case study

Doing business with Chinese companies is not simple, need to have fast and efficient transportation services along nor does it happen quickly. Take Harbour Air, a China's coastal routes, and Zongshen indicated that local Vancouver-based float plane company that has undertaken governments are strongly supporting the new endeavour. a strategic partnership with a large Chinese firm to pro- Besides the expertise and knowledge Harbour Air vide float-plane services and knowledge in a new venture. will bring, the new company will be called Harbour Air The firm will help Zongshen Industrial Group set China. Another reason for utilizing this approach is to up the first float-plane operation in China. Given the generally introduce more aviation into China. Part of the 1.4 billion people in China and the many waterways, it long-term plan is to build its own seaplanes as the busi- is hard to imagine that there are no planes in operation. ness expands into Malaysia and Vietnam. The expertise Harbour Air brings to the relationship will This relationship will also allow Harbour Air te provide a solid launching pad for services in Shanghai and expand into the northern area of British Columbia, wher other South Asian places. oil and gas development is creating more demand for Part of the deal allows for the purchase of 49% of coastal plane services. shares of Harbour Air from its current owner and CEO, Greg McDougall. McDougall indicated that he had been CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS: approached for a number of years to export the expertise but 1. Besides expertise, what other advantages mig resisted for fear of bureaucracy and lethargy as regulators Harbour Air have in partnering with Zongshen? dealt with expansion of low-flying aircraft. However, he felt 2. What might be some disadvantages for Harbour Air the time was now to move into another market. There is a the future with the current ownership arrangemen Scanned with CamScanner Tesco, Britain's largest supermarket chain, provided these errors and going forward, is working to ensure incorrect compensation to almost 140,000 employees that fair and appropriate compensation is provided to due to errors in its payroll system. Almost 10m is all employees. owed to current and former workers after a system Employees are anxious to receive money owed to error led to them being paid less than the national them as they need to meet their own financial obli- living wage. gations. As well, employees want to know that their The company found that calculation errors were employer is paying them fairly and accurately. made when staff made voluntary contributions from their wages to benefits such as pensions, childcare CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS: vouchers, and cycle to work schemes. Chief Execu- 1. What other actions should Tesco take to rectify tive Matt Davies noted that as soon as the errors were this situation? discovered, action was taken to correct the underpay. 2. Beyond legal obligations, why should a company ments, and apologies were issued. Tesco is not denying ensure that employees are being paid properly? Scanned with CamScanner