N1082 Assignment: Discuss Corruption and Human Rights in Vietnam

CORRUPTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN VIETNAM
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Corruption and Human Rights in Vietnam
Introduction
Ethics characterize significantly the operations of many businesses today. It has become a norm for businesses to engage in ethical practices to boost their reputations. Many organizations have in place values and ethics code that guide their operations. With customers being increasingly aware of the business practices due to increased access to information, firms have to stand by their values in their operations. It becomes challenging to observe such values when expanding to foreign countries with different ethical levels. This is a challenge in that expansion through entering new countries is a major way for achieving growth. Firms are therefore faced with the dilemma of keeping up with its values or adopting those in the markets they enter. Such dilemma can affect the decision to enter certain markets. As firms carry out market analysis, a major factor that is highly considered is ethics. Companies have to assess the human rights practices, corruption, employment practices, and the pollution prevalence in the target market.
Vietnam is a market that is targeted by many multinational corporations. The country is targeted mainly because of its low cost of production. One way through which companies seek to cut production costs is setting up plants in low-cost countries. Vietnam is one of such countries. It is one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia (BBC, 2016). It has become a key manufacturing center, particularly for foreign countries. As the cost of production in China rises, foreign companies are considering other alternatives in Asia. According to an article in the Financial Times by Bland (2012), although the rising wages in China were a headache for firms in the country, they were good news for countries like Vietnam. This is because the wages in the country are cheaper and it has made the country an alternative to China. Samsung is one of the firms that have set up operations in the country. According to Kelion (2014), the company selected Vietnam as a favorable location for its $3billion smartphone factory. This was in addition to another $2billion plant that was already in operation in the country. As seen, the company had been operating in the country prior to the new investment. As Samsung operates in the country, it faces ethical challenges that affect its operations significantly. Two of the major ethical issues that affect the operations of the firm are corruption and human rights. According to a study by Giang et al. (2016), corruption is a common practice especially in administrative processes, and therefore is a major risk for businesses. Human rights is also a major ethical concern. According to the Human Rights Watch (2017), many bloggers and activists face arrests and convictions in the country. Therefore, human rights and corruption are key ethical issues that Samsung faces as it operates in the country.
Ethical Concerns
Corruption
Companies operating in today’s business environment are expected to observe high levels of integrity in operations. A company like Samsung faces stiff companies from other manufacturers of electronics. Given that its reputation could be ruined and its market position easily affected if it engages in unethical practices, the company has to ensure integrity characterizes its operations at all levels. As mentioned earlier, the company has set up plants in the country as it tries to reduce production costs and compete favorably in the consumer electronics market. Corruption is thus a major ethical challenge it faces.
Any company operating in the country faces the challenge of corruption. The business environment in the country is characterized by corruption to a great extent. Companies that have operations in the country are likely to experience political interference, bribery and facilitation payments all sectors GAN Integrity (2017). According to Mongay (2012), there is rampant corruption in many levels of government bodies as well as business in the country. Corruption is thus one challenge that a company doing business in the country has to deal with. The research by Giang et al. (2016) sought to examine the corruption in the country’s household sector. The study involved 525 registered household firms geographically distributed all over the country. The study focused on how the businesses interacted with tax officials. From the findings of the study, corruption was found to be a major risk in the sector. Corruption was found to be very high particularly in licensing. In addition, the interaction between tax officials and household businesses was characterized by extortion and collusion risks. According to Giang et al. (2016), the tax officials in the country use their authority to demand more payments. The end of this demand for more payment is the officials and the businesses settling on a deal (Giang et al., 2016). From this study, it is evident that corruption is a significant ethical concern for businesses in the country.
An article by Dien (2015) reported that corruption is a way of life in the country. According to the article, on a survey involving 9,859 firms in the country, 66% reported to paying extra informal charges in order to facilitate business activities. It is deducible that the practice of giving bribes is prevalent in the country. This practice, according to Dien (2015), has hindered the ability of Vietnam to compete in the market. The high control of the state on the economy means there are many insiders who profit from engaging in corruption. An evident effect of corruption in the country is the suspension of donor aid by Japan to the country. Dien (2015) notes that Japan, which is the largest donor to the country suspended official development assistance (ODA) twice since 2008. The reason for the suspension is corruption in the infrastructure projects in the country. Given that corruption is evident even in projects involving donor funds, it is deducible that the business environment is even facing more related challenges. The operations of Samsung in the country, therefore, face a big ethical challenge in the form of corruption.
In another article, Lipes (2012) reports on a survey conducted by the country’s Chambers of Commerce. From the survey, almost half of the companies in the country had to bribe officials in order to carry out business. Another significant statistics is ...