Readings:
Chapter 4 Differences in Culture
Chapter 5 Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Sustainability
Please, answer the following textbook questions: 1, 3, (page 129) and 1, 3 (page 160)
Page 129
1-Discuss why the culture of a country might influence the costs of doing business in that country. Illustrate your answer with country and company examples.
2-Do you think that business practices in an Islamic country are likely do differ from business practices in a Christian country? If so, why?
3-Choose two countries that appear to be culturally diverse (e.g., Sweden and Colombia). Compare the cultures of those countries, and then indicate how cultural differences influence (a) the costs of doing business in each country, (b) the likely future economic development of each country, and (c) differences in business practice.
Page 160
1-A visiting American executive finds that a foreign subsidiary in a less developed country has hired a 12-year-old girl to work on a factory floor, in violation of the company’s prohibition on child labor. The American tells the local manager to replace the child and tells her to go back to school. The local manager tells the American executive that the child is an orphan with no other means of support, and she will probably become a street child if she denies work. What should the American executive do?
2-Drawing on John Rawls’s concept of the veil of ignorance, develop an ethical code that will (a) guide the decision of a large oil multinational toward environment protection and (b) influence the policies of a clothing company in their potential decision of outsourcing their manufacturing operations.
3-A company considers outsourcing production to the developing world where labor costs are lower, but such a change would involve laying off long-term employees in the firm’s home country. Under what conditions is this decision ethical defensible?
4-Do you think facilitating payments (speed payments) should be ethical? Does it matter in which country, or part of the world, such payments are made?