Business and Ethics: How Can Multinational Companies Achieve Success Through Ethical Practices?

Faculty Advisor: Adjunct Instructor, Loyola Marymount University

Research Program Introduction

As a future business leader, do you know how to develop ethical codes of conduct that reflect business leaders’ personal values and unique cultures while creating a corporate culture that respects the employees, customers, and other key stakeholders? This program will lead you to explore the answers to these questions.

This program focuses on the theory that no significant difference exists between personal and business ethics. It also addresses the continued question of whether business ethics is universal or relative. Should we examine business ethics and ethical decision-making locally, or should we consider the impacts of ethical decision-making based on a specific culture or country? Are the definitions of “ethical” at small local companies the same as those at large international corporations?

Students will explore business ethics through the lens of a relatable industry: fashion. They will learn about “fast fashion” and its ethical challenges. Students will also select one country of interest to compare to the US.

Through this program, students will identify ethical issues that are universal and then develop a unique and relevant “Ethical Code of Conduct” that both understands cultural differences and synergies them, creating a platform for business success that can be used as a model for business that spans one international boundary or many.  

Students will learn core research skills, teamwork, and APA formatting and produce a final academic research paper on a topic of their interest.

Project Deliverables

This research program will teach students core research skills, teamwork, and APA formatting. In the final session, they will conduct a group PowerPoint presentation summarizing their findings. At the end of the course, students will produce a written individual paper, 2,500 to 3,000 words in length, following standard APA format.

Possible Topics For Final Project:

• Using the fashion industry as an example, compare and contrast common ethical principles and expectations in a country of interest with those in the US.

• Identify 5 to 10 qualities that would pertain to an ethical company in the fashion industry.  Select one company in the industry you see as ethical. Then select one of these companies that has been thought to use “greenwashing” as an unethical tactic. Are there other unethical qualities that this company has? What could the company considered unethical begin to do to become more of an ethical corporation?

• As an ethical future business leader, how could you create an ethical corporation and scalable corporate culture across borders?

• By researching the “best practices” of ethical companies in the fashion industry, what might an “ethical code of conduct” look like for an industry “start-up” that you create?

• After researching several companies considered “fast fashion,” what are some things these companies might consider to become more ethical, yet remain profitable?

• Other professor-approved topics in this subject area that you are interested in

Program Details

• Cohort size: 3 to 5 students

• Workload: Around 4 to 5 hours per week (including class and homework time)

• Target students: 9 to 12th graders interested in entrepreneurship, sustainability, marketing, ethics, environmental protection, fashion industry, and business in general.

• Schedule: TBD. Meetings will take place for around one hour per week, with a weekly meeting day and time to be determined one week before the class start date.