Legal and Ethical issues facing entrepreneurs' business in Nepal

Legal issues

When beginning a commercial enterprise, there are numerous legal problems to consider and evaluate. The legal repercussions apply to every aspect of a firm, including its name, structure, and operations. What follows is an experiment or a sampling of some legal issues that a business owner would want to discuss with their lawyer before starting their company. The owner must confirm that no other businesses are already using the proposed business name before proceeding. The threat of immobilizing lawsuit should also be kept at the top of the priority for a small business owner. Legal issues, particularly in Nepal, might catch the owner off guard and have a significant negative impact on the company's bottom line.

The following is a list of some of the most typical legal problems that small enterprises in Nepal encounter:

• Dissatisfied employees: This will be one of your most frequent and universal legal headaches as a business owner. Compared to other nations, Nepal has fewer rights for employees in terms of worker unions and justifications for wrongful termination. A non-performing employee should only be fired after ensuring that he or she signs termination documents that have been carefully drafted by an attorney and clearly state the conditions of discharge. Allowing an employee to leave without providing final termination documents opens the door to legal challenges.
• Discrimination or harassment cases: Legal repercussions of suspected discrimination, whether based on age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other factors, can be very problematic for the business. The owner needs to make sure that human resources and legal departments are prepared to manage any potential problems. Make sure the employer has all the applicants' resumes on hand during the hiring process so that, in the event of a discrimination claim, it can be demonstrated that the most qualified applicants, regardless of gender or ethnicity, were hired. To monitor employee interactions and ensure that discrimination on a smaller scale is not occurring between office cliques or influencing the judgment of lower and middle managers, regular meetings are to be held. In an integrated workplace with employees from many social classes, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and sexual orientations, harassment of any kind poses a significant and dangerous risk. The managers will be able to identify these infractions through routine staff meetings and interviews, and the perpetrator should be fired as soon as possible to put an end to them. Discrimination and harassment victims frequently receive a lot of media attention, which can harm the company's reputation and drain its legal budget. The proprietor ought to proactive and stomp out these problems before they begin.
• Copyright and patent issues: Modern tech companies frequently deal with aggressive patent litigation. Companies typically hoard patents for years in the hopes that another business will carelessly infringe upon them, allowing them to profit handsomely from copyright and patent lawsuits. To avoid a chaotic legal struggle should the owner stomp on a competitor's toes, the firm owner should ensure that the research and development teams thoroughly examine the copyrights and patents of the current product during the product development period.
• Dissatisfied customers: Customers who are unhappy with the business can launch class action lawsuits against it in which they band together in sizable consumer groups and criticize it for making false claims or providing subpar services or goods. With more unhappy customers, class action lawsuits have the potential to cause more harm to a brand's reputation than any one person or company. Taking the initiative once more and monitoring customer sentiment through online discussion forums, tech help, and emails. It is essential to issue product recalls and customer service issues quickly.
• Other Legal Issues: The most typical legal problems that Nepali small enterprises currently face are not limited to the ones mentioned above. The other legal difficulties include tax proceedings, court cases involving rival businesses and contractors, and so forth.

Ethical issues

Being ethical involves recognizing "right" and "wrong" and then making the "correct" decision. The ability to spot unethical commercial activities is practically universal. Businesses shouldn't, for instance, utilize child labor. The business should not improperly employ procedures or materials protected by copyright. They shouldn't practice extortion and bribes.

Though it is not always simple to create comparable, strict standards of superior ethical behavior. A company is required to provide shareholders with a competitive return and to treat its employees fairly. A company also has additional duties and commitments. It should endeavor to minimize any environmental damage it may create and should take steps to avoid harming the communities in which it operates. Corporate social responsibility is the term for it (CRS).

The business firms are dealing with a wide variety of ethical challenges. As an example, consider the following:

• Labor: Migration on a national and international scale has caused a variety of issues for businesses. A clear labor-management policy does not exist. There is a paucity of competent human resource management and ethical background abilities in Nepal. Despite the government's creation of a legislation prohibiting child labor, numerous businesses continue use this practice.
  Companies should create minimally acceptable standards that protect employees' basic rights and dignity, and they should routinely monitor other subcontractors and subsidiaries.
• Environment: There is a dearth of knowledge on environmental protection and preservation policy. Forced eviction is a result of the rapid urbanization of industrial zones. One of Nepal's biggest problems is a lack of awareness, understanding, and innovation when it comes to developing eco-friendly services and goods and implementing new recycling programs.
• Corruption: It is a serious issue that affects all spheres of society and all levels. It is common practice to accommodate requests for bribes from government authorities during business deals. There is a significant amount of corruption in every administrative process, which raises the expense of doing business and lowers the standards and quality of products produced. The companies are currently dealing with a serious ethical problem, which is the absence of disciplinary measures and impunity for unethical demands and conduct. According to some economists, the practice of offering bribes may be the price that must be forcibly paid in order to achieve a greater good. These economists believe that illegal trade, bribes paid to government officials, and corruption in the form of "speeding up" approval for corporate investments may actually improve welfare in a country where preexisting political structures restrict or modify the functioning of the market process.
• Human rights: Fundamental human rights, such as the freedom of speech, the freedom of association, the freedom of movement, the freedom of assembly, and others, are far from being embraced by everyone in the developed world today. Many nations continue to disregard fundamental or primary human rights. Many rights, such as freedom of association, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and so forth, are not universally recognized.

Other corporate ethics include things like market protection, tax and financial accountability, and open competition.

Reference:

Agrawal, Govinda Ram (2014). Entrepreneurship and small business management in Nepal . KTM: M.K Publishers and Distributors.

Baird. M.L. (2003). Engineering your Start-up: A Guide for the High-Tech Entrepreneur. Professional Publications.

DHENAK, M. S. (2012). https://www.scribd.com. Retrieved from scribd.com: https://www.scribd.com/doc/32062629/5-Ethical-Issues-in-International-Business

Kaplan. Jerry. (2001) Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure. Replica Books.

Initiative, N. B. (2013). http://www.includenepal.org. Retrieved from includenepal: http://www.includenepal.org/images/publications/ebp.pdf National Business Initiative