ABSTRACT
Ethical considerations arise from doing business in different countries. This chapter discusses conflicts between local laws and ethics in managerial decision-making. It discusses areas of ethical decision-making that go beyond the law, because the law is silent or a number of different courses of action are permissible within the law. Senior managers who have important input into the making of such policy, such as human resources or accounting managers, have a wide responsibility to consider the ethical implications of the decisions that will be made by individual managers operating under those policies. Suppose that a company has a policy, in all of the countries in which it operates, that there shall be no discrimination in hiring. In the United States, there is a law prohibiting discrimination in hiring based on pregnancy. As long as a pregnant woman can carry out the duties of a job, it is illegal to refuse to hire her based on her pregnancy.
