Reference no: EM132808609
1. What were the ethical dilemmas that William faced on his international trip? List at least 3.
2. What ethical frameworks are the most useful for thinking about these ethical dilemmas? (Utilitarian; Justice; Rights; etc.) Explain your reasoning.
3. What changes in policy, if any, should William recommend to the CEO and Board of Dunlap Jeans? Explain your reasoning.
4. Should a company try to adhere to its own corporate standards and code of ethics or follow the standards and ethics of the other countries it does business in? Explain your reasoning.
Case Study: William's Trip to Asia
An International Ethics Situation
William Dean is the VP of Logistics at Dunlap Jeans. He has been on a tour of the company's manufacturing plants in Asia and South America. This is his first tour of the Asian and South American Plants. Mr. Dean has had very little experience in working in Asia. Most of his international business experience has been in Europe.
Currently he is visiting a plant in China that manufactures denim jeans for his company. He has been working and touring for a few days with the Chinese Plant Manager, Fook Loy. William found Fook Loy to be a very capable manager and a delightful host.
He has been impressed with the financial performance and efficiency of the Plant. This Plant produces jeans at the lowest unit cost and the highest quality of any of Dunlap Jeans other plants around the world. This plant makes a significant contribution to the profitability of Dunlap Jeans.
But William has some concerns about the Plant as well. Many of the employees work 100-hour weeks at what he considered low wages. William and the Plant Manager Fook Loy have discussed these issues. Fook Loy explained that their Plant actually had the best wages of any clothing facility in the region. He said: "by paying the top wage we are able to get and keep the best seamstresses which accounts for the outstanding quality of the jeans we produce here at this plant". Fook Loy stated they have had no complaints about the pay and a low employee turnover compared to other Plants in the region.
William pointed out to Fook Loy that the employees regularly worked 100 hours per week when the Chinese labor laws limited the work week to 60 hours. Fook Loy chuckled and explained. "I know the law but no follows the law in that regard. Just check around. There is not a Plant of any kind where workers work 60 hours. If I would limit the hours an employee could work to 60 hours, I would lose my whole workforce. They would go elsewhere and easily get 100 hours. These people support their whole extended families, they need the work and are more than willing to do it. They could work less, we don't force them to work beyond 60 hours, but they want to work."
William also noticed the strong emissions and the dumping of waste from the dying operations at the Plant. Again, Fook Loy explained that they were following every environmental law completely. He also added that they were doing it without bribing the environmental inspectors. He explained, "most Plants do not follow the air and water pollution laws in this region, they just bribe the inspectors for their certificate". He explained that the senior corporate managers from Dunlap Jeans who started this plant initially refused to bribe the officials here and worked with the regional government officials to reduce corruption in the industry. "As a result, they leave us alone, but we always exceed the standards, so they have no reason to deny our certificate of compliance."
William's Dilemma
On his trip home from Asia, William was struggling with what to say in his report to the CEO and the Board of Directors. While the Plant produced excellent business results, many of the other things he observed were troubling. Workers working crazy hours at low pay; the dumping of harmful chemicals, things that would get a business leader put in jail in the USA were common practice in the Asian Plant. And he saw similar things in other plants and other countries.