A critical literature on mulitnational corporate social responsibility has developed in recent years. Many authors addressed the issue in the Third World countries. This paper reviews the literature, focusing on the relationship between the multinational corporations (MNCs) and Third World governments in fulfilling the social responsibility, based on the underlying ethical imperative.There is a growing consensus that both corporations and governments should accept moral responsibility for social welfare and individual interests in their economic transactions. A collaborative relationship is proposed where (...) the MNCs share information based on global experiences and offer input into host government developmental policies, and aid their implementation. The government, in turn, provides a reasonable regulatory environment. This calls for ongoing interactions among officials at all levels of the two institutions, with the local corporate subsidiary playing a pivotal role. The desired conduct of the parties is reinforced by international organizations and other constituents, representing common human concerns across cultures. These relationships are examined and an agenda for policy and action by the MNCs and the Third World governments is developed. (shrink)

The authors investigate the differences in ethical perceptions of Australian and Hong Kong international managers. Ethical perceptions are measured with respect to different industry types, cultures and modes of entry into international markets. Mode of entry refers to how firms select to enter foreign markets. Modes of entry include: exporting (indirect or direct), contractual methods (licensing and franchising) and via direct foreign investment (joint ventures and wholly-owned subsidiaries). It was determined that culture and mode of entry have a significant effect (...) on the perception of ethical problems. (shrink)

This paper correlates community service goals from 82 business firms with various organizational characteristics, including goals, niches, structure, context, and performance. The results demonstrate that community-service goals are positively correlated with prestige goals, assets goals, superior-design niche, net assets size, and performance on income to net assets. Community-service goals, however, were not significantly correlated with profit goals, low-price niche, multiplicity of outputs, workflow continuity, qualifications, or centralization, as expected.

Multinational business activity has expanded dramatically since the end of World War II. The increased presence of foreign corporations and the generally strategic significance of such presence for host countries, has increasingly confronted both sides with the need to develop guidelines governing the conduct of such operations.The new voluntary approach to guideline development suggested here is based on the proposition that the fundamental aim of business activity is the satisfaction of socially desirable needs. Under this approach, MNC's should attempt to (...) operate in a socially desirable manner in all countries of operations. Social desirability determination will be made on the basis of whether activities in particular countries will be seen, by majority concensus of all publics on which corporate activity impacts, to bring about welfare improvements in the countries concerned. Periodic public opinion polls, or more informal methods in the less developed countries, are seen to provide the necessary inputs for the development of overall corporate guidelines for action, which in turn will influence strategic corporate decisions. The long run benefits resulting from such conduct are seen to outweigh temporary gains that could accrue to corporations through the pursuit of profitable but socially undesirable activities. (shrink)