Global Business Moral Order and the Challenge of Ethical Relativism in International Business Practices

Abstract

In the field of applied ethics, there is intimidating recurrent issue of universalized, globalized and internationalized value system in view of protracted antithetical posture of ethical relativism. The potency of ethical relativism as an antithesis to ethical universalism is accentuated by the pervading tendencies of culture specifics in moral value-analysis. As efforts are being made by scholars to isolate the sense in which the subject matter of ethical relativism can suitably be articulated as basis for moral assertions, the increasing spate of globalized value-system in practical human socio-political and economic activities have continue to emphasize the ubiquitous nature and importance of universal approach to moral value analysis. The paper examines the emerging phenomenon of Global Business Moral Order (GBMO) against the backdrop of the threatening defiance of ethical relativists’ posture in international business practices. It concludes that global business moral order is not impossible if available contradictions are resolved in favour of uniform moral order to regulate international unethical business practices.

Keywords: Ethical Universalism, Business Moral Order, Ethical Relativism