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Globalisation has seen diverse cultures becoming increasingly entwined and interdependent as business organisations operate in a borderless world. When organisations operate internationally they often find that countries differ in what is considered wrong or right. The objectives of the research were to identify cross‐cultural ethical dilemmas confronting Australian managers, and explore the strategies they utilise in dealing with those dilemmas in their international operations. The study raises the questions of whose ethics should be applied, and whether a set of universal ethical norms should be or can be developed. The discussion emanating from such questions also raises important issues for the training and ongoing management of employees undertaking business in the international environment. A total of 70 Australian managers from the mining, textile and information technology industries participated in this research, representing a cross‐section of Australian industry groups from the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors undertaking business in the international arena. The research utilised a conceptual framework that emerged from the moral philosophies represented in the international business arena Thr research utilised a conceptual framework that emerged from the moral philosophies represented in the international business arena, namely ethical relativism (Bowie 1996; Kohls & Buller 1994; Bowie & Duska 1990; Dobson 1990) imperialism (Gopalkrishnan 2001; Donaldson 1996b; De George 1993) and universalism (Beauchamp & Bowie 2001; Donaldson 1996b).

Explores the nature and type of ethical dilemmas experienced by western Australian managers engaged in import/export operations. Highlights the strategies used by these managers in terms of what can be done to resolve ethical conflicts in subsequent cross‐cultural business activities. Employs a qualitative research method, the critical Incident Technique, to provide a rich and powerful picture of the challenges and strategies found. Generates a matrix which brings together the manager’s recommendations on essential ethical actions and practices with particular ethical problems.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of Australian managers in relation to human rights issues and corporate responsibility inherent in their international business operations.

The paper reports findings from a qualitative research study; data were gathered from 70 face‐to‐face interviews with managers in the mining, textile and information technology industries who conducted international operations. The research method used was the critical incident technique, allowing interviewees to recall their observations and anecdotes in dealing with their perceived ethical dilemmas when operating offshore.

Human rights issues represented a serious dilemma for the Australian managers participating in this research. Findings in this study suggest that such issues, and resultant perceived dilemmas around their management, included child labour, hazardous working conditions, discrimination and exploitation of workers. The issues present self‐reported major dilemmas for managers as they challenge human rights concepts that underline their own ethical values in relation to the treatment of others in work environments. Respondents in this study report perceived limitations in dealing with cross‐cultural ethical issues, driven by economic and social reliance on such practices by their international business counterparts.

Understanding the nature of problems faced by Australian business managers in confronting perceived breaches of human rights may assist private and public sector organisations, both inside and outside of Australia, working in international environments. The paper reports insights and solutions offered by respondents encountering global human rights issues in the business context.

Purpose: This chapter aims to find the impact of cultural marketing on consumer buying behaviour and analyse the cultural factors affecting consumers’ buying behaviour. Cultural marketing aims to offer and promote a product, a message, or a service to a group of people who may be their potential purchasers and belong to the same culture or particular demographic.

Methodology: This study uses the published research for different countries viz. India, Canada, Germany, the UAE, the UK, the USA, Japan, etc., in the field of culture, cross-culture, and consumer buying behaviour considering various factors and their impact; but in particular, this study focussed on the cultural factors only and analysed their impact on the consumer behaviour of the different countries.

Findings: The study revealed that different countries have their own unique culture. Cultural factors have a positive relationship with consumers’ buying behaviour and exhibit that consumers behave differently towards the same product as per their perception developed by their culture.

Need of the study: Today, the world has become global, and to become a successful consumer oriented market service provider, marketers have to study the psychology of the customers to procure them. This study focusses on one of the essential factors, that is, culture and how cultural factors affect consumer buying behaviour. The study of culture is the gateway to attracting consumers in the market.

Practical implications: The study would help multinational companies in segmentation, targeting, and positioning and developing several marketing strategies for their products. Companies would be able to understand changes in consumer purchasing behaviours that arise from cultural differences, which helps them cater to the needs of their global consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to engage and provoke thought amongst strategists that their frameworks are bound by their cultural mindsets. The paper aims to explore the need for a new ethical model that accounts for the cultural differences of the participants from Western and Eastern Europe

This paper applies the varied expertise of the three authors to provide an exploratory study of ethics and strategy within different cultural frameworks. Dilemma theory, the chosen methodology that has been recognized by cross‐cultural management scholars, is applied to illustrate the need to resolve a cultural problem between a Latvian and Russian as a means to creating a unified strategic ethical framework.

The demonstration of Russia's cultural past perceptions of the west illustrates the need for crafting a new ethical platform that allows for all cross‐cultural participants to apply dilemma theory as a prescriptive approach to unite their differences into a new strategic framework.

The main limitation of the study is related to the methodology. In further research longitudinal data could be potentially collected and mined to actually elicit the real dilemmas existing between those participants from the west, the Baltics and Russia that are involved in the strategy formulation process that creates the proposed ethical framework.

Many of the people representing companies in the Baltic States are finding themselves reconciling the cultural differences between themselves, members of neighboring Baltic States, Russia, European countries, the USA and Asia. Special attention should be paid to the importance of being a trans‐culturally competent manager in the Baltics by building the bridge from the West to the East.

The main value of the paper is the challenge that it provides to all western management scholars to think outside their own mindset when endeavouring to lecture the Eastern European mentality on how to be “ethical”. Moreover, it provides Russian management scholars with a voice and argues the need for a new platform that incorporates their cultural values and thinking.

The purpose of the study is to investigate what values are now important to young American and Chinese managers, since they profile the direction in which their country is headed. It aims to explore if the ethical values of young executives in different countries are converging to a common global business culture. It also aims to argue that the individualism‐collectivism value dimension by itself does not capture the differences between the Chinese and American sample members. The vertical‐horizontal dimension, in contrast, seems to better delineate the value orientations among young executives in the two countries.

In this two‐phase study, both attitudinal and scenario‐based measurements are applied to assess the strength of work value orientations among similar subjects in China and the USA.

In study 1, Chinese respondents score significantly higher on a hierarchical‐vertical dimension than do the Americans, although the two groups do not differ significantly on the collectivism‐individualism dimension. In study 2, which entails resolving an ethical dilemma, the American subjects apply Egalitarianism as their most frequent expressed value, reflecting their horizontal perspective. The Chinese subjects, in contrast, rely strongly on a traditional vertical value system to resolve the ethical dilemma. Although both American and Chinese negotiators show a collectivist as well as an individualist orientation, their focuses are fundamentally different.

The well‐established collectivism/individualism cultural dimension has been heavily used in cross‐cultural studies, sometimes without much discretion. This study was undertaken as a preliminary attempt to outline the cultural patterns observed among young managers in America and China. The paper argues that cross‐cultural differences underlying ethical conflicts should not be reduced to the single value dimension of individualism/collectivism.

If national culture is a significant determinant of ethical attitudes, it is not unreasonable to expect ethical decision‐making to be influenced by one's culture. However, problems arise when the notion of right differs from one culture to another. The question addressed in this paper is whether the moral reasoning abilities of Australian and Malaysian accounting students in their final year of study differ because of their cultural upbringing. This study uses primary data collected from 34 final year accounting students (12 Australian and 22 Malaysian) enrolled in an Australian degree program. The test scores collected at the beginning and end of the academic year indicate that culture and other explanatory variables do not have an affect on students' moral judgment. The findings in this study suggest that culture as an independent variable does not influence the way accounting students analyse and resolve ethical dilemmas.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the results of an exploratory study comparing attitudes of young fashion conscious consumers towards ethical fashion in Canada, France and the UK.

The methods used in this research were qualitative with a mix of interviews and focus groups and a new application of a visual method widely used within design and fashion environments, the mood board. The study is based within the contrast of a growing trend towards sustainability and the rise of fast fashion where consumers are increasingly demanding cheaper items. The research is also grounded in cross-cultural research where the comparison of data emanating from different cultures and languages presents specific dilemmas for researchers.

Results indicated that there were notable differences in the perception of ethical fashion between the respondents from these three cultures. In the representation and appeal of this fashion segment, in terms of its perceived availability, the transfer of meaning connected with the observation of higher price points and in the use of ethical purchases in the fashion arena as an offset or redemption for unethical behaviour in other contexts.

The originality of this paper lies in the innovative use of the visual qualitative methods which contributes to the debate concerning the research methods associated with cross-cultural research and extends the restricted body of literature which compares cultural attitudes in this area by offering key insights into the complex issues surrounding ethical fashion consumption.

With limited intracultural ethical research in evidence this paper contributes to the theoretical discussion of expatriate ethical acculturation. Of particular interest to this study are the ethical attitudes of subcultural groups, particularly managers, who because of overseas assignment or immigration, are operating outside their usual national location. Research was undertaken to investigate whether ethical divergence or convergence, through acculturation, exists with ex patriate managers, and over what time period. Two locations, Hong Kong and Canada, were chosen for comparative study and the results indicated an interesting dichotomy. Ethical convergence, the adopting of host country ethical values, is evident with Hong Kong Chinese expatriate managers in Canada but did not occur with North American expatriates in Hong Kong. For the expatriate Chinese manager the research findings indicate that Hong Kong Chinese managers now residing in Canada develop a unique set of ethical attitudes that are significantly different from those of local managers in Hong Kong yet also significantly different from the attitudes held by local Canadian managers. A subtle form of ethical convergence is occurring. No significant relationship was found between ethical acculturation and the length of time being an expatriate Hong Kong Chinese manager in Canada except on two issues. For these issues the longer the time spent in Canada the greater the rise in ethical attitudes. A heterogeneous group of expatriate managers in Hong Kong was also evaluated and while predicate similarities existed between expatriates from China and Macau, statistically significant differences in ethical perceptions were found between the general population of expatriate managers (i.e. American, Australasian, British etc.,) and local Hong Kong Chinese managers.

Multicultural individuals are those who identify with two or more cultures, such as Chinese-Canadians, Turkish-Germans, or Arab-Americans. They are more likely to see multiple sides of an ethical dilemma than monocultural individuals, who identify with one culture. This tendency toward ethical relativism – where ethics are seen to be relative to the context – could help multicultural individuals excel as ethical global leaders. Global leaders must manage the ethical tensions inherent in their multinational operations by understanding multiple ethical perspectives. Multiculturals’ inclination toward relativism may be driven by the structure or content of their cultural identities. The identity structure argument is based on the patterns in which individuals mentally organize their cultural identities, while the identity content argument is based on the degree to which individuals endorse relativism as a result of having internalized cultural schemas with relativist norms. We offer an exploratory test of these dual hypotheses, and find evidence to support the identity structure, but not the identity content argument. Specifically, multicultural individuals who separate their cultures are more likely to exhibit relativism in decision-making than those who integrate them. This indicates that identity patterns can drive relativism. In contrast, individuals who identify with high relativism cultures are not more likely to endorse relativism than those who identify with low relativism cultures, indicating a lack of evidence for identity content driving relativism. These findings have implications for hiring or placement managers who seek global leaders who are likely to see more than one side of an ethical issue.