please explain regarding key issue in the case!

CROSSING THE BORDER The North American Free Trade Agreement {NAFTA} had just passed. For Katie Dunhill it was good news because. she hoped. the paperwork would be reduced. Katie was the importa'export coordinator for Tokisan America Inc. {TAI}. She managed the process of obtaining and sending raw materials and nished goods to and from the Mexican maquiladora. The maquiladora was a Mexican company that processed and assembled labor-intensive parts. Companies from all over the world, including TAI, arranged for maquiladoras to do assembly work because of the low-cost labor. Tokisan was a Japanese company with headquarters in Tokyo and subsidiary production facilities in the United States and Mexico. The U.S. subsidiary. TAI, was essentially autonomous, while the Mexican maquiladora was not. The maquiladora was managed entirely by TM. For the last week there had been ominous rumors of a future trucking strike in Mexico. Any trucking strike would slow or stop cross-border traffic since the truckers would most likely block major roads. Katie knew the imporh'export process well. She was aware that the export paperwork at TAI took at least eight hours to process (Katie was sure it could be done faster). It took at least four hours for the trucks to be loaded and four hours for the trucks to reach the border. At the border. the trucks could clear in a minimum of ve minutes, but sometimes the Mexican Customs ofcials would review the shipping documents with agonizing slowness. Sometimes the tactic was used to extract minor bribes. which TAI refused to pay. preferring up to one day of delay. Customs ofcials were slowly learning that TA] did not pay. and were resorting to tougher tactics such as questioning the shipping documents and refusing entry of material. Once across the border1 it would take an additional six hours for the truck to reach the plant and get unloaded. Only then was the raw material available for the assembly work. Recently the headquarters ofce in Japan had made the request to begin converting all manufacturing to a just-in-time basis. Katie knew this would be problematic. especially with the Mexican maquiladora as part of the manufacturing process. With all this in mind. she knew she had to make some quick decisions. Allowing production to stop was viewed poorly by management. Today was Wednesday, ? a.n1., and the tracker strike would probably start next Mondayand was expected to last a minimum of two days. She would attend the daily production meeting in fteen minutes. She sat down, looked out the window, then looked down at her calendar. and decided what to do. I. Identify and discuss the key issues in the case. This case was developed by Frederick terVeer under the direction of Professor David N. Burt