TNT International Company Context TNT International is a high-tech company that is on the cutting edge of new technology for use in various automated applications. It is in the early stages of developing a device and the related application(s) that will allow consumers to register devices and view information about their usage history, as well as enable a universal remote control for some of the smart-enabled consumer products in TNTs product portfolio.[1] TNTs governance structure requires certain approvals before a product can be released to consumers. The key personnel involved in the approval process for new products include various senior managers, the V.P. of Marketing, the V.P. of Product Development, the Chief Information Officer, and the Chief Engineer. TNT has reached a critical stage in the development of its latest product, but notices that it has recently been losing some of its high-level engineers to its competitors, one of whom it believes (but cannot prove) may have shared key strategic information with one of TNTs biggest rivals. This raises major concerns for TNT because some of those departing employees spent a significant amount of time working on developing TNTs new smart device. After doing some digging, the head of Human Resources discovered that all but one of the recent departures from the engineering team resulted from a rivals headhunter cold-calling TNT employees to offer them sweet deals and other incentives to switch companies. TNTs market share has been lagging in recent years and it believes the new technology it plans to launch next summer will take the consumer electronics industry by storm (i.e., disrupt the market and drive a significant volume of business to its new device). As such, TNT needs to make some critical decisions about how to protect its trade secrets generally, but more specifically, how to stop the departure of critical staff while its new product is under development. General Description of the Proposed Non-Compete: The employee will not be permitted to work for a rival that competes with TNT in any of the dozen markets where it operates around the world for at least three years upon leaving TNT. The teams working on TNTs new technology are located across the globe. Although headquartered in the U.S. (Palo Alto, CA), TNT does business in a number of other places around the world, including China, France, Germany, Toronto, Singapore, Brussels, and the UK. Engineers and other employees from many of these locations have played a role in developing TNTs new smart device.

1) Assume you are Daniel, the CEO. What do you do?

2) How do you deal with any existing legal obligations raised by the proposed non-compete and deal with any potential regulatory changes in the U.S.?

3) At what point do you raise these issues with the legal department?

4) How do you assess the risk of moving forward without legal guidance?

5) Is it sufficient to implement the policy to stop the departure of employees and then make any course corrections if you discover later that TNT has run afoul of one or more laws?

6) Assume you are Hollis (the head of Human Resources). How do you handle Daniels (the CEOs) request regarding the cold-calling issue?

7) What would be the impact and severity of being non-compliant in one or more jurisdictions while waiting for the new product to launch?