importance in India (Steen, 2007).”

After analyzing the two articles, we have learned that the United States’ business ethics vary greatly from those of China and India. China has realized the important role economics plays in elections. In his article, Sheth concluded that the reason behind George H. Bush’s unsuccessful bid for a second term as president was the indecisive economy. He also expresses his belief that the 20^th century will be viewed as the “Asian century” due to the emphasis the Asian culture places on clanship, friendship and favors whereas the business ethics in the United States views this as a conflict of interests (Steen, 2007). Sheth also states that the businesses in west have their own version of this. They believe that chances are procurements departments within the American companies will buy from customers of that company (Steen, 2007).

Sheth feels that the focus is shifting from the shareholders to the stakeholders throughout the nations. He believes that, in the near future, ethics will be attached to business in the same way it is attached to the field of medicine. He mentioned that “although global standards for governing will exist, their application will be changed to fit the local conditions” (Steen, 2007).

It is widely believed that an end has come to the 19^th “American century”. China and India have come to discover, through globalization, that ethics in business is a field that is ever changing and that the teams of management in these countries will need to develop an ethics program which will give them the ability to ethically work together. In order to work together, they have overcome major obstacles such as the diversity of cultures, foreign languages and the increasing number of people involved. This paper analyzed two articles from the University of Santa Clara that discussed the business ethics in China and India and drew a comparison of the business ethics of those countries to those of the U.S.

References

Schulman, M. (2006, March). Business Ethics in China. Retrieved  from Santa Clara University: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/ethicalperspectives/business-china.html

Steen, M. (2007, March). Business Ethics in a Global World: India’s Changing Ethics. Retrieved  from Santa Clara University: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/business/conference/2007/presentations/sheth.html