Legal And Ethical Implications Of Expanding Business Into Japan

The EEOC v. Alliant Techsystems case was settled in November of 2012, when Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) agreed to pay $100,000 to settle the suit alleging that they violated Title VII (U.S. EEOC, 2016c). The case is one of a pretext for race discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ATK is a Minnesota based company that is one of the nation’s largest aerospace and defense manufactures (U.S. EEOC, 2012). The EEOC was bringing the case against ATK

In today’s ever changing and competitive modern world of business, it is critical for the companies to have activities internationally. In order to prohibit frauds and illegal activities, several acts and documents have been elaborated. One of the documents is Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that has been enacted in the 1970’s, as a result of SEC investigation of several U.S. companies that made illegal payments to foreign governmental officials, politicians, and political parties (Barnes 73). The FCPA had a critical impact on the way U.S. firms do business. Companies that did not comply with FCPA have been subject of criminal and civil enforcement actions that later resulted in huge fines and sentences for

Facts: Gawley was a police officer who worked for Indiana University for several years. She sued the college because she noted sexual harassment by a higher-ranking officer than she was. She also sued because she felt she was part of a hostile work environment and that officers in her department retaliated against her for filing a complaint with the college. Her final argument was that there was spoliation of evidence. The district court found in favor of the employer. The case did not go to trial because the district court granted summary judgment. Summary judgment is used to avoid trials. The decision was made based on two key decisions made by the Supreme Court in other cases and that the university was able to establish an affirmative defense. The university “may assert an affirmative defense that examines the reasonableness of the employer’s and the target’s conduct” (Kaplin & Lee, 2014, p. 167). Gawley then appealed to the United State Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. This case brief will outline the question, holding, reasoning, and significance of this case as it was decided by the United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

OECD published Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and Related Documents to prevent bribery and corruption. The aim of this convention was making the bribery of a foreign public official a crime under their laws (International Monetary Fund, OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, 2001). This document recommends to member countries that:

Marcus Ashmore and Terrell Lee Green were maintenance workers for J.P. Thayer Co., Inc. under supervisor Gene Fye. After a particular incident of harassment on January 16, 2001, Plaintiffs reported Fye to Tricia Johnson, the Assistant Property Manager. At this time, Johnson did nothing about the complaint. The harassment continued, and on January 26, Plaintiffs complained to the Property Manager, Mary Frances de Rivera. In response, de Rivera verbally reprimanded Fye. This, however, did not stop Fye’s harassment. Instead of reporting the behavior to Defendant, Plaintiffs hired an attorney who wrote a letter to Defendant saying that Ashmore and Green were going to file charges of discrimination with the EEOC. On February 22, Fye was fired by Defendant. This came three days after getting the letter and about a month after the initial harassment complaints.

A. Plaintiff, Beth Ann Faragher, has brought action to her employer, City of Boca Raton- Bill Terry and David Silverman. Plaintiff claims that she was sexually harassed by her immediate supervisors during her employment, which was a violation of Title VII and other state and federal laws. Plaintiff also claims that the sexual harassment she endured by the defendants created a sexually hostile environment. Plaintiff is also suing Terry for battery and the City for negligent retention and supervision of Terry

According to Benston (1977) an unaware public pays for government-required accounting disclosure. Sunstein (1999) claims that disclosure of information allows the federal government to control public and private conduct. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Over the decades accounting regulations have come from various sources. The Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the Internal Revenue Service and Interstate Commerce Commission are examples of regulatory bodies that promulgate accounting regulations. A more recent example occurred during the 1970s. During the Watergate era there were a number of investigations, some of which affected American business. One of the investigations, conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1975, revealed that 19 publiclyheld corporations had made illegal campaign contributions and that these contributions were made from cash accounts that had not been recorded on the corporation’s books. (Heldack, 1977) This prompted the SEC to launch an investigation into what were considered ―questionable payments.‖ What came out of the investigation was that many U.S. multinational corporations were making hundreds of millions of dollars in ―questionable payments‖ to foreign officials to obtain business. As a result, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) was unanimously adopted by Congress in 1977. Bribery of foreign officials to obtain business for the corporation

The company offered inconsistent versions of why Mr. Gill was terminated and who did the termination. They were indifferent to Mr. Gill’s concerns and did nothing to address those employees engaging in blatant racial harassment even after other black employees complained and, most damaging, the company retaliated against Mr. Gill when he complained by terminating his

Research by Anna Lazarus and Juan Enjamio (2015) presented the background of David Baldwin, a Supervisory Air Traffic Control Specialist for the United States Department of Transportation in Miami, Florida. He filed a formal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint within the established timeline with the Federal Aviation Administration after he was not selected for a permanent position due to his sexual orientation. It was alleged by Baldwin that the supervisor involved in the selection process, made negative comments about his sexual orientation. The Agency took the position that the complaint was untimely and that the sexual orientation portion of the claim was appealable to the Agency, while the portion of the complaint involving reprisal was appealable to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). (Lazarus and Juan 2015)

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been pursued by government agencies recently as the SEC, the FBI, and Department of Justice are cracking down on international business corruption. Companies are working harder at expanding economically in the market by doing business with individuals and other companies in foreign countries. Foreign countries are not always in compliance with US laws and regulations, causing US companies who deal with them issues with compliance on the home front. Because of these ongoing issues congress decided to introduce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to prosecute foreign companies for corrupt activities within the United States. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is a federal law that was amended in 1977,

It is not my recommendation that ABC wait for the EEOC to perform investigation and file suit against the company. In recent history these proceedings become public affairs and will reflect poorly on ABC and its management regardless of the court’s ruling. ABC’s management should begin mediation with David to prevent suit being filed with the goal of settlement outside of court with ABC’s remedial options including:

While many of the world’s economic powers seem similar, there is no doubt there are some very key differences. Many of these differences can be attributed to cultural differences within each of the countries. While many of these countries work together in global business efforts, cultural differences would certainly have a significant impact on management style, leadership and even work ethic of the employees. The United States and Japan are both strong economic powers that hold to a capitalistic economic system. Their management styles, however, are very different. This can often be explained through the differences in culture and management or leadership styles. Over the years, the two

One of the most important facets for a successful business in the twenty-first century is how it communicates with their customers, partners, suppliers and governments from different countries and cultures from around the world. For a business to operate with any modicum of success in Japan, you must possess a basic understand of how their society functions. As a result of learning about the geography, climate, history, religion, cultural rituals, politics, education system, and the role of the family; it will allow a business or business person the insight needed to understand how society functions and the method in which business is conducted.

Both societies, moreover, have developed the art of business and commerce, of buying and selling, of advertising and mass producing, to the highest levels. Few sights are more reassuring to people from the United States than the tens of thousands of busy stores in Japan,

This report has been prepared for Fonterra which recommends the most appropriate entry mode, international strategy and human resources approach to enter the Japanese market, with an assessment of ethical issues they should be aware of.