1. Strategy, Ethics and Social
Responsibility Part 1
Kristel Pamela Caluya

2. Linking Strategy to Ethics
and Social Responsibility
• There should be a link between a company’s
efforts to craft and execute a winning strategy
and its duties to
Conduct activities in an ethical manner?
Demonstrate socially responsible behavior by being
a committed corporate citizen?
Limit its strategic initiatives to those meeting needs
of consumers without depleting resources needed
by future generations

3. Business ethics
• Concerns the application of general ethical
principles and standards to the actions
and decisions of companies and the
conduct of company personnel.
• Ethical principles in business are not
different from ethical principles in general
• Business actions are judged
– By general ethical standards of society
– Not by more permissive standards

4. Ensuring a Strong Commitment to Business
Ethics in Multinational Companies
• Three schools of thought about the
extent to which ethical standards apply
across countries and cultures exist:
– Ethical Universalism
– Ethical Relativism
– Integrative Social Contracts Theory

5. Concept of Ethical Universalism
• According to the school of ethical
universalism . . .
– Same standards of what is right and what is
wrong are universal and transcend most
cultures, societies, and religions
– Universal agreement on basic moral standards
allows a multinational company to develop a code of
ethics that is applied evenly across its worldwide
operations

6. Examples of Universal
Ethical Principles or Norms
• Honesty
• Trustworthiness
• Respecting the rights
of others
• Practicing the Golden
Rule
• Avoiding unnecessary
harm to
– Workers
– Users of a company’s
product or service

7. School of ethical relativism
• Different societal cultures and customs
have divergent values and standards of
right and wrong.
– What is ethical or unethical must be judged in light
of local moral standards and can vary
from one country to another
• Companies a code of conduct based upon the
principle of ethical relativism assume that local
morality is an adequate guide for ethical
behavior

10. Drawbacks of Ethical
Relativism
• The ethical relativism rule
of “when in Rome, do as the
Romans do” presents
problems
– It is ethically dangerous for
company personnel to assume
that local ethical standards are
an adequate guide to ethical
behavior
» What if local
standards
condone
kickbacks and
bribery?
» What if local
standards blink at
environmental
degradation?

11. integrated social contracts
theory
•
According to the integrative social contracts
theory, the ethical standards a company
should try to uphold are governed by both
1. A limited number of universal ethical principles
that put ethical boundaries on actions and behavior
in all situations
and
2. The circumstances of local cultures, traditions, and
values that further prescribe what constitutes
ethically permissible behavior and what does not

12. Three categories of management
morality
•
•
1. Moral Manager are dedicated to high standards of ethical behavior, both in
their own actions and in their expectations of how the company’s business is to
be conducted
2. Immoral Manager have no regard for so-called ethical standards in business
and pay no attention to ethical principles in making decisions and conducting
the company’s business.
3. Amoral manager
•
Two forms
•
• Intentionally Amoral Manager are of the strong
opinion that business and ethics are not to be mixed.
• Unintentionally Amoral Manager are simply casual
about careless about or inattentive to the fact that
certain kinds of business decisions or company
activities are unsavory or may have deleterious effects
on others.

13. Drivers of ethical strategies and
behavior
• Overzealous pursuit of personal gain,
wealth and selfish interest.
• Heavy pressures on company managers
to meet or beat earnings and targets.
• Company cultures that put the bottom line
ahead of ethical behavior.

15. • Thank You!!