PROGRESSIVE CASE: BILLS GRILL CASE #3 Case 3: The China Connection Date: February 10, 2012, 3:00 AM The phone rings in Patricks hotel room (he is still living at the Holiday Inn because he has not had time to look for a house). It is Ken, the materials manager calling from China13 hours ahead of Patrick. Patrick had sent to Ken to China to talk with one of Bills potential suppliers. Patrick assumes that Ken has prior knowledge of the negotiations, because of his long time in the role. TriTech is a Chinese that manufactures gas valves and igniter switchesones that could easily be used for the grills. The leadership team at Bills had been trying to make contacts and develop a strategic partnership with TriTech for several years. Igniter switches are both costly to make, and have a high potential for risk. Any produce in which you take responsibility for mixing gas and fire is relatively riskyone bad valve on a gas grill, and you have a consumer with no eyebrows, or worse. TriTech was known for its high quality and low cost products, with relatively low shipping costs. Bills needed the strategic partnership to workit would help them to reduce cost improve quality all in one, which is something they badly needed. And apparently, Ken was calling with bad news has bad news. Here is their conversation: Ken: Patrick, this is Ken. Sorry to wake you. Patrick: It is alright. What is going on? Ken: I dont know what is going on. Things seemed to be going fine, then all of the sudden; they upped the price by 50%! Worse, they now have a 1 million unit minimum order. Patrick: One million?? Ken: Yes, and when I refused, they stopped negations and walked me out the door. I dont know what happened. Patrick: Well, lets try not to lose any sleep over it. Catch the next flight, and we will talk about it when you get back. After hanging up, Patrick is stunned. He was counting on the outsourcing deal to cut costs in manufacturinghe had planned to use the extra money to bulk up his marketing efforts for summer. Now what? Key Players: Ken: Materials Manager. He is in charge of all raw materials purchasing and outsourcing. He is also Bills brotherhe started with the company 5 years after its inception. Questions to answer

1. What is your initial gut reaction to this situation?

2. Based upon this scenario, list at least three concepts or areas of the text that would help to explain what happened at the negotiations.

3. What could Ken have done to prepare for the negotiations?

4. How do GLOBE and Hofstedes help us to understand this situation?

5. What role does gender play?