Today is Thursday , three days before your meeting begins. You are on-site in Rio de Janeiro , and all is going well so

[answerhappygod]

Today is Thursday , three days before your meeting begins. You
are on-site in Rio de Janeiro , and all is going well so far. Your
destination management company (DMC) has been keeping track of the
inevitable arrival changes. Your team is getting welcome packets
together, incorporating last-minute changes into the day-by-day
schedule, checking VIP amenities, and preparing for the next
morning's arrival of your boss and several other senior
managers.
Good news! Your project coordinator has just verified that all
the printed material shipped from the United States has cleared
customs and will be delivered to the hotel tomorrow. You were
concerned about this shipment , since it was sent directly from the
printer and not through your office. Fortunately, the shipping
department did every­ thing right and the local company you have
hired to receive, store, and transport the materials has come
through.
You congratulate yourself on choosing a company whose affiliated
customs broker once worked as a customs inspector. This person is
more connected than a chain-link fence and clearly knows the ins
and outs of the system. As it turns out, the customs agents and
federal police are threatening to go on strike, and things are even
slower than usual. You are particularly grateful that all your
materials are safely in your possession.
Your major challenge at the moment is to get the learning center
constructed on time. This combination exhibit and training
area has been specially designed and will be constructed by a local
company in one of the hotel's two ballrooms. The only components
being shipped from your home country are the computers that will be
the one of this high-tech learning center. Your information
technology (IT) manager, Tony is incharge of this equipment and has
made all the shipping arrangements directly with a freight
forwarder in your home city that has been recommended highly by
several colleagues.
Your company has invested over half a million dollars in the
development of the new computers that will be introduced in the
learning center. The CEO, who will be in attendance, considers both
the learning center and the new state-of-the-art hardware to be the
cornerstone of a new corporate image campaign. Both local and
international media have been invited for a special preview
demonstration of the company's new training resources. Because your
company will be manufacturing the machines in Brazil for
distribution throughout South America, your country's ambassador
and the Brazilian minister of commerce will be in attendance. There
will be significant local press coverage of the event and a global
press videoconference to announce the new product to the North
American, European, and Asian markets.
When you go over to the exhibit site, you note with satisfaction
that the construction of the learning center is proceeding on
schedule. Tony is scheduled to test each unit in situ this
afternoon, but you know the machinery is delicate, Murphy's law
knows no boundaries , and the stakes are too high to leave anything
to the last minute . Everyone is nervous about the computers
because they are the CEO's pet project, and expectations are very
high for their debut.
By the way, where are the computers? You realize that with all
your running around the past few days, you haven't actually seen
them. They should have arrived and been cleared through customs by
now. You assume that this is the case and make a mental note to
check with Tony.
You ask the construction supervisor when he thinks the computers
can be installed for testing. He gives you a blank look and says,
"Whenever Tony tracks them down. Didn't he tell you they got lost
somewhere en route to Rio de Janeiro? He's been going crazy for the
past two days trying to find out what got screwed up."
At 10:00 that same Thursday, you locate Tony and he tells you
the following:
• The six cartons of computer equipment
were shipped from your home base three weeks ago.
• The cartons were shipped to Rio de
Janeiro via common carrier and should have arrived within
a week , plenty of time to clear
customs even with the work slowdown.
• He has been in constant contact with the
shipping company, and his contact there has traced the container
with the cartons to Santiago, Chile.
• He's really sorry he hasn't said anything
up to now, but the guy at the shipping company promised him that
everything would work out, and so he decided not bother you about
it.
• He just spoke to the guy at the shipping
company, who is really sorry about the screw-up, swears this has
never happened before, and says don't worry, the car­ tons should
be leaving on a plane to Brazil tomorrow morning , once the other
contents of the container finally have been released.
You make a valiant attempt to neither shriek at Tony nor
physically injure him. You consider first homicide, then suicide,
then both for a moment. None of these are viable alternatives at
this juncture, and so you take a deep breath and start mobilizing
your resources.
After a sleepless night worrying about the wayward computers,
you receive a fax at 10:00 on Friday morning, informing you that
they are on a plane bound for Brazil and are due to arrive at 13:30
that afternoon. That's the good news. The bad news is that they
will arrive in Sao Paulo and you are in Rio de Janeiro. The even
worse news is that the equipment must clear custom s in Sao Paulo
because it is the initial port of entry into the country. After
being trucked to Rio (approximately four hours' transit time if
road conditions are favorable), the shipment will then have to
clear customs again, since Rio is the original port of entry noted
on the official paperwork.
You will have to pay significant customs duty on the equipment
in both Sao Paulo and Rio, but this is the least of your problem s
at the moment. Customs offices shut down for the weekend at 18:00
everywhere in the country and do not open again un­ til Monday
morning the day the meeting begins with a media breakfast to
show off the new hardware.
You are now racing against the clock and about to blow the
meeting budget into the stratosphere. Your boss is in a panic and
is suggesting that you "call out the big guns." The senior VP of
administration has contacts at your country 's embassy, and the CEO
has played golf with the Brazilian secretary of commerce. One call
from him to the appropriate official and the equipment surely will
be released immediately. Your boss is adamant. The
company's reputation and your jobs are on the line. It's time to
throw some weight around and use your company's influence as a
global, multimillion-dollar firm to salvage the situation.
At the same time, your local support team is advising against
the "big guns" option. They ask you to trust their experience and
judgment and give them some more time to do what they do best. They
have mobilized all their contacts within the sys­ tem in both Sao
Paulo and Rio and are hopeful that they will be able to work some­
thing out, even though customs will technically shut down for the
weekend at 18:00. Your local colleagues cannot guarantee that they
will be successful, but they can guarantee that if the big guns are
called in, the computers will be held in customs indefinitely or be
released at an exorbitant "duty" many times greater than what is
currently being negotiated.
As project team leader, you have to make a decision now. Your
very nervous boss respects your experience and judgment enough to
follow whatever course of action you recommend, but you had better
be right. If you are not, you will be looking for a place to make
copies of your resume within a matter of days.
QUESTIONS
1. Read over the first six paragraphs of
this case study carefully. Highlight or underline everything that
you think may be a potential risk factor and note down why.
How many did you identify?
2. As the project team leader, you have
several critical issues to resolve once you learn about the missing
hardware. What are they, and which should you address first?
3. After Tony informs you that the
computers have not arrived, you mobilize your resources. Just
who are your key resources at this point, and how will you use them
most effectively to resolve the situation?
4. Your boss is urging you to call in the
big guns, but your local support network is advising just the
opposite. You have been given the responsibility and authority to
decide the course of action, and your job is on the line. What do
you decide to do and why?