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1. Introduction
With the emergence of a global society, many organizations have formed a chain of value networked organizations spreading their operations to the far corners of the globe. In this and other models of collaborative excellence, each member organization is expected to contribute to the value chain based on their unique strengths, competencies, and areas of specialty (Lee et al. , 2006; Sundharam et al. , 2013). This approach provides a number of benefits such as added resources, speed, flexibility, and responsiveness required to deal with a turbulent and unpredictable business environment. However, it also presents leadership with a new set of complex problems/challenges that require a unified and responsible strategy for: planning, execution, and quality (Matthew et al. , 2012). These problems are often magnified when dealing with different cultures, languages, and nationalities across the globe (Adler et al. , 2011). Case studies show, when ethics and excellence are inadequately planned, integrated, checked, and enforced in these cross-functional business operations, companies cause serious/costly international incidents and landmark ethical violations such as:
the ten-year institutional cover up of general motor's ignition switch flaws resulting in 30 fatalities to date, an estimated cost of 7 billion dollars in fines/damages, and being identified as one of "America's Nine Most Damaged Brands" (Verschoor, 2014; Edwards, 2014);
the gross negligence, serious safety violations and irresponsible corporate actions resulting in the 1984 Bhopal disaster, serious environmental damage and the death of 15,000 individuals (Ramanathan, 2010);
the unethical leadership, corporate wrongdoings, unfair corporate practices, misleading financial representation, and collusion with its auditors resulting in the bankruptcy of ENRON corporation (Cohen, 2002);
the irresponsible disposal of more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste over a 25-year period in the Ecuadorian rivers and Amazon rainforest resulting in severe health problems and irreversible environmental damage (Kimerling, 2001);
the fraudulent marketing of drugs for unapproved and off the label uses resulting in the largest healthcare fraud settlement of the time ($7 billion dollars of criminal fines) and unintended health consequences (Evans, 2010);
the unfair labor practices and breach of code-of-conduct resulting in public humiliation, international customer boycotts, and the near bankruptcy of Nike Corporation (ICMR, 2002);
the use of dangerous, high risk, and poisonous material in the development and manufacturing of products such...