Leading Across New Borders: How to Succeed as the Center Shifts

Chapter 8Global Ethics: Beyond IntegrityConscious Choices to Ensure a Sustainable Future

Joining the Middle Class

Ethical conduct in a business context is commonly defined in terms of “integrity.” Corporate employees usually interpret this to mean observing each country's laws faithfully and not engaging in illicit practices such as fraud, bribery, or other forms of corruption. But as vital as these kinds of ethics are to build civil societies around the world and a fair playing field for competition among private enterprises, they are no longer sufficient. The sheer scale of the current global economic shift requires much broader ethical engagement from companies and their employees as previous patterns of production and consumption are transformed.

Mr. and Mrs. Feng Buy a Car

It is a warm, rainy Saturday morning in the month of May in Chongqing, a city in southwestern China. Mr. Feng, in his early 30s, is dressed casually in a sports shirt and jeans. He sits in the driver's seat of a shiny new car, a compact sedan. There is a red ribbon tied on the side mirror, and another on the front hood—red symbolizes happiness and good fortune. Mr. Feng smiles shyly as the dealer sitting next to him, dressed more formally in his white, short-sleeved shirt and tie, points to dashboard lights and cruise control. Mrs. Feng leans forward from the back seat, watching with sharp eyes; she wants to see and learn as well.

After absorbing a detailed review of the car's features, both under ...