International Business Ethics

This book addresses an essential need felt by many who seek to promote best business practices in China and East Asia – namely the need for culturally appropriate instructional materials (basic information, case studies and ethical perspectives) that will allow managers and entrepreneurs to understand and embrace the challenge of moral leadership in business. In an era characterized by globalization and the increasing importance of the economies of China, India, Japan and SE Asia, international business ethics must reflect the concerns of the people living and working in this area, the moral and spiritual traditions that have nurtured them and their specific contributions to sustainable development. This book presents twenty important case studies, taken from newsworthy events of the past few years, in which Asians and others have attempted to respond to this challenge. Each case study has been selected and shaped in order to highlight various aspects of doing business in Asia, starting with basic principles and moving on to the specific responsibilities that businesses have towards their various stakeholders. The authors contend that the best way to appreciate the relevance of Asian moral and spiritual traditions is to determine their specific contribution to virtue ethics, where the ancient traditions of both East and West converge in their focus on the qualities of moral leadership that form the basis of best business practice. Exploring the case studies will enable readers to appreciate the continued relevance of these ethical perspectives in Asian business. Best business practice clearly involves learning to do business and playing the game according to the rules; but the necessity of playing by the rules is not likely to become clear until one takes up the path that leads to a virtuous life in business, developing a moral character chiefly based on integrity.

Stephan Rothlin
Dr. Stephan Rothlin is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rothlin International Management Consulting, Ltd. (RIMAC), and formerly General Secretary and Vice Director of the Center for International Business Ethics (CIBE) at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. He also serves as Chairman of the Association of International Business Ethics of Hong Kong (AIBE). Born in Zurich, Switzerland and educated in various universities throughout Europe in the disciplines of philosophy, economics, sociology, and ethics, Dr. Rothlin ultimately obtained his PhD at the State University of Innsbruck, Austria in Business Ethics in 1991.

Between 1992 and 1998 he taught Business Ethics in the Institute of Management and Economics at the University of Zurich. In 1998 he moved to Beijing, where he taught International Business Ethics at several universities, including Renmin University(Finance & Business School), Peking University (BiMBA-program), Beijing Institute of Technology, the University of International Business and Economics and the Central Party School in Beijing. He is a Permanent Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Empirical Research in Economics at the University of Zurich and is welcomed as a regular visiting professor at a number of business schools in Asia, Europe and the USA.

Dr. Rothlin’s main research focus is the development of international business ethics in Asia, with a special focus on China. In cooperation with Peking University Press, he directs a series of translations of major business ethics textbooks into Chinese. In 2004, Renmin University press published his book Becoming A Top-Notch Player. He has considerable experience in cross-cultural projects and is fluent in six languages: German, French, Italian, Spanish, English and Mandarin Chinese.

Dennis P. McCann
Dr. Dennis P. McCann is Director of Research at Rothlin International Management Consulting, Ltd. (RIMAC), and formerly Director of the Case Study Institute at the Center for International Business Ethics at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. Professor Emeritus of Agnes Scott College,
Atlanta/Decatur, Georgia, USA, Dr. McCann obtained a PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1976 and an STL from the Gregorian University, Rome, Italy, in 1971. He taught business ethics in the United States for over 30 years and has been involved in research, lecturing and teaching business ethics in China and Southeast Asia for the past 15 years. Dr. McCann is particularly concerned with identifying culturally appropriate teaching materials for Asia, based on his ongoing research in the fields of philosophy and religious studies. Dr. McCann was formerly the Director of Research and Development at the Hong Kong America Centre (HKAC) during his Fulbright year (2005–2006) and served as Visiting Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion, Hong Kong Baptist University (2006–2008). Dr. McCann served as Executive Director of the Society of Christian Ethics, the premier academic association for professors of religious ethics in the United States (1996–2001). He is the author of several books and dozens of scholarly articles, most recently the co-author, with Prof. Lee Kam-hon and Ms. Mary Ann Ching Yuen, of Christ and the Business Culture, published in 2012 by the Center for the Study of Religion and Chinese Society (CSRCS), Chinese University Press in Hong Kong. Over the past 15 years Dr. McCann has taught, given workshops and lectured in universities in Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and India.