AMERICAN MULTINATIONALS SHOULD ADOPT A UNIFORM CODE OF CONDUCT

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AMERICAN MULTINATIONALSSHOULD ADOPT A UNIFORM
CODE OF CONDUCT

• Presented by The Procrastinators
• Management 306

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INTRODUCTION

• Reasons for Uniform Code of Conduct
• Labor Issues
• Cultural Issues
• Corporate Benefits
• Laws and Regulations

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LABOR ISSUES IN THE USA
The biggest corporation, like the humblest
private citizen, must be held to strict
compliance with the will of the people. Theodore
Roosevelt, 1900.

• Indentured Servitude
• Slavery
• Elimination of Child Labor
• Glass Ceiling
• International Labor Issues

Briefed by Sam Rael The Procrastinators
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Indentured Servitude

• Started in 1610 as a means of securing passage to
  America
• Prominent means of supplying a workforce in
  Colonial Era
• Between 200,000 and 300,000 immigrants Indentured
  Servants, totaling ½ to 2/3 of all immigrants

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Slavery

• Started in 1607 as Indentured Servants
• Racially based slavery started in 1619 when
  Africans were brought to Jamestown
• Abolished in 1863 by the Emancipation Proclamation

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Elimination of Child Labor

• Started as an acceptable practice children
  needed to help their families
• Industrial Revolution in the mid 19th century
  changed role drastically
• Children expected to work in the unsafe and
  unhealthy conditions in mining and manufacturing
• Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 abolishes child
  labor in United States

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Glass Ceiling

• The Civil Rights Act of 1991 created the Glass
  Ceiling Commission to study the barriers of
  minorities and women in the workplace
• The Commission found that by the year 2000, 2/3
  of new employees will be minorities of women
• Only 5 on senior management positions are held
  by women
• Only 5-7 of all management positions are held
  by minorities

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International Labor Issues

• The International Labor Organization has set four
  broad standards for international Companies. They
  are
• Freedom of association
• Abolition of forced labor
• Elimination of child labor
• Equality
• As of now, all 40 Least Developed Countries
  (LDC), who are members of the World Trade
  Organization, have failed to sign agreement.
• Poor economies and education lend to horrific
  working conditions abroad
• Caste systems, such as the one in India, act as
  barriers for change.

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Adopting Cultures
"The first step in the evolution of ethics is a
sense of solidarity with other human beings."
Albert Schweitzer,

• Adopting Cultures
• Changing Product
• Humanizing Culture.

Briefed by Norman Begay The Procrastinators
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Adopting Cultures

• Promoting Professional Business Ethics
• Knowing the countries cultures
• Awareness of cultural restrictions and taboos

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Changing Product

• Ford
• - Ford pinto changed name to Corcel, because
  pinto meant a small Male anatomy
• Thom McAn Shoe Company
• - Companys logo was similair to Arabic script
  for Allah, it was a insult to Muslims to walk
  on the Name of God

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Humanizing Culture

• Cast System
• Changing Values to give a better opportunity to
  everyone
• As for the modern standard the cast system is
  discriminatory in the sense that it allows one
  particular cast group dominance over the other,
  there by prohibiting the lower cast of their
  equal opportunity.

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Humanizing Culture (Cont)

• Apartheid- Denying business ventures for civil
  rights
• US multinationals all recognized the inherently
  immoral nature of the Apartheid government and
  that, at minimum US businesses in South Africa
  needed to be sensitive to the oppressed condition
  of the blacks. The harshest critics, though,
  called for complete divestment of American
  business interests from South Africa.
  Politically, U.S. business in South Africa
  offered legitimacy to the Apartheid government.
  Economically, whatever helped South Africa's
  economy helped Apartheid, and divestment would
  cripple the South African economy. Also, American
  companies in South Africa had a history of civil
  rights abuses towards blacks

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Humanizing Culture (cont)

• Untouchables-acknowledging unjust treatment of
  people
• A fifth group describes the people who are
  achuta, or untouchable. The primordial being does
  not claim them. Untouchables are outcastspeople
  considered too impure, too polluted, to rank as
  worthy beings. Prejudice defines their lives,
  particularly in the rural areas, where nearly
  three-quarters of India's people live

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CORPORATE BENEFITS
I have always recognized that the object of
business is to make money in an honorable manner.
I remember that the object of life is to do
good. Peter Cooper, 1874.

• Marketplace Advantage
• Company Reputation
• Employee Performance

Briefed by Joseph Jablonowski The Procrastinators
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Marketplace Advantage

• Investors cite corporate practices in their
  decision making
• Corporate integrity
• Walk the Talk
• Behave abroad as at home.

Guilty
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Company Reputation

• Once damaged, Image may never recover
• Wrong US corporate perceptions
• US 17 on C.P.I.
• US 13 on B.P.I.
• Get involved globally

Bankrupt
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Employee Performance

• Companies with established values have
• Improved moral and performance
• Reduced turnover
• Increased productivity

No 1
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LAWS and REGULATIONS
Nothing is illegal if a hundred businessmen
decide to do it. Andrew Young

• UN Charter
• Civil Rights Act of 1991
• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Briefed by William Thomas The Procrastinators
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The UN Charter

• WHY
• Avoid War
• Reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights.
• Establish conditions under which justice and
  respect can be maintained.
• Promote social progress and better standards of
  life.
• HOW
• Practice tolerance and live together as good
  neighbors.
• Unite our strength to maintain international
  peace and security.
• Employ international machinery for the promotion
  of the economic and social advancement of all
  peoples

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International Financal Institutions

• IMF Heavily advocates the development of
  institutions that eliminate the opportunities for
  corruption and fraud.
• The World Bank Provides policy advice to
  governments in the process of developing
  comprehensive anti-corrugation programs.
  Prohibits contractors that have been found

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Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

• It shall be unlawful for anyone that commands a
  position of power to provide money to any foreign
  official for the purpose of influencing any act
  or decision that violates federal or
  international law.

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CONCLUSION

• Why We Need Global Business Ethics Codified
• Protect the innocents
• Maintain cultural values and end apartheids
• Stay out of jail
• Make money

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Corporate America can make a difference
Each generation wastes a little more of the
future with greed and lust for riches Don
Marquis, 1950.

• Each generation wastes a little more of the
  future with greed and lust for riches
• Don Marquis, 1950.

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References

• http//www.business-ethics.org/
• 2003 National Business ethics Survey
• 2002 2003 Corruption perceptions Index
• Ethics Essay by Frank Vogl