Ethics Away From Home By Thomas Donaldson - 1507 Words

In Thomas Donaldson’s Values in Tension: Ethics Away from Home he examines whether or not companies should alter their own moral standards and those of their home country when doing business in foreign countries whose own ethical standards contradict the company’s and those of the company’s home country. He also raises the question of whether or not it is an acceptable practice for a company to invest in a country where the people’s human and political rights are being violated. Early in his essay he poses four questions. First, should a home country or host country prevail when deciding the basis for a company’s ethical standards? Second, how can managers resolve ethical problems? Next, what principles are needed to establish Codes-of-Conduct for globally ethical businesses? Finally, what if the host country’s moral standards are lower than those of the company’s home country (Donaldson, 49)? The aim of this commentary is to pro vide Donaldson’s answers to the aforementioned queries as well as to provide my own additional insights. Before attempting to answer either of these questions Donaldson gives readers an insight into two competing schools of thought that both take radical positions on ethics. The first is cultural relativism. Cultural relativism poses that no one culture’s ethics are greater than any others. For the cultural relativist, the company must set aside its own moral precepts and take on those of the host country. This is acceptable because inShow MoreRelatedInternational Business : The Challenges Of Globalization963 Words   |  4 Pagesdeep influence on a company’s strategy plan which manager is involved in an international business market. In International Business: The Challenges of Globalization, I interested in PART 5 Chapter 2 Cross-Cultural Business. 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