Starnes Brenner Williams
Char Williams
Starnes-Brenner Machine Tool
MKTU 640
International Marketing
Case Study 2-3: Starnes-Brenner Machine Tool Company:
To Bribe or Not to Bride?
Sunday, March 22, 2015 Starnes-Brenner Machine Tool
1. Is what Frank did ethical? By whose ethics—those of Latino or the United States? What comes to mind when we hear this name? It depends on how you look at it. Ethics, sadly, are a wholly personal issue—how you live your life versus how you run your business. Clearly, there are business standards that Starnes-Brenner has in place, but it’s imperative to think about the culture and the “best practices” in Latino. As our text states, culture can be defined as “the sum of the values, rituals, symbols, beliefs and thought processes that are learned and shared by a group of people then transmitted from generation to generation” (Cateora, et al, p. 102). I think that the words rituals and beliefs is a key point here. Just because we are from North America and this isn’t the way that we are used to doing business, doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. Again, as our textbook states, “Some cultures seem to be more open about taking bribes, whereas others, like the United States, are publicly contemptuous of such practices (Cateora, et al, p. 152). Simply, I feel like what Frank did was ethical according to the business “rules” in Latino.
2. Are Frank’s two different payments legal under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as amended by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988? Generally speaking, I feel that yes the two payments were legal. The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 focused on “assisting businesses to be more competitive in world markets as well as correcting perceived injustice in trade practices” (Cateora, et al, p. 42). As stated earlier, the “rules” in the US may not be the same as the “rules in Latino. Our text goes on to emphasize, “The act reflected the realization that we must deal with our trading
Starnes-Brenner Machine Tool
MKTU 640
International Marketing
Case Study 2-3: Starnes-Brenner Machine Tool Company:
To Bribe or Not to Bride?
Sunday, March 22, 2015 Starnes-Brenner Machine Tool
1. Is what Frank did ethical? By whose ethics—those of Latino or the United States? What comes to mind when we hear this name? It depends on how you look at it. Ethics, sadly, are a wholly personal issue—how you live your life versus how you run your business. Clearly, there are business standards that Starnes-Brenner has in place, but it’s imperative to think about the culture and the “best practices” in Latino. As our text states, culture can be defined as “the sum of the values, rituals, symbols, beliefs and thought processes that are learned and shared by a group of people then transmitted from generation to generation” (Cateora, et al, p. 102). I think that the words rituals and beliefs is a key point here. Just because we are from North America and this isn’t the way that we are used to doing business, doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. Again, as our textbook states, “Some cultures seem to be more open about taking bribes, whereas others, like the United States, are publicly contemptuous of such practices (Cateora, et al, p. 152). Simply, I feel like what Frank did was ethical according to the business “rules” in Latino.
2. Are Frank’s two different payments legal under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as amended by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988? Generally speaking, I feel that yes the two payments were legal. The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 focused on “assisting businesses to be more competitive in world markets as well as correcting perceived injustice in trade practices” (Cateora, et al, p. 42). As stated earlier, the “rules” in the US may not be the same as the “rules in Latino. Our text goes on to emphasize, “The act reflected the realization that we must deal with our trading
References: Caeora, P., Gilly, M., Graham, J. (2013). International Marketing (16th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.