In: Finance
Read the following scenario and answer the question in 5–10
sentences.
In December of 2004, the company you own entered into a 20-year
contract with a grain supplier for daily deliveries of grain to its
hot dog bun manufacturing facility. The contract called for "10,000
pounds of grain" to be delivered to the facility at the price of
$100,000 per day. Until February 2017, the supplier provided
processed grain which could easily be used in your manufacturing
process. However, no longer wanting to absorb the cost of having
the grain processed, the supplier began delivering whole grain. The
supplier is arguing that the contract does not specify the type of
grain that would be supplied and that it has not breached the
contract. Your company is arguing that the supplier has an onsite
processing plant and processed grain was implicit to the terms of
the contract. Over the remaining term of the contract, reshipping
and having the grain processed would cost your company
approximately $10,000,000, opposed to a cost of around $1,000,000
to the supplier. After speaking with in-house counsel, it was
estimated that litigation would cost the company several million
dollars and last for years. Weighing the costs of litigation, along
with possible ambiguity in the contract, what are three options you
could take to resolve the dispute? Which would be the best option
for your business and why?
Since litigation is very expensive for companies as they have to followup frequently and will continue for many years in the court of law, there are many other alternative ways to disputes resolution without having to go to court. Besides litigation, the alternatives are less time-consuming and cost-effective. Here are the three ways to resolve various disputes.
A. Negotiation
In the process of negiotation, the two parties in the conflict will reache to a mutually agreed solution. The two parties or their representatives reached a negotiation through deliberations. There is no involvement of third party in this process. The company need to consult a lawyer before resolving the matter so that they will aware of their rights and obligations to resolve the issue.
B. Mediation
In this process, a third party helps the two parties reach a final decision or settlement and is called a mediator. The third party acts as a neutral He is responsible for the communication with all parties, and he manages the communication fairly, honestly, and fairly. But he cannot act like a judge or an arbitrator, nor can he make a decision after reaching an agreed settlement memorandum after reaching a written understanding of the agreement based on the agreed terms
C. Arbitration
In this process, a third party makes the decision. The arbitrator arranges meetings between the two parties in the conflict, hears the case, then conducts the case trial, and obtains information and evidence from both parties, and finally, he makes a judgment because the judge is binding on both parties. Party,
I think, negitiation is the best choice among the above three options because it is low time-consuming and cheaper than court litigation and also no involvement of others in the deliberations, so it has become very popular today. Negiotation can be used for any type of dispute, so it has been widely accepted as part of the litigation process.