Chapter 2: The Environment of Organizations and Managers

Complete set of links to companies

View the corporate profile web pages for Nestlé and Samsung, to see the various ways in which these two multinational firms are conducting their internationalization efforts. For a more detailed portrait, access Nestlé’s and Samsung’s overview financial statements, which show each firm’s breakdown of sales by geographic region. (For Nestlé’s financials, go to their web page, select "Financial Information," and then select "Sales Analysis." On Samsung’s web page, compare their 2000 "Domestic" and "Export" figures, near the bottom of the page.) Then answer these questions:

1. What areas of international business activity can you identify at these web sites?
2. In what ways do these organizations seem to be responding to global business trends?

Internet Exercise

The ethical approaches of Johnson and Johnson (J & J) and Boeing are mentioned in your text (see page 42). J & J’s code of ethics, called a credo, is widely considered to be one of the best written, as well as one which is faithfully followed by employees of that firm. Read J & J’s credo, and compare it to Boeing’s statement on ethics and business conduct.

1. What can you infer about the ethics and social responsibility of these organizations based on the information available at the web sites?
2. Do you think that the two companies’ statements about business integrity cover all their major stakeholders? Why or why not?
3. What differences do you see between the ethical statements of the two firms? Which statement do you believe is likely to be more effective in increasing ethical behavior? Why?

Explore Further

View the web site of your college or university, and look for a statement of ethics. Did you find one? If not, why do you think your school does not publish a statement of ethics? If you did find a statement, do you think it is likely to be effective in inspiring ethical behavior? Why or why not?