BE-RP8

PHI 6301, Business Ethics 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VIII Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

6. Evaluate global ethical issues in business. 6.1 Assess one topic in global business ethics. 6.2 Determine a solution for an issue in global ethics.

Course/Unit

Learning Outcomes Learning Activity

6.1, 6.2

Unit Lesson Chapter 12 Article: “The Politics of Global Production: Apple, Foxconn, and China’s New

Working Class” Article: “Sweatshops, Structural Injustice, and the Wrong of Exploitation: Why

Multinational Corporations Have Positive Duties to the Global Poor” Unit VIII Research Paper

Required Unit Resources Chapter 12: International Business and Globalization In order to access the following resources, click the links below. Chan, J., Pun, N., & Selden, M. (2013, July). The politics of global production: Apple, Foxconn and China’s

new working class. New Technology, Work and Employment, 28(2), 100–115. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dire ct=true&db=bsu&AN=89149713&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Berkey, B. (2021, April). Sweatshops, structural injustice, and the wrong of exploitation: Why multinational

corporations have positive duties to the global poor. Journal of Business Ethics, 169(1), 43–56. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dire ct=true&db=bsu&AN=150472168&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Unit Lesson There will be a short discussion on the history of globalization in this lesson and how it relates to business ethics. We will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of globalization. Finally, some of the most pressing contemporary issues facing business ethics in the global arena today will be identified. The beginning of globalization can be traced back to the old Silk Road that flourished between 130 B.C. and 1453 A.D. It is during this time the early beginnings of globalization can be traced from East to West (Sarwar, 2017). Some may wonder why a discussion about the Silk Road is important today; there are many ways the world has changed since that time. Technological innovations and advances, increasing digitalization, and the rate of modern globalization progressively continues to move at a faster rate. The Silk Road was a series of trade routes beginning in China extending to Persia, then to Central Asia, and finally to Europe. The Silk Road was recognized as an economic corridor and a place to purchase spices and silk and is an appropriate place to begin this lesson because its origin lies in the ancient Chinese city of Xi’an located in North-Central China (Britannica, n.d.). Today, China has increasingly become one of the most dominating world economic powers and is expected to overtake the United States as an economic

UNIT VIII STUDY GUIDE Pressing Global Business, Issues, and Its Ethical Implications

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powerhouse by the year 2028 (Chinese Economy, 2020). The world may in fact be witnessing the renaissance of the Silk Road. Although the author of the textbook raises a question about the definition of globalization, this term should be explained more thoroughly. According to Melina Kolb (2018), assistant vice president for digital communications at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, globalization can be thought of as the increasing interrelationships and interdependence of peoples, cultures, and economies. The result is transnational trades of capital investments and assets, services, goods, technologies, and information services across the world. Since the beginning of the Silk Road, countries have built interrelationships regarding trade and other areas with each other over the course of many centuries. However, the contemporary use of the term globalization came into prominence as a result of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the eventual collapse of the former Soviet Union (Vanham, 2019). It was about 1995 that the newly created World Trade Organization (WTO) advocated for all nations to enter into free trade agreements. This included China, which was known to be somewhat isolated and, at the time, having an agrarian economy. China had also just started engaging in manufacturing and exporting around the world. As a result of free trade agreements, along with several additional factors, globalization has increased at a dizzying speed. Today, globalization has entered both the digital economy and the cyberworld. Although there are many benefits of globalization and the new ways businesses engage in commerce and trade, there are also disadvantages. First, let us examine some benefits of globalization and its relationship to commerce and business. It should be mentioned that more generally, globalization has benefited many people around the world, putting them essentially into the global middle class (Vanham, 2019). Yet, there are also additional benefits associated with globalization, some of which include:

• the rise of transborder investments; • increased cooperation amongst countries; and • economic growth, including access to resources, jobs, and labor around the world (Stobierski, 2021).

As intended or unintended consequences, some benefits as described above also aim at the ethical well- being of human beings. For example, think of how people in some foreign countries have benefited from higher wages that led to a higher standard of living, which may include better access to health care and additional benefits. Now that there has been some idea of the benefits of globalization, there should also be a discussion of the disadvantages as well. One of the greatest disadvantages of increasing globalization is climate change as a result of ever-rising greenhouse gas emissions, the razing of forests, and increased pollution (Stobierski, 2021). Of course, just the aforementioned could be cause for alarm regarding the moral implications of global warming, though there are also additional disadvantages as well that should be mentioned. Some of these disadvantages include disproportionate growth within and among nations and an increase in competition amongst and between organizations and workers around the world (Stobierski, 2021). One emerging area of concern falls under the domain of labor standards across the globe. This includes the rise of sweatshops in developing countries. Think of companies that outsource employment to a foreign country as a result of workers willing to be paid lower salaries or wages. Arguments have been made regarding obligations of fairness as a result of some companies offering lower pay and/or poor working conditions than the host countries that are hiring the workers. Also, safety protocols are an issue because there are differences in safety standards among various countries (Ast, 2018). Another area of concern falls under the domain of human rights. Some companies confront the issue of operating in countries that have been accused of human rights violations. This issue is reported frequently in the news today. Not long ago, it was alleged that Google agreed to the Chinese government’s request to censor key words from its search engine such as Dalai Lama or Tiananmen Square and other related persons and/or forces hostile to the Chinese government (Ast, 2018).

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Another area of contention falls under the domain of cultural diversity. International law contains language that states corporations should respect the values, cultures, social norms, and customs of host countries in which they operate. One last area of concern that should be mentioned is the corruption that occurs in many places across the world with regard to global business interactions. This occurs in many ways, levels, and formats. For example, corruption may occur through the use of bribes ranging from a few dollars for a low-level government official to million-dollar bribes for high-ranking government officials. Part of the problem with respect to this type of corruption is that bribery is not considered morally wrong in some foreign countries (Ast, 2018). In fact, bribery may be viewed as the norm for business practices in some countries.

References Ast, F. (2018). The moral dilemmas of global business. In G. Y. Wang (Ed.), Globalization. IntechOpen.

https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71525 Britannica. (n.d.). Xi'an. In Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Xian-China Chinese economy to overtake US ‘by 2028’ due to Covid. (2020, December 26). BBC News.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55454146 Kolb, M. (2018, October 29). What is globalization? And how has the global economy shaped the United

States? Peterson Institute for International Economics. https://www.piie.com/microsites/globalization/what-is-globalization#Intro-AhF37Q07lb

Sarwar, L. (2017, June). The old silk road and the new silk road: An analysis of the changed discourse. The

Journal of Central Asian Studies, 24(1), 13–22. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/old-silk- road-new-analysis-changed-discourse/docview/2240072666/se-2?accountid=14375

Stobierski, T. (2021, April 1). 6 pros and cons of globalization in business to consider. Business Insights.

https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/pros-and-cons-of-globalization Vanham, P. (2019, January 17). A brief history of globalization. World Economic Forum Annual Meeting,

Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/how-globalization-4-0-fits- into-the-history-of-globalization/

Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the following resource, click the link below. The following article discusses and reevaluates the moral authority of global ethical norms, so they are not merely a reflection of the prevailing hegemonic ideologies and values of Western economic power. Michaelson, C. (2010, April). Revisiting the global business ethics question. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20(2),

237–251. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dire ct=true&db=bsu&AN=49005034&site=ehost-live&scope=site

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Learning Activities (Nongraded) Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to submit them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information. The following Application Based Assignment activity covers an ethical concern a team was confronted with during the visit to Vietnam Textiles, Inc. The nongraded resource below can be found in Blackboard beneath the study guide: Application Based Assignment: Self-Assessment: Exploring Ethics: Labor Practices in Vietnam.