A senior manager in a U.S. manufacturing firm must make a recommendation about whether 57 labour intensive jobs should be moved from the existing California plant to a new facility in a Mexican maquiladora. If the Mexican opportunity is pursued, decisions are also required regarding the entry mode (subcontracting, shelter operator or wholly-owned subsidiary) and location (border or interior).
The semi-annual meeting of the board of Toppan Moore, a joint venture between Toppan Printing of Japan and Moore Corporation of Canada, took place in Tokyo. With sales exceeding US$1 billion, Toppan Moore was a leader in the Japanese business forms industry and widely considered one of the most successful international joint ventures in Japan. While pleased with the venture's recent results, the issue for the board members was how to ensure continued prosperity.
The Japanese-American Seating Inc. (JASI) case series involves a 65-35 joint venture in southwestern Ontario formed by Japanese and U.S. automotive parts companies which are leaders in their respective geographic markets. After the venture has been in operation for nearly two years, this case describes the perspective of the newly-appointed American general manager. The case addresses the strategic and operational issues which may arise in a cross-cultural venture, particularly (a) how the venture will be managed (traditional Japanese, North American or combination thereof), (b) what will be the appropriate roles and responsibilities of the president (from Japan), the general manager (from the U.S.), and the management team (mainly from Japan, with a few Canadian managers) and (c) how to overcome the cultural conflicts which are likely to occur as a result of these issues. A follow-up case Japanese-American Seating Inc. (B) is also available.