Global Assessment Question
Imagine a scenario in which you are a junior sales executive for a multinational firm selling a product line in many corners of the world. Part of your newly defined sales âterritoryâ is in an emerging economy with very traditional approaches to doing business. You have travelled to this new market for the first time and you have met the âbuyerâ who you are introducing your product to for the first time and potentially negotiating a price schedule for the articles in your product line. You have made a hotel reservation in the city in which you are staying, but the âbuyerâ insisted in an e-mail communication that he pick you up at the airport so that you could get right to work in introducing him to your offerings. The buyer is very friendly in making your acquaintance at the airport and brings you to his company offices where you meet many of his colleagues, some of whom you will also be occasionally working with if the âdealâ goes through. His colleagues are also very welcoming and friendly. In your conversations with this group, the subject of the hotel in which you are staying for the three days that you are in town is brought up. When you tell them you are staying at the âAmbassador Hotelâ (the only hotel that your boss would approve because the local âHiltonâ and âRadissonâ were charging room rates well in excess of what company policy would allow), your buyer and his colleagues unanimously tell you that the Ambassador in a dump in the seedy part of town and suggest that no self-respecting person would stay there. They call the Hilton and Radisson. Theyâre both full up. The buyer then immediately insists that you stay in his house, with him and his family for the three days. He assures you that since you will be working with him intensively for the next three days anyway to put a deal together and because he has two empty bedrooms (his kids are away at college), you will not be inconveniencing him at all. He also tells you that he is very much hoping that you agree to this invitation since his wife will be sure to make more elaborate meals if you stay there (based on his experience in hosting other potential business associates) and he doesnât have as many opportunities to sample his wifeâs best cooking as he would like.
You reluctantly agree to this invitation, not wishing to seem unfriendly to his obvious efforts to be a good host or to be cool to his desire to develop a friendly working relationship. As it turns out, the accommodations at the buyerâs home are extremely pleasant and comfortable. The three dinners that his wife Gretchen prepares are all extravagant, perhaps even spectacularâeach with many distinct courses, each representative of the local culture and customs of the area and each complemented by ample helpings of local wines and other alcoholic beverages.
On the last day of your three day trip, you and the buyer work out the details of a five year deal whereby your company will be selling products from your company to the buyerâs company on terms that you believe are advantageous to both companies. The buyer has offered to drive you to the airport for your trip back home. As you are about to get into the car, the buyer produces a box that looks a bit bigger than a camera case and explains that he has so enjoyed meeting you, establishing a friendly business relationship and having a chance to show you his home and some of the nearby historical sites that are so meaningful to him, he would be very, very pleased if you would accept a gift from his as a token of his friendship. He encourages you to open the box and you find a solid gold wine gobletâin the traditional style of wine goblets that were common in this country several hundred years ago. As you feel the weight of this goblet in your hand, you believe that it might be worth as much as $5,000. You are concerned that since the goblet so obviously represents an expression of the buyerâs culture and traditions, you might be giving offense to the buyer if you did not accept the gift. Therefore, you gratefully accept the gift and discuss the possibility of being a host to him and showing him some of the exciting places to see in the New York City area if he is ever able to travel to our area.
Please evaluate the junior sales executiveâs professional behavior in this scenario.