Towards Norms of International Business Behaviour

The exponential growth of foreign direct investment and international trade coupled with the emergence of international voluntary standards concerning corporate behaviour, are the context of this paper. Its purpose is to look again at a question that both business ethicists and corporate leaders have been concerned about for at least two decades: ‘Can a multinational corporation (MNC) apply its core ethical values in all countries and cultures where it wishes to operate?’ In the early part of the 1990s, an international group of national leaders and experts with royal patronage explored this question. Their approach was to examine the religious values which are invoked when undertaking commercial transactions in their respective nations and cultures. The conclusion was the publication of the Interfaith Declaration on Business Ethics. Sixteen years later this paper asks what relevance the Declaration had on the approach of MNCs to doing business in cultures with which they are not familiar, and whether the four core ‘transactions’ values identified in the Declaration (Justice, Mutual Respect, Stewardship and Honesty) are consistent with transaction values found in other major religions and cultures. Is it possible to achieve and agree on international norms?