Business Ethics Across Cultures Article
Business Ethics Across Cultures Article Review
Ruth Lopez
Axia College of University of Phoenix
I have chosen “Cheats Can Prosper and Do” by Tony Harris from Australia, and “Italy Country Profile” by BBC News from Italy. Both articles provide an overview of the countries business ethics. In the article from Australia, the author reports that although Australia’s businesses rarely have any ethical issues they still can and do arise. The article about Italy states that the country is “notorious for its precarious political life” (BBC News, 2010). Australia’s business people believe that their business ethics are in good shape. However, there are instances of corruption and where people behave unethically. For example, Simon Hannes, a senior Macquarie Bank employee, was convicted of insider trading. Allan Moss, chief executive of Macquaire Bank commented at a business initiative forum that “most people involved in managing a reasonable number of people for a reasonable time have suffered a disappointment about the ethical conduct of a colleague” (Harris, 2000). However, Moss also commented that the minority of controversial incidents are reported by the media for ratings and revenue. He also went on to say that if a business does not act with integrity, it will not be able to keep its customers coming back or keep good people employed. Even though there are episodes of unethical business behavior, the market value of companies keeps rising above the book value. In fact, it has risen by as much as twice the book value. The market value is determined by placing a value on a company’s intangible objects that are subject to loss from a business’ unethical behavior. Apparently since the market keeps increasing in value, then the majority of businesses must be ethical. Moss links a business’ success directly to its ethical behavior because eventually word will get out about how a business behaves. Ralph Doubell is the
Ruth Lopez
Axia College of University of Phoenix
I have chosen “Cheats Can Prosper and Do” by Tony Harris from Australia, and “Italy Country Profile” by BBC News from Italy. Both articles provide an overview of the countries business ethics. In the article from Australia, the author reports that although Australia’s businesses rarely have any ethical issues they still can and do arise. The article about Italy states that the country is “notorious for its precarious political life” (BBC News, 2010). Australia’s business people believe that their business ethics are in good shape. However, there are instances of corruption and where people behave unethically. For example, Simon Hannes, a senior Macquarie Bank employee, was convicted of insider trading. Allan Moss, chief executive of Macquaire Bank commented at a business initiative forum that “most people involved in managing a reasonable number of people for a reasonable time have suffered a disappointment about the ethical conduct of a colleague” (Harris, 2000). However, Moss also commented that the minority of controversial incidents are reported by the media for ratings and revenue. He also went on to say that if a business does not act with integrity, it will not be able to keep its customers coming back or keep good people employed. Even though there are episodes of unethical business behavior, the market value of companies keeps rising above the book value. In fact, it has risen by as much as twice the book value. The market value is determined by placing a value on a company’s intangible objects that are subject to loss from a business’ unethical behavior. Apparently since the market keeps increasing in value, then the majority of businesses must be ethical. Moss links a business’ success directly to its ethical behavior because eventually word will get out about how a business behaves. Ralph Doubell is the
References: BBC News. (2010). Italy country profile. Retrieved July 05, 2010, from http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk Harris, T. (2000). Cheats Can Prosper and Do. Edmund Rice Business Ethics Initiative.. Retrieved July 6, 2010, from http://www.erc.org.au Knowledge@Wharton. (2010). News Headlines. Retrieved July 05, 2010, from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu