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Multinational Enterprise Decision Principles for Dealing With Cross Cultural Ethical Conflicts

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Abstract

Cross cultural ethical conflicts are a major challenge for managers of multinational corporations (MNEs) when an MNE's business practices and a host country's practices differ. We develop a set of decision principles to help MNE managers deal with these conflicts and illustrate with examples of ethical conflicts faced by MNEs doing business in contemporary Russia (DeGeorge, 1994). We discuss the generalizability of the principles by comparing them to the Donaldson (1989) and Buller and Kohls (1997) decision models. Finally we discuss changes in the cross cultural ethical problems facing MNE managers and offer suggestions for future corporate and academic work on these problems.

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  1. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA, 70504-3570, U.S.A

    J. Brooke Hamilton III & Stephen B. Knouse

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  1. J. Brooke Hamilton III
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  2. Stephen B. Knouse
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Hamilton, J.B., Knouse, S.B. Multinational Enterprise Decision Principles for Dealing With Cross Cultural Ethical Conflicts. Journal of Business Ethics 31, 77–94 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010793408485

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