Comunicador

International Businesses and
the Challenges of Poverty
in the Developing World

Case Studies on Global
Responsibilities and Practices

Edited by

Ethical Reflections on the
Challenges Facing International
Businesses in Developing Areas

PG 1
We now live in a world where the lives of all peoples are inextricably interconnected.
We have been brought closer to each other throughmodern
systems of transportation and telecommunication. Commercially the links
between people grow in number and complexity. Elements in the products
we use, the clothes we wear and the food we eat may come from quite
diverse places all over the earth. The volume of trade between countries has
greatly increased. We are interconnected in other ways as well.
A disease like
AIDS begins in one partof the world and within a short span of years it has
spread throughout the globe. How humans utilize natural resources in one
part of the world may well affect those in other parts. Particles from insecticides
used in the tropics eventually appear in rain and snow of arctic areas.
Pollution caused by industry and vehicles in urbanized areas ends up
disturbing the earth’s atmosphere in waysthat affect all humans.
We have
become interconnected in still other ways. Humans have migrated all over
the earth. Vast numbers of people have moved from rural to urban areas,
from continent to continent, in the process bringing with them parts of
their varied cultures and traditions. Religiously humans are now more intermixed
then ever. Christians and Muslims, especially, as well as Hindus,Buddhists, Sikhs and Jews are now found all over the world.1
Although humans enter the twenty-first century more interconnected
than ever, we remain different in many ways. We remain deeply influenced
by different cultural traditions. Even though there may well be common features
among them, we follow different ethics. Although some languages
have become more widely used, we speak indiverse languages. We have different
tastes in clothes, food and recreation even though certain styles have
gained greatly in popularity.
Most decisively, humans differ, often markedly, in their basic life chances.
In some parts of the world people can expect to live much shorter lives than
in other parts. In the economically developing areas of the world, humans
are much more likely to faceillness and hunger, to experience poverty and
material deprivation, to receive less education and fewer opportunities
As
humans have become more interconnected, the differences in wealth and
income levels have remained. In many areas they have increased.
Worldwide we have enough resources so that all humans could live well nourished,
Well-clothed and housed and well-educated lives. Yet billionsof
humans suffer from poverty (Forstater, 2002, ch. 2).

What are the responsibilities of internationally interconnected businesses
in a world like this? International businesses serve to transfer more resources
and greater wealth between the economically developed and the economically
developing areas of the world than do either charitable associations or
formal government aid programmes.What are the responsibilities of international
businesses in a world that has become more globally interconnected
and yet remains culturally diverse and deeply divided between
affluent and impoverished areas?2

These are not questions that can be ignored or avoided. While fairer
trading relations offer the opportunities to foster economic development
and reduce poverty in the developingworld, the current patterns of trade
have aggravated these conditions in many impoverished areas (Oxfam
International, 2002). The situation of the developing areas directly and indirectly
impinges on the economically more developed world. Economic and
political instability of these areas affects all humans.

As in the Asian crisis of
the late 1990s, economic downturns in particular countries...