Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T14:37:23.996Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ahoy There! Toward Greater Congruence and Synergy Between International Business and Business Ethics Theory and Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Jonathan Doh ,
Bryan W. Husted ,
Dirk Matten  and
Michael Santoro
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

The literatures of business ethics and international business have generally had little influence on each other. Nevertheless, the decline in the power of nation states, the emergence of non-governmental organizations, the proliferation of self-regulatory bodies, and the changing responsibilities, roles, and structure of multinational corporations make constructive engagement between these two disciplines imperative. This changing institutional landscape creates many areas of common concern. In this article, we describe the changing institutional context of global business and suggest ways in which both business ethics and international business may inform each other more fruitfully.

Type
Business Ethics Quarterly: Twentieth Anniversary Forum, Part I: New Directions for Business Ethics Research
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , July 2010 , pp. 481 - 502
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alvesson, M., Bridgman, T., & Willmott, H. 2009. Introduction. In Alvesson, M., Bridgman, T., & Willmott, H. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of critical management studies: 1–26. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, W. J., & Spicer, A. 2007. When does national identity matter? Convergence and divergence in international business ethics. Academy of Management Journal, 50(6): 1462–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banerjee, S. B. 2003. Who sustains whose development? Sustainable development and the reinvention of nature. Organization Studies, 24(1): 143–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banerjee, S. B. 2009. Necrocapitalism. Organization Studies, 30: 1541–63.Google Scholar
Banerjee, S. B. 2010. Governing the global corporation: A critical perspective. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20: 265–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartlett, C. A., & Ghoshal, S. 1989. Managing across borders: The transnational solution. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Barber, B., & Schulz, A. (Eds.). 1996. Jihad vs. McWorld: How globalism and tribalism are reshaping the world. New York: Ballentine.Google Scholar
Beck, U. 2000. What is globalization? Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Begg, K., Van der Woerd, F., & Levy, D. L. (Eds.). 2005. The business of climate change: Corporate responses to Kyoto. Sheffield: Greenleaf.Google Scholar
Bernstein, S., & Cashore, B. 2007. Can non-state global governance be legitimate? An analytical framework. Regulation and Governance, 1: 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brenkert, G. S., & Beauchamp, T. L. (Eds.). 2009. The Oxford handbook of business ethics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brouthers, L. E., Gao, Y., & McNicol, J. P. 2008. Corruption and market attractiveness influences on different types of FDI. Strategic Management Journal, 29(6): 673–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cashore, B. 2002. Legitimacy and the privatization of environmental governance: How non-state market-driven (NSMD) governance systems gain rule-making authority. Governance, 15(4): 503–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandler, A. D., & Mazlish, B. (Eds.). 2005. Leviathans: Multinational corporations and the new global history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Child, J. 2000. Theorizing about organizations crossnationally. In Cheng, J. L. C. & Peterson, R. B. (Eds.), Advances in international comparative management, 13: 27–75. Stamford, Conn.: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, W. M., & Levinthal, D. A. 1990. Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(1): 128–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahan, N., Doh, J. P., & Guay, T. R. 2006. The role of multinational corporations in transnational institutional building: A policy-network perspective. Human Relations, 59: 1571–1600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. 1983. The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2): 147–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doh, J. P. 2009. Pharmaceutical companies, intellectual property, and the global AIDS epidemic. (Case.) In Luthans, F. and Doh, J. P., International Management: Culture, Strategy and behavior (7th ed.): 84–93. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.Google Scholar
Doh, J. P., & Guay, T. R. 2004. Globalization and corporate social responsibility: How nongovernmental organizations influence labor and environmental codes of conduct. Management International Review, 44(3), 7–30.Google Scholar
Doh, J. P., & Teegen, H. (Eds.). 2003. Globalization and NGOs: Transforming business, government, and society. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. 1996. Values in tension: Ethics away from home. Harvard Business Review, 74(5): 48–64.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. 2001. The ethical wealth of nations. Journal of Business Ethics, 31(3): 25–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, T., & Dunfee, T. W. 1994. Toward a unified conception of business ethics: Integrative social contracts theory. Academy of Management Review, 5(2): 252–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunfee, T. W. 2006. A critical perspective of integrative social contracts theory: Recurring criticisms and next generation research topics. Journal of Business Ethics, 68(3): 303–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, P., & Shome, A. 2009. Cultural crossvergence and social desirability bias: Ethical evaluations by Chinese and Canadian business students. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(4): 527–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunning, J. H. 1980. Toward an eclectic theory of international production. Some empirical tests. Journal of International Business Studies, 11(1): 9–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunning, J. H. 1998. Location and the multinational enterprise: A neglected factor? Journal of International Business Studies, 29(1): 45–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunning, J. H. (Ed.). 2003. Making globalization good: The moral challenge of global capitalism. London: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunning, J. H. 2009. Location and the multinational enterprise: John Dunning’s thoughts on receiving the Journal of International Business Studies 2008 Decade Award. Journal of International Business Studies, 40: 20–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eberlein, B., & Matten, D. 2009. Business responses to climate change regulation in Canada and Germany: Lessons for MNCs from Emerging Economies. Journal of Business Ethics, 86(2): 241–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egri, C. P., & Ralston, D. A. 2008. Corporate responsibility: A review of international management research from 1998 to 2007. Journal of International Management, 14: 319–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elms, H., & Phillips, R. A. 2009. Private security companies and institutional legitimacy: corporate and stakeholder responsibility. Business Ethics Quarterly, 19: 403–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eykmans, J., & Kverndokk, S. 2009. Moral concerns on international trading permits in international environmental agreements. Unpublished paper, available at www.econ.kuleuven.be/CES/discussionpapers/Dps09/Dps0912.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Florini, A. 2003. The coming democracy: New rules for running a new world. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.Google Scholar
Forelle, C., & Kiviniemi, P. 2009. EU, Microsoft near end in antitrust tussle: Kroes welcomes software giant’s move to give PC users choice of web browsers. Wall Street Journal (October 8): B9.Google Scholar
Fox, J. A., & Brown, L. D. 1998. The struggle for accountability: The World Bank, NGOs and grassroots movements. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, T. L. 1999. The Lexus and the olive tree: Understanding globalization. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Google Scholar
Friedman, T. L. 2006. The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century (1st updated and expanded ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Google Scholar
Geppert, M., Matten, D., & Walgenbach, P. 2006. Transnational institution building and the multinational corporation: An emerging field of research. Human Relations, 59(11): 1451–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodstein, J., & Wicks, A. 2007. Corporate and stakeholder responsibility: Making business ethics a two-way conversation. Business Ethics Quarterly, 17: 375–98.Google Scholar
Graham, E. 2000. Fighting the wrong enemy: Antiglobal activists and multinational enterprises. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Hahn, R. 2009. The ethical rational of business for the poor: Integrating the concepts bottom of the pyramid, sustainable development, and corporate citizenship. Journal of Business Ethics, 84 (3): 313–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, P. A., & Soskice, D. (Eds.). 2001. Varieties of capitalisms. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hambrick, D. C., & Chen, M.-J. 2008. New academic fields as admittance-seeking social movements: The case of strategic management,” Academy of Management Review, 33(1): 32–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanlon, G. 2008. Re-thinking corporate social responsibility and the role of the firm—on the denial of politics. In Crane, A., McWilliams, A., Matten, D., Moon, J., & Siegel, D. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility: 156–72. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hart, S. L., & Sharma, S. 2004. Engaging fringe stakeholders for competitive imagination. Academy of Management Executive, 18(1): 7–18.Google Scholar
Henisz, W., & Swaminathan, A. 2008. Institutions and international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 39: 537–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, D., Rogovsky, N., & Dunfee, T. W. 2002. The next wave of corporate community involvement: Corporate social initiatives. California Management Review, 44(2): 110–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillman, A. J., Keim, G. D., & Schuler, D. 2004. Corporate political activity: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 30(6): 837–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hiss, S. 2009. From implicit to explicit corporate social responsibility: Institutional change as a fight for myths. Business Ethics Quarterly, 19: 433–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, A. J. 2005. Climate change strategy: The business logic behind voluntary greenhouse gas reductions. California Management Review, 47(3): 21–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, S. P. 1998. The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Husted, B. W. 2002. Cultural balkanization and hybridization in an era of globalization: Implications for international business research. In Kotabe, M. (Ed.), Emerging issues in international business research: 81–95. Northampton, Mass.: Elgar Publishing.Google Scholar
Husted, B. W., & Allen, D. B. 2006. Corporate social responsibility in the multinational enterprise: Strategic and institutional approaches. Journal of International Business Studies, 37(6): 838–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Husted, B. W., & Allen, D. B. 2008. Toward a model of cross-cultural business ethics: the impact of individualism and collectivism on the ethical decision-making process. Journal of Business Ethics, 82(2): 293–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Husted, B. W., Dozier, J. B., McMahon, T. J., & Kattan, M. W. 1996. The impact of cross-national carriers of business ethics on attitudes about questionable practices and form of moral reasoning. Journal of International Business Studies, 27(2): 391–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, G., & Deeg, R. 2008. Comparing capitalisms: Understanding institutional diversity and its implications for international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 39: 540–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jain, S. C., & Grosse, R. 2009. The impact of terrorism and security measures on global business transactions: Some international business guidelines. Journal of Transnational Management, 14(1): 42–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janavaras, B. J. 1975. Graduate education in international business: Quo modo? Journal of International Business Studies, 6(1): 91–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karnani, A. 2007a. The mirage of marketing to the bottom of the pyramid: How the private sector can help alleviate poverty. California Management Review, 49(4): 90–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karnani, A. 2007b. The misfortune at the bottom of the pyramid. Greener Management International, 51: 99–110.Google Scholar
Kerr, C., Dunlop, J. T., Harbison, F. H., & Myers, C. A. 1960. Industrialism and industrial Man: The problem of labor and management in economic growth. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kolk, A., & Pinkse, J. 2005. Business responses to climate change: Identifying emergent strategies. California Management Review, 47(3): 6–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolk, A., & Pinkse, J. 2007. Multinationals’ political activities on climate change. Business & Society, 46(2): 201–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kostova, T., & Roth, K. 2002. Adoption of an organizational practice by the subsidiaries of the MNC: Institutional and relational effects. Academy of Management Journal, 45: 215–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kostova, T., Roth, K., & Dacin, T. 2008. Institutional theory in the study of MNCs: A critique and new directions. Academy of Management Review, 33(4): 994–1007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuhn, T., & Deetz, S. 2008. Critical theory and corporate social responsibility: Can/should we get beyond cynical reasoning? In Crane, A., McWilliams, A., Matten, D., Moon, J., & Siegel, D. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility: 173–96. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Levy, D. L. 2008. Political contestation in global production networks. Academy of Management Review, 33: 943–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, D. L., & Kolk, A. 2002. Strategic responses to global climate change: Conflicting pressures on multinationals in the oil industry. Business and Politics, 3(2): 275–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lincoln, J. R., Olson, J., & Hanada, M. 1978. Cultural effects of organizational structures: The case of Japanese firms in the United States. American Sociological Review, 43: 829–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindenberg, M. & Bryant, C. 2002. Going global: Transforming relief and development NGOs. Bloomfield, Conn.: Kumarian Press.Google Scholar
Mantere, S., Pajunen, K., & Lamberg, J.-A. 2009. Vices and virtues of corporate political activity: The challenge of international business. Business & Society, 48(1): 105–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matten, D., & Moon, J. 2008. “Implicit”’ and “explicit”’ CSR: A conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 33(2): 404–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, J. W., Boli-Bennett, J., and Chase-Dunn, C. 1975. Convergence and divergence in development. Annual Review of Sociology, 1: 223–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michaelson, C. 2010. Revisiting the global business ethics question. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20: 237–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michel, S., & Beuret, M. 2009. China safari: On the trail of Beijing’s expansion in Africa. New York: Nations Books.Google Scholar
Nordstrom, C. 2007. Global outlaws: Crime, money, and power in the contemporary world. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Oetzel, J. & Doh, J. P. 2009. MNEs and development: A review and reconceptualization. Journal of World Business, 44: 108–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliver, C. 1991. Strategic responses to institutional processes. Academy of Management Review, 16: 145–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearce, J. A., & Doh, J. P. 2005 The high impact of collaborative social initiatives. MIT Sloan Management Review, 46(3): 30–39.Google Scholar
Pittsburgh Summit. 2009. Leader’s statement: The Pittsburgh summit: September 24–25, 2009. Available at www.pittsburghsummit.gov/mediacenter/129639.htm.Google Scholar
Prahalad, C. K. 2006. The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid: Eradicating poverty through profits. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Wharton School Publishing.Google Scholar
Prahalad, C. K., & Doz, Y. L. 1987. The multinational mission: Balancing local demands and global vision, New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Pries, L. (Ed.). 2001. New transnational social spaces. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ralston, D. A. 2008. The crossvergence perspective: Reflections and projections. Journal of International Business Studies, 39(1): 27–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ralston, D. A., Pounder, J., Lo, C. W. H., Wong, Y. Y., Egri, C. P., & Stauffer, J. 2006. Stability and change in managerial work values: A longitudinal study of China, Hong Kong, and the U.S. Management and Organization Review, 2(1): 67–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rasche, A., & Kell, G. 2010. The United Nations global compact: Achievements, trends and challenges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redding, G. 2005. The thick description and comparison of societal systems of capitalism. Journal of International Business Studies, 36: 123–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, D. 2010. General Electric: Why the world’s largest company still has spark. The Guardian (January 14). Available at www.guardian.co.uk.Google Scholar
Rondinelli, D. A., & London, T. 2003. How corporations and environmental groups cooperate: Assessing cross-sector alliances and collaborations. Academy of Management Executive, 17(1): 61–76.Google Scholar
Ruggie, J. G. 2004. Reconstituting the public domain: issues, actors, and practices. European Journal of International Relations, 10(4): 499–531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rugman, A. M., & Brewer, T. (Eds.). 2001. The Oxford handbook of international business. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandel, M. J. 1997. It’s immoral to buy the right to pollute. New York Times (December 15): A15.Google Scholar
Santoro, M. A. 2009. China 2020: How western business can—and should—influence social and political change in the coming decade. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Santoro, M. A. 2010. Post-Westphalia and its discontents: Business, globalization and human rights in political and moral perspective. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20: 285–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schepers, D. H. 2006. The impact of NGO network conflict on the corporate social responsibility strategies of multinational corporations. Business & Society, 45: 282–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scherer, A. G., Palazzo, G., & Matten, D. 2009. Introduction to the special issue: Globalization as a challenge for business responsibilities. Business Ethics Quarterly, 19: 327–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, P. 2002. One world: The ethics of globalization. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, N. C., Simpson, S. S., & Huang, C.-Y. 2007. Why managers fail to do the right thing: An empirical study of unethical and illegal conduct. Business Ethics Quarterly, 17: 633–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sorge, A. 2000. The diabolical dialectics of societal effects. In Maurice, M. & Sorge, A. (Eds.), Embedding organizations: Societal analysis of actors, organizations, and socio-economic content: 37–56. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sorge, A. 2005. The global and the local: Understanding the dialectics of business systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soros, G. 2002. George Soros on globalization. New York: PublicAffairs.Google Scholar
Stephens, P. J. 2007. Spinning Sosa: Federal common law, the alien tort statute, and judicial restraint. Boston University International Law Journal, 25(1): 32–33.Google Scholar
Stern, N. 2007. The economics of climate change: The Stern review. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stiglitz, J. 2002. Globalization and its discontents. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Teegen, H., Doh, J. P., & Vachani, S. 2004. The importance of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in global governance and value creation: An international business research agenda. Journal of International Business Studies, 35: 463–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tolbert, P. S., & Zucker, L. G. 1983. Institutional sources of change in the formal structure of organizations: The diffusion of civil service reforms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23: 22–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Triandis, H. C. 1995. Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Van Oosterhout, J. 2010. The role of corporations in shaping the global rules of the game: In search of new foundations. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20: 253–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Oosterhout, J., Heugens, P. M. A. R., & Kaptein, M. 2006. The internal morality of contracting: Advancing the contractualist endeavor in business ethics. Academy of Management Review, 31(3): 521–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Tulder, R. 2006. International business-society management. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Vernon, R. 1971. Sovereignty at bay: The multinational spread of U.S. enterprises. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Waddock, S. 2008. Building a new institutional infrastructure for corporate responsibility. Academy of Management Perspectives, 22(3): 87–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webber, R. H. 1969. Convergence or divergence. Columbia Journal of World Business, 4(3): 75–83.Google Scholar
Weiss, D. C. 2009. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, SEC disgorgement of profits, and the evolving international bribery regime: Weighing proportionality, retribution, and deterrence. Michigan Journal of International Law, 30: 471–514.Google Scholar
Whitley, R. 1999. Divergent capitalisms. The social structuring and change of business systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yaziji, M. 2004. Turning gadflies into allies. Harvard Business Review, 82(2): 110–15.Google ScholarPubMed
Yaziji, M., & Doh, J. P. 2009. NGOs and corporations: Conflict and collaboration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yip, G. 1992. Total global strategy: Managing for worldwide competitive advantage, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar