| I have some people from another country coming into my shop all the time and trying to bargain down the price on the things I sell there. When I tell that everything in the store is fixed price they don't believe me and keep on bargaining with me. What can I do? | I'm newly married and I'm finding it difficult to go out drinking like I used to with my colleagues. We also have a tradition of going fishing and hiking together. This sort of thing is important for cultivating a team spirit and solidarity. It's even more important now that I'm assistant manager in my department. What can I do? |
| I rented a car while I was on a business trip. I thought I'd save some money by renting from a cheaper company, but the tire blew out while I was driving on the freeway. The tow truck, the new tire, and labor, all added up, was pretty expensive ($350). To make things worse, when I brought the car back, the rental company refused to reimburse me for any of the costs. It's also not likely that my boss will let me add it my expense report since my company has been on a cost cutting binge recently. | I've just arrived at the airport for a business trip to Australia and I've discovered that I left a diskette with some spreadsheets that I need at home, but I don't know where it is or what color the diskette is. How am I going to get it for my meeting the day after tommorrow? How am I going to describe it to my wife so she can find it? |
| I'm on the airport bus heading out of downtown Tokyo when I realize I don't have my airplane ticket. I must have left it in my room. I don't have the phone number for the hotel, but I do remember the name. What should I do? | I want to go out and have a beer after class with all the other students in my English class, but I'm much older then they are. I'm wearing a suit and must look rather well-to-do. They'll expect me to foot the bill and given the financial situation at home these days, I really can't afford to do that right now. Is there anyway I can avoid being the person designated to pay the whole bill. |
| My wife is sick and the day after tommorrow we'll be cutting the first checks on the new payroll system I've been installing. It's 6:00pm, everyone has gone home, and I'm feeling really sleepy. I'm also feeling a little guilty about my wife stuck with all the kids back at home. If I work late tonight, I'll be tired tommorrow. If I go home early tonight, I'll be working under tremendous pressure tommorrow, something I have a hard time dealing with. What should I do? | I have five minutes before I have to give a presentation to an important member of upper management from corporate headquarters, when the handouts for the presentation get jammed in the copy machine and they start coming out of the machine all out of order. I'm starting to panic, should I turn off the machine, forget about the handout, or take a deep breath and try to solve the problem in a calm, controlled, rational manner? Help me! |
| You started a small computer consulting company three years ago and when the company was still small with most of its business on the west coast of the United States, you used to have company meetings two times a year where everyone would get together. Sure you discussed some business, but the most valuable part of the meetings was providing an opportunity for everyone to get to know one another better. All the consultants work at client sites, so without this opportunity to meet they would probably never have met each other. Anyway, the problem is that everyone takes these meetings for granted and they've become more expensive since the firm's business is spread out over the whole United States now and you have to fly everyone in for the meeting. Should I scale these meetings back or eliminate them entirely? | I'm an English teacher in Seoul, Korea and while I was back in the United States, I made some arrangements with a janitorial supply firm to supply them with mops manufactured in Korea. I think they're having financial problems, because they're two months behind on their payments. I don't know what to do. If I send them another month's supply of mops and they don't pay I'll be out $8,000. They say next month everything will be fine, but I really doubt that their problems will go away. What should I do? |
| I was going to be working in New York for a week and another member of my firm from New York was going to be working for a week in Atlanta where I live, so we decided to swap apartments and cars for a week to save on expenses. Everything was going alright until I arrived back to Atlanta after the week in New York. I got a call on my cellular phone. It was a friend of the co-worker in New York calling to tell me that she had got in a traffic accident over the weekend. A college student rear-ended her. They hadn't filled out an accident report with the police because the college student didn't have insurance. The college student had promised to give us $500 to cover the cost of repairs. She suggested to go talk to him. It seems hopeless, what should I do? | You're an independent travel agent who has her own clientele of business travellers that provide you with a fairly decent income based on commissions. But last month the airline industry cut commissions in half and you've seen your income cut in half, but your costs remain the same. Your friend has offered you a job in their new, successful internet travel agency. They'd take all your clients, and from what you can gather you'd be reduced to a mere clerical role. Perhaps it's time for a career change? |
| You've been having power tools disappear regularly from one part of your factory. Just last week someone came to you wanting to report that they had caught their co-worker pilfering. This is the only proof that you have, but you want to put an end to this problem immediately. Should you give the employee a warning or fire him immediately. How should you reward the person who reported the theft? | You have a nice steady market for the luxury perfumed soap products that your factory produces, but friends keep telling you that there's a great opportunity to expand your business through e-commerce. The problem is that you really don't know firsthand of any success stories and the friends who are telling you this are all high-priced computer consultants. Should you try it out? Should you hire your friends? |
| My small import-export company just began to import and market American cosmetics in Thailand when the currency collapsed. It's already declined 40% and it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon. Should I absorb the losses, hoping to establish market share so that when the economy turns around I'll be in a good position to make a profit? If I sell my product at the current exchange rate and increase the price by 10%, I'll just cover my costs. Should I take a risk? | My company produces a pesticide that they continue to sell to third world countries even though the use of the chemical has been banned in my country for five years now. A foreigner who lives in a village in the country and has a connection to the internet has found out that this chemical is banned and has also noticed that the locals take no precautions when using it. He believes that it's responsible for some deaths and stillbirths in the village. Frankly, I think he's right although I don't think it could be scientifically proven. What should I advice the board of directors to do? |
| I run a golf retail outlet selling golf clubs at heavily discounted prices. Someone approached me a year ago and convinced me that my retailing method (low overhead, discounts, warranty, repairs done cheaply in-house) had franchising potential. He paid me some money and I taught him what he needed to know, but then he turned around and opened up a shop down the street from me. He sold so many franchises in my area that my business has gone done significantly. I feel like hiring a lawyer, but would it do any good? | Your friend works for the Economist magazine in Korea and has told you that the banks in the country are not in good financial shape. He's predicting some kind of economic crisis in the near future. The exchange rate has been declining recently also, (last week it was at 800) reducing your effective income. Should you get your money out of the country while you can, perhaps putting it in some other Asian country like Thailand? Or maybe you should just send it back to the United States? The only problem is that interest rates are so attractive here in Asia, 15% in Korea and 10% in Thailand. What should you do? |