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King Car and the Ethics of Automobile Proponents’ Strategies in China

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Abstract

This paper examines the ethics of government policies and automobile industry strategies as China rapidly adopts the automobile on a widespread basis. It begins by looking at the context of auto adoption in America in the twentieth century and then contrasts this with the situation in China today. It next analyzes government and auto company strategies along three moral criteria and concludes that current strategies are consistent yet ethically wrongful. In the end, it recommends the abandonment of current antiquated harm-inducing strategies in favor of new approaches incorporating innovative technologies that account for local preferences.

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  1. Department of Management and Marketing, College of Management, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA, 02125, U.S.A.

    Martin Calkins

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Calkins, M. King Car and the Ethics of Automobile Proponents’ Strategies in China. J Bus Ethics 85 (Suppl 1), 157–172 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9935-5

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