Relying on the principle of ethical relativism to determine what is right or wrong (1) presents which major opportunities and (2) poses which problems for multinational companies trying to decide which ethical standards to enforce companywide?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The opportunities that lay inherent in ethical relativism is its understanding of cross-country or cross-cultural differences in ethical standards. It allows for local ethical standards to take precedence over what the ethical standards may be in a company's home market. In a world of ethical relativism, there are few absolutes when it comes to business ethics, and thus few ethical absolutes for consistently judging the ethical correctness of a company's conduct in various countries and markets.
The problems that lay inherent in ethical relativism come from the slippery slope that comes from having different ethical standards for different company personnel depending on where in the world they are working. Issues such as the payment of bribes and kickbacks and even the use of underage labor are often arguably justified in terms of local social and political conditions. That something happens locally as a norm is not necessarily a justification.