Academic Writing - Case study

Intercultural Business Case 1500-1800 words Corporate Social Responsibility in South Africa After finishing your studies, you accepted a new job at a medium-sized automotive supplier company as a consultant. After a training-on-the-job in the headquarters, you are employed as assistant manager in the subsidiary plant in Rosslyn / South Africa. The plant was established in 1968. Besides a small administrative office where the positions are mainly filled by German colleagues, there is a production facility in which predominantly Zulus are employed. As the customers only come from the private sector, the company has successfully averted the implementation of the "black economic empowerment" directive. The social and environmental activities of the company are limited to a minimum of legal requirements. The biggest struggle of the company lies in the AIDS pandemic – as in many other companies. The problem is that often long-term employed and highly skilled employees suffer from AIDS. Because of the lack of medical care, the workers cannot return to work. In combination with the highly labor-intensive orientation of the plant, this circumstance leads to significant productivity losses. Apart from the AIDS pandemic, also the increasing frequency of blackouts and power allocation is a massive problem. In comparison to German conditions, the energy usage situation in the Rosslyn plant can be described as inefficient. Your first task is to take care of the implementation of the sustainability policies of the most important customer – BMW South Africa Rosslyn, which stands for approximately 65% of the total sales. The triggers for the implementation are sustainable development requirements from the BMW AG, which also have to be fulfilled by the suppliers. The implementation of the policies is controlled by BMW and the further cooperation will depend on a successful evaluation. BMW places hereby special emphasis on the responsible treatment of employees. However, your boss tells you – after a few beers at a cozy braai – that he is not in favour with the BMW activities and that he cannot be bothered with sustainability and responsibility blabber. In his opinion this stuff is no objective of a company. Your second task is to eliminate the problems with one of the suppliers situated in Durban / South Africa. The specialized supplier is an Indian company (= management and the employees are South Africans of Indian descent). The problem is that arranged deliveries often go missing, even when the contact person confirms: no problem. Clarifying discussions mostly show the same pattern. After realising that the supplier will not deliver on time, you have arranged a meeting with the general manager of the supplier. Firstly, the manager’s reaction is quite reserved, seeming not to want to discuss this issue with you. Asking him when the order would be fulfilled, he promises to deliver by next week – as he has promised several times before. Emphasizing the numerous technical challenges they were facing, he explains that his employees try to do their best even though there have been electrical power outages – which seems to you to be just an excuse. Besides this the supplier’s manager mentioned that the deadline was not clearly defined, whereas you thought it was fully agreed upon from both sides. Bid only after reading full pdf attached