Ethics Assignment

Dog eat Dog World

Throughout this semester we’ve talked about the ethical conscience while making business decisions. Is it better to lead an ethical business career, which could also lead to prosperity without cutting corners, but could also make you less competitive by allowing you to fall behind your competitors, who might not be taking the ethical route? The alternative is to allow you to be morally and ethically compromised, which could include bribing officials in foreign lands to gain production and manufacturing rights, or helping to hide company money into foreign accounts to avoid taxes. Both are unethical, but people make decisions such as these to gain the upper hand over their rivals.

The two main strategists and in a way philosophers, that have lead our class discussions are Sun Tzu and David Korten. Sun Tzu was a military strategist, whose book The Art of War is one of the most prized books, its methods to conduct proper warfare can also be applied to business. David Korten is an American economist, author and a teacher at the Harvard Business School. His book When Corporations Rule the World, talks about how important ethics are when it comes to conducting global business practices. One of them talks about destruction and the conquering of foes, while the other is decision making in the boardroom, but each of them underline the importance of ethics. 

Why should business people conduct their practices with ethics in mind? Korten makes the point that unethical decision making in the corporate boardroom has affected the global well-being in a negative way. He argues that corporations need to change their philosophy, which would change society for the better. According to Korten, “Increasingly it is the corporate interest rather than the human interest that defines the policy agendas of states and international bodies” (Korten pg.60). Throughout the chapters of his book Korten expresses the need to think as a whole and not as an individual and that respect for other people, especially those who are less fortunate is a priority. If this is so simple why aren’t corporations making decisions that include having a positive effect on its foreign host country and the workers?

David Korten paints a bleak picture of life, if the current trends continue and businesses continue to think solely about themselves and not the societies they are involved in.  The beginning of the book, When Corporations Rule the World, Korten talks about the theory “Race to the bottom” which is the process corporations manipulating countries to lower wages and living standards, so that workers can be paid less and the company maintains its competitiveness. Clearly this practice is unethical, it damages the citizens and their society, and so why do it? Korten makes the point, that because of loose government controls and deregulation, the global playing field is positioned in a way that leaves no other option. I wonder how Sun Tzu would conduct corporate battle today.

Sun Tzu was a military strategists and a good strategy wins, so how could you conduct ethical corporate warfare on a playing field, such as the one described above. After reading The Art of War, I believe Sun Tzu, if he ruled a global corporation, would also make unethical decisions to gain the upper hand over his enemies. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu says, “Therefore the victories of good warriors are not noted for cleverness or bravery. Therefore their victory in battle are not flukes. Their victories are not flukes because they position themselves where they will surely win” (Sun Tzu pg. 62). If the global stage for business competition involves the allocation of resources to places where it’s cheaper to produce and make, then such acts are justified in-order to gain an upper hand on competitors.  However, what about deliberate use of shady tactics, to trick or deceive your opponent?

The ugliest form of business dealings are bribes, money laundering and tax evasion. These are the ugliest, because they redirect resources that might go the common people and instead put it back to use for the corporation. In the world of warfare your secret dealings are your spies. Even though bribes and tax evasions take place on paper and spies with war, there isn’t much difference. Spies, just like bribes, are intended to give those that possess them the upper hand over their enemies. According to Sun Tzu, “So only a brilliant ruler or a wise general who can use the highly intelligent for espionage is sure of great success” (Sun Tzu pg.170). Sun Tzu, in my opinion, would bribe and take short cuts, to beat out his competition, because your allegiance is to your cause and your followers. 

So where is my ethical standpoint and how will I conduct myself in a world, such as the one described by Korten? After looking at my Core values statement, what I though two years ago have changed and it has to do with becoming more aware of my surroundings. I understand that we are all humans, but what I don’t understand is the need to pledge allegiance to each other. I consider myself to be a realist, the only person in this entire universe who gives one hair of a care about me is me and it’s up to me to make it in life. I turn on the news and its blasting news stories on how corporations are cheating the world and its people. I personally believe this is unstoppable and that people are naturally inclined to be competitive and gain power over others, myself included. I hate to be the one who says he’ll engage in shady and perhaps unethical decision makings, but I would be lying to you if I said I wouldn’t. If I’m in a scenario and the scenario is my boss asking me to go overseas and bride a foreign official for production and manufacturing rights, then I’ll do it. There are hundreds of millions of business people out there; all trying to make a living and a good number would do anything to achieve success. If I say no to my boss he would just go out and find someone else to do it for him and most likely fire me. I don’t want that, because I didn’t spend my entire life reading and learning business tactics to be sideswiped by a bribe dilemma. I think the world is a dog eat dog world and if you want solitude go join the church, wait they too are corrupt.