Because of the growth in international trade in the last decades, a better understanding of customs and expectations in cross-cultural negotiations has become necessary. To better understand the dynamics of the negotiating process, it’s important to take institutional factors into account. One of the greatest challenges here is the need to understand and manage differences in business styles due to cultural factors. These differences include ethics.
Businessmen are frequently challenged to keep a high ethical standard while working under pressure in a high competitive surrounding. With the new global economy, this challenge includes dealing with countries and competitors whose ethics differ from there owns.
Two schools have been prominent in the debate over ethics: the absolutist school and the relativist school. The absolutists believe that there should be a single set of moral principles, like a universal code. In theory this would mean that businesses and international trade would be more efficient and effective, because they would all operate according to the same set of moral principles. According to the relativist school, on the other hand, what is right and wrong should be determined by the individual or a group of individuals.
There exists of course a set of human values that cut across most cultures, but there is also a moral grey area in which cultural differences can create uncertainty and surprise. That’s why it’s very important to be informed about the habits and differences between cultures while doing business.
Céline Peeters
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