Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Business ethics in less developed countries (LDCs) includes study of values and standards of moral behavior with regard to economically developing and emerging countries, involving a range of global ethical issues: business relationships in society, business–government roles, ethical challenges in a free market, universal standards versus country norms, intercultural ethics comparisons and views from LDCs, corporate and transnational codes of ethics, stakeholder interests, and ethics study, education, and dissemination. Until the 1970s there were few studies or discussions about ethics in business affairs in the West, and until the 1980s, ethics was not an issue of concern in the developing or newly emerging countries of Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, or Latin America. However, major societal forces since the mid‐1980s, particularly the political and economic upheavals of the 1990s, spurred interest in business and academic worlds ( see international business ethics and country‐specific topics.) These forces, for example, are: violent struggle for regime change and the peace process in the Middle East and for democracy in Central and Eastern Europe; the transformation of economic systems to capitalism in most of the LDCs; the huge potential for consumerism and economic growth in China and India; the East Asian economic surge, influencing the whole world; financial scandals in Western ... log in or subscribe to read full text