Suppose EcoPure Industries, a manufacturer of components for hybrid motor vehicles, hires you. EcoPure emphasizes social responsibility in its business dealings and uses three foreign market entry strategies: exporting, joint ventures, and FDI. Exporting implies the sale of products to customers located abroad, usually under contract with foreign intermediaries that organize marketing and distribution activities in local markets. Using joint ventures, EcoPure partners with foreign firms to access their technology, expertise, production factors, or other assets. Using FDI, EcoPure invests funds to establish factories or other subsidiaries overseas. Each of the strategies—exporting, joint venture, and FDI—is vulnerable to particular types of ethical dilemmas, and top management has directed you to identify and describe the most typical ones.
What types of ethical problems might arise in each type of entry strategy? Which entry strategy most likely gives rise to ethical problems? Be sure to justify your answer.