Case King Jewels Ethical Leadership in Practice

Running head: CASE: KING JEWELS: ETHICAL LEADERSHIP IN PRACTICE

Case: King Jewels: Ethical Leadership in Practice

Linda J. Bell

Strayer University

Accounting Capstone

ACC499

Instructor Wendy Peffley Achilles

August 22, 2010

Case: King Jewels: Ethical Leadership in Practice

King Jewels is a Hong Kong jeweler engaged in the wholesale and retail business since 1985. It became one of the most well known and profitable jewelry companies in Hong Kong. The company was founded by Andy Wong and his wife, and they are the sole owners of the company. They began expanding in the 1990’s and by 2005 had 500 employees.

The company had a well defined organizational structure with six departments under Andy Wong, CEO. Wong’s right hand man in the business was Clement Tam, a close friend, who was the operations manager and head of the gem sourcing department. Tam Wai Man, Tam’s sister, was a chartered accountant and was put in charge of the accounting and finance functions. Chan Ming was the head of business services and looked after the Hong Kong operations, including the wholesale and retail business. Jonathan Ho was the head of production and authentication, in charge of the manufacturing operations and gem authentication in mainline China.

The company was mainly involved in sourcing, wholesale and retail sales of a variety of gems and stone, with diamonds being the most popular. Due to the popularity of the diamond products, the company started a new line, Bliss, to attract the young buyers in the 20-24 age range.

The problems that occurred in the company were first brought to light when a savvy customer bought a diamond necklace and engagement ring in the Bliss collection. The purchaser asked for the diamond certificates to verify the quality of the stones, she was informed that the Bliss collection did not provide the certificates. Ming, the head of business services, observed this exchange and asked why the...