Japan is a good example as there was workplace harassment and a glass ceiling. However, one third of the world's children live in countries that have not ratified these conventions. Below is a timeline of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its impact.
16 The shift of the workforce abroad creates an interesting dynamic in the field of ethics and corporate responsibility.
Johnson & Johnson’s Challenges with Ethical Business Practices
Will the host country be open or reluctant to an influx of new citizens. The latter may not be a current concern due to the infrequent offshoring, but multinational companies may face a time when they must consider more than just the company's survival.
Reconciling Ethical Differences across Cultures
Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability
Responding to social and organizational obligations MNCs are increasingly engaging in a variety of responses to growing pressures to contribute positively to the social and environmental progress of the communities in which they do business. TransFair USA, a non-profit organization, is the only independent third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the US.
Corporate Governance
Walmart, one of the world's most well-known and widespread retailers (see the In-Depth Integrative Case in Part Two), is beginning to recognize the many benefits of the proverbial,. The company is buying solar and wind power in Mexico, sourcing local food in China and India, and analyzing the life cycle impact of consumer products in Brazil. Alleviating hunger has become a goal of Walmart's charitable efforts, and so with CARE it is supporting education, job training and entrepreneurship programs for women in Peru, Bangladesh and India.
Walmart is trying to change global standards by offering higher prices to coffee farmers in Brazil and increasing pressure on factory owners in China to cut energy and fuel costs. Corporate governance will undoubtedly remain high on the agenda of governments, investors, NGOs and corporations for years to come as pressures for accountability and responsiveness continue to increase.
Corruption
The treaty, which initially included 29 nations belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), was a victory for the United States, which had outlawed foreign bribery two decades earlier but had been unable to persuade other countries to follow the lead. not follow from it. . As a result, American firms have long complained that they are losing billions of dollars in contracts annually to competitors who have bribed their way to success. For now, though, it's a step toward a more ethical and level playing field in global business.
Furthermore, summarizing the impact and value of the treaty, one observer noted: “For their part, business leaders say the treaty. Some of Europe's leading industrial corporations, including some embroiled in recent bribery allegations, have spoken out in favor of tougher measures and the increasingly corrosive effect of corruption. 35. In addition to the 29 OECD members, a number of developing countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile and the Slovak Republic, have signed the OECD agreement.
Latin American countries established the Organization of American States (OAS) Inter-American Convention against Corruption, which entered into force in March 1997, and so do more than 25 countries in the Western Hemisphere. As a way to prevent corrupt practices from shifting to suppliers and intermediaries, the Transparent Agents Against Contracting Entities (TRACE) standard was developed after a review of the practices of 34 companies. Both governments and businesses have made important strides in their efforts to combat the spread of corruption, but much more needs to be done to reduce the impact of corruption on businesses and the broader societies in which they operate.
International Assistance
In this chapter we have focused on ethics and social responsibility in global business activities, including the role of governments, multinationals, and NGOs in promoting more ethical and socially responsible behavior. New business ethics guidelines adopted in the United States have forced many multinational companies to examine their own internal ethical practices and make changes accordingly. It is important in the study of international management because ethical behavior often varies from country to country.
Ethics are reflected in the way societies and companies address issues such as working conditions, human rights and corruption. Multinationals are more proactive (often because they recognize that it makes business sense) in making social contributions in the regions in which they operate and in developing codes of conduct for ethics and social responsibility. This chapter discussed the social responsibility actions of companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Hewlett-Packard (HP).
Consult the International Management in Action box on J&J in the chapter, and go to the J&J website, www.jnj.com, to the sections. One relative of the King, who will be a key person in the decision on the purchase of the plane, I heard, lost more than $200,000 last week alone. Meanwhile, Auger spoke with a Saudi friend he knew in the United States who is currently an insider in the Saudi government.
Questions
Some of the rival firms decided to put together a pool of money to help ease his burden. If you were to do the same, I know it would put you on an equal footing with them, and I believe it would be in your best interest when the decision is made." Auger was taken aback by the proposal and told the minister that he would check with his people and get back to the minister as soon as possible. Once he returned to his temporary office, Auger sent a coded message to headquarters asking management what he should do.
In the meantime, he received a call from the minister's office, but Auger's secretary told the caller that Auger had been called away from the office and would not return for another two days. The person said he would call again early next week. The friend seemed somewhat surprised by what Auger said and indicated that he had not heard about any stock market losses by the royal family or about a pool of money being put together for certain members of the decision-making committee.
In the
International Spotlight
For example, I think we need to reduce much of the contribution to the local community, at least for the first few years. If Scherer finds out that the French company was paying its biggest customer $10,000 a month, Brattle should step down from the business. What should Scherer do if he discovers that the client was making up a story and no such payments actually occurred.
The most serious concern was the result of a conversation Scherer had with one of the Lyon company's biggest customers. After dinner, Scherer initiated a conversation with the customer to assure him that when Brattle took over the Lyon operation, it would provide the same high-quality service as its predecessor. Finally she stammered, "That's something I think you and I will have to talk about further." With that, the two shook hands and the customer left.
Scherer has not been in contact with the customer since the dinner and is unsure of what to do next. The other matter that somewhat upset Scherer is a phone call from the head of the Lyon operation last week. Scherer is impressed with the firm's social engagement, but wonders if Brattle will be expected to accept.
You Be the International
A housewife in Taipei, whose family used the product for years, commented: “The toothpaste with a black man with a big smile is excellent advertising.” Nike's friends at court included the American Nike Inc., the world leader in manufacturing and marketing. Sweatshops of all types often involve child labor, forced unpaid overtime, and widespread violations of workers' freedom of association (i.e. the right to join a union).
30 After an August 2006 acquisition, Russell's brands joined Fruit of the Loom in the Berkshire-Hathaway family of products. The role of the USAS in protecting the rights of Honduran workers in the Russell Athletic scandal is difficult to overestimate. Médecins Sans Frontières, an international non-governmental humanitarian organization (NGO) that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, complained: “The poor have no consumer power, so the market has failed them.
However, only a small percentage of AIDS prevention funds have been allocated to developing countries. 14 (Some countries that did not recognize patents for pharmaceutical products had laws to patent other products.) The pharmaceutical industry has been criticized for spending large sums on sales, marketing, and lobbying. 30 Jack Watters, Pfizer's medical director for Africa, defended the terms of the free drug pilot program in South Africa: "We want to assess the impact of the program on survival." The company was also concerned about corruption and diversion of supplies.
Opportunistic infections include oral candidiasis (thrush), the most common opportunistic infection in people with HIV; Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), a bacterial infection that up to 50 percent of people with AIDS may develop; and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), the most common AIDS-defining infection in the United States. Isentress, approved in 2007, is already used by 11 percent of the more than 550,000 people being treated in the United States.
