What is the difference between relativism and normativism?

What is the difference between relativism and normativism? How do these concepts relate to ethical behavior in international business?

The concepts of relativism and normativism are in action in our day to day life as well in the life cycle of international organization who are operating in more than one country with different cultural norms. Relativism is more concerned about what is ethical in a specific society (Rorty, 1991). So if something is considered ethical in a specific society, any intervention to change it from the outside would be considered as an unnecessary and unethical practice. On the other hand normativism is more concerned with the application of ethics on a global level and it is free of the social boundaries. Any interruption from an outside culture to make social or ethical changes is not regarded as unethical. This is kind of a human thinking that is open to external interventions (Elqayam & Evans, 2011).

In case of an international organization, both of the above concepts may present a dilemma. A company may be confused in regards to the application of universal ethical standards or the local standards in my opinion.