Bonnie is a white, Canadian woman, who is the senior sales representative and vice president of Business Office Systems Inc.She has a reputation for brilliance, fairness, and the ability to sell computer business systems to the most reluctant corporate clients.She also has a reputation for being a pioneer for woman's rights in the corporate world.Bonnie has fought against discrimination for women for more than twenty years on her way to the top.Now she may have to overlook some of her values while negotiating her first sale with a Japanese company.

Bonnie travels to Japan with her team to negotiate with the Oyakawa International Bank.To prepare for her meeting with the Japanese executives, she studied differences between Western and Japanese corporate cultures.Bonnie is bothered by the fact that women executives in Japanese firms are not treated equally as their male counterparts.Japanese men tend to look down on women, thinking that they will not put in the time and work necessary to succeed in the tough world of Japanese business.Only 2 percent of executives in Japan are women, although women make up 40 percent of the workforce.Some companies have a dress code requiring all female employees, from filing clerks to vice presidents to wear the same blue suits. Moreover, female executives often serve as waitresses during business meetings!In Canada, many of these practices would be considered sexist and discriminatory, but in Japanese business it is widely accepted.A Japanese woman executive is quoted as saying: "It would be unthinkable to protest this treatment, especially when I'm on the career track."

Bonnie brings along her three best account representatives to the meeting.They are extremely capable and there are no other people she would trust with such a lucrative account.They are also all female.

Bonnie's four-person female team (includes Bonnie as leader) meets with four Oyakawa Bank executives; three men and one woman.The male senior officer, and leader of the executive team, Mr. Mizutani, is the most experienced of the group.It is also apparent, that the woman has more experience than the other two men.Yet, during the meeting, Mr. Mizutani, says something in Japanese to the female executive.She nodded, left, and returned about five minutes later with tea and pastries for everyone present.

Despite Bonnie's research into Japanese business customs, she is surprised to see this in practice.The negotiations proceed smoothly for the next hour and she feels certain that Oyakawa Bank is going to buy the whole systems package.

Just as Bonnie feels that she will be awarded the contract, Mr. Mizutani says to Bonnie: "We are very pleased with your proposal, and would like to finalize this deal.Would you be so kind as to grant us just one request however?"

Bonnie enthusiastically replies, "Of course."But the request shocks her.

Mr. Mizutani continues: "Wonderful.We are very pleased to be having you handle our account, but would very much prefer if you could have your best men take over from here.We appreciate the work you and your helpers have done so far, but we would feel much more comfortable with male account representatives.Men would be more suitable to train our employees in your system. You understand, don't you?"

Bonnie cannot believe what she is hearing.The truth is, Bonnie does not understand.This whole plan was her creation; along with her three best account representatives sitting beside her. Bonnie takes a deep breath and thinks to herself:"Mr. Mizutani probably has no idea how insulting his request is to me.Doesn't he realize that women are just as capable as men?Still, this is a multimillion-dollar sale that my company desperately wants.Should I give in for the sake of the sale?On the other hand, I, and my team members, deserve this account and all the income from commissions that it would generate for us.We worked hard on this account from the beginning and we are the best qualified to service it and train Oyakawa Bank employees to use it."

1.Chapter 5 of the textbook talks about Amoral, Values-based, and Ethical Leadership theories.

a.Briefly define each theory.

b.Briefly explain how Bonnie might apply the Ethical Leadership theory to lead her team.

2.When values of other cultures differ from values of the firm's home country, a manager can choose between 3 approaches (described in chapter 4).

a.Briefly define Moral Relativism.What would Bonnie do if she followed this approach?

b.Briefly define Ethnocentrism.What would Bonnie do if she followed this approach?

c.Briefly define Principalism.What would Bonnie do if she followed this approach?

3.Apply the ethical approach of Consequentialism/utilitarianism to this case.List all the stakeholders and how they are benefited or harmed if Bonnie grants Mr. Mizutani's request.Based on your analysis of the benefits vs. harms, should Bonnie grant Mr. Mizutani's request?Explain.

4.Apply Virtue (Character) Ethics to Bonnie.What virtues (positive character traits) does Bonnie want to display to her team?Based on this approach, should Bonnie grant Mr. Mizutani's request?Explain.

5.Define a High Performance Business (from chapter 6).If Bonnie wants her company Business Office Systems Inc. to be a High Performance Business (Organization), what actions could she take (from chapter 8) to motivate her team after her meeting with Mr. Mizutani?