Money Vs Culture

excerpt from Chinese MBA Blog

The Situation
Len Quill has been working for Artifacts, Ltd., an importer of ethnic arts, for four years. Len was uniquely suited for a position at Artifacts, having majored in marketing and minored in cultural anthropology in college. Len started his career at Artifacts in the importing department of the home office in the U.S. He soon became a buyer, traveling through South America and buying native arts from local communities. One of his major sources of artifacts is the Puna Native American tribe. Len became so interested in the tribe that he learned their native language, and now he is the only person from Artifacts who works directly with the Punas.

On a stop back at headquarters, Len's boss, Mary Mathers, has asked Len to join her and a client for lunch. The client is Bob Littman, who owns several art galleries specializing in ethnic arts. Bob is very interested in the arts of the Puna Native Americans. The Puna Native Americans make woven baskets which are very distinctive. The shapes, patterns, and colors of each basket denote symbols of important events in the tribe's long history. Although Bob is interested in the baskets, he wants to change the patterns and colors to reflect the tastes of his customers. It would be Len's job to market the ideas to the Punas. Of course, the Native Americans would receive a good price for their wares. Although the Punas are not poverty stricken, there is certainly room to improve their standard of living. Mary Mathers is very enthusiastic about this opportunity; it will result in a large profit for Artifacts, Ltd. Len is not sure he wants to convince the Punas to change their artwork. As anthropology major, Len learned of many societies which weakened when basic cultural symbols were changed. Even if the Punas are eager to enter into the contract to make the new types of baskets, Len is concerned that they are not aware of the damage such changes can do to their society.

Len is leaving in a week for his next trip to South America. He is still unsure about how to handle the deal with Bob Littman. No contract has been signed, nor will a contract be signed until and unless Len gets an agreement from the Puna tribal council. Just as he is pondering his situation, Mary calls him into her office. Mary informs him that, if the Puna are willing to make baskets according to his specifications, Bob Littman insists on placing a large order that will be due in a short period of time. Len knows that in order to meet the deadline, the Puna would need to have both men and women working on the baskets. Traditionally, however, making the baskets has been women's work.

MONEY VS. CULTURE
The ethical problem existing in this case is: Should Len sign a contract with the Punas? Should the importer and the art gallery do business with products of the Punas? The contract, which would force the Punas change the basic cultural symbols of their products, also would probably place the Puna women in an unfair working environment.

There are four stakeholders in this case. Len Quill, a buyer working for an importer of ethnic arts company; Len's boss, Mary Mathers and Artifacts, Len's company; Bob Littman, who owns several art galleries specializing in ethnic arts; the Puna Native Americans. Each stakeholder has its own interest in this case and each stakeholder will get different gains or loses according to different choices.

Len, as a normal worker in Artifacts, takes the responsibilities to market ideas to the Punas and buy native arts. If he does as his company's promise, sign the contract and trade with the Punas, he will have a good individual performance and get more commission fees from the business. As he is the only person who can work directly with the Punas in his company, maybe his position will be promoted just because of it and furthermore, maybe he will feel safer in his position. However, if he doesn't, things might be totally different.

As for Artifacts and Bob, obviously they will make more money from this business, and maybe they could find out further business opportunities from this trade. And this business could also be helpful to build long-term relationships between Artifacts and Bob as well as Bob and his customers, which would benefit the two companies. It seems that they don't care about anything except money. Or, they still don't have the awareness of how important it is for the Punas to change their symbols.

But for the Punas, of course they could get money to improve their standard of living, but the price is a little bit high. They must change the basic cultural symbol on their products, and the Puna women might bear a heavy burden to produce due to the large order.

Based on the analysis for stakeholders, let's talk about the alternatives which they are facing. For Len, there are two alternatives in this case - does as his company's want or not. Of course, he could choose to quit his job if he feels too uncomfortable or unfairly treated. For Artifacts and Bob, if Len tell them his concerns, they will face the same dilemma - do or do not. For the Punas, they could reject the business or insist on maintaining their features of products.

From the utilitarian perspective, could trading with the "customized" native arts make the greatest benefit to the most people? Probably it could not. The reason that customers would buy the Punas product is just because of its cultures as reflected by the product. However, they could be misled by a wrong symbol. In another words, the customer get the wrong conception. If some day they get the truth, they will feel cheated. As for the Punas, their products are the most important weapons for them to publicitize their culture among the world. So, products with inappropriate symbols would distort their images, and maybe would lead to further cultural conflicts. Therefore, the only beneficiaries from the business are Artifacts, Bob and Len - if Len decides to push forward the contract. They make profits from a kind of culture distortion. For the benefit of the majority, doing this business is unethical.

From the right perspective, the buyers have the right to buy and the Punas have the right to reject. All the stakeholders have the right to choose what's best for them.

From the justice perspective, this deal will be an unfair treatment to the Punas women. Although these women could get some benefit - money from their work - the benefit could not match their burden. They could not get more from their hard working. Say, the benefits do not equal the responsibilities. From this viewpoint, this deal is unethical.

From the categorical imperative perspective, what if everyone does this? Perhaps the most easily injured group is the Punas or the other minorities. They are situated in the down-stream of this supply chain. Their culture should be protected by everyone nowadays. The profits coming from the deals could not compensate the losses of the heritages of human beings. So from this stand, this deal is unethical.

Overall, the buyers should deny the deal of products with wrong symbols. So, as to this specific case, what is the final decision?

As a professional in cultural anthropology, Len should take the responsibility to tell the truth to everybody. He should tell his company, Bob and the Punas his concerns, and chase for a compromised solution for all stakeholders. The Punas should know, or if they do not know, they should be told, that they would not produce the products which would change their cultural symbols, and on the other hand, the order could not be very large in order to match their productivity. At the same time, both Artifacts and Bob should take actions to change the taste of customers. Maybe it's not very easy at first, but at least customers would be noticed the real culture of the Puna Native Americans.

In order to avoid the similar situation from happening again, Len could ask further help from some third-party associations or local government. If statutory regulation could be announced, things could be easier resolved. In fact, some countries have already formulated some regulations which have a direct bearing on culture protection and publicity.