Adp Culture
Cross-cultural Issues in Business Ethics
John Hooker Carnegie Mellon University June 2007
Outline of the argument
A new economic order.
Based on cultural comparative advantage.
Implications for business ethics.
Acknowledge and understand differences in cultural norms. Rather than universalize ethics along Western lines.
Example: corruption.
Activity that undermines a cultural system.
A new economic order
Movement toward a multi-polar equilibrium.
A new economic order
Based on comparative cultural advantage.
Much more than “outsourcing.” Many countries have cheap labor. Only a few have become economic powerhouses.
Such as…
Japanese quality. Korean manufacturing. Indian information technology. Chinese entrepreneurship. Western technological innovation.
A new economic order
Japanese quality
Continuous improvement.
• Group-oriented, rather than requiring individual reward. • Long time horizon. • No need for cause-and-effect manipulation. • Maintain group harmony by honoring everyone’s ideas. • Nemawashi.
Hanko stamp
Traditionally a part of
nemawashi
A new economic order
Superior operations management
• Just-in-time inventory management • Kanban systems minimize rework, maximize flexibility. • Lean manufacturing, reduced setup times.
Outgrowth of keiretsu (formerly zaibatsu).
• Old-boy networks, trust relationships. • Keidanren. Toyota factory in Japan
A new economic order
Indian IT
Pantheism vs. secularism
• No need to maintain & manipulate nature. • Other coping mechanisms
Inner discipline
• Get control of one’s mind rather than the environment. • Modern form: intellectual discipline, academic competition.
IIT Mumbai
A new economic order
Networking.
• Efficient way to absorb technical knowledge.
A verbal culture.
• Well suited to academic discourse, information age.
Case study: software development
• No need for the technology, but well suited to create it. • Create an orderly world of
John Hooker Carnegie Mellon University June 2007
Outline of the argument
A new economic order.
Based on cultural comparative advantage.
Implications for business ethics.
Acknowledge and understand differences in cultural norms. Rather than universalize ethics along Western lines.
Example: corruption.
Activity that undermines a cultural system.
A new economic order
Movement toward a multi-polar equilibrium.
A new economic order
Based on comparative cultural advantage.
Much more than “outsourcing.” Many countries have cheap labor. Only a few have become economic powerhouses.
Such as…
Japanese quality. Korean manufacturing. Indian information technology. Chinese entrepreneurship. Western technological innovation.
A new economic order
Japanese quality
Continuous improvement.
• Group-oriented, rather than requiring individual reward. • Long time horizon. • No need for cause-and-effect manipulation. • Maintain group harmony by honoring everyone’s ideas. • Nemawashi.
Hanko stamp
Traditionally a part of
nemawashi
A new economic order
Superior operations management
• Just-in-time inventory management • Kanban systems minimize rework, maximize flexibility. • Lean manufacturing, reduced setup times.
Outgrowth of keiretsu (formerly zaibatsu).
• Old-boy networks, trust relationships. • Keidanren. Toyota factory in Japan
A new economic order
Indian IT
Pantheism vs. secularism
• No need to maintain & manipulate nature. • Other coping mechanisms
Inner discipline
• Get control of one’s mind rather than the environment. • Modern form: intellectual discipline, academic competition.
IIT Mumbai
A new economic order
Networking.
• Efficient way to absorb technical knowledge.
A verbal culture.
• Well suited to academic discourse, information age.
Case study: software development
• No need for the technology, but well suited to create it. • Create an orderly world of