Joint Venture Company

The case study highlights certain factors which reflect the problems and challenges that a manager or a leader faces in the real world. When we say ethics, it is composed of the norms, values, beliefs that a person or an organization follow. In the world of business, as witnessed, multi-national companies have been growing significantly than domestic firms. It is truly a fact that the constituents or the employees in a certain company will be composed of different cultural backgrounds. Each and every one in the community has his or her own way of applying ethics at work. The main problem points to the operations of Chongqing, one of the joint venture company of Almond Chemicals and Almond China, whether it should follow the ethical rules of the parent company in Germany or in China. In simpler terms, it is matter of operating an ethical business or practicing bribery to boost sales. The manner of applying ones values to the stakeholders and abiding the rules and regulations determines the ethical status of a person, in this case, an organization. As Liu strives to promote the concept of ethics business practices, he was put into a situation where he should decide whether or not to promote business bribery.

The fact that a joint venture company is created, it signifies that the Germans recognized the risk and the laws to establish a company in China, where ethical conflicts are endemic (). According to the Chinese executives, working with accordance to the European standards, particularly the refusal of business bribery, is really difficult to cope with. According to (), “ethics without borders” is reflected from the constant application of ethical behavior. In a multistream management, ethics must be exercised beyond one’s self-interest, thus embrace the responsibility in providing good welfare to the stakeholders in the business operations (inclusive ethical boundary). As a recap of what has been read, Wang insists that the operation of the company is situated in China so it is desirable to bribe for the sales of the venture company. This is an example of an exclusive ethical boundary, where ethics is exercised to benefit the company itself, especially the stakeholders. Moreover, this does not mean that the company is operating unethically but more of showing its individuality in terms of their priority and goals, which is relatively above the stakeholders—other organizations, environment and community, that are affected. In China, as seen in their culture, the law does not oblige them to think of the welfare of the stakeholders. In the pursuance of borderless ethics, the diversity of the employees in terms of their upbringing, background, culture and beliefs are considered as a challenge. If this is not addressed, the idea of shared organizational ethics might be defeated. Definitely, globalization brings the large possibility to have various workers in an organization. However, it makes companies realize the value of having a common ethical behavior. Given that national laws would be a common field for the people, some of the examples are laws against bribery and corruption are the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act and the Companies Act in South Africa, the UK Bribery Act, and the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of the US. Of course, there are many other countries that do not support these kinds of laws or do not have the adequate legal enforcement like China. Before deciding to establish a company in foreign countries, one must have the knowledge of the laws and the commitment to follow them. Having different points of view may create a unity of determining the acceptable ethical behavior in the workplace and serving the stakeholders in the company. In addition, the companies must clarify the terms that are contained within their code of ethics stimulate a mutual understanding of their values and behaviors. ( ) Cultural norms can also give rise to differences. In a global context, the business practice of giving gifts is one example, such as in China. In many Western countries gifts and personal perks (like tickets for sporting events or holiday trips) are classified as bribes and are subject to a zero tolerance approach. While there is no one easy solution for this clash, a combination of transparency, discussion and respect can be effective.

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