Senior Project Final Paper

Business at the Border:

Marketing Socially Responsible Tourism

Hansen Hunt

Whittier College

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Introduction

As an incoming college freshman, I was unsure of the possibilities that lay ahead in the Whittier Scholars program. I knew that a traditional Business Administration major would not satisfy my curiosity of other disciplines such as Philosophy, Sociology, Political Science and International Business. The Whittier Scholars program allowed me to incorporate all of the topics that interested me into my educational design. Additionally, it provided me with an outlet to create a senior project to exemplify my self-designed major.

The title of my Whittier Scholars Program major is International Business Development. The motivation to design this major was that I would be able to directly apply my knowledge and experience to a project that would not only fulfill my graduation requirements at Whittier College, but also give me an opportunity to establish a profit-oriented business. This praxis approach to education resulted in a multi-faceted senior project directly applying interdisciplinary studies.. The resulting project includes an extensive literary review of the philosophy of ethics, a multi-national business code of ethics, a comparison of how corporate social responsibility differs between Mexico and the United States, and an e-commerce code of ethics. In order to comprehend the dynamics of all of these aspects, I needed to gain an understanding of the global implications of sustainable tourism. This includes an understanding of the definition of sustainable tourism, as well as, knowledge of the states in Mexico that specialize in certain products. In accordance with the goals of sustainable tourism, resulting theme of my project was globalization through local specialization, .This literature research of this project has been culminated into a business plan that serves to market my research to socially conscientious tourists.

In this project, I examined the following philosophical issues in business: ethics in business, the politics of ethics in business and the control systems, the changes that e-commerce brings to business ethics, and my own experience as an online business. I wish to look at these topics through the lenses of the following critical questions: How is social responsibility perceived in the Mexican business environment, how is ethics in business different in e-commerce and how the relationship between ethics and e-commerce differs in an international context?

Ethics Theory

"The first responsibility of a professional was spelled out clearly, 2,500 years ago, in the Hippocratic oath of the Greek physician: primum non nocere, "above all, not knowingly to do harm." No professional, be she doctor, lawyer, or manager, can promise that she will indeed to good for her client. All she can do is try. But she can promise that she will not knowingly do harm" (Drucker, 2004, p. 131).

By Peter F. Drucker repeatedly stating, "what is business ethics?", he revealed an emphasis on the notion that businesses were not exempt from the moral values of our world. With this in mind, we must consider why ethical values of society are generally not regarded as being applicable to a corporation. Using the literature of philosophical and economic theorists, we can gain a better understanding the relationship between ethics and business.

During the time when Adam Smith originally presented his theories of Moral Sentiments as a form of individualistic ethics, ethics and economics were interchangeable disciplines. Although I disagree with Smith's philosophical point of view that ethics is based on self-interest, as a means to an undetermined end, he presents a strong case for the idea that economics and ethics should be one in the same, not separate. Smith's ideas that appear in his book Moral Sentiments, which introduced the relationship between self-interest and society as a whole, are further addressed in the book, The Making of Economics by Ray E. Canterbery. Canterbury highlights Smith's ideology by stating, "He sees ultimate happiness coming from complete freedom to pursue self-interest, enlightened by an altruistic conscience. A person's empathy with others will deter undesirable social behavior. In Moral Sentiments, the pursuit of wealth is only one aspect of a person's desire for self-betterment; nevertheless, individual self-interest is desirable in the economic sphere only because such selfishness results in societal harmony" (Canterbery, 2003, p. 8). Smith points out the cause and effect of an individual acting in self-betterment and how that will be the most ethical decision for society as a whole, in the end.

In order to better understand ethical theory you must identify the prominent theories. In philosophical texts addressing ethics and morals, two core theories are debated. "With respect to normative theories of ethical behavior, we often contrast deontological theories to theories of utilitarianism, as proposed by writers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, which emphasize the consequences of decisions. Deontological theories, such as the Categorical Imperative of Immanuel Kant, stress the essential correctness of the action of rule itself without regard to consequences" (Carroll & Gannon, 1997, p. 5). Therefore, for us to address business ethics in the modern world where the information technology revolution is in full force and the ecological sustainability of the earth is in question, the utilitarianism is the most practical theory to use when discussing business ethics.

At one time, a Corporate Executive Officer (CEO) would have made a decision based on the immediate task without regard to the peripheral consequences of that decision. The decision quite possibly was thought to be ethical because the CEO was acting in their best interest, which Adam Smith would have said that was the prerequisite for societal harmony. However, from a utilitarian perspective, the overall implications of that decision must be taken into consideration. Using this perspective it becomes evident that this decision could have negatively affected the employees, stakeholders, or environment.

In the current business environment, decisions acted on in self-interest are no longer accepted as an ethical business practice. I want to point out the discussion from Sociologist Reinhold Niebuhr of how the morals of politics supports the deontological theory based on self-interest. Niebuhr explains:

The selfishness of nations is proverbial. It was a dictum of George Washington that nations were not to be trusted beyond their own interest. "No state," declares a German author, "has ever entered a treaty for any other reason than self interest," and adds: "A statesman who has any other motive would deserve to be hung" (Niebuhr, 1999, p. 243).

This exemplifies the twentieth century beliefs of the purpose of a corporation. In this context a corporation sole purpose was to make a profit.

The developed world is now in a transitional stage moving from the idea of a corporation responsible only to themselves and their shareholders to a corporation as a living being responsible to all stakeholders, including the environment. Immanuel Kant understood this concept of one's duty to the global environment in the eighteenth century which he expressed in the book The Metaphysics of Morals. It has been noted that business leaders "must encourage their employees to adhere to the standard that Immanuel Kant sets out in The Metaphysics of Morals, 'Always act in such a way that the maxim of your action can be willed as a universal law of humanity"" (Sims, 2003, p. 304). Instead of action based on individual self-interest, a holistic view of the cause and effects of that decision must be taken into consideration.

Daniel Yankelovich, a modern author in the field of corporate business ethics and social responsibility proposes a theory of stewardship ethics addressing the role of civil society in the free market.

"I have labeled the package of norms that I believe are best for the economy and the society as a whole as stewardship ethics. As I shall argue in the following chapters, stewardship ethics offers the ideal way of bridging the gap between the two visions—combing the dynamism and vitality of the free market with the strong ethical grounding of civil society" (Yankelovich, 2006, p. 79).

Core meanings of stewardship ethics in relationship to our democratic form of government include; selectivity and care, emphasis on the community side of the corporation and the need to develop communal values, leaving the institution better off than it was when the CEO's stewardship began, responds positively to the society's insistence that more is expected of those with substantial resources and economic power, and emphasizes the conscious effort required to reconcile profitability with social good. Yankelovich uses a hierarchical chart to show the level of ethical standards a corporation is practicing (see figure 1). He points out that the practice of stewardship ethics is a combination of a company credo (code of ethics) and corporate social responsibility. The balance of the two and active participation in the sustainable development of all stakeholders (including the environment), in relation with the core competencies of the firm, is how a firm is able to act responsibly. (Yankelovich, 2006, p. 148)

Global Business Ethics

Reinhold Niebuhr argues in his book Moral Man and Immoral Society that international morality, through the growth of intelligence, will not be able to keep up with how rapidly the problems and issues between nations increase. I argue that with the information technology age upon us, his theory will soon be proven inaccurate with a rapid increase in cultural intelligence amongst the global community.

This notion is supported by Thomas L. Friedman, when he addressed the idea of globalization of information in his book The World Is Flat. He proclaims, "There is no bigger flattener than the idea of making all the world's knowledge, or even just a big chunk of it, available to anyone and everyone, anytime, anywhere" (Friedman, 2005, p. 153). This "flattener" of making the world's knowledge available to everyone influences the ability of corporations to act in accordance with Immanuel Kant's concept of duty and moral obligations to society and John Stuart Mill's theory of utilitarian ethics aiming to produce the greatest good for the largest number of people.

Increased and unlimited access to knowledge will result in improved cultural intelligence amongst organizations and their ability to understand ethical dimensions from a global multi-cultural perspective. Bill Gates explained this idea in his book The Road Ahead;

"The new access to information can draw people together by increasing their understanding of other cultures…Citizens of the information society will enjoy new opportunities for productivity, learning, and entertainment. Countries that move boldly and in concert with each other will enjoy economic rewards" (Gates, 1999, pp. 615-616).

The most important aspect of this excerpt from The Road Ahead is the interdependency of productivity and learning. A corporation must learn to understand other cultures and their business practices, which will result in increased productivity. This is exactly what the transition to the information technology revolution is allowing international businesses to do.

Economic globalization and access to information brought ethical dilemmas to the forefront of mass media. Since a corporation is only liable to the laws of the host country, many corporations have exploited the low standards set by many undeveloped and third world nations. Low wages, non-existent employee benefits, less quality control, and tax evasion were all considered ethically irresponsible. The media, though it may have been overemphasized, was sure to quickly show the general public of the developed nations the negative side effects that globalization has caused. This exposure prompted international organizations such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) to take action against corporations not meeting global business standards and promote the private sectors involvement in assisting in the millennium development goals set forth by the United Nations (UN).

An organization was formed between the United Nations and various international corporations, called Global Compact. The purpose of Global Compact is to create a "framework for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption" (United Nations, 2008). Global compact sets the standards of business ethics and values for international corporations. This is encompassed in their ten principles, which are promoted within four categories:

1. Human Rights
   
   1. Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
      
   2. Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
      
2. Labor Standards
   
   1. Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
      
   2. Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor;
      
   3. Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labor; and
      
   4. Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
      
3. Environment
   
   1. Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
      
   2. Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
      
   3. Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
      
4. Anti-Corruption
   
   1. Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery. (United Nations, 2008)
      

Global compact does not enforce these principles but demonstrates how beneficial it is for an organization to abide by them (see Table 1)

As pointed out by both Peter F. Drucker and Daniel Yankelovich, it is the responsibility of civil society to enact these ethical principles in their everyday practices. Otherwise, lobbyists will attempt to influence government in order to pass restrictive legislation that will only hinder social and economic development. For instance, Drucker states, "Every organization must assume responsibility for its impact on employees, the environment, customers, and whomever and whatever it touches. That is social responsibility" (Drucker, 2004, p. 126). Drucker then goes on to acknowledge that social responsibility does not imply that corporations should tackle such global issues if the firm does not have a certain level of competence in that task.

Methods

Participants

The participants included approximately 40 business owners in Baja California Norte, in the regions marketed directly towards tourists and travelers. The municipalities of Tijuana and Rosarito were the focal point of my participant observation. The participating businesses ranged from new entrepreneurial handicraft stores only recently founded to historic artisans of the region dating back to the United States prohibition in the early 1930's. These businesses were chosen due to their easy accessibility from the United States and Mexico border and their focus on socially responsible business practices.

Site

The two sites where the majority of research was conducted were on Avenida Revolución in Tijuana and at the market directly in front of Hotel Rosarito in Rosarito. These two regions have a high concentration of tourists and travelers who are shopping for higher end, authentic, quality products from Mexico. Both sites were easily accessible for weekend trips simply because they were accessible by car and did not require air travel for individuals residing in American border regions. By comparison, shopping in Tijuana for tourists is much more centered specifically on Avenida Revolución while in Rosarito the main shopping boulevard stretched several miles throughout the town. The difference in geographic location of Tijuana and Rosarito also influenced the type of travelers. Due to Rosarito's popular beach atmosphere it attracts more extended stay vacation goers, while the majority of visitors to Tijuana are crossing the border for the day to shop or have dinner.

Additionally, the Internet was visited on a daily basis for the purpose of researching e-commerce business ethics. Shopping on the Internet initially was a hobby but after extensive research it turned into shopping with a critical perspective of all web sites I visited. The Internet is a global virtual business platform that any person with access to a computer could potentially start a business on. For that reason, I researched what differentiated the businesses from each other in terms of ethical and socially responsible business practices.

Procedure

I visited Tijuana approximately 12-15 times and Rosarito 5-6 times between November 2007 and April 2008. My first trip to establish a group of subjects in Mexico was in November of 2007 and began with a very informal discussion with a tourist guide from Coach USA Tours Company. The gentlemen kindly referred me to a business owner who had been in the region for over 40 years and understood everything that happened in Tijuana. I spoke with the business owner and after describing my project, he kindly referred me to Dr. Jack Dorón, the president of a non-governmental organization, titled CETURMEX, promoting better business practices in Tijuana. At the time, he did not want me to mention his name as a reference due to the fact his relationship with the referred had diminished over the past year and they were no longer business partners. Fortunately, he had much respect for Dr. Dorón and knew that my project would be in line with the values of CETURMEX. This reference led to be the foundation of my contact base and research in Mexico.

Once the relationship with Dr. Dorón was established, I was referred to over 40 business owners in the region that I interviewed directly, perused their product mix, and observed their management practices. The majority of data collected was informal until I attended the CETURMEX bi-monthly membership meeting, where I gave a professional presentation of my project. This opportunity allowed me to solicit formal questionnaires from all of the organizations members that were in attendance. The presentation and questionnaires were both presented in Spanish in order to help all business owners understand my project's ideas and goals, in their native language. The participants were more than willing to assist me in my research, especially since they realized how my project intends to market their organization to tourists internationally in the near future.

The participants in Rosarito were based off a referral to speak with Daniel Torres, son of Mayor Hugo Torres. Daniel Torres assisted me with formal introductions to local business owners and his brother Hugo Torres who was a subject of the study. At the current time of my study there was no organization in Rosarito that was promoting socially responsible business practices in the region. This resulted in smaller number of participants from the Rosarito region. Throughout my visit to the Rosarito area, I presented my project to the business owners in a much more informal matter, yet still focused on gathering answers to the same questionnaires that had been handed out to CETURMEX participants in Tijuana. By doing this I was able to directly compare and contrast the answers between the two different regions.

The second component of this project consisted of an analysis of e-commerce businesses, which aimed to generate a code of ethics for e-businesses worldwide. The majority research for this component was based on a literary review and personal experiences as an e-business owner. Much of the research in the field of e-commerce business ethics is still under development and no general definitions or standards have been established or widely accepted. For that reason, the majority of the conclusions are based on personal experiences of individuals, rather than scholarly articles or historical case studies.

Results

The data collected and direct observations of subjects resulted in a clear definition of social responsibility in a global, national, local and virtual perspective and gave me a deep understanding of Mexican artisan work and what regions specialize in specific products.

In regards to social responsibility, Global business ethics focuses on human rights, ecological sustainability, and anti-corruption. Corporate social responsibility differs in every nation. In the United States social responsibility was similar to global business ethics with a special emphasis on corporate philanthropy. In Mexico, social responsibility is centered on personal relationships and cooperation with suppliers, customers, and other businesses.

On the World Wide Web, social responsibility takes a whole new form by addressing four issues: honesty and fairness, accountability, security, and aesthetics and user interface. In the virtual world, communication and customer service are drastically different and must focus on the security of a customer when they are electronically communicating with the e-business. The results of my research provided me with a foundation to develop a business on the Internet. Additionally, I outlined how to ethically manage a business, its customers, and its suppliers from both the United States and Mexico.

This knowledge is vital to starting a travel agency geared towards socially conscientious tourists purchasing products from socially responsible business in Mexico. Through the process of direct interviews and observations, I became aware of the historic interdependence of the United States and Mexico and how the current situation between the two countries is continuing to develop. The current Mexican government led by Felipe Calderón and the local municipalities in Baja California have taken drastic steps to make Mexico a safer place to live and visit for everyone, yet the expected results have been postponed by the economic downturn in the United States economy.

Social Responsibility

United States

Social responsibility in the United States has developed from a bourgeois ethic promoted and practiced by different religious sects to a standard of conduct and community involvement practiced by all civil society included corporations. The fundamental principles of social responsibility in the United States are expressed by Max Weber:

The whole typically bourgeois ethic was from the beginning common to all aceticist sects and conventicles and it is identical with the ethic practiced by the sects in America up to the very present. The Methodists, for example, held to forbidden:

1. To make words when buying and selling ('haggling')
   
2. To trade with commodities before the custom tariff has been paid on them
   
3. To charge rates of interest higher than the law of the country permits
   
4. 'to gather treasures on earth' (meaning the transformation of investment capital into 'funded wealth'
   
5. To borrow without being sure of one's ability to pay back the debt
   
6. Luxuries of all sorts (Weber, 1946, p. 313)
   

Today, specifically corporate social responsibility (CSR) has developed into a much more complex definition and level of commitment. A report released by World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in January, 2000 states "CSR is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large" (Holme & Watts, 2000). The report took an in depth look at CSR focus from multiple nation states and how each state has a different attitude towards the concept. I will use the analysis to put the United States' CSR approach in perspective amongst the global arena.

In general, the perception of CSR by corporations in the United States revolves around six core topics. First and foremost is the need to rid of corruption in organizations. This emphasis can be seen as a result of events such as the Enron accounting scandal, leading the general public to mistrust the financial practices of many corporations. The Sarbanes-Oxley (Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act) act was passed by congress in 2002 in response to a number of corporate accounting scandals. (Bumiller, 2002)
Since then, popular media has been quick to expose any accounting errors or scandals.

The second aspect of the U.S. idea of CSR is a corporation's ability to implement a set of principles or code of ethics within their organization. This is an internal form of CSR but is easily marketable to stakeholders. A company with a strong code of ethics will be seen as a trustworthy business partner from the perspective of a shareholders, customer, or supplier. The third focus is transparency and in the U.S. that specifically implies greater transparency in reporting and auditing systems. "Transparency is critical. Companies must create appropriate auditing systems or they will be created by others" (Holme & Watts, 2000). Transparency is also a concern of all immediate stakeholders, but is much more difficult for an organization to measure their level of transparency.

The fourth expectation of CSR in the U.S. is more community involvement. "Companies may feel as if they are part of the community but until the rest of the community accepts them, there is much work to be done" (Holme & Watts, 2000). A prevalent form of community involvement in the U.S. is through philanthropy. Critics of philanthropy point out that in times of economic crisis, philanthropic goals of corporations will be the first to be eliminated. Also, as pointed out earlier in this paper, philanthropy does not necessarily use a firm's core competencies when supporting the community or does not support the community in a way that would make the organization more sustainable.

The fifth form of CSR is the U.S. is a commitment to environmental protection. This topic of CSR has been popularized by the recent political activism convincing the general public that large corporations are a driving force of global warming because they are not effectively protecting the environment. In the 2000 CSR study, "Most felt that environmental stewardship was an important component of CSR and that compliance with environmental legislation and regulations was fundamental" (Holme & Watts, 2000). One issue this view presents is that the environmental legislation and regulations may not be sufficient at promoting a sustainable environment. As Daniel Yankelovich points out, compliance with the law is merely the bottom of the stewardship ethics pyramid and for a firm to reach the highest level of CSR they must do more than simply comply with legislation.

Human Rights are the sixth aspect of U.S. corporate social responsibility ideology. The issue of human rights is much more complex since many nation states have different definitions of human rights and also there is a large debate of whether or not corporations should be attempting the influence politics. The U.S. perspective would see fit that "upholding human rights within companies, and in areas directly influenced or controlled by companies, is very important," as long as local cultural differences and economic situations are taken into consideration. (Holme & Watts, 2000)

Mexico

Corporate social responsibility in Mexico focuses on ethical business practices pertaining to the quality of life of the workforce and their families, honest customer service, quality of products, community involvement, and conservation of the local culture. The definition of CSR in Mexico and the upcoming analysis is based on my personal research in the state of Baja California and direct interviews with business owners. Through my experiences, four general themes of social responsibility revealed themselves.

The first sense of social responsibility was concerned with consumer education and customer service. Many responses on the questionnaires handed out stated that they were especially responsible because they were "honest with the customers and with ourselves" (See Appendix A, Gabriela Calderon Montes). Understandably, honesty was a characteristic that the business owners felt set them apart from the other vendors on Avenida Revolucion in Tijuana. Especially important was honesty with the customer about the authenticity of products and prices.

Supplier relations were another vital aspect to being a socially responsible business in Mexico. I asked about how they guarantee the quality of their products and one response stated: "Because of long relationships with all my sources and they all guarantee the quality of their work" (See Appendix A, Raul Mendiola). This answer is similar to 75% of the responses I received. Supplier relations meant that they were not only aware of the quality of products but also had established friendships with their suppliers to facilitate transactions, customize art, and ensure quality.

The third aspect of Mexican social responsibility is apparent in the businesses commitment to community development and sustainability. One store owner pointed out that they "have served some schools [providing supplies for graduation, etc.] for more than ten consecutive years" (See Appendix A, Joyería Rueles). Dr. Jack Dorón, past president of CETURMEX, pointed out that CETURMEX has put on many events on Avenida Revolucion promoting the local culture and educating both shop owners and tourists about the history of Tijuana. In addition, I observed this "sense of community" numerous times when vendors would help each other out with anything they needed. If they had the means to help, they would because they understood that every business has gone and will go through tough circumstances and will need assistance.

The fourth element of social responsibility in Mexico deals with employee rights and benefits. This is a common theme among all developing nations since they have limited capability to enforce higher standards. Through some of the personal interviews, the issue was brought to my attention that there are two types of employees in regions that are dependent upon the tourism industry. One type is a standard employee paid an hourly wage and offered all benefits the government requires the store owner to give. Unfortunately, when the tourism industry is at an all time low, it becomes too expensive for store owners to pay hourly wages and provide benefits. The second type of employee is not actually an employee at all; he or she simply serves as a form of commission for sales. Anyone can walk into the vendors store and sell one of their items to a tourist and that person will receive a very small percentage of the profit. This type of individual does not receive any benefits and has no formal employer or job security. This type of employment is very common in Tijuana and Rosarito and CETURMEX specifically hopes to get rid of it in the future in order to maintain sustainable labor standards in Mexico and protect tourists from hagglers.

Comparative Summary: United States and Mexico

As described in the previous two sections, the term social responsibility could imply two completely different connotations depending on which country you are in. I created a graphic that will help to understand the overall focus of CSR in the United States and Mexico.

Due to the flattening of the global economy, as Thomas Friedman pointed out, this information is available to international businesses and must be considered when doing business in the two countries. Ethical issues in the United States and Mexico are vastly different and many times businessmen will have a difficult time adapting to the ethics of a different culture. Stephen Carroll illustrated the complexity of such a situation:

"For example, American businessmen engaged in a joint venture with Mexicans accused them of lying and deception when the Mexicans promised to complete a project within a specified period of time, even when they knew that it was impossible to do so. To the collectivistic Mexicans, such deception is a mechanism for smoothing relations between in-groups and out-groups and protecting the interests of the in-group (Agar, 1994)" (Carroll & Gannon, 1997, p. 23).

E-Commerce Ethics and CSR

"E-commerce is to the information revolution what the railroad was to the industrial revolution. The railroad mastered distance—e-commerce eliminates it" (Drucker, 2004, p. 91). With the elimination of distance, along went ethical standards and corporate social responsibility with it. Without the necessary human interaction forcing companies to contemplate and promote their ethical business practices to gain trust, it no longer was seen as a necessary requirement to achieve successful e-business status. Although some businesses remained ethical in nature, a majority of corporate social responsibility acts disappeared completely from the e-commerce scene.

Due to this, e-commerce missed the most important aspect of the information revolution; an understanding that eliminating distance does not imply limited interaction. Instead, it results in infinite levels of interaction and therefore must be moved to the top priority for all e-businesses. Friedman supported this notion when he discussed how the combination of the PC and Internet "enabled more people to communicate and interact with more other people anywhere on the planet than ever before" (Friedman, 2005, p. 71).

Guidelines for E-commerce Code of Ethics

Since physical interaction is extremely limited in e-commerce, clientele trust is more difficult to obtain. This is why a more in depth and influential code of ethics and implementation of social responsibility in the corporate strategy is vital to long-term e-business success. The reason a strong code of ethics and CSR strategy have not been implemented in most e-businesses is because of the lack of defined problems and solutions that e-commerce presents. In line with this thinking, Richard DeGorge explained, "Because the transition to the Information Age is in the process of taking place and the ethical issues have not clearly jelled, there are few solutions" (De George, 2003, p. 27). Fifteen years after the advent of the World Wide Web, we remain unable to define e-commerce ethics and the role of e-businesses in society.

Ethics must be adapted to e-commerce as it was with traditional business. As Peter F. Drucker pointed out, business ethics should not be an issue because ethical standards should be the same in all aspects of society. Although I agree, ethical issues must be clearly interpreted to every context they are applied to for people to properly understand and take action. "Richard de George (1999, p. 265) similarly interprets ethical problems in the Information Age: 'We do not need a new ethics, but we have to apply and possibly revise our ethical concepts and norms to fit the new environment' " (Whysall, 2004, p. 135). I have attempted to adapt ethical standards to the context of e-commerce by developing general guidelines e-businesses should use to create their code of ethics and company policies.

First I would like to distinguish between the different levels of ethical business practices

and CSR in e-commerce. I have developed a basic pyramid outline correlating the number of businesses and their current level of ethical business practices (see figure 2). The majority of

Figure 2: Levels of CSR in E-Commerce

Web sites and e-businesses offering products, services, or information do not have any clear policies and are using an unsecure website. Fortunately, the majority of transactions do not occur with these businesses. The second level of ethical practices is simply abiding the laws of their

country such as copyright, privacy, and tax laws, etc. Many businesses comply with the law and see that as sufficient in terms of ethical business behavior. The third level, which has become the

most popular measurement tool to distinguish a trustworthy site, is a clear privacy policy. Most consumers will not purchase any product or service unless the privacy policy shows how that customer's information will be protected and kept private by the business. The fourth

level is only slightly more in depth than a clear privacy policy in that the e-business creates a clear set of terms and conditions in regards to the Internet transaction. Policies such as shipping, returns, guarantees and warranties, quality assurance, and customer service are well defined at this level and begin to establish a strong sense of trust with the customer. Up to now, that is the level that most established e-commerce sites remain at and are not attempting to further establish their ethical business standards or implement CSR strategies. Level five is the establishment of a code of ethics applicable to the company's online business. After extensive searching, I found very few websites who clearly stated their code of ethics. Although a code of ethics is proprietary information, it is common practice to publicly state the credo in order to raise customer awareness of the company policies and values. Not only does this provide an ethical practice of transparency, but also it is a proven marketing approach to establish strong consumer trust.

I will not attempt to state all the websites I viewed that did not have a code of ethics listed, but I will review two market leaders that have surpassed stage five and are taking strong action towards stage six of implementing a corporate social responsibility strategy. Although there may be others, Google and Dell exemplify what the future of business ethics means to the world of e-commerce.

Referring to stewardship ethics discussed earlier in this paper, both Google and Dell have implemented a combination of a code of ethics and social responsibility strategy relevant to their core competencies. Not only has Google focused on internal operations and becoming more "green" in terms of reducing their carbon footprint, they have also developed a foundation managed by www.google.org:

"to use the power of information and technology to address the global challenges of our age: climate change, poverty and emerging disease. In collaboration with experienced partners working in each of these fields, we [Google] will invest our resources and tap the strengths of Google's employees and global operations to advance five major initiatives" (Google, Inc., 2008).

The five major initiatives Google has developed uses their information and technology expertise to address issues from a local, national, and global perspective.

Dell has implemented very similar strategies, both from an internal reduction of environmental impact and an external program using their expertise to address global issues. It is explicitly stated, on Dell's company website how, "Through aggressive energy-efficiency programs, virtualization and power-management solutions, and industry-leading recycling, we [Dell] are providing ways to protect the environment, reduce CO2 output and reduce costs" (Dell, Inc., 2008). In addition to these statements, Dell releases an annual sustainability report that reviews the company's environmental responsibility, community engagement, and corporate accountability. Their strategy exemplifies the success of stewardship ethics with the combination of a code of ethics and CSR both with internal business practices and global accountability. Both Google and Dell can be used as benchmarks for the rest of the e-businesses in order to understand how CSR is not simply a strategy for "brick and mortar" stores but for virtual companies, as well.

In order to guide the e-commerce industry, I have created a general set of issues that must be considered and adapted to each firm's code of ethics. These rules are only guidelines and should not deter any e-business from further developing them. An e-business must distinguish their business by focusing their code of ethics on four main themes: Honesty and fairness, accountability, security, and the aesthetics and user interface of their business.

In regards to honesty and fairness, there are five rules an e-business must follow. The company must have easily accessible terms and conditions and privacy policies and then must honor their policies 100% of the time. Secondly, the company must provide consistent quality customer service. Customer service must be focused on honesty and transparency as the most important aspect since there is no face-to-face interaction where a customer could judge the businesses level of service. Third, there must be no false advertising such as "absolutely free". Unless it truly is absolutely free, this is a form of deception. Honest advertising for what the product or service truly provides is necessary. The fourth characteristic of honesty and fairness is that an e-business avoids plagiarism at all times by identifying and citing sources. This is especially vital to firms providing information based products. Since the Internet lacks a police to ensure accountability, plagiarism is a common practice and sometimes seen as unnecessary. This is a false sense of what are the current ethical business standards and practices in e-commerce. Plagiarism is not ethical behavior and must be prohibited. The fifth and final ethical consideration of honesty is that a business must not distort or enhance photos without making the customer aware of the changes. This practice is commonly used on auction sites such as eBay because a customer can only judge the product based off of the picture and description. It is thought that if the picture makes the product appear like it is in good condition, the product is more likely to sell. Unfortunately, when the customer receives the product and realizes it is not exactly the same as the picture, they become dissatisfied, which often times results in a mistrust of e-commerce as a whole. Overall, it is evident that honesty and fairness are a vital aspect to gaining customer trust in e-commerce.

The second theme that should be addressed on a code of ethics is accountability and its relation to the terms and conditions and privacy policy. The e-business must adhere to their stated policies, not simply state them in order to gain initial trust but to lose it after the transaction has been completed. One form of accountability is to admit mistakes and correct them promptly. All businesses make mistakes, run into external problems, or have technical malfunctions and those must not hurt the relationship with the customer. In order to keep the customer happy, the problem must immediately be addressed. This will help to provide full transparency of the issue and in turn, lead to a more successful transaction in the end. Another aspect of accountability is to retain customers' trust by assisting them with any Internet assistance they need. If they are a returning customer, trust has been established and they will look to the e-business to provide advice on other e-businesses or products they are interested in. Consistent accountability will be difficult but must be practiced in order to maintain consistent customer satisfaction.

The third theme that should be incorporated within an e-commerce code of ethics is security and is the most popular topic amongst the media and general public. Any e-commerce store must understand all laws pertaining to the protection of customer information. Identity theft is currently the fastest growing crime in the United States, and I personally have been a victim three times in the past six years. That is exactly what must not happen to customers shopping on the Internet or they will never feel safe to return. A second standard must be to use only trusted merchants and suppliers, especially if your customer's information must be passed onto those businesses. Any entity that has access to the customer's information must be trustworthy and abiding to the businesses code of ethics. Lastly, a business must secure their website, computer, transactions, and all printed documents to private information from leaking. Simply shutting down a computer after conducting business on it is not secure; there must be password protection on both the computer and whatever documents contain customer information.

The fourth and final theme of an e-commerce code of ethics takes into consideration the aesthetics and user interface of the website. Although it is not often practiced, designing the website to have a "clean" look and feel to it will instantly secure a certain level of trust. Not only is it ethical, it is a strategic practice to attract more customers. This also includes the color scheme, which must be appropriately adapted for the target audience. Secondly and most importantly, advertising space, if sold, must be used appropriately by distinguishing between advertisements and web content to prevent deception of the customers. Richard T. De George points out that "to maintain trust it is essential to maintain a clear line between information and advertising, between information and brain washing or manipulation, between information and self-interest" (De George, 2003, p. 162).

The four themes of an e-commerce code of ethics are meant to be both written into a code of ethics and practiced on a daily basis. These strategies are the foundation for a more honest and accountable future of e-commerce.

Sustainable Tourism

As the Mexican Tourist Association stated in 1939, "A trip to Mexico without a visit to the native markets is as incomplete as a Martini cocktail with the olive left out" (Berger, 2006). Tourism has been popular since the Roman Empire, and sustainable tourism was popularized in the 1970's, but only recently has organizations such as the United Nations, World Tourism Organization, and World Travel and Tourism Council addressed the concerns for increased sustainable tourism practices. Terms such as ecotourism, cultural tourism, and sustainable tourism are commonly interchanged but they all aim at one theme, socially responsible tourism.

Ecotourism can be defined as:

"The intricate relationship between tourists and the environments and cultures in which they interact. Hetzer identified four fundamental pillars that needed to be followed for a more responsible form of tourism. These included: (1) minimum environmental impact; (2) minimum impact on – and maximum respect for – host cultures; (3) maximum economic benefits to the host country's grassroots; and (4) maximum 'recreational' satisfaction to participating tourists" (Fennel, 2003, p. 18).

These four goals have been enhanced to include such things as reduction of global poverty and the improvement of human rights. It is well known that many developing nations depend on the tourism industry for economic stability and that dependency is what provides the opportunity for the beneficial impact of sustainable tourism.

Businesses in the tourism industry are not opposed to new standards and goals set by international organizations simply because a more sustainable tourism industry means a more sustainable business environment for them. For that reason, the best practices amongst sustainable tourism agencies needed to be gathered and shared throughout the industry. To promote the collection and distribution of best practices "the Conference Board and the World Travel and Tourism Council formed the Business Enterprises for Sustainable Travel (BEST) to document those travel and tourism practices that promote sustainable tourism development." (Mak, 2004, p. 163). The recent attention to sustainable tourism practices has brought an increase in ecotourism agencies and travelers which will hopefully only result in beneficial changes to the host nations.

Common sustainable tourism practices were established by the United Nations in 1999 at the thirteenth General Assembly session in Santiago, Chile. Resolution A/RES/406(XIII), Approval of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, gives a thorough analysis of what sustainable tourism entails and how exactly to practice it. Although there are 48 specific principles addressed in the resolution, I would like to point out three principles of the resolution that are relevant to the research I have conducted in the U.S. Mexico border region.

Sustainable Tourism Principles

1. Tourism development should be conducive to saving rare and precious resources, in particular water and energy, as well as avoiding so far as possible waste production;
   
2. Tourism activity should be planned in such a way as to allow traditional cultural products, crafts and folklore to survive and flourish, rather than causing them to degenerate and become standardized.
   
3. Travelers should make an effort to understand the cultural orientation and social protocols of the host country prior to visiting. (General Assembly, 1999)
   

These principles promote the protection of the environment, local culture, human rights, economic stability, and education using the tourism industry. In recent legislation, the WTO and the UN have both agreed to emphasize the social dimension of tourism in order to reduce poverty. "Following the United Nations' Millennium Declaration to reduce global poverty during the twenty-first century, the WTO has expressed its commitment to reducing global poverty through tourism" (Mak, 2004, p. 188) Sustainable tourism is not simply a fad amongst the wealthy travelers; it is a means to social, environmental, economic, and political development worldwide.

Sustainable Tourism: Mexico

My research conducted in Mexico was based on the theory of sustainable tourism. I worked and am continuing to work on creating a means to market "cultural tourism" in the Baja California region. I am promoting socially responsible shopping practices that will in sustain the local economy and culture. This can be done by locating businesses that sell products made in Mexico, by artisans, and use environmentally friendly manufacturing processes. It also entails promoting local specialization and education of the products. Thomas Friedman used an example to show how the local culture is being exported.

"One of them said he realized that he was living in a new world when he started seeing reports appearing in the Mexican media and on the Internet that some statuettes of Mexico's patron saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe, were being imported into Mexico from China, probably via ports in California. When you are Mexico and your claim to fame is that you are a low-wage manufacturing country, and some of your people are importing statuettes of your own patron saint from China, because China can make them and ship them all the way across the Pacific more cheaply than you can produce them, you are living in a flat world" (Friedman, 2005, p. 309).

Tourism should not support this exportation of the cultural tourism products. Socially responsible tourism would promote the production of products that Bob McKercher identifies as the five common features of cultural tourism products. First cultural tourism is intended to tell a story, then the business must make the asset come alive in order to appeal to tourists. Thirdly, the business must make the experience with the product and story participatory in order to establish an emotional attachment to the cultural product. Then the business must make the experience relevant to the tourist to put it in perspective of why they should purchase it. Last, the businessman must focus on the quality and authenticity of the cultural product which will prove the value of the product to the customer. (McKercher & du Cros, 2002, p. 122) These five principles not only will ensure the product is authentic, but will educate tourists and increase their overall cultural intelligence.

In Tijuana, I worked with an organization called CETURMEX to help define social responsibility in Mexico and to locate which businesses were implementing these strategies. CETURMEX is a non-governmental organization made up of over 40 businesses working to improve business practices in Tijuana, create a safer environment and education for tourists, and ensure only quality and authentic products are being sold. CETURMEX formed the foundation of my research in Tijuana the member businesses assisted in educating me about the local culture, business practices, and products.

When tourists travel to Mexico, an education about the products history is very important for the development of cross-cultural appreciation. One especially important aspect of my research was to understand where the truly authentic Mexican products come from in Mexico and whether or not outsourcing to Asian countries has posed a problem in the competition. Therefore, it is essential to understand the cultural origins of various Mexican products. For example, the famous Huichol Art (both beaded and woven) comes from the region where Nayarit, Durango, Zacatecas, and Jalisco intersect. The state of Yucatan is famous for their traditional men's Guayabera. In Baja California, you can purchase customized stained glass and it will be made in that region opposed to being contracted out overseas. Oaxaca is one of the central artisan states and is famous for their Alebrijes figurines and Black Pottery. Of course there are many more products from Mexico, each from a region or state that specializes in them, but that it is up to the tourist to make an effort and ask the locals to provide the history of the products they are selling. If the store owner is not able to tell you where the product is from or who makes it, chances are, their products were probably produced in mass quantities in China only to undercut the already low prices of the local Mexican businesses.

Conclusion

Stewardship ethics, the combination of a code of ethics and corporate social responsibility, is the necessary future of the e-commerce industry. The borderless and practically unregulated economy needs standards of business conduct and a sense of accountability for the same global issues that "brick and mortar" firms are addressing today. The United Nations and national governments could attempt to regulate the Internet as much as they want, through the continued use of legislation, but it will be up to the e-businesses to take action and implement their own set of CSR strategies and code of ethics. Google and Dell are benchmarks to base our strategies off of, and now we must follow in their footsteps and take our own action.

My research in Mexico was a means to develop an Internet based business that will not only practice socially responsible strategies, but also market socially responsible tourism to support sustainable economic, cultural, environmental, political, and social development in Baja California. As previously stated, sustainable tourism is beneficial for the local culture and people and helps to provide a more stable and sustainable business environment for e-commerce businesses, such as my own. The necessary education for this business is to understand the differences of the definition of social responsibility and ethics between the United States and Mexico. With the foundation of connections that have been made, the information that has been gathered, the website that has been built and social responsibility defined, I will create a business to help people practice sustainable tourism and become educated on the history and local culture of Mexico.

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