Many ethical issues have been surfacing in the last decade due to the hand in hand prosper of international business globalization. The ethical concerns include corruption, bribery, human rights issues among many others. Business ethics is a form of professional ethics or applied ethics that examines moral or ethical problems that arise in a business enviroment. It involves the application of moral behavior to business situations (Adeyeye, 2012 p 22). Bribery is the offering, receiving, soliciting, and giving of something of value in order to influence an action of an official or company in offering of legal or public duties. A bribe is a gift that is bestowed in order to influence the recipients conduct and the extent of the influence …show more content…
The executives were involved in the company’s decade long bribery scheme in Argentina. The officials engaged in bribery in order to maintain their 1 billion euro contract that they had with the government to produce national identity cards for the Argentine citizens (Posner, 2009 p 101-103). The corruption scheme lasted from 1996 to early 2007. In the early 1990, the Argentine government developed a plan that would see it give every Argentine citizen an electronic ID card. Siemens, in order to obtain the contract that was 1.26 billion us dollars, bribed some Argentine officials with an estimated 70 million U.S dollars. The government in 1998 finally signed the contract with Siemens (Posner, 2009 p 101-103). However, a change in the countries administration structure later revealed the contract. After Fernando de La Rua became the president of the country, the official that came with him in the office questioned the contract on the basis that each Argentine electronic ID card reported by Siemens cost the double of what the government had estimated (Posner, 2009 p 102). The government therefore suspended and cancelled the contract. However, during the president’s term in office, Siemens was informed by an intermediary that 27 million US dollars bribery would see the contract resurrected. The company, in order to revive the contract, paid additional bribes until 2004 in an attempt that failed to yield any results since the
This shows a major breakdown in managerial controls that a low level employee was able to take steal money over the course of a couple of years without ever being suspected. This is a prime example of why internal controls are so vital and why even the government needs to be audited. Ruiz
regulators in 2012, following a scandal in late 2010 when it was revealed employees “robo signed”
In September 2005, a former senior executive from Wal-Mart de Mexico sent an email to a high-ranking Wal-Mart lawyer, referencing on how Wal-Mart de Mexico had bribed foreign officials to expedite permits to win market control in Mexico. The emails and subsequent conversations gave specific names, dates and bribe amounts. Wal-Mart followed up with an internal investigation and eventually found a paper trail of suspect payments. In addition, they found documentation implicating that, not only did the top Wal-Mart de Mexico executives know about the payments, but they had also taken pre-cautions to hide them. The lead investigator documented the findings by stating
Ethics, in business, refers to moral principles and standards that define acceptable behavior in the world of business. Ethical decisions foster trust among individuals and in business relationships. Recognizing ethical issues is important in the workplace. An ethical issue is an identifiable problem requiring a person or organization to choose from among several actions that may be evaluated as ethical or unethical. When you’re determining is a situation is ethical or not, there are three factors to take into consideration. Individual factors, organizational factors, and opportunity. Individual factors are sets of principles that describe what a person believes are the right way to behave. Organizational factors include the influence of managers, coworkers, and the work group. Opportunity is a set of conditions that punish unfavorable behavior or reward favorable behavior. “Target thrives on competing to win in the marketplace. We compete and negotiate actively, but always with integrity. Taking advantage of anyone by manipulating or concealing
The problem to be investigated is the application of business ethics. In the business world, ethics are extremely important. Ethics are prime elements that help a business to grow and to become more productive. It is by applying proper business ethics that a business can operate in a moral or ethical business environment and managed to conduct all activities in a manner that maximizes profits while not compromising all other non-economic concerns(Schwab, 1996). Businesses have over the years failed to nurture business ethics in order to fulfill shareholders' interests and to have a culture that is oriented towards profit maximization and high performance(Jennings, 2012; Sims & Felton, 2006). This has led business to have gray areas in their activities. Gray areas are those situations or problems that do not fit exactly into any ethical analysis. These are the activities which may be represented to be immoral as a result of lying and false representations on the part of the business.
This paper will obtain information about a researched issue that deals with business ethics. The paper will include a summary of the Article and issue. This paper will also touch on the following topics, what seems to be the basis of the issue, what ethical change, deficiency, or conflict brought it about, and how did the organizational leadership come into play. The paper will conclude by proposing a plan for revising the ethical standards and
As many things in life, ethics has evolved through the history of our society. As anyone who has ever has read the news can attest, there are certain behaviors and tradition typical in societies around the world that may seem unethical and, sometimes, inhuman when seen through our ethical point of view. However, we often forget that many of those behaviors and tradition were, not only accepted, but expected in our society at one time. As our society changes over time, our moral code and compass shifts changing our outlook and tolerance for certain behaviors. And, as in other aspects of our society, the way we conduct business is no different.
(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.
This will be an over view of ethics as it relates to business in our society. Concepts from Philosophy will seek to describe the correlation between actions that are classified as morally right or ethical in our dealings with each other as human beings. Clear and concise examples will be given as well as ways in which to improve upon business ethics.
“country characteristics affect the magnitude of the bribes and the benefits that firms derive from them.”
Business Ethics is a set of moral principles applied in the commercial world. Business ethics provide guidelines for acceptable behavior by organizations in both their strategy formulation and day-to-day operations. An ethical approach is becoming necessary both for corporate success and a positive corporate image. Following pressure from
Chiquita made the payments through a wholly owned subsidiary, a Medellin, Columbia-based C.I Bananos de Exportacion S.A., known as “Banadex,” which by 2003 was the company’s most profitable operation…Chiquita, through Banadex, paid the AUC nearly every month, ultimately making more than 100 payments amounting to more than $1.7 million…payments were approved by senior executives of the corporation…Chiquita recorded the money as “security payments” or payments for “security” or “security services,” although it never received any security services in exchange for the
Business Ethics are defined as “moral principles that guide the way a business behaves” (Businesscasestudies, 2017). In order for any business or individual to act in an ethical
Individual factors helps to understand the reason for some people perceive specific action to be unethical whiles others do not. However, the decision-making cannot simply be explained in terms of these individual factors, because after all several people seems to have ‘multiple ethical selves’ (Trevino and Nelson 2007:180) – that is, they make different decisions in different situations. Situational factors accepted to be the most important.
In looking at international efforts in preventing corruption, there is a similar situation where not all corruption is deemed “against the law”, where corruption may go unnoticed because of the lack of effort taken in preventing it. Antonio Argandoña, a professor emeritus of Economics and Business Ethics, examines the UN’s Convention Against Corruption, pointing out that there was no “obligation to make [small-time corruption] in the private sector a criminal offence”, especially when “the line between private and public sector is blurred”, as in many countries (490). Interestingly, Wolfgang Hetzer, general of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), claims that this “silent corruption” is no longer the case, stating that “It is no longer correct to say that corrupt practices are gradually