Question

Hi, my name is Peter Metcalf. I'm the CEO and lead founder of Black Diamond. Very early on in the beginning of the company, the sports of climbing, mountaineering [inaudible] skiing were relatively small at that time. They've grown dramatically. However, if you aggregated the global demand for that product, then you could have a fairly meaningful business. I recognize that to be competitive, to do what we really wanted to do, we had to think globally. It was going to be about finding these global markets through finding other people who shared our passion, who were young, embryonic businesspeople in many cases who wanted to get into the business because they shared that passion, they knew the markets, they knew the space, and could develop a business as a distributer for us. And as time went on, we did begin to recognize that nobody really cares about Black Diamond as much as Black Diamond people do. And for that reason, we would have to take charge ultimately of the businesses that we were, the business we were conducting overseas through independent distributers. And there was also a recognition that, to be the same brand in Europe or in Asia as we were in North America, we would have to be something slightly different because of cultural values, cultural interpretations.

>> My name is Thomas Hodel. I'm from Switzerland. Born in Lausen. Doing outdoor sports were, was always a big part of my life, so a big passion of me, and that's why I'm here working at Black Diamond sharing that passion. And I have two roles at the moment. On a global view, I'm responsible for all the ski categories, so together with team here, we define strategies and directions for all the categories which belong to the ski side. And then, in Europe, I'm the European category director, so the role there is to make sure whatever we do here works also in Europe and the European needs are covered. It takes a long time to really figure out the differences in Europe, and it's, every country has a different culture, mentality. Having that European perspective, I think that that's definitely asset I can bring into this company and help this company to become more global, to address those needs better.

>> My name is Wim de Jager. Actually pronounced as Wim de Jager, but that's difficult. So Wim de Jager. I go with Wim de Jager. I'm the VP of manufacturing here at Black Diamond. Our business is really global. Our customers are global. And our manufacturing is definitely global as well. So, yeah, we own our own factory in Zhuhai. Products that we assemble and produce in the factory in Zhuhai are also part of this protective products that we use that are being used in climbing and in mountaineering, so the quality needs to be good. But also, we want to ensure that's being done in a good way. So we control it from start to finish, which means how we treat the people, how we manufacture, and how we run the organization, that we ensure that everything is done in the right way.

>> But more importantly, we have a certification and compliance process. We have auditors that go into these factories. We have a very strict guideline of ethical sourcing requirements. So we check these factories. We're not at some sweatshop. Factories that we're in, like, I think an apparel factory we're in in Bangladesh, the people get three meals a day. There's health care. There's English language. There's money for additional education. It's well ventilated, well lit. It's clean. It's safe. Because that's very important to us and 
what our values are.

1. When CEO says their manufacturing operations aren’t sweatshops, Black Diamond is exhibiting

A. Uncertainty avoidance

B. Global perspective

C. Social responsibility

D. Globalization

2. Peter Metcalf founded Black Diamond which creates, produces, and sells outdoor equipment. This is an example of

A. Manufacturing Organization

B. Service Organization

C. A tiered workforce

D. Outsourcing

3. Assume you are the CEO of Black Diamond, a global organization. You realize that some of the people in your organization are more comfortable working in a strong hierarchy while others prefer to work more like colleagues with their managers than as leaders. You have a project that requires highly structured reporting relationships with a clear hierarchy because it is a joint venture project. You believe people from some cultures may not feel comfortable with such a strong hierarchical relationship. In this case, you might seek to put people on the project who are from a (BLANK) country.

A. High Assertiveness

B. High Collectivism

C. High Power Distance

D. High uncertainty avoidance

Answer 1

1. With time, sweatshops have become synonymous to exploitative units. Sweatshops are the factories where the workers are exploited to work for meagre wages and hostile work conditions. Black Diamond has a stringent compliance policy for suppliers. If the suppliers have business policy like that of sweatshops, they tend to exploit the workers. This is unacceptable at Black Diamond. Through this stringent policy, Black Diamond is exhibiting social responsibility.

Answer: Option C

2. Black Diamond creates, produces and sells outdoor equipment. It is basically a manufacturing setup which works with the objective of manufacturing and selling outdoor equipment to customers. As it develops products and sells it to customers, Black Diamond is an example of Manufacturing Organization.

Answer: Option A

3. Black Diamond has a project which requires defined hierarchy and structured reporting relationship. The company needs to develop a clear structure for decision and communication flow. The employees must be comfortable to work in a hierarchical structure. The project desires people on project who are from a High Power Distance Country where hierarchy is maintained and there is defined structure at the workplace.

Answer: Option C