Sohal, Amrik --- "Executive ethics" [2006] MonashBusRw 15; (2006) 2(2) Monash Business Review 3

Executive ethics

Amrik Sohal

Globalisation, offshoring and outsourcing continue to be key issues in the business press. These trends present new challenges for executives across all sectors as Australian businesses increasingly move operations overseas to overcome skill shortages at home and benefit from the qualified cheap labour-force available in countries such as China and India.

Although governments and industry associations provide considerable assistance to organisations in conducting their activities offshore, executives are the ones primarily responsible for ensuring that all activities are conducted in a highly transparent and ethical manner.

This issue of Monash Business Review provides you with articles that are essential reading in this respect.

Using the recent case of the Australian Wheat Board, Andrew Field in his story Roots of Corruption stresses “what happens away from home does not stay away from home”. He points out that: “First, what you might once have done with impunity in other countries may now attract prosecution. Second, what might have once made good business sense may now cripple your business. And third, what might have once made you rich may now land you in gaol – for a long time.”

Adopting transparent standards of business practice overseas is also the theme of Rebecca LaForgia’s article in which she argues that “business should be concerned not only with getting a best deal, but with how the deal will be administered”.

Those executives doing deals in Asia will find a recent study by James Sarros, Peter Reed and Anne Hartican on Asian business women a must-read. As more and more women in countries around the world enter the workforce and take up senior executive positions, it’s important to understand how they perceive their careers and success. This study reveals what drives and shapes these high-achieving women.

And finally, to work and employment, the central themes of a joint conference between Monash University’s Australian Centre for Research in Employment and Work (ACREW) and King’s College, London, held in Prato, Italy from 1 to 4 July, 2006. Around 150 delegates from around the world presented papers on global trends in this field of study, some of the best of which have been included in this issue of MBR to keep you up-to-date on the latest research.

Amrik Sohal

Cite this article as

Sohal, Amrik. 'Executive ethics'. Monash Business Review. 2006.; Monash University ePress: Victoria, Australia. http://www.epress.monash.edu.au/. : 3–3. DOI:10.2104/mbr06015

About the author

Amrik Sohal

Associate Dean, Research Development, Faculty of Business and Economics and Director, Australian Supply Chain Management Research Unit, Monash University