please help

The Uniform Commercial Code generally regulates commerce or trade on a national basis. Do you think that the UCC would directly or indirectly have any effect on international commerce? If so, what effect on international or worldwide commerce do you think the UCC might cause?

Please use at least one research site to support your statements. The deliverable length requirement is three pages. For additional research and APA information, please read Appendix A, B, C, G, and R.

Introduction

Managing human capital is a complex and tricky business. What you want to do is hire talented people; you don’t want to have to fire them; and you certainly do not want to find yourself discriminating against them.

Hiring discrimination has been around for decades in North America. Women and minorities have not had opportunities to join desirable institutions for decades. Although this still occurs, it is becoming less prevalent due to laws and regulations at the federal and state levels. Organizations owe it to themselves to hire the best and brightest, and more often than not, they do.

Hiring

Richard Florida, founder and director of the Software Industry Center at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, is beginning to yield compelling theories about what draws talent to certain cities and how companies adapt to win these employees over. According to Florida, location, location, location is the key. Mapping out geography of talent, Florida discovered that the following is important to workers:

· Virtual communities just aren’t enough – potential employees are seeking places with real assets.

· To become talent magnets, cities must have something for everyone.

· It’s not just about stock options – people want job options.

· Diversity is the surest sign that communities and companies really get it.

· In a world where time is the only nonrenewable resource, people are seeking companies that conserve time – a place that has all the amenities.

Yes, location is important, but don’t forget paying the appropriate salaries, outdoing the competition, and taking talented employees seriously.

Firing

Of all the actions that managers must undertake, firing can be the most difficult. One never knows how an employee will respond to his or her discharge, so it is very important to stay calm and get to the point quickly. Before firing an employee who has been with the company for a number of years, however, it is important to give the employee an opportunity to improve performance deficits. How long depends on company policy.

Can you fire an employee for any reason? No. Although the law gives a lot of leeway to employers, there is a limit. If an employee has an employment contract or if promises were made to the employee, then the contract controls when you may fire an employee for “good cause.” A few examples of good cause include the following:

· poor job performance

· low productivity

· refusal to follow instructions

· habitual tardiness

· excessive absences from work

· possession of a weapon at work

· threats of violence

· violating company rules

If there is not such contract, you may fire an employee for any reason as long as it is not illegal, such as discrimination, retaliation, alien status, and violations of public policy.

Discrimination

Discrimination falls into a number of categories: race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and age. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, it recommends the following to avoid employment discrimination especially after September 11:

· Treat all people the same when announcing a job, taking applications, offering a job, verifying employment eligibility, hiring, and firing.

· Allow new hires, both citizens and non-citizens, the opportunity to present their choice of documents to complete the INS Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9.

· Do not request new hires to present documents beyond what is required to complete the Form I-9. All job applicants can present any combination of acceptable documents.

· Avoid “citizen only” or “green card only” hiring policies. Unless required by federal, state or local law or by government contract, such policies are illegal.

There are a number of ethical issues that companies must address when doing business in an emerging nation.

 

The most essential of these include the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and understanding host country cultural practices that may be unethical or illegal here at home. Companies should also be aware of the various corruption indexes or assessments of the host country’s business environment and the host country’s economic, trade, and business practice controls.

 

From an international business perspective, ethics can be described as a set of principles and standards that govern the behavior of firms and individuals within the firms in how they conduct business, either formally or informally. There are a large number of ethical issues, or ethical choices, that a firm encounters when doing business in a host country that may differ significantly from their home country. The following list provides examples of some ethical dilemmas faced by visiting businesses under pressure from the home country or host country office:

· Engaging in nepotism or keeping poor performers due to family ties

· Engaging in local discriminatory practices based on local customs and norms

· Adopting the weaker environmental standards permissible in the host country than those a firm would be compelled to follow at home 

· Bribing or providing favors for host country leaders to obtain or keep business

· Exploiting permissible host country laws to sell products that may be harmful to consumers

· Paying very low wages to host country workers because of local standards or paying no more than a living wage as defined by the home country ethics

· Engaging in trade that may harm local economic segments, such as importing cheaper food even if it puts local farmers out of business

These example issues can be approached from several perspectives. The first question a business must ask is, is this legal, ethical, both, or neither? Some firms take a minimalist view of their responsibility to employ ethical business practices just to look good to their customers or the general public or to stay out of trouble. Another approach a firm might take is to follow an ethical business model of doing what is right, regardless of the reason or financial burden of conducting business ethically. A third view is based on an enlightened self-interest of doing what is ethical because it contributes to long-term profitability.

From a legal perspective, firms must be aware of the laws governing corruption and the business practices of nationals in foreign countries. The United States passed the FCPA in 1977 in response to several high profile cases involving U.S. companies. The FCPA essentially bans U.S. firms and individuals from engaging in corrupt acts, such as offering bribes to officials of other nations to obtain business concessions; however, it does not prevent small “grease” payments to local officials for such things as customs clearance, permits, or other payments demanded by low-level functionaries. The FCPA has been controversial in that in many other countries, bribery is not only condoned, but expected. Until the late 1990s, for example, firms in the European Union were allowed to write off such bribes as a business expense. Even now, many countries do not prohibit bribes, and bribery is routinely practiced. 

Emergence of International Business and Legal Models

In the world of globalization, a divergence from the established Western model of business is occurring through the creation of an international model with principles that are significantly different. The Western model dominated international business from World War II through the 1980s and emphasized a more complex court system, high standards of individual protection, and control over international trade.

Developing Economies Choosing Civil Law System

As globalization has evolved, the American (Western) model has become problematic for the emerging economies and societies such as those of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. In these developing economies, the American legal model has largely been cast aside for the more traditional model of the inquisitorial civil law system. In the inquisitorial court system, the court plays an active role. On many occasions, the court will often act not only as the arbiter of the law but also as prosecutor. Also, the civil court systems tend to focus more on minimal standards for individual protection such as human rights rather than the more elevated standards of civil rights, diversity, or equal rights. The developing economies have recognized that the expense associated with the American-style court system would be prohibitive for many countries of the world and have begun to follow a more streamlined version based in civil law. The American-style court system is based on the common law system where a great deal of weight (time and expense) is given to past court decisions as a guide to form present-day and future laws.

Regulations Impact on International Business Models

Likewise, business models have begun to move away from American/Western-style business systems and favor the international version of business models. One significant example is seen in the resistance that foreign corporations put up to the imposition of Sarbanes-Oxley regulations in the wake of business accounting and financial reporting scandals. These regulations and others, which were imposed after the events of 9-11, have caused many foreign companies to shift from doing business in America. Some are locating their facilities in countries such as Mexico and Canada where there are fewer regulations. Also, as multinational corporations have begun to rise to dominance in the international business environment, the emergence of international pay scales as opposed to domestic pay scales is seen. Multinational companies operate independently of where their home office is located, and this has created a greater need for international consensus and regulations.

Expense as a Driving Force for Change

As globalization continues to evolve, the international community may embrace these international standards and move further away from the American/Western standard of legal systems and court systems. The primary driving force for this change is expense. As America becomes a primary debtor nation, it will become increasingly more difficult to persuade the international community to follow that model when even an economy as large as the U.S. economy cannot afford the expense of its model.

Another factor that will be driving this change is the cultural and historical differences among the countries in the international community. As individuals progress, it will be interesting to see exactly how far from the American systems the international community will move in the future. 

International Procedures, Laws, and Documentation for Merchandisers

A well-known furniture retailer is considering establishing a store in Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates. The retailer eventually hopes to expand from the UAE into the rest of the Middle East and into Southeast Asia. The legal and regulatory environment is likely to affect each of the elements of the retailer’s marketing mix (product, place, pricing, and promotion).

Product

Import and export controls are determined by the nature of the product and its classification in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule used by many countries. Import controls such as tariffs and quotas are determined by the product’s classification, country of origin, and agreements that the importing country may have with the exporting country. Export controls are also used to restrict the export of products critical to a nation’s security, such as U.S. export controls on products that might have military applications or essential products that might create domestic shortages if exported.

Countries may also restrict the content, design, and labeling of products that are imported through health and safety laws or laws requiring specific labeling. The United States restricts lead content in products, especially products used by children, for example. In some Muslim countries, products containing pork products are prohibited by law. Some Arabic-speaking countries require that the label on the product be in Arabic, although this may be in addition to other languages.

International law also protects Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) such as trademarks and brand names, copyrighted material, and patents. However, not all countries are zealous in their enforcement of these laws, even though as members of the World Trade Organization, they are subject to its provisions (Plenty of Blame, 2007). Local laws may also affect a company’s ability to protect its trademarks or brands overseas. McDonald’s, for example, lost a case in South Africa against a hamburger restaurant for trademark infringement because McDonald’s had not exercised its use of the brand in that country. 

Place and Distribution Channels

Access by foreign businesses is limited in some countries and in some industries. India, until recently, has restricted the ability of “big box” retailers, such as Wal-Mart, to establish outlets in an effort to protect local “mom and pop” retailers. Indian law allowed investment in only single-brand retail stores, and also required no less than 49 percent local investment in the venture (Wonacott, 2007). Dubai requires that companies incorporating as a limited liability corporation have at least 51 percent local ownership (Doing Business in the UAE, n.d.).

Gray markets are another concern for merchandisers. Gray market goods are goods which are sold outside of the manufacturer’s authorized distribution channels. Although they are “genuine” products, they are not backed by the manufacturer’s usual guarantees and services, and may have differences from products sold through the authorized channels, such as instructions in a foreign language. Such goods may well undercut the manufacturer’s authorized dealers and harm the brand’s image, so some manufacturers have brought legal cases to prohibit the practice. U.S. and Canadian law do not generally restrict the sale of gray market goods; however, the European Union bans the importation of gray or parallel market goods into the EU from non EU countries (Gray Market, n.d.).

As retailers increasingly use the Internet to attract customers from overseas, they will find their efforts affected by varying country laws. Dubai, for example, has created an “Internet city” along with laws regulating e-commerce and cybercrime (Qudah, n.d.).

Pricing

The European Union has been zealous in enforcing its anti-trust laws. Such laws are intended to protect the consumer from conspiracies in restraint of trade, such as those that result in higher prices from a lack of competition. The European Commission upheld a 2004 ruling against Microsoft which required the company to unbundle its media player software and to provide information on how to interoperate with Windows servers so that competitors might develop software for which there is potential consumer demand (A Matter of Sovereignty, 2007).

A retailer’s ability to offer credit terms may also be affected by local law. In Muslim countries, the charging of interest may be prohibited by law so that alternative forms of financing or payment must be sought.

Promotion

China is known for requiring the search engine Google to censor certain Web sites that it considers “politically sensitive” (Alternative Reality, 2008). In the Arab world, however, censorship of the Internet and other media is geared heavily toward images and Web sites considered pornographic. In the UAE, foreign publications entering the country have offending images censored with heavy black marker, while the same also appears on billboards and print media. One clever marketer, Playtex, made use of this well-known censorship in ads for its Wonderbra. The black mark in the ad is part of the ad; the size of the black mark is meant to convey that the bra will increase the wearer’s size to that extent  (Wonderbra, n.d.).

References

Alternative reality. (2008, January 31). The Economist.

A matter of sovereignty. (2007, September 22). The Economist, pp. 75–76.

Doing business in the UAE. (2008, February 18).

Gray market. (n.d.). Encyclopedia of Business (2nd ed.). Retrieved from the Encyclopedia of Business Web site: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Gov-Inc/Gray-Market.html

Plenty of blame to go around. (2007, September 29). The Economist, pp. 68–69.

Qudah, S. M. (n.d.). E-business laws and regulation in the UAE.

Wonacott, P. (2007, February 1). Foreign firms find rough passage to India. The Wall Street Journal, p. A6.

Wonderbra. (n.d). Retrieved from Ads of the World Web site: http://adsoftheworld.com

Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Discrimination

Thanks to globalization, human beings are able to interact with people from all racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. Walk into any organization in any large city in the United States and ask people about their ethnic or cultural backgrounds and their answers will likely vary (i.e., organization are composed of people from all walks of life). Widely used racial labels, such as white and black provide very little information about a person beside the color of their skin. Also, ethnic designations, such as Hispanic or Latino, do not accurately describe an individual because within this label exists a variety of cultures and hidden personal descriptions. One may more acutely elaborate on the individual’s country of origin, such as Mexican or Puerto Rican and even further into ancestry such as Spanish /Mayan or African / Taíno. The key idea is that labels do not accurately describe who an individual is and from where the person comes (geographically, socially, economically, etc.).

Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Discrimination Defined

Although the terms prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination do not necessarily denote negativity, in today’s society they carry negative connotations. Prejudice denotes a prejudgment, or a decision or judgment that is made before any facts or evidence has been gathered, observed, and evaluated. For instance, an individual may have a prejudice toward a certain type of automobile because it is known that it is expensive, luxurious, and that it is a preferred brand of wealthy individuals. A judgment about the car may be made although the individual has never owned one, knows no one that owns one, and has never read a number of consumer reports about the car. In a negative sense, an individual may have made a judgment about a car that is unfavorable, although little is known about the car. In this sense, the individual has a prejudice against the car. Lamentably, people have prejudicial attitudes or beliefs against people, although they know little or nothing about them. These beliefs and attitudes against people are generally based on stereotypes.

The word stereotype denotes a mold that is made to reproduce shapes or figures that are an exact replica of that mold. However, people tend to hold stereotypical images or beliefs about other people based on one mold, although people within a specific group vary greatly. For instance, a bottle of water has been purchased at a convenience store has a blue cap and a label with blue writing, is made of clear plastic, and holds 16 ounces of water. If a person has only seen or has only been exposed to one brand of bottled water, the person may belief that all bottles of water that appear similar are of that one known brand. In reality, there are many brands that fit the above description. A stereotypical view about people is the same as the bottled water (i.e., a belief exists that if someone has several similar features or characteristics as the stereotype, the person must pertain or belong to this group). Stereotypes exist and are perpetuated based on dogmatic beliefs or axioms. These are beliefs or opinions that are taken to be truths and are unchanged even when evidence exists that contradicts or disproves them. There are stereotypes that exist based on a number of human traits and associations, such as race, religion, gender, age, and sexual orientation.

Discrimination refers to when these prejudiced and stereotypical beliefs are actually put into action that impedes members of that stereotyped group from participation in something, such as eating in a restaurant or living in an apartment complex because the person is of a specific race, or not being allowed to board a plane because of a religious affiliation, or not being allowed to work overtime because of a person’s gender. Luckily, the United States has federal laws that protect people from discriminatory practices.  

The United States could be considered a very socially sensitive society. Although Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying that “All men are created equal,” at the time of this quote, written with the Declaration of Independence, there were African slaves in the colonies, and women were not allowed to vote. The 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution abolished slavery; the 14th Amendment guaranteed rights to citizens; and the 15th Amendment prohibited discrimination in voting based on race or color. Women were not given the right to vote in the United States until 1920 with the passing of the 19th Amendment.

In 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which gave more explicit rights to U.S. citizens. This was largely in response to discriminatory practices that existed after the American Civil War (1861–1865) embedded in what were known as Jim Crow laws, which promoted racial segregation. A decade before in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education (of Topeka, Kansas) desegregated schools by overturning the 1896 Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which claimed that racial segregation was legal. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 consists of 10 titles. Perhaps one of the most important titles regarding the study of organizational psychology is Title VII, which prohibits discrimination in employment. In the 1970s, Title VII was amended to prohibit sexual harassment and discrimination against potential or actual employees based on age. Critical theorists study social inequality and the processes and institutions that perpetuate it (Bourdieu, 1991; Foucault, 1979; Gramsci, 1988). Sadly, the manipulation of power and the subjugation of minority groups is inherently a part of the history of the United States. Companies that do not recognize and further violate employees’ civil rights are often sued by those whose civil rights were violated for often large sums of money. 

Affirmative Action and Diversity Management Programs

Although social inequalities still exist in the United States and throughout the world, successful companies embrace diversity in the workplace. During the 1970s in the United States, as a result of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, President Lyndon Johnson’s Executive Order 11246 mandated a policy called affirmative action, which was a strategy for increasing the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded (Fullinwider, 2005). It was a controversial strategy because in some cases, people who represented the majority (white) were denied employment although they were more qualified than others for a position because the company sought to employ more women and minorities. In this sense, this practice arguably violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. However, many professions and positions of higher education were predominately White male and were constantly reproducing the employment of White males, which made it challenging to enter the profession as a woman or minority. When this type of employment reproduction comes almost natural or taken as a given, the practice becomes reflective of institutional racism and institutional sexism (i.e., it is the way it is because that is how it has always been). Now, many professions are seeing greater diversity.

Because of specific policies mentioned early, companies are employing and embracing their ethnic, cultural, and overall diversity, including that based on gender, sexual orientation, age, and religion. Most successful and professional organization have, or should have, a diversity management program with an aim to not only recognize and appreciate the diversity embodied within employees but also to educate those who are not aware of such diversity and who may hold prejudicial or stereotypical views of others within the office. Arguably one of the most important elements of a diversity management program is to educate employees on recognizing discriminatory practices and inform them on federal laws, such as the Civil Rights Act, its titles, and subsequent amendments.  

References

Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and symbolic power (John Thompson, Ed., Gino Raymond & Matthew Adamson, Trans.). Oxford: Polity.

Foucault, M. (1979). Discipline and punishment: The birth of the prison. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Fullinwider, R. (2005). Affirmative action. Retrieved March 8, 2009, from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Web site: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/affirmative-action

Gramsci, A. (1988). A Gramsci reader: Selected writings 1916–1953 (David Forgacs, Ed.). London: Lawrence & Wishhart.