Normative Issues
Uploaded by zzandman24 on Oct 30, 2011
This paper explores the application of normative issues to globalization, in particular the expansion of American business interests overseas.
Outline
I Introduction
II Argument against Corporate Actions
III Argument for Corporate Actions
IV Conclusion
V Reference
Normative Issues
I Introduction
The term “normative issues” refers to the study of things as they ought to be, rather than as they are. The discussion of the ideal versus the real can apply to many fields, but our focus here is to choose a topic that has moral and ethical implications as well. Give the current climate of fear, apprehension, unrest and violence throughout the world, I’d like to try to come to some conclusions about normative issues with regard to globalization. Admittedly this is a very large topic, but the world is in bad shape, and it’s time we started thinking globally.
To narrow it to a manageable size, let’s consider the normative issues in connection with American companies that manufacture their products in other countries. I would argue that the actions of these companies are, in large part, immoral and that they reflect what we call “realpolitik,” or things as they are, not as they should be.
II Argument against Corporate Actions
If we think about the way things ought to be in connection with American companies moving their manufacturing concerns outside the U.S., then these moves would, at the least: 1) have no negative impact on American workers; 2) have no impact on the environment, either at home or abroad; and 3) enable the native workers hired by the American company to drastically improve their standard of living. However, these things generally do not happen when a company relocates its manufacturing facilities.
In the first instance, moving the manufacturing facilities overseas immediately results in the loss of jobs of the firm’s American workers. In fact, the savings in labor costs is often one of the most important reasons for relocating a company’s facilities overseas, and once the decision is made, the American workers have no choice but to look for other positions. This is always difficult and stressful, and with older workers, sometimes impossible.
Another factor in relocation is that other countries, particularly developing nations, often have far less stringent environmental protection regulations than the United States. Companies often complain that it is excessively expensive for them to have to comply with these regulations, as it means less profit for them. In find this argument particularly...