Publications
Publications
- December 2003
- HBS Case Collection
Manville Corporation Fiber Glass Group (C) (Abridged)
By: Lynn S. Paine
Abstract
Manville Corp.'s senior managers are surprised when Japanese government officials advise them not to go forward with their plan to add a cancer warning label to diatomaceous earth (DE) products sold in Japan. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has ruled that a component of DE is probably carcinogenic, and Manville has prepared to modify its labels and material safety data sheets and to mount a communications effort to inform customers of the cancer warning. Now, Manville's senior managers are being told that it is "culturally inappropriate" to proceed with this plan in Japan. An abridged version of an earlier case.
Keywords
Risk and Uncertainty; Moral Sensibility; Safety; Government Administration; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Announcements; Industrial Products Industry; Japan
Citation
Paine, Lynn S. "Manville Corporation Fiber Glass Group (C) (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 304-078, December 2003.