Ethics, Cultural Norms, and International Business
Abstracts due: July 1, 2017
Guest Editors:
Hilary E. Kahn
School of Global and International Studies
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
Joshua E. Perry
Kelley School of Business
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
Overview:
While the global business landscape may at times give the impression that it is flattening, connecting, homogenizing, and effacing difference, it is also quite complex, with dramatically contoured and contextual idiosyncrasies existing among cultures, business practices, political regimes, economic systems, traditions, religions, and histories. Customary practices in some markets may differ dramatically from what is acceptable or even legal in others, while at the same time manufacturing, importing and exporting, investments strategies, trade policy, markets, and modes of consumption are truly becoming worldwide. How does one navigate this world of similarity and difference, where business practices and protocol bring the world together as much as they accentuate difference?
How can executives, managers, marketers, consumers, and entrepreneurs operate confidently, successfully, and ethically in a culturally diverse global business environment? How do human values intersect with business practices? Can we speak about universal values in regard to a global business landscape, or must we consider human values in the context of specific business practices, social structures, and transactions? What exactly is a global business landscape? How does the global economy impact local decisions and practices, including how geopolitical entities and states define new practices and policies to build on what is both a universal and contextualized global business landscape? How should business leaders taking products and services to market understand and negotiate the inevitable tension between those relatively undeveloped markets without bright-line rules and those markets governed closely by government regulators and NGO watchdogs? Is mere compliance with existing codes of conduct or social norms sufficient or does ethical leadership in an industry require some greater or more aspirational commitment to “doing the right thing” – and how is the “right thing” in the business context defined or determined anyway? How does the complex international business world emerge in more localized and less obviously “global” settings? What new skills and learning must educators teach toward as we prepare students and citizens for the complicated global landscape that is as increasingly similar as it is rapidly different?
These are just some of the vexing questions we hope to address in this special issue of Business Horizons. We are particularly interested in papers that explore these issues – and recommend best practices and applicable strategies – from a variety of disciplinary viewpoints, including anthropological, sociological, historical, educational, and legal scholarship. Moreover, we encourage conceptual, empirical, or theoretical submissions that explore these issues in a variety of industry and social contexts, including: health care, education/learning, technology, intellectual property, marketing, management, supply chain, finance, innovation and entrepreneurship, sustainability, human rights, government and public policy, etc., with the editorial aim being to strike a balance between practical application and scholarly analysis that prompts readers to think about the ethical and cultural dynamics of international business in new, innovative, and constructive ways.
If interested, please contact Josh Perry or Hilary Kahn to discuss your specific idea or plan to submit your 300-word abstract no later than July 1, 2017. Final submissions should conform to the Business Horizons Guide for Authors, available at: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor
IMPORTANT DATES:
Abstracts due to BH by July 1, 2017
Review of abstracts complete and invitations to submit complete manuscript issued to authors on Aug 1, 2017
Completed manuscript due to BH by Dec 15, 2017
Manuscript returned to authors for revisions by Feb 15, 2018
Final manuscript submissions to BH due by April 1, 2018
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- Call for Papers