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Switzerland has long been known as a world leader in the financial services arena. However, in recent years the Swiss banking industry has come under considerable attack, in particular with regard to money laundering, Holocaust accounts and European Union tax evasion issues. This article examines Swiss banking confidentiality, reports perceptions of a sample of US Americans with regard to banking secrecy, and compares and contrasts perceptions with reality. The results of this study indicate that the general public holds negative perceptions of Swiss banking practices. This article should serve to correct misperceptions of Swiss banking held by the public at large and should be of particular interest to those involved in Swiss banking and the marketing of financial services.

With globalisation and the opening of China’s borders, there has been increasing business and government interaction between China and the US. Given US interest in China’s market and the cultural distance between these two countries, it is imperative for US business persons not only to understand Chinese values, but also to examine how Chinese relate to US values. To this end, this study examines the attitudes of a sample of Chinese with regard to 10 US core values and compares their attitudes to those of a sample of US Americans. Despite some significant differences, the results of this study point out that the Chinese and US respondents exhibited many similarities in their attitudes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine attitudes of undergraduate and graduate business students in China and the USA with regard to business codes of ethics.

Respondents were instructed to assume that an Ethical Practices Code had been drawn up by firms operating in the industry in which they intended to work and were asked to indicate their levels of disagreement/agreement with seven statements relating to the possible consequences of such a code. Tests of significance were used to analyze responses for the USA and Chinese groups. In addition, the effect on responses of a course in ethics was examined.

Despite the recent attention focused on corporate irresponsibility and the possible adverse effects on US consumers of outsourcing to China, the findings indicate that, with one exception, attitudes toward codes of ethics were not significantly different between the Chinese and USA respondents.

Future researchers may wish to replicate this study using management and student samples randomly drawn from diverse geographical areas in each country and track changes that may occur over time.

The findings should prove useful in helping government and business understand attitudes toward codes of ethics and aid in the development of such codes.

At a time of growing concern about corporate social responsibility, the findings should prove especially useful to those concerned with the increasingly important issue of ethics in business operations. Given the cultural distance and history of years with little interaction between China and the USA, studies such as this provide insight and help build mutual understanding between the people of these two countries.

Explicit or implicit sets of selection criteria are always used when hiring decisions are made. When employers and job applicants come from similar cultural backgrounds, applicants may better understand what job‐related attributes employers think are important and can develop and stress those qualities. Many studies have attempted to identify important job attributes, but despite recent globalization trends, there is little information comparing the importance of different criteria to individuals from different cultures. For this exploratory study, Chinese and US individuals were surveyed to ascertain their ratings of the importance of 26 job selection attributes. Given the cultural distance between the USA and China, it was hypothesized that significant differences would be found. As China emerges as an important global player with increasing interaction between US and Chinese organizations, the results of this study should help each culture better understand the other and lead to better business relationships between the two countries.

Globalization and economic integration have focused attention on the topic of ethics in international management. At a time when the European Union is attempting to harmonize standards in many areas, the issue of ethics within the EU deserves special attention. Given the diversity of the historical and cultural backgrounds of EU citizens, one might expect to find different ethical orientations in different EU countries. In an effort to gain an understanding about ethics in an EU country where little previous research has been conducted, this article is directed toward the attitudes of future Greek professionals. A sample of the current college‐student population in Greece was surveyed regarding professional and business ethics to understand how we might expect individuals from Greece to behave once they have to make the difficult decisions that are necessary in business circumstances.

Explicit or implicit sets of selection criteria are always used when hiring decisions are made. When employers and job applicants come from similar cultural backgrounds, applicants may better understand what job‐related attributes employers think are important and can develop and stress those qualities. Many studies have attempted to identify important job attributes, but despite recent globalization trends, there is little information comparing the importance of different criteria to individuals from different cultures. For this exploratory study, Chinese and US individuals were surveyed to ascertain their ratings of the importance of 26 job selection attributes. Given the cultural distance between the USA and China, it was hypothesized that significant differences would be found. As China emerges as an important global player with increasing interaction between US and Chinese organizations, the results of this study should help each culture better understand the other and lead to better business relationships between the two countries.

Ethics in business is an issue that has long received considerable attention. As a result of accreditation requirements, many universities have attempted to address this issue by making a course in ethics a part of business programs. This paper examines the values of current college students studying business with regard to professional and business ethics. Attitudes of students who have taken a course in ethics are compared with those who have not.

Globalization, changing demographics, and a push for diversity have resulted in corporate cultures that are less homogeneous, increasing the likelihood that individuals working side by side may not see eye‐to‐eye when it comes to business ethics. The objective of this study was to examine whether Hispanics and non‐Hispanics, living in the US, shared similar attitudes with regard to business ethics.

Hispanics and non‐Hispanics were asked to indicate their levels of disagreement/agreement with eight business ethics value statements.

Several significant differences in attitudes toward business ethics values were found.

While there were more similarities than differences between the two samples, the findings of this study support the idea that ethics values are in part shaped by subculture and may be further influenced by individual characteristics.

Society expects organizations today to conduct their business in an ethical manner. However, significant differences exist among individuals in terms of what is ethical behavior. Further, differences among subcultures may magnify differences among individuals. Organizations must be able to understand and take advantage of a multicultural workforce; therefore, it is imperative that business leaders gain as much information as possible with regard to the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the subcultures represented in their companies.

A company’s productivity and success in a highly competitive global economy require having employees who are comfortable working in an environment comprised of different races, classes, and backgrounds. These findings should lead to better understanding of the Hispanic subculture, help organizations manage cultural diversity, and promote ethical decision‐making.

Internet2 research will lead to new technologies that will launch the Internet into another wave of unprecedented growth with enhanced interactivity and greater amounts of information delivered via richer communication. As a result, Web‐based retailers must begin to rethink the design of their sites, the amount of information to provide, and the degree of media richness to deliver. Based on a large sample of managers, this study examines media richness theory in the context of simple and complex products. The findings suggest that, overall, Internet users have more positive attitudes and higher levels of satisfaction with regard to rich sites than to lean sites, although the results for simple product sites were inconclusive. The study discusses the impact of the results for both simple and complex products and details the development of a new experimental instrument to measure user attitudes and satisfaction.

Many US firms are facing difficulty finding qualified US citizens to fill technical/scientific positions and are turning to foreign nationals to meet their needs. In some cases, the employee/company match is less than ideal. This study focuses on foreign‐born employees working in a particular industrial sector in rural Georgia, USA. Some firms in this industry feel that the problems they are experiencing with these employees are due to cultural factors. The primary purpose of this exploratory study is to identify cultural and other issues affecting the integration of foreign‐born individuals into firms in rural communities. This article stimulates thought concerning human resource issues in our increasingly interactive global environment.