Goals of this chapter

After studying this chapter you will be able to:

• understand the difficulty in defining globalization;

• understand how business ethicists engage with globalization;

• understand how the issue of relativism has dominated the discussion about globalization in business ethics;

• understand how continental philosophers have tried to reframe the discussion on globalization;

• understand that globalization is much more than just an economic issue.

Introduction

Globalization is a challenging issue not only because there is hardly any agreement about what it is, but also because it raises so much moral and political dispute. Take the protests of anti-globalists during the G8 conferences, which were organized in cities like Seattle, Genoa, and Gleneagles. The protesters rallied against what they considered to be unfair trade, environmental pollution, or the exclusion of people from economic processes. They also took issue with the role that institutions such as the World Bank or International Monetary Fund play. These institutions stand accused of being the servants of multinational corporations (MNCs) rather than helping poor people around the world. Many protesters argue that MNCs have had a bad influence, especially in the poorer parts of the world. These companies are not just upsetting local economies but also sustaining corrupt regimes and plundering natural resources. It is no exaggeration to say that companies working on a global scale have the protesters, as it were, on their doorstep.