Law assignment essay on: Business ethics

Introduction

When we speak of moral challenges it reflects the business ethics which a business needs to adhere by while preforming its operations both within its local country and in the overseas market. While they expand and start working different business environments it certainly calls foe adapting and following local business ethics and norms. Globalization is one thing which has made most of the countries expand across to newer nations and not many provide the same standard of product of service in every place. This seems to indicate that with the moral challenges they face in their overseas operations they tend to lower their standard of product or service if they have the scope of. Moral challenges are the things which speak of business ethics being a part of company’s operations globally. Usually there are three things which people might associate with business ethics, which are: (Edusoft 2010)

1. Not breaking the criminal law in its work related activities
2. Avoiding taking any actions which might result in a civil law suit against the company
3. Avoiding any sort of action which could harm the image of the company

The above three things are the elements of moral challenges which a business faces while it operates in the global market in different societies, communities, and countries as a whole. Usually business organizations assign corporate attorneys and public relations experts for escorting employees for carrying out their daily activities. It is evident that not in every country the company operates with the same standards and laws.Compromising business ethics as a profit motive?

There have been several business experts who have debated for long that there is a symbiotic relation between ethics and business where ethics are seen to be the driver towards profit oriented business. People have both strong and weak arguments against the theory and its applicability. While as per the weak versions it is often observed that good ethics contribute towards good business. This indeed indicates that better the business is in terms of fighting its moral challenges the better it is for the business. An example to this could be producing safe and standard products which will keep the company away from product liability lawsuits. Moreover the other aspects of respecting employee privacy would contribute towards improving the morale and work efficiency. However there are a few drawbacks to this weak side of business ethics being a contributor towards profitability to the business. It is said it will have an economic advantage to the business in the long run. As the markets where business operates the decisions are dependent on the short term profitability. With more and more companies coming in the arena and making the competition intense there is very less incentive for the business for competing in the same market and taking care of the entire moral challenges that come its way. There are many moral business practices which are usually not viable for the company in the long run (UTM n.d). The example to this statement could be case of retaining the old workers who are inefficient as against the younger and efficient workers. Another argument to this weak argument would be that moral business practices which are good for depend on the time it will take to produce profits. With overseas operations the same practices may not at all be economically be viable. Therefore any overlapping which exists between morality and profit would be limited as well as incidental.Discussing the strong version, it states that a profit approach if maintained would make the business environment morally proper in the long run. To illustrate the saying we can take the example of customers demanding safe products or workers demanding privacy. In case a business is can meet their requirement and provide the workers with the right working environment their evident choice would be the company. This increased demand would certainly contribute towards increased efficiency and hence the profitability of the business. Therefore the businesses which do not adhere by these demands would run out of business (St-Andrews n.d).

Overseas business operations and temptation to lower quality owing to challenges for moral values

The fact that not every place in the world is economically forward and lacks one or the other resource they have different business environments. For example: the business environment within United States if America and Kenya is completely different. The moral challenges are pretty higher in the developed nations as compared to the developing or third world countries. In United States companies have to live up to stringent moral expectations but in third world countries they may do away with several moral expectations. Relating to this aspect we discuss the moral challenges and its impact in different overseas markets across the world below:

There are different moral values which companies face in these countries for establishing its business. Bribery which is strictly against the moral values is prevalent in these countries. Bribing the government across the USA seems to be very low in comparison to these countries. In third world countries the frequency is much higher and bribing the government officials seems to be a normal practice (IMF 1997).It has been seen that in developed countries the moral expectations is very stringent whereby the third world countries the moral expectations are often lower and companies are tempted to lower their standards when they seek the opportunity. The topic of exploiting the third world countries has been seen as an explosive one. For example FDA, OSHA, and minimum wage levels which are predetermined in these countries are good but are not required morally in other countries of the world for the business. In the third world countries the local government possesses the social and environment responsibility for whatever happens inside the country in the case moral obligations demand degree of control on the company.  There rarely would be businesses that would publicly defend bribing of officials in the third world countries but it has been a common attitude of the multinational for bribing on several grounds. This is seen as a perfect example of companies lowering their standards while following business ethics when they have the scope of bribing the governments and other bodies and carrying out their business operations with sole motive of profits (Survey of the Theories of GLOBALIZATION n.d).

They have also been seen to endorse, influence and oppose the foreign governments as well. In all the developed, developing as well as the third world countries the multinationals have had a good relation with the local governments. With good relations they have lobbied for fewer regulations, lighter taxes, more government subsidies and access to natural resources. This in turn facilitates the argument of the companies to reduce their standards in terms of quality of products, the production process and exploitation of the available resources. The multinationals over have been observed to locate a country which comes with repressive right wing governments as they seem to be more politically stable. This way they implicitly support the governments which usually would have not been supported by socially conscious people. To illustrate this with an example we can take the case of American multinationals that moved to South Africa between 1970 and 1980. The white apartheid government were endorsing a policy of what resulted in institutionalized slavery for the black citizens of the country. The white Afrikaners which comprised of about 10% of the total population seemed to have been in control of the entire business across the nation. Multinationals from across the globe were all aware of the immoral nature of the Apartheid government backed their decisions with a sole motive of operate in the country.

However although the companies exploited the scenario of the country it was seen in the longer run that it benefited the country towards moral values and economic development in the long run. This sets a perfect example for establishing that even though the businesses when having the opportunity to exploit the local conditions and lowering their standards the profit motive could well be great for the moral values in the future for the environment.

Conclusion

Multinationals while expanding their businesses in other parts of the world and increasing overseas operations usually are seeking to move to countries which are less stringent in terms of moral norms. The fact that the cost of operations and establishing is one of the concerns today to meet the competition companies are seeking for every possible ways to cut their costs. It may not be viable for the company to take care of the moral challenges in the short run but lowering their standards and practices towards business ethics to manufacture quality products is seen to be a great prospect for the company to implement moral values in the longer run. However it needs to be the prime concern to the companies that although they lower their standards they do not harm the moral values in any manner as it would be bad for the company in the longer run (Enterprise Ethics 2010).

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