College of
Business
Administration
College of
Business
Administration
Please refer to the following cases for this week's discussion:
Wal Mart:
http://www.nlcnet.org/KATHLEE/elsalvinfo.htmlNike:
http://www.nlcnet.org/PRESS/PRESSREL/9909Kath.html
http://www.summersault.com/~agj/clr/alerts/satans_factory.htmlAverage Apparel Wages:
http://www.nlcnet.org/nike/wagememo.htm
http://www.nlcnet.org/resources/wages.htmNestle:
http://www.essential.org/monitor/hyper/mm0392.html#formula1) What impact would the lack of cross-cultural training have on the morality of decisions made by an expatriate manager? Can bribes and payoffs be morally justified by a U.S. manager doing business in a culture where they are the norm?
http://www.gn.apc.org/babymilk/pages/history.html2) Are there ethical standards that ought to be universally accepted by all cultures? If so, what are they? Is Richard DeGeorge's list of seven moral guidelines designed to help multinational corporations make more ethical business decisions practical?...a complete list?
3) Describe methods that a U.S. corporation could use to balance the concepts of cultural relativism and ethical imperialism when doing business abroad.
4) Can a moral argument be made in favor of product "dumping" provided the product is completely legal (and commonly used) in the foreign country?
5) Who has the ultimate moral responsibility when human/labor rights issues come to light within U.S. companies manufacturing their products in developing nations?
A. The US company management?6) Should the U.S. government be doing anything to support independent unions in developing countries, particularly in companies manaufacturing for U.S. corporations such as Wal Mart? What is being done now and what should be done?
B. The sub-contractor management?
C. The local government?
D. The US government?
E. The consumer?
F. Shareholders?
G. Other - WTO/IMF/UN?7) Why do U.S. companies manufacture abroad? Is there any moral justification? Is there a moral obligation to the U.S. worker? Can companies like Reebok and New Balance ever compete effectively with Nike?
8) Has Nestle violated consumer rights simply by advertising and distributing product samples? How have Nestle's actions demonstrated (or not demonstrated) compliance with the WHO International Code of Marketing for breast milk substitutes?
9) Are U.S. consumers morally obligated to boycott products such as Nike and Nestle?
10) Should there be a moral guideline for the wages:profit margin ratio? (i.e., Nike)
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