Cross Cultural Ethical Perspectives

We must consider the differences in ethical and cultural norms. Although the general principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice seem to be accepted across cultures, the priority of these principles may vary between different cultures. In this country the greatest emphasis is placed on the individual autonomy of the patient. Adding that not for all concepts are interpreted in the same way, for some a peaceful death as a "good death". "Peaceful" refers to the dying person who has finished all business and has made peace with others before his death and implies being at peace with his own death. It also refers to the way of dying, not by violence, accident or illness. A good and peaceful death comes "naturally" after a long

Culture is the Backbone of a society, when something/someone tries to alter it or go against it everyone will notice. In this issue pointed out by Ruth Macklin, we look at the problems that can arise when an individual’s culture and autonomy clash. Every year there at least 30 million immigrants from all over the world that move to the United states of America, making America one of the most culturally diverse country in the world. Keeping this in mind, we will focus on Ruth Macklin’s issue of Multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is the co-existence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviors, cultural assumptions and values, patterns of thinking, and communicative styles. Critics argue that we associate culture with a society, community and or family, but rarely with a single individual, thus placing it above the individual person. In this paper we are going to look at four different scenarios on from Ruth Macklin’s article.

McDonald’s is the global foodservice business with more than 20,000 local restaurants serving more than 30 million customers each day. McDonald’s has spread through over 100 countries, including countries in East Asia (Watson, 3). In the book “Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia” by James L. Watson, he studied three countries which were Beijing, Seoul, and Japan. Also, he wrote how McDonald’s has played a role in each countries cultures that he mentioned. He mentioned how different countries McDonald’s share similarities and differences the way cultures were impacted economically and politically, and also, how people viewed the American cultures coming to their countries. In this essay, I’ll be writing about how McDonald’s has been

McDonald’s is not some ordinary fast food restaurant with its trademark logo advertised almost everywhere in the U.S., many people all over the world know about these famous golden arches. The McDonald’s franchising started in 1955 and in less than fifty years, McDonald’s was introduced all over the world in countries such as, China, Japan, Great Britain, Sweden, France etc. McDonald’s global expansion has intermingled with cultural traditions because these countries are becoming more westernized. Since East Asia is becoming more westernized it also means that there is a cultural difference because of the influences from outside the country. The cultures are being changed because of how ideas are expressed by people and not by their

So with the introduction of a foreign symbol into a host country like a new McDonald’s restaurant, the impact is not so dramatic and the host country does not fully take in the American culture but shapes it in a way to suit their lifestyle and tastes. For example, the food and names of the food at McDonald’s in Tokyo is slightly different to those in America. In India, it serves lamb burgers and in Germany beer is available. This shows that the American formula was not as international as had been hoped, and local cultural practices had to be acknowledged.

Cultural relativism refers to the view that ethical systems or moral actions that are perceived to vary across cultural diversity are all equal and valid and as such, no one culture is better than the other is. For instance, by taking how words are used in one culture to mean a thing, the same words may be employed in a different culture to mean another thing. Another example is prayer announcements in Saudi Arabia can be heard from far distance which legal. Even if that may disturb your neighbors who are not Muslims. However, in United States such thing is illegal and consider a noise violation.

The segment of the general environment that ranks the highest between the global and socio-cultural considerations is the socio-cultural. The reason being that McDonald’s represents a very strong aspect of the American culture and a major part of the American culture is the food industry. The food industry, in terms of American food consists of a good old- fashioned hamburger, French Fries, and soda and McDonald’s mastered this concept of American food to perfection. On the other hand the global segment especially in

A Multicountry approach is one in which as organization’s strategies vary according to the countries in which it does business (Coulter, 2013, p.202). This approach is centered on creating an advantage through differentiation. The products, marketing, and distribution are tailored and adopted to local culture and customs. Such local responsiveness is important when significant country to country differences exist (Coulter, 2013, p.203). An example of this would be McDonald’s Corporation. To appeal to the local customers’ palates in Singapore, they added rice burgers – fried beef slices served between two pressed rice cakes, to its menu.

The first article I would like to elaborate on would be one about business ethics in Singapore. This country has the reputation of being very strict in nature and sometimes unforgiving in the consequences that they often give to people. Over time they have loosened their grip on social matters but still seem to be strict in their manners of business. They follow through with business transactions and promote all around good ethics in business as a normal practice. This article explained the results of a survey that was completed in January 2010, by companies that were members of the Singapore

McDonalds has always been able to face the challenges that arise when trying to expand to foreign cultures. They have successfully expanded to over a hundred countries, including countries in East Asia. In the book “Golden Arches East” by James L. Watson, he studies different cities and how McDonalds has played a role in their cultures. Three places that he mentioned in his writing were Beijing, Seoul and Japan. They all share similarities in the way the culture was impacted positively and negatively, in society and politically. They have their differences in the way things were dealt with and how the public viewed the American company coming to their countries. In this paper, I will be talking about how McDonalds is involved in the

When someone hears the word “McDonald’s,” they may automatically associate it with various descriptions and words such as American food, hamburgers, french fries, and chicken nuggets. Others may assume that McDonald’s is only famous in the United States, but what they do not know is that McDonald’s expanded their success outside of its origin to over 100 countries around the world. In the novel, Golden Arches East, the author, James L. Watson, focused on the company’s expansion in East Asia and studied how the American culture and traditions of McDonald’s influenced the Asian countries and their people.

Despite McDonald’s excellent global strategy and localization they do face controversy. From the first time McDonald’s opened its doors in 1972, policymakers and the media was concerned about the impact the fast-food would have on the French culture. This controversy kept the company in the pubic eyes. So, when the World Cup finals was held in France, French citizens protest when McDonald’s became the official food. They believed it is too symbolic to America. McDonald’s is an easy target as everyone around the world know what McDonald’s is. Also, it is known to be an icon of capitalism. The company internationally is symbolized as “all to American”, therefore is a huge target for protest.

Ethical relativism is a theory associated to the norms of one’s culture. This means the rights and wrongs are based on the society in which it is practiced. There are two different types of ethical relativism: the individual relativism and the cultural relativism. The personal or individual ethical relativism is based on one’s moral outlook, while the cultural ethical relativism is based on society. There are many issues that relate to ethical relativism such as religion, euthanasia, abortion, and capital punishment.

“With more than 36,000 local restaurants serving approximately 69 million people in more than 100 countries each day,” McDonald’s has come a long way from a Bar-B-Q restaurant (History of McDonald’s). James Watson, along with the other contributors, in the book Golden Arches East clearly portrays how the introduction of McDonald’s has had a social and cultural impact on five East Asian cities through globalism, transnationalism and localization. Three of the five cities Watson focuses on were Beijing, Seoul and Japan; each of these cities had similarities and differences in how their daily lives were impacted and how one population reacted differently than the other to these changes. The establishment of McDonald’s worldwide, in local areas, has been actively involved in cultural transformations, creating the trends of emerging changes and is a clear example of an American-inspired, transnational culture crowding out indigenous cultures.

Food is very much a part of pop culture, and the beliefs, practices, and trends in a culture affect its eating practices. Pop culture includes the ideas and objects generated by a society, including foods, and other systems, as well as the impact of these ideas and objects on society. For example, Mcdonald's is another of the thousands of fast food chains that populate our cities though they often use the term “popular culture” only to refer to media forms. Their popularity has also increased internationally. Although all humans need food to survive, people's food habits and how they obtain, prepare, and consume food, are the result of learned behaviors. Mcdonald’s, like other food chains, has made an effort to ‘localize’ its products so that they will be more successful in each different cultural context. These collective behaviors, as well as the values and attitudes they reflect, come to represent a group’s pop culture.