Medical Equipment INC
Q1) No, Grover thought that he has a good understanding for the culture because he was raised in Saudi Arabia, but the reality is he grew in an expatriate compound with limited contact with the Saudi people or the Saudi culture. He went to an Indian school and then went to take his college degree in the USA. His internships gave him the opportunity to work in France and the United States. The internships prepared him to work in the field but Saudi business concept is foreign to him. Grover did not understand the Saudi culture and missed some critical points while he was trying to get the deal. He knew that relationships are important in making business in Saudi Arabia which is completely true. The problem was he tried to build relations with the wrong persons the foreign cardiologist, the Egyptian biomedical engineer and the purchasing manager, but he could not reach the purchasing director. In a hierarchy community as Saudi Arabia the purchasing director is the most important one to build a relation with he is the one who can give Grover the deal. Grover spent his time building relation with people who can’t help him with the deal. It was obvious for me that Al Humaidi was avoiding meeting with Grover and when he finally met him after approximately one month it was a formal conversion. I lived in Saudi Arabia for 9 years and from my experience Saudi’s only have a say in Saudi Arabia. Foreigners or non Saudi Arabs working there have no say when it comes to business deals. A Saudi will always prefer to work with an Arab like Najjar and not an Indian because of the language and religious similarities this may sound harsh but is true especially in a situation like this where Al Humaidi had established a long relation with Najjar.
Q2) Bribe is never justified and it is unethical, unless you are working in a pharmaceutical company or in a medical equipment company. I am a pharmacist who worked in Egypt and lived in Saudi Arabia and from my experience that all the deals in this field need bribes. Bribes are not ethical at all but are a common practice in field of pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies. In Grover’s case it’s within company rules to offer a trip to a business customer to one of the showrooms to view and get more details regarding medical equipments latest software and technology. This can be considered a bride but it’s not as obvious as cash. Cash bribery’s is not allowed, and would be a mistake. The hospital that Al Humaidi works for is a government owned one with a large budget to work with so if Grover offered money this wouldn’t be viewed as an incentive to buy the medical equipment. In Egypt companies give the mangers of the client gifts depending on the field that the company works in and how popular and attractive the actual product being offered is. I remember a famous company that produces the devices that measures blood sugar level, in a way to promote its devices the company offered the product free to the physicians and the pharmacies with the strips needed so the physician can use it himself on patients or give it as a gift or use it in his clinic and the pharmacy of course will use it to measure the blood sugar level for the customer. The company will get double benefit, the physician and the pharmacy will advertise the product to the patient by using this device and the patient will be advised to buy one.
Q3) Grover has limited options that may be acceptable. There are 4 options I see as possible the first one is to continue in his way of conducting business. Grover’s current plan of action is morally and ethically safe, will not break any rules of the company or of his conscious but he may lose the deal. The second option is to proceed with the trip offer which will give him a chance to win the deal and in the same time he can document it as a business expense so it will not look as a bribe. As a show of commitment Grover should accompany Al Humaidi to the trip to help build a long lasting relationship. By going on the trip with Al Humaidi he can try to secure the current sale and also build for the future by assuring Al Humaidi that Medical Equipment INC. will be ready to work with him and be there for support and logistical backup and no also provide the best, outstanding technology for a reasonable price. The third option is to create a plan B and try to secure a sale regardless of the size, just to try and get in good favor with Al Humaidi with a potential of future business. It seems that even with careful analysis and generating a sales plan that offered all the best equipment according to the hospitals needs; this was still not adequate to secure the sale. From what Grover knows now he can create a plan B and modify the list of equipment that is offered and tailor it to the needs of the engineering and cardiology department only. The ECG machine that is being offered is far superior to that of the equivalent product that Wilson’s is offering. Knowing this and already having established a positive relationship with Dr. Saxman, Grover can push the two products that appeal more to the hospital. If the desired sale of $725,000USD worth of equipment is out of reach, then Grover could go forward with plan B and put an emphasis on the two ranges of products that Medical Equipment INC. has the edge over. While implementing this plan Grover already knows he is in good place with the cardiology department and engineering department so he could meet again with the purchasing manager Sultan and persuade him to schedule a meeting between the cardiology, engineering department, Sultan and Al Humaidi to discuss the new plan. This way not only would Grover have the support of the department but he would have a Saudi in Sultan to help push this new idea. Al Humaidi will be still able to take the two devices from Grover and take the other devices the hospital needs from Najjar. In the case it was mentioned that the low or high estimation of the order is wrong and will result in losing the deal but in Grover case he make the right evaluation of the need of the hospital but he will provide just 2 devices of these needs and this is acceptable, during my work in a governmental institution that need medical devices I saw a lot of deals involve buying the needs of the institution from 2 and 3 different companies depend on the price and the quality of the devices each company offers. So it is not weird or strange to just provide part of the needs even when you can provide it all it depends on the situation of the deal. The One option that would cause him to lose the deal is to offer cash to Al Humaidi. For one Grover would not be able record the cash gift and it would be highly against company ethic code. If an unethical cash type bride was offered, Grover would not be able to predict the reaction of Al Humaidi and the deal could be lost and Grover could risk his job or worse be deported from the country.
Q4) I think the best option is to go with the trip option. In my field of work in pharmacy I saw these trips happen a lot and it is a common practice in the pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies. It’s an acceptable way to close the deals and gives the seller a higher percentage of closing the deal. So I think this trip will give him a great opportunity to win this deal especially if he went with the director in it and build a good relation with him and at the same time Grover won’t risk his position in the company because it is not considered a bribe or unethical for the medical equipment’s company. If the trip did not secure the deal he can always use plan B which will be easier to use after the trip because of the good relation he built with Al Humaidi.