Business Ethics

korA Chinese Perspective: Business Ethics in China Now and in the Future

Xiaohe Lu1)

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Abstract

China now manufactures or assembles over fifty percent of the world’s products. However, the world has been reeling from daily accounts of defective "Made in China" products. People want to know: What is the matter with "Made in China" products? Are they really so bad? Are Chinese enterprises trustworthy? What exactly is the current state of business ethics in China? It seems as if China has been at the forefront of growing concern not only about its products and enterprises, but also about its business ethics. This paper will start with recent events connected with the Made in China label and explore them from the perspective of business ethics. The paper has three parts. Part One describes and analyzes three of these events. Part Two describes the state of business ethics in China and discusses related issues. Part Three concludes by exploring the future of business ethics in China. The main conclusion is that business ethics in China faces two kinds of ethical challenges and tasks: how to restrict the lawless in as short a period of time as possible and how to protect and advance the interests of employees, investors and the public through corporate management and public administration.

Keywords: Chinese Management, Business Ethics, Case Study

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* I would like to thank Professor Daryl Koehn for her assistance in editing this paper. 1)Professor of Institute of Philosophy and a executive director of Center for Business Ethics and a member of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences(SASS). 윤리경영연구 제 9권 2호 59

A Chinese Perspective: Business Ethics in...