Global Trade Poses Ethical Dilemmas
Laws and regulations can't cover all situations, so let your moral compass be your guide.

By Larna Anderson Beebe

In global business transactions, some issues fall outside legislation, testing your moral compass. If you believe that nobody will question your decisions, it may be tempting to settle for less difficult solutions. However, you risk the loss of relationships, referrals, reputation, respect and self-respect if your actions or non-actions are judged as unethical. You will be better equipped to solve ethical dilemmas if you apply one of the following guidelines.

Loyalty Guideline
After you have secured the professional services of the only publicity agency abroad that met your company's criteria, you discover that the agency has an exclusive agreement with an author whose latest book has been banned in your child's school. You were among the parents who voiced complaints and voted for the ban. Do you honor the contract?

You must weigh family and community loyalty against company and contractual loyalty.

Reversibility Guideline
A foreign investment enables your company to expand and profit greatly. The foreign investor has made a major contribution to a political candidate from your state who supports issues that you strongly oppose. The investor believes in taking care of his own unconditionally, and thought you would be pleased because he assumed that you supported the candidate from your home state.

To speak your truth could mean an end to the relationship and future funding. However, the investor may thank you for pointing it out so that he can avoid similar cultural misunderstandings with you and others. This guideline makes you think how you would want to be treated if the situations were reversed.

Greater Good Guideline
Your company exports products essential to many people overseas. It comes to your attention that to secure successful delivery to end users in countries under a dictatorship, several bribes are required. In some cultures, financial favors and nepotism are not questioned.

You need to consider the consequences to all stakeholders in the transaction to make a decision that would result in the greatest good for the greatest number. In this scenario, you might identify customers to be the greater number and decide that executives could justify the bribes if necessary. This would be weighed against the risk of a possible local scandal.

Policy Guideline
Your company has a long-standing agreement with an overseas distributor. A story breaks that this distributor also deals in weapons and your company has a written policy strictly forbidding such alliances. Finding a reliable distributor and building a new international relationship is complex, lengthy and inconvenient.

You should review the reasons behind the policy. As global allies shift and administrations change, even government policies regarding arms are rewritten. By considering current and potential global conflicts, you may decide to keep, scrap or amend the policy. When reviewing alliance policies, companies also should consider the motives behind free trade agreements or trade sanctions that are negotiated by politicians.

Universal Guideline
The World Trade Organization defends intellectual property and investors' rights, but not the rights of workers. Labor issues include child labor, prisoner labor, wage rates, working hours and slavery, as well as occupational health and safety issues and gaps between majority and minority group employment.

By way of example, your company imports unique goods that have strong local demand. To strengthen the relationship with your supplier, you visit their factory abroad and realize that it is nothing more than a sweatshop. Your profit and customers' satisfaction results from shady labor practices in another country.

You could base a decision upon the universal guideline, which considers what is best for the kind of world in which you want to live. Under this guideline you would ask: "If everyone in the world did as we did, what would our world be like?"

You cannot always rely on global watchdogs, governments or legislation to police or fix the world. Every individual confronted with an ethical dilemma has the power to choose to make a difference. Doing what you believe to be right is not always simple, quick or easy. Long-term consequences often outweigh short-term gain. You should always feel proud of the way you conduct yourself in all relations, interactions and transactions.

Larna Anderson Beebe is a speaker and author. She has presented in nine countries on topics including global hypercompetitiveness, scenario strategy, genius leadership, global diversity, business innovation, orchestrating change and motivating performance. She can be reached at www.GlobalHypercompetitiveness.com or (913) 642-1114.