Part of the problem of international business ethics is simply that every given culture is slightly different from every other culture, including in moral affairs. If two different nations hold two different sets of ethical standards, then it will be difficult for those nations to come to any kind of equal understanding of ethics in international business.
One of the first problems of establishing any kind of international business ethics systems is in coming up with some way to standardize an understanding of international business ethics such that no conflicts will arise from two different societies acting in entirely contradictory fashions. As part of the above problem, international business ethics has to deal with differing ideas of business ethics as resulting from differing religions.
For instance, some religions hold that only specific individuals are allowed to perform certain kinds of businesses. Understanding such issues and accounting for them is the only way to come up with a functional system of ethics in international business.
International business ethics also has to deal with the problems of outsourcing labor.
Regardless of the problems standing in the way of the implementation of international business ethics, doing so is an important element to improving the international business world. If domestic business is governed by ethical practices, but there are no ethics in international business, then the problem of unethical practice is not solved at all, especially as international business grows more and more important.
