ABSTRACT
This final chapter on the international business (IB) environment speaks to the potential relativism of ethical judgements across the world and the choice that practitioners face whether to apply their own precepts everywhere or instead to cater to their counterparts’ value systems. It is one way of introducing the seminal standardisation versus adaptation debate that lies at the heart of all IB studies. The chapter begins with a review of moral principles’ variability in time and place, with specific regard for the ethics that multinational enterprises (MNEs) may or may not choose to manifest when entering foreign markets, including their lobbying behaviour. It goes on to delineate categories of international corporate social responsibility (CSR) before addressing their codification, first and foremost by the United Nations but also by ethical reporting groups and/or in the form of voluntary codes. The conclusion offer a brief analysis of non-governmental organisations and the voice they have in the international battle for hearts and minds, influencing in this way the paradigms shaping practitioners’ behaviour.
