Ethics in Multinational Business Operations in India

Question: Write an essay on "Comparative Issues in International Management". Answer: 1. Introduction: The concept of the business ethics associated decisions all aspects of the business operations of the business organizations. The ethical considerations of the business operations help the business organizations to conduct the business in a smoother way. The scope of ethical issues in the multinational business is very high. The positive ethical considerations are necessary for the proper practice of the business operations in different countries. The ethical practices can boost the brand image of the business organizations. In the multinational business operations, the companies may face high level of market competition regarding the services of the business. In order to get the sustainable competitive advantages, the multinational companies need to build a high brand image by conducting the business operations by maintaining the ethical considerations (Ferrell Fraedrich, 2016). The business organizations used to face the ethical issues regarding the different culture of the differ ent countries in which they are operating. The political environments of the operating countries are also a big factor behind the ethical issues of the multinational business organizations. The governmental role and decisions regarding the business operations and national legislations have a major influence over the ethical considerations in the business of the MNCs. In order to maintain the ethical considerations in the business operations, the MNCs must have to know the different factors influencing the ethical issues (Weiss, 2014). The ethical issues and the reasons behind the issues have to be analyzed properly to understand by the MNCs operating in different countries. In this report, the ethical issues regarding the multinational business operations in Indian market has been analyzed. Different types of issues faced in the business operations of the MNCs have been analyzed in this report. Then the basic models of the business ethics have been discussed. The features of practicing the ethical considerations in the multinational business operations in the Indian market have been also analyzed. Finally the relationships between the social responsibility and ethical considerations have been analyzed and some recommendations are given after summarizing the findings of the reports. 2. Main Part: Social challenges faced by the multinational companies: The main challenges faced by the multinational companies in different countries are associated with the local culture of the company. Initially the understanding of the local culture of the operating countries is a great challenge to the MNCs, but it is vital to the MNCs for practicing the business operations by the proper maintenance of the ethical considerations. Every business n the organization has its own culture which affects the working style of the employees and the business operations in the local and global market. In order to main the ethical considerations regarding the culture, high level of understanding and following of the local culture is required (Rossouw Van Vuuren, 2013). Corporate Social Responsibility is associated with the commitment and well-being of the community through the business operations. At present, the business organizations are competing for developing the good brand image by the CSR activities. The basic concepts behind the practices of the CSR activities are the ethical consideration of the business operations. According to Shaw (2016), the CSR activities are ethical considerations of the company and the business organizations must have to think about the well-beings of the people who are getting affected by their business operations. The economic, social, environmental and human rights all are the parts of the ethical considerations regarding these responsibilities. MNCs should always endorse a non-discriminatory policy regarding the employment. Apart from the payments, the employees of a business organization should get all the required benefit from the employer organizations. In this context, the multinational companies used to face serious issues as the requirements and the employee welfare concepts varies from the home country of the organizations to the operating country. The health and safety policies for the employees are different in different countries. The multinational companies are facing the problems regarding the different health and safety polices in different countries (Hoffman Frederick Schwartz, 2014). The multinational companies are required to maintain the government taxation laws and should pay the right amount of tax to the government of the operating country. It has been found that maximum ethical issues found in the business operations of the multinational companies are in the area of the taxation laws. Basic models of the business ethics: In order to maintain the ethical considerations of the business operations, there are some models of the business ethics. The main concept behind the business ethics the thought Honesty is the best policy. The children are taught this though in the schools and in the family. The ethical considerations of the business are about conducting the business operations with honesty (Buchholtz Carroll, 2012). There are some global guidelines for the ethical behavior of the business operations are known as model of business ethics: Codes of conduct: Developing written code of conducts forces the business organizations towards the honesty in the business operations. Codes of conducts include the general instructions to the business organizations and mission statement for expressing the core values of the business and the real life ethical issues against each of the specific business activities. The codes of conduct help the business organizations to take proper decision regarding the maintenance of the business ethics (Chell et al., 2014). The issues covered in this model are the behavior with the outside public, the supervisors, the co-workers and subordinates. Employee Handbook: Maximum business organizations provide a comprehensive handbook to their employees regarding the ethical policies in their business. The specific expectations regarding the behavior of the employees are written in the handbook. The non-disclosures, compensation rules, work schedule, safety, employee benefits, companys property and leave policies are written in the handbooks. The conditions for conflicts of interest and breaching of the confidentiality of the written codes are also written in the handbooks (DesJardins McCall, 2014). Professional Codes: The professional codes are use fro assisting the professionals for working in their workplaces. Many of the business organizations work by self regulated rules. In these organizations, the management of the organization is responsible for deciding whether a person is fit for the organizations or not. In this type of case, the professional codes should be universal throughout all the workplaces of the organization. The organizations are not supposed to use different types of rules for different people (Jennings, 2014). Government Codes: Every government has its unique rules regarding the business ethics and the professional behavior of the employees of the business organizations. The code of ethics by the individual government of the country in which the business organizations is working has to be maintained (Carroll Buchholtz, 2014). The codes are associated with the HRM policies, external business operations like import and export of materials, taxations and the use of government property. Plus decision-making model: This model was developed by the Ethics resource Center in the year if 1924 regarding the ethical standards of the public and private organizations. The model has an ethical guideline which defines six steps for the ethical decision making. The steps are: defining the problem, identifying the alternatives, evaluations of the alternatives, make the decision, implement the decision and evaluate the decision. In the section of the alternative identification, all the alternatives should be justified with the current legislations and ethical principles of the country in which the business organizations are operations their business. The evaluations of the alternatives should also be done by considering the right and wrong regarding the ethical principles and the decision makers on sense (Koslowski, 2013). The selection of one of the alternative should ensure that the optimum ethical considerations should get from the alternatives. In the last phase of the decisi on making model, the decision makers should determine whether the selected option is able to resolve the problem by maintaining all the ethical considerations of the business activities of the organization. Features of the business ethics in Indian market: The features of the business ethics in the Indian market are as follows: Ethical values: Business ethics are associated with the morality of the business operations in todays world. The private and public business organizations have the responsibility of taking care of the well beings of the society. Business organizations affect the society by their products or services. Therefore, it is needed that the business organizations conduct their activities by self control, self scarifies and should keep the interest regarding the community at large significant value of ethics (Stanwick Stanwick, 2013). Relative term: Ethics is actually a relative term in the area of morality and immorality. It differs depending on the perspectives of the individuals as the concept of moral and immoral activities depends on the individual thinking of the persons (Berger Herstein, 2014). Interest of society: Business morals infers that business ought to first do great to the general public and after that to itself. Business is a vital foundation and has a social obligation to ensure the enthusiasm of every one of those gatherings who are specifically or in a roundabout way identified with the association like workers, shareholders and shoppers and so on to add to the achievement of business (Ramesh Goel, 2014). Business social relationship: Business morals set the terms and principles to comprehend the societal relationship of business. It demonstrates what society anticipates from business and what it supposes about the business (Abend, 2014). Framework: The government framework regarding the ethical considerations of the business operations should be maintained by the business organizations. Business organizations should be limited the activities under the social, cultural and legal aspects of India (Poruthiyil, 2013). Facilities protection of social groups: Business ethics are concerned with facilities of the consumers, shareholders and the social groups associated with the business operations. The priority should be given to the area of overall interest of social good. This approach helps the business organizations to develop a good brand value and expansion in the target market (Reynolds, 2015). Not in opposition to profit making: The business ethics are not against the profit of the business, it is actually against the profit making by cheating any one. It straightly says that the business organizations should make profit by right value to the consumers and other stakeholders of the business operations. The employees should not be exploited and the consumers or any investors should not be cheated by the business organizations for making more profit from the business operations (Hill, Cronk Wickramasekera, 2013). Willful acceptance: Business ethics cannot be imposed on any organizations by any fixed rules or polices. The ethics should be realized by the management of the business organizations and should be accepted by the self realization. Ethics in advertising: India is a culture focused country and has some ethical considerations regarding the content of the advertisements. The advertisements should be passed by the censor board before displaying publicly. The general ethical principle of providing advertising is to display the proper information regarding the products or services if the business organizations. This is not ethical if a business organization shows any false information for attracting the customers towards their products or services (Kolk, 2016). Ethical challenges faced by the multinational companies in the Indian market: India is a developing country, but represents an interesting case of understanding the business ethics regarding the modern business. The country is the land of many great souls like Ramakrishna, Chankya, Buddha and many other spiritual gurus. The ethical principle of the country regarding the business operations are influenced by the Indian history and culture. Currently the country is playing the leading role in the global business community. Ethical responsibilities of the business operations are the activities which are not expected form the business organizations or prohibited by the members of the society or management board. However, the ethical principles are not codified into laws (Wild, Wild Han, 2014). Many of the multinational companies have faced some ethical issues in the business operations in India. General Motors violated the testing norms in the year of 2013. The cars have to pass the emission test by the Indian government before launching in the market. In that year, the company sent their already approved engines of their existing car models in the new model of Tavera (Mathew, 2015). The Indian government investigated the new car models later and the engine fails to meet the government specifications regarding the emission level. The company accepted the ethical violation and announced the recall of 1.14 lack Chevrolet Taveras in that year (Wild, Wild Han, 2014). Another incident of violating the ethical principles of the business operations is the example of Coca-Cola. The company faced issues regarding the environmental violation regarding the water. The company opened production house in Rajasthan where people are suffering from water problem. Already there was lack of water and the company was using the water for the production of soft drinks. Apart from use the water, the wastes of the company was polluting the air and water of the locality. The company had the valid license of conducting the production in the area. For this reason, the government was unable to take any step against the company. However the local people and societies raised voices against the company. In order to resolve the issue, the company developed two huge artificial water bodies of fresh water (Coca-cola.com, 2016). This was a good CSR activity which helped the organization to develop a good brand image. They have also improved the waste management system for ensu ring the less harm to the environment of the locality. Social responsibilities to deal with the ethical issues: Man is a social creature and can't live in separation. He is relied upon to carry on in a way that is socially and ethically worthy to others. The same applies to organizations. In spite of the fact that the essential target of any business is to gain most extreme benefits for the proprietors and shareholders, it is additionally anticipated that would direct its operations in a way that it satisfies its social commitments too. For instance, however it is not official on any private division organization to give occupation to the debilitated or weaker areas of the general public, it is thought to be a part of the social obligation of the organization to ingest individuals from such segments of the general public (Stanwick Stanwick, 2013). So also however there is not composed law to constrain an organization to participate in acts to accomplish something to decrease contamination or to help out the improvement of environment, taking up activities to tidy up environment are thought to be a part of the social obligation of the organization. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept of the organizations of taking proper responsibilities of their customers, shareholders, employees, society and environment. These activities help the business organizations for conducting all types of business operations in the right way by maintaining all the legislations and ethics. Ethics are the basic building block for society and organizations and the social responsibilities are the specific activities of the organizations for the maintenance of the ethical considerations (Carroll Buchholtz, 2014). 3. Conclusion: After analyzing the different factors of the business ethics in the area of the multinational business operations, it can be concluded that the business organizations should conduct the business activities by maintaining the ethical principles of the business operations. The government legislations and taxation laws are significant for conducting the multinational business operations in different countries. In order to maintain the ethical considerations of the business operations, the business environment of the target country should be analyzed properly. Some examples of the ethical issues faced by the multinational companies in the Indian market have been discussed in this report and these can be used for providing recommendations to other MNCs to eliminate these kinds of issues in future. Recommendations: Understanding the Indian culture and history: The multinational companies have to understand the value of Indian culture and the history. The ethical consideration regarding the cultural history of the country state that the business operations should ensure the overall benefits of the stakeholders of the business. The HRM activities of the business operations should be developed by considering the culture and festivals of the country. Indian history is associated with many great people who are the spiritual gurus which are indicating that any type of fraudulent is not allowed in the country. By marinating this ethical considerations the business organizations should focus on the overall benefits of all the stakeholders from the business operations. Holistic engagement with the employees: The organizations should develop a good relationship with the employees and focus on the area of overall well-beings of the employees. The health and safety act of the Indian government should be maintained by the business organizations. Improvisation and adaptability: The product development strategy and other business operations need to be improved to resolve the ethical issues of the business operations. If any issue found in the area of the ethical consideration, the business organizations should take immediate action for resolving the issue. Sometimes the adaptations of new technologies help the business organizations to improve their waste management system for marinating the ethical considerations of the business operations. Environmental development: At present, the environmental development is the most vital activity of the ethical considerations. The business organizations should ensure that their business operations are conducting by the minimum harm to the environment. References: Abend, G. (2014).The moral background: an inquiry into the history of business ethics. Princeton University Press. Berger, R., Herstein, R. (2014). 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