International Business Law and Ethics

International Business Law and Ethics

1
Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................2
Part A..........................................................................................................................................3
Part B..........................................................................................................................................5
Part C..........................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
This paper will evaluate the legal and ethical issues raised in three case studies. In the first
case study, the ban imposed by Donald Trump on Huawei is analysed along with the
evaluation of the impact of this ban on the company and its 200 million customers. The
company can no longer work with US-based companies which mean the users that have
purchased Android smartphones from Huawei will no longer receive new updates from
Google, and they will also lose access to services such as Gmail, YouTube and Google Play
Store. This ban is imposed since Huawei is alleged for listening to the secrets of the US
military, stealing trade secrets, violating intellectual property (IP) rights and using other
ways to spy on the United States.
In the second case study, Kettle Black and PuriTea have formed an electronic contract for
purchase of tea bags and the issue is relating to the validity of the contract under “UN
Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts” (ECC) and
the “UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods” (CISG). Other issues
include the validity of electronic signature under UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic
Signatures (MLES) and whether the contract of Kate is covered under ECC or not. In the third
case study, the enforceability of arbitral award issued in the dispute of Styled and Wicks will
be analysed based on “Convention on the Recognition, and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral
Awards” (New York Convention). The role of “ICC International Court of Arbitration” (ICC
Court) along with the legal implication of the fact that Styled is not legally incorporated will
be analysed.

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Part A
Question 1
What is the most suitable ethical position that supports the decision of Trump to ban
Huawei?
Utilitarianism ethical approach is a part of normative ethical theories which is also called
Consequentialism since it emphasises on the importance of the consequences of the actions
taken by individuals while determining whether they are ethical or not (Paterson, 2017). The
actions of parties are judged in this theory based on their actions to determine whether
they have achieved greater happiness for a maximum number of people. As long as this
objective is achieved, actions are considered ethical.
Donald Trump wanted to protect the interest of millions of US citizens since Huawei might
by using its products to spy on them. He wanted to make sure that trade secrets and
military information did not leak to the Chinese government or else it could have disastrous
outcomes. Thus, his decision is supported by the principles of utilitarianism ethical approach
since it achieves greater happiness for millions of US citizens which are more important than
the interest of 200 million customers of Huawei who will not receive software updates since
they can purchase new devices.
Conclusively, the principles of utilitarianism support the decision of Trump.
Question 2
What options are available to Huawei to challenge the decision of Trump by applying ethical
principles?
Immanuel Kant has provided the Deontology ethical theory, which is also a normative
ethical theory that provides opposing views and principles than compared to utilitarianism.
This theory provides that compliance with duties is more important for people if they
wanted to act ethically (Everett, Pizarro and Crockett, 2016). They should comply with their
ethical and legal duties to make sure that their actions are ethical despite the fact that those