Ebook: Economic Imperatives and Ethical Values in Global Business: The South African Experience and International Codes Today

religious values at the office door. Apartheid was an evil, and business had great power in South Africa. Where there is power, there is also responsibil­ ity. I prayed about this long and hard. I pushed the companies as much as I thought I could. There were advances and there were setbacks, but finally we prevailed and the Blacks of South Africa secured their freedom. My effort in behalf of the Sullivan Principles was only one of a number of significant efforts of the anti-apartheid movement. All of those other efforts must be recognized, as well. The Sullivan Principles and the manner in which they were implemented in South Africa were in the nature of a grand experiment in the sociopolitical change and economic uplifting of the Black people of South Africa. What is even more important is that the Principles were driven by an ethical and moral imperative, and were voluntarily implemented by a group of enlight­ ened United States multinational corporations. No grand design or vision is ever perfect. We fall prey to human follies, limited understanding of the future, and necessary compromises to seek not what is perfect but what is possible. Thus, any such effort is subject to criticism from those who seek ideological purity and those who seek to minimize the impact of change from the status quo . .

---

This book undertakes an in-depth study and a systematic analysis of the workings of the Sullivan Principles and their impact on: (a) the operations of the US corporation in South Africa; (b) the process of the dismantling of apartheid and creation of a non-racial, democratic government in South Africa; and (c) the actions of multinational corporations from other countries and large South African corporations in emulating the behavior of US multinational corporations and thereby enlarging their impact through a multiplier effect.
The over-arching objective of this book is to learn from the experience of the Sullivan Principles, and interpret how this experience might be translated into developing `rules of the game' and `codes of business ethics' as large multinational corporations continue to confront the issues of human rights, living and working conditions of workers in their overseas manufacturing operations, and where there is constant pressure on the corporations to pay more attention to environmental protection, sustainable growth, and preservation of biodiversity. Furthermore, the ethical conduct of multinational corporations and transparency in their dealings with important stakeholders is an increasing concern.
The authors bring to this analysis their combined experience of more than fifteen years working with business corporations, non-governmental organizations, and other segments of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa during the formulation and implementation of the Sullivan Principles. In addition, they have been engaged in extensive research, teaching, and consultation on various aspects of business ethics and global codes of conduct. The analytical framework created by the authors will help multinational corporations to understand societal expectations of business within a normative, economic, and contextual framework, and to evaluate the likelihood of success or failure of various strategic options and implementation formats that might be available for use in a given situation.