Santa Clara University

Center Executive Director Kirk O. Hanson addressed the ethical challenges of doing business in Asia at a seminar, "Worlds in Collision?" that was co-sponsored yesterday by the Center and Morrison & Foerster.

Hanson's remarks included these observations on why there is a growing interest in ethics in China, India, and other Asian countries:

1. The increasing expectations of American and European companies that they be able to operate in an manner ethically consistent with practices in their home country. Part of this is that they be able to select business partners and agents who share their ethical values and practices. These Western companies are being encouraged to achieve this consistency by their own governments, by media in their home countries, and by public sentiment.
2. The desire of Asian companies, and increasingly even Chinese companies, to deploy capital abroad by forming joint ventures with American and European companies or by buying Western companies . This leads to substantial pressures for those firms to exhibit "Western" ethical practices - from their business partners and from Western governments.