This volcano has a funny nameEyjafjallajokullbut its impact was not so funny to global businesses, both large and small. When it erupted on April 14, 2010, the plume of volcanic ash

that spread across thousands of miles disrupted air travel and global commerce for a number of days. As thousands of flights were canceled across Europe, tens of thousands of air travelers could not get to their destination. For example, Marthin De Beer, vice president of emerging technologies at Cisco Systems, was headed to Oslo to discuss the final aspects of its acquisition of Tandberg, a Norwegian teleconferencing company. However, when his flight was canceled, he and Tandberg's CEO, Fredrik Halvorsen, used their merged companies 'equipment to hold a virtual press conference. Other businesses were not as lucky, especially those with high-value, highly perishable products such as berries, fresh fish and flowers, and medicines and pharmaceuticals. African farmers, European fresh-produce importers, and flower traders from Kenya to the Netherlands found their businesses threatened by the air traffic shutdown. Even manufacturers were affected. For instance, BMW had to scale back work hours and had even prepared for possibly shutting down production at its Spartanburg, South Carolina, plant because it depended on trans-Atlantic flights to bring transmissions and other components from German factories by air. A spokesperson at another automobile company, Mercedes-Benz, said, "There has been disruption in our parts supply. We expect that there may be shortages of some parts or delays in some instances"

1. Would goals be useful in this type of situation? What types of goals might a manufacturing company like BMW have in such a situation? How about a global airline? How about a small flower grower in Kenya?

2. What types of plans could companies use in this type of situation? Explain why you think these plans would be important.

3. What lessons about planning managers can learn from this crisis.