1. The company has recently concluded a multi million dollar contract to supply products to a third-world country. The first elite group of engineers from that country has just completed a two-month training course on maintenance and operations. The training manager reported that the level of skill and knowledge of that country was so low that no amount of training would ever enable them to properly operate and maintain the products in questions. “It might be better for that country to buy a less sophisticated product from the company’s competitor.” the training manager suggests. What should the company do?
2. Six months ago, the company hired an engineer for his expertise in hydraulic drives, based on a product development plan with a forecast for needing this expertise. Market conditions have suddenly changed in favor of sophisticated electric drives. The engineer involved turns out to be very good in his area of specialization. But it is difficult to retrain him for other assignments in the company. Should the company discharge this engineer?
3. The company has been making most of its sales to a few large customers. The company president wishes to broaden its customer base. To do so may require a change of company culture, its product line strategy, its marketing/sales program, and its service organization. How should he go about making the required changes?
4. The company is considering a plan to upgrade its current product line. The cost of product upgrade is high. There is a small company which has developed the technology required for this product upgrade. What strategy should the company follow, if it wants to continue selling into its current market with the new upgraded product?
5. As the company’s sales are coming down unexpectedly, the president asks you to chair a task force with the objectives of developing solutions to correct the situation. Who do you want to be on this task force? How should this problem be resolved?
6. A loyal and high volume customer has warned the company’s marketing department that Project X is extremely critical to their need and that if this project is late, they may be forced to buy elsewhere. The project manager knows that the best estimates available to date from various in-house groups indicate that at the current rate of progress the Project X will be late by about 6 months. What should the project manager do?
7. Steve Lee, the Engineering Manager, delegates tasks as a good manager should. However, Mark Hayes, the Engineering Director, has the bad habit of calling up Steve unexpectedly to get detailed reports on various on-going activities in Steve’s department. Steve does not want to hold daily staff meetings in order to satisfy Mark’s information needs, because Steve is quite certain that requiring his professional staff to make daily reports will definitely upset them, as all of them are known to prefer independence. What should Steve do?