Determine whether ethnocentrism or ethical relativism apply for Essay

Determine whether ethnocentrism or ethical relativism apply for specific cross-cultural business circumstances - Essay Example Therefore, business leaders and executives should critically evaluate their business circumstances, especially for those involving specific cross-cultural situations, in order to avoid applying ethnocentrism, which may jeopardize the business transactions. For instance, one of the parties to the business contract may pull away if he or she feels considered as a junior partner to the contract due to his or her culture or religion (Egger, 2008). Ethical relativism is a similar practice to ethnocentrism whereby an individual tends to make ethical choices basing on what he or she feels is reasonable or right in accordance with an individual’s own value system or belief. Globalization intensified the interaction of different cultures across the world. This demands that business leaders as well as executives apply considerable accommodation to new cultures and beliefs whenever dealing with cross-cultural business transactions to avoid offending the other party to the contract or bus iness deal. In most circumstances, business leaders use language barriers as a basis to judge other cultures, e.g. the fact that English is the international language in the world does not mean that those who do not know the language do not have anything valuable to offer. Therefore, it is necessary to apply considerable accommodation to such cultural differences in order to foster understanding, e.g. hiring an interpreter to mediate between them during a business transaction (Guffey, Rhodes & Rogin, 2008). International business ethics refers to the standardized cord of ethics or norms that guides the conduct of transacting businesses in an international field. Due to the conflicting provisions of cultures as well as religions across the world, business have to adhere to the set cord of ethics while doing international business in order to facilitate smooth transaction across various cultures. Furthermore, international business ethics enables the companies as well as their represe ntatives and agents to stay above ethnocentrism or ethical relativism. However, global leaders as well as guardians of international trade such as the United Nations have a stipulated set of recognized norms that businesses have to abide to, such as the UN Global Impact. This provision enables businesses to engage professionally when confronted with cross cultural business circumstances as well as maintain cordial business relations with their partners (Jhingran, 2001). Some of the common aspects of international business ethics include: Environment friendly technologies Eradicating corruption, extortion, and bribery Promote environmental responsibility. Eliminate employment discrimination. Eliminate forced and compulsory labor. Eradicate child labor and slavery. Foster international cooperation. Despite the need to conform to international business ethics, there are situations that require business executives as well as marketing professionals to apply local culture when determinin g their ethical practices. This is especially in cases where the business transaction has a lot more sentimental value as compared to its commercial value. Take for instance in a business transaction that involves dealing with antiques and traditional artifacts such as monuments, curving, drawings and idols. These artifacts have a certain protocol of handling them, failure to which it may cast an evil

A Critical Role in Deterring Smoking Both in the US and in the UK Research Paper

A Critical Role in Deterring Smoking Both in the US and in the UK - Research Paper Example Particularly, according to statistical data, the number of adult smokers in the U.K went down by approximately one million between 2006 and 2007 (Easton, 2009). However, contrary to this observation, the number of heavy smokers has increased to 29% from 24% during the same period and those who planned to quit reduced by approximately 5% from 72% (Easton, 2009). The fall represents an estimated 1.2 million people. The U.K also required the manufacturers to print health warnings on the cigarette packs in an attempt to deter people from smoking. According to the most recent statistics, the U.K has 22% and 19% male and female smokers respectively. Although the U.K has approximately 10 million smokers, there are 15 million ex-smokers indicating that the ban has been effective (Smoking Statistics, 2013). Nevertheless, the U.K has been receiving some troubling news concerning the number of children starting smoking, which stood at 200,000 annually (Cancer Research UK, 2013). On the other ha nd, the U.S has more smokers than the U.K. According to a 2012 statistic, the U.S has at least 42 million smokers, which represents 18.1% of the overall population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014a, p. 30-32). This number comprises of adults alone or individuals with at least 18 years of age. Of the overall U.S smokers, 78% were heavy smokers. According to race, the American Indians led the smokers with 21% and the behaviour is more common among the males than females with males taking on almost 21% while females represent 15.8%.