Japan's Showa Foods II. Background A. The Joint Ven

Showa Foods is a leading manufacturer of foods in Japan. The company recently entered into a joint venture with Packard Foods, Inc., a manufacturer of foods based in the United States. Packard has successfully entered into international marketing in the past and chose a joint venture agreement with Showa rather than a licensing agreement. The venture is currently at a crisis point on the eve of a meeting between the head of Packard's international division, Richard Johnson, and executive vice-president of Showa, Toshio Honda. At issue is who should become president of the joint venture, the effectiveness of a key Packard participant, and the overall structure of the venture itself. While these are fundamentally international management issues, they cross over into the ethical arena because of their nature involving cultural assumptions and expectations.

Although both Showa and Packard are successful in their own countries, and Packard has a string of successful overseas ventures, neither company has worked specifically with another company from Japan (in Packard's case) or the United States (in Showa's case). The joint venture calls for the company to be located in Japan, with Japanese personnel and management, using Packard technology and techniques. Showa would nominate the president of the company, with Packard providing approval of the nomination. Packard would nominate the executive vice-president. In addition, Packard would provide

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roper" (Hosmer 102). This moral reasoning requires an understanding of normative philosophy and ethical relativism. Ethics here refers to a system of belief, while morals refers to standards of behavior. The problems at Showa and Packard are manifested in behavior, but are based on the ethical beliefs behind that behavior. Ethical Relativism and Showa/Packard Ethical relativism is the idea that there is not a single system of belief that is applicable to all groups in all cultures at all times. If this were the case, there would not be differences in the moral standards between groups within a single culture, let alone between groups from different cultures. But in fact, these differences do exist and form the basis for some severe disagreements in actions and direction, as Showa and Packard are discovering. Ethical relativism holds that there can be some commonality that can surmount these differences. If one accepts that there is some commonality, that members of a group have some responsibility for the well-being of all members of that group, then there is the basis for commonality and for comparing ethical systems. One way to consider this is to evaluate whether the moral standards that benefit society in one system

Category: Economics - J