As the Geographic (Country) Manager for a Rapidly Expanding Multinational

Essay

As the geographic (country) manager for a rapidly expanding multinational industrial manufacturer, you are responsible for managing the manufacturing operations in a developing economy. Business is fantastic. Pursuing the mandate given to you by your boss ("your job is to win at any cost"), your annual bonus alone has grown at a compounded annual rate of 50% over the past three years. Yet, your conscience has also been growing heavy. You have come under increasing local pressure as a consequence of an indigenous newspaper reporter's efforts to investigate the following incidents associated with your operations: (i) the high incidence of infant mortality experienced in households situated adjacent to a lake into which your plant is discharging effluents; (ii) the recent attempted suicide of two employees who were told that they would lose their jobs if they did not agree to extend their workday by four hours, despite already working eleven hours per day during a six day work week; and, (iii) the allegation that your domestic managers regularly secure expedited customs clearance for the raw materials
needed at your manufacturing plant by taking local officials on jaunts to a nearby casino. A telephone conversation with a trusted mentor-professor from the college where you earned your business degree leads to the professor urging you to consider either leaving the company or, initiating an appeal to headquarters to change its exploitive ways in favour of becoming more responsive in its foreign business dealings. You choose to accept the challenge of appealing to headquarters and decide to write a memo to initiate your efforts. However, you are cognizant that while you are familiar with the distinction between exploitive and responsive approaches adopted by MNEs, headquarters may dismiss these terms as "academic mumbo jumbo." What should you say in your memo to headquarters?