Written Assignment unit 4

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Analysis

University of the People

UNIV 1001-01 - AY2022-T5

instructors name : Erin Rodgers

7/12/2022
 1- A summary of the issue. Briefly, what are the key facts of the case study?

Nasira, 25, is a recent college graduate who has a job as a purchasing analyst. Although she

does not earn enough money to sustain herself extravagantly, she likes and loves her job, and is

confident she will one day get promoted. She worked for K9 Dura-Corp, a small, growing

industrial manufacturing facility in Michigan, which is a major beneficiary of “Made in

America" marketing strategy, to its benefit.

Nasira offered to help out when K9 Dura-Corps subcontracting company lost a piece. The fabric

lining provider for their dog beds was forced to cease operations, and that started to delay

production at K9DC, and became Nasiras week-long task of finding a new supplier for the

sourcing ASAP. When Nasira was researching for a new supplier, she found two suppliers. The

first was All-Fabric Inc., located in a territory similar to that of her company, and the second

supplier was Fab-Right Inc., located outside of the United States.

Fab-Right Inc. was able to supply Narisas company with fabric of less cost and of an acceptable

quality, but Narisa was concerned with something else, which was that the company was very

secretive about their working conditions, and that made Narisa quite worried about working

conditions of manufacturing industries. The fact that the company was not transparent about
their working environment certainly gave Narisa the worry about the possible exploitation of

labor from their suppliers. While All-Fabric Inc. fabrics appear less durable, and this is a red

flag since this could be potentially a chewing hazard to dogs. In addition, there were complaints

about sewage lines at the companies facility polluting a local freshwater supply.

After carefully reviewing his options, Narisa decided to find better alternatives. Meanwhile, her

supervisor told her the situation was getting worse, and it would only continue getting worse

unless she was able to find replacement suppliers ASAP, or else there would likely be layoffs

any time soon. Nasira quickly realized, therefore, that her job, and possibly her career, might be

compromised since she was relatively new in the company, and had lower priorities of keeping

the company in the event of a layoff wave.

2- Use of at least one critical thinking strategy or tool to analyze the situation and highlight

key facts. Be sure to specifically identify the tool you select and describe its use.

Root Cause Analysis Critical Thinking techniques will be used to analyze this case study. This

analytic technique is used to determine the nature and causes of an issue, along with corrective

actions to take. I will be using assessment as the tactic for analyzing a situation in depth. First,

we will attempt to gain the complete view of the frame with which Nasira has to operate.

The first constraint preventing Nasira from finding a provider is time. Nasira did not have a lot

of time.

And the fact that she faced just two choices, and that both had shortcomings, can

understandably be excused, given that she had to operate on very limited time, and a tight

budget her company was prepared to pay her vendors. Nasiras hesitation in cutting the check for

All-Fabric Inc. or Fab-Right Inc., because she was concerned about environmental damages at
their respective factories and allegations of exploitation at their workers, respectively, shows the

way that Nasira is a morally, ethically, and professionally, a well-rounded worker.

But at the same time, it is imperative for Nasiras firm to locate the supplier ASAP, in order to

allow the firm to flourish as a business. So, each piece of information received on a potential

supplier’s companies needs to be reviewed, analyzed, and compared between them, then the

decision needs to be made.

3- A recommendation to resolve the situation, along with reasons why you recommend this

solution.

I would recommend that K9 Dura-Corp have both short-term and long-term plans regarding

their vendors. Since K9DC is close to going out of business as they have no supplier, they

should negotiate a contract with Fab-Right Inc. since it is known that this supplier has a high-

quality cloth with a low cost.

Then, by doing this, K9DC can keep looking for a supplier who has a better reputation than the

two suppliers that they found. Or, K9DC can speak to either All-Fabor Fab-Right Inc about

allegations they are facing. Trust and transparency are the keys for a thriving company to grow,

therefore, K9DC could send their own proxy(s) in and check on the validity of the allegations, if

true and happened to the time, K9DC could further work along the suppliers, should the

suppliers wish to make changes to better.

Word count:

785