Global Economy

In today's global economy there are several challenges that face CEO's and their leadership staff. Of those many challenges, ethical leadership seems to be at the forefront of the problems that trouble many of today's corporations. The following paper is a case analysis of AccuForm: Ethical Leadership and its Challenges in the Era of Globalization. In 2005 Raymond Kim who was the general manager of AccuForm was faced with a very serious issue that involved eight children in China having to be hospitalized for severe skin rashes caused by clothing treated with untested, illegally released material coatings, advertised as AccuForm products. To make matters even worse for Mr. Kim, the case also led to the discovery of questionable activity taking place within his company. These ramifications eventually led to Mr. Kim needing to take corrective actions, however the disaster could have been prevented if he promoted ethical behavior, led with a more authoritative style as opposed to a laissez-faire style of management, and had an understanding of how to handle a joint venture that involved two companies with completely different cultures. In the long run these issues seemed to have clouded what should have been Kim's biggest priority which should have been the overall safety of the general public.

There were several major social, ethical, legal challenges that AccuForm faced in operating a joint venture with R&D and manufacturing operations in China. A fundamental problem with AccuForm was the fact that it was the product of a joint venture between DynaCoat and CreaseFree which were two parent companies that had conflicting corporate cultures. AccuForm which was located in Hong Kong maximized the production capabilities of both of its parent companies, but failed to establish an ethical code of conduct.

DynaCoat, which was one of the parent companies of AccuForm, was a German textile-coating producer that was well regarded