According to Thomas Donaldson, the answer lies somewhere in between.
Some activities are wrong no matter where they take place.
But some practices that are unethical in one part of the world might be ethical in another. What may feel like bribery to an American, for example, may be in keeping with Japan's long-standing tradition of gift giving. And what may seem like inhumane wage rates to citizens of developed countries may be acceptable in developing countries that are trying to attract investment and improve standards of living. Many business practices are neither black nor white but exist in a gray zone, a moral free space through which managers must navigate. Levi Strauss and Motorola have helped managers by treating company values as absolutes and insisting that suppliers and customers do the same.