A SINGLE FRAMEWORK FOR THE ETHICAL AND STRATEGIC GLOBAL MANAGER.

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The global manager conducts business at the intersection of cultures. As a result, he or she is often exposed to very unique moral dilemmas. To help the global manager cope with these difficult ethical decisions, scholars have developed a wide variety of international ethical theories and approaches. However, even though these theories and approaches can clarify even the most complicated of moral quandaries, generally they provide managers with few or no strategic insights. Therefore, I propose a framework of international ethics that integrates a powerful tension of morality, justice versus care, with the central tension of international strategy, integration versus local responsiveness. I argue that on a fundamental level, justice and integration are similar concepts, and therefore there is a set of actions that are both just and integrative. In the same fashion, I suggest that there are behaviors that are both caring and responsive. I then argue that the manager who acts in ways that are just and integrative or caring and responsive will be more likely to be both ethical and strategic. Nevertheless, I acknowledge that the true art of ethically strategic behavior is knowing when to be just and integrative, when to be caring and responsive, and when to be both. Throughout, I provide examples to illustrate these arguments. Finally, I consider some advantages of the framework and some of its inherent limitations.