Case Situation - St Lawrence Seaway Deadline

Algoma Steel Ontario Canada is a manufacture of hot and cold rolled steel and plate products.The company is over 100 years old; their steelworks located on St. Mary's River enables all water traffic to be serviced onsite by the Port of Algoma Steel. This gives Algoma an advantage in the industry as they have access to shipping via rail, road, and water.

Not only has Algoma been in the industry for a long period of time they, are highly decorated with certification that include ISO 9001, IATF 16949, ABS, Lloyds, CPR, PED, ISO 17025, and DNV. With such a high ranking in the industry comes many responsibilities to provide a high-quality product on time, every time.

Trouble has erupted for Algoma Steel as Vale one of their main suppliers for iron ore in Brazil has gone on strike no calls are being returned as nobody is crossing the picket line. Iron Ore is the main raw material ingredient in the manufacture of Algoma's products. Algoma Steel has several purchase orders from their construction customers with strict delivery dates. If Algoma doesn't receive their raw material in a timely manner, they won't be able to deliver the orders of steel on time to their construction customers. This would lead to costly projects being delayed and unhappy customers.

Luckily, the shipping department at Algoma steel located an empty Seawaymax vessel off the coast of Australia and happens to be on its way back to Canada. Seawaymax vessels are large enough to carry the load for Algoma Steel and can fit through the canal locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Another fortuitous event happened; Algoma has an Australian supplier that has extra iron ore on hand to fill the Seawaymax with enough iron ore to meet the customers demands. With great relief Algoma thinks that their problem has been adverted until.... The shipping company contacts Algoma to notify them that they might not get their delivery of iron ore because the St Lawrence Seaway potentially will be closing early for the season due to a cold front coming in from the Artic. Algoma Steel is meeting with their construction customer, the Canadian Coast Guard and the shipping company's captain (who will conference call in) to negotiate the extra cost for the Australian shipment and to mandate the Coast Guard to keep the seaway open until their load has been delivered.

Character #5 - Fabio Batista CEO of Vale Do Rio Doce Iron Ore Mine. Brazil

Fabio Batista is exhausted after negotiating long days in efforts to end the labour strike at the Carajas mine. The strike is over! His first call was to Algoma steel to inform them that their shipment of iron ore was on its way will make it to their dock on time as their shipping company prepared all special permits that will allow the vessel clearance in and around the closing dates of the St Lawrence seaway.

Fabio is not surprised that Sheila from Algoma Steel has made other arrangements for her steel delivery, but he also knows that the new shipping company wouldn't have had time to complete all the special clearance permits. Mr. Batista knows under the contract clause Force Majeure, Vale do Rio Doce will not be held responsible for the delay of the shipment. Vale has been a long-time supplier of Algoma and wants to ensure the relationship is maintained. He is hoping that Sheila will take the extra load of iron ore even though they might not need it at this time.

Assignment:

In this assignment, as a representative negotiator of your country you are responsible for conducting detailed research on the negotiating style that includes the answers to: Is your culture considered high context or low context, does your culture focus on a macro or micro level of perspectives, is your culture risk taking, how does your culture communicate with gestures (this can include walking, bowing and eye contact). What is considered taboo in your culture? What is perceived as unethical? Include cultural values and norms and aspects of the country's culture, including but not limited to, customs, dress, predominant religious or institutional influences (if any), communication patterns and practices and any aspect of culture that would affect the process and context of a negotiation. In other words, students are expected to get into the hearts and minds of their assigned country representative and will be expected to thoroughly play and act the role accordingly in the negotiation. This knowledge will be applied to the final negotiation situation assigned later.

Secondly, students should also prepare a brief profile (or profiles) on the culture or cultures with which they will be negotiating. This will provide useful background on the negotiating styles and practices of their counterparts in the negotiation.

Note: Please read above mentioned case as well as character and provide step by step relevant answer of all questions.