4 Hogg Products Company （HPC), based in a developing country, was recently wholly acquired
4 Hogg Products Company (HPC), based in a developing country, was recently wholly acquired by American Overseas
Investments (AOI), a North American holding company. The new owners took the opportunity to completely review
HPC’s management, culture and systems. One of the first things that AOI questioned was HPC’s longstanding
corporate code of ethics.
The board of AOI said that it had a general code of ethics that HPC, as an AOI subsidiary, should adopt. Simon Hogg,
the chief executive of HPC, disagreed however, and explained why HPC should retain its existing code. He said that
HPC had adopted its code of ethics in its home country which was often criticised for its unethical business behaviour.
Some other companies in the country were criticised for their ‘sweat shop’ conditions. HPC’s adoption of its code of
ethics, however, meant that it could always obtain orders from European customers on the guarantee that products
were made ethically and in compliance with its own highly regarded code of ethics. Mr Hogg explained that HPC had
an outstanding ethical reputation both locally and internationally and that reputation could be threatened if it was
forced to replace its existing code of ethics with AOI’s more general code.
When Ed Tanner, a senior director from AOI’s head office, visited Mr Hogg after the acquisition, he was shown HPC’s
operation in action. Mr Hogg pointed out that unlike some other employers in the industry, HPC didn’t employ child
labour. Mr Hogg explained that although it was allowed by law in the country, it was forbidden by HPC’s code of
ethics. Mr Hogg also explained that in his view, employing child labour was always ethically wrong. Mr Tanner asked
whether the money that children earned by working in the relatively safe conditions at HPC was an important source
of income for their families. Mr Hogg said that the money was important to them but even so, it was still wrong to
employ children, as it was exploitative and interfered with their education. He also said that it would alienate the
European customers who bought from HPC partly on the basis of the terms of its code of ethics.
Required:
(a) Describe the purposes and typical contents of a corporate code of ethics. (9 marks)
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