CASE EXERCISE

1. Describe China’s Strategy in Africa.

The strategy for China seems to be to use the resources that Africa has in its
hands from the small groups that control parts of the continent in order to fund
themselves as well as help increase revenue for the countries that allow them to do
so.

2. If you were the head of a Chinese business that was operating in Sudan, how
would you address issues of business ethics and doing business with a
repressive regime? Should businesses care about local government ethics and
human rights policies?

We would try to reason with government officials to help come to a

reasonable solution as well as try to supply some means in order to decrease the
size of the aggressive regimes. Businesses should absolutely care because their
success depends on the local governments and how well they succeed and progress
in the area. Without it they would have terrible outputs as well as danger to their
company with their investments dwindling down because of unfair treatment and
chaotically damaging surroundings. Businesses ethically should care about local
government ethics and human rights policies. However, if the business isn't held to
follow these government ethics and human rights policies, they can exploit these
situations for large gains. What is important is for a company to hold themselves up
to their own code of ethics.

3. If you were a foreign businessperson working for a global oil company that
was eager to get favourable government approval to invest in a local oil
refinery in an African country, how would you handle any demands for
paybacks?

If you are a US Citizen, or even if you are not, but work for a company that
trades stock, or is domiciled in the US, then you need to know about the U.S.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Anything that comes close to a bribe, whether it be
direct handing over of cash, hiring a relative of a government official, providing
scholarships for someone’s relatives, or a long list of other items, can get you
convicted of a crime in the United States. Several international mining companies
that I worked for required us to annually go through training on the US Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act. The training was supervised by a legal firm, and was
documented, so that my employer could show that if I contravened the act, it was
clearly against company policy, that I had the training to know that, and I was
acting totally on my own. This act is a big deal.