?Using her business connections, Ms. Jackson was appointed to the Board of Directors of Huge Oil Company, a British Columbia oil and natural gas company. Ms. Jackson thought that her position as a Director would elevate her level of prestige and help outher fledgling financialconsulting business. Ms. Jackson continued as a Director for three years and had been appointed chairperson of the Audit committee of the Boardof Directors and was becoming an active and well-informed member of the Board.

?Huge Oil had five oilrefineries across Canada, as well as several oil and gas properties in Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Despite some improvements, two of the refineries were reaching the end of their useful life. The Board of Directors had spent several months debatingwhether toclose the refineries or spend significant amounts of money to upgrade them. During this time the transfer system at the British Columbia refinery, which moves oil to the refinery from tankers at a wharf owned by Huge Oil, suffered a significant failure. The result was a major spill of heavy oil into the marine environment.

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The consequences of the spill were devastating to the local fishery, the local economy and to the environment. Over the next year it becameapparent thatthe losses and clean up costs from the spill would amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. The Board of Directors also learned that the company’s insurance would only cover part of the loss and that the company did not have the resourcestocover the remainder of all claims. It also became clear that Huge Oil, as a result of paying claims, did not have the money to remit the necessary withholdings to Revenue Canada (also now as The Canada Revenue Agency) which had been heldback from the employees paycheques. Nor, for that matter, did the company have the money to pay workers unpaid wages or to pay Provincial Tax authorities in B.C.

Whatis the liability of Ms. Jackson for any and all claims? What can she do, or what shouldshe have done,topossibly avoid liability?

Farmers Market Enterprise is owned and run by the Nsiah family and have over the years been known for their fresh vegetable products throughout the town. The employees of Farmers Market Ent. are mainly family members and are not recruited based on their skills or qualification. Training is mainly on the job and is done by senior family members with more years at the business. The business has been good and could be described as a market leader in the town and they pride themselves in offering superior customer care. Whenever a customer has an issue with their products they are always open to replacing the defective product at no cost to the customer. The defective products are sold off at a discount. Six months ago, a new shopping mall opened in the town offering fresh vegetables and providing stiff competition to the Nsiah family business. Patrons of this mall rarely experience product defects and hence are increasing their patronage of the mall’s products. Mr. Nsiah the head of the business is at his wits end and is struggling to keep the family business afloat due to a decreasing customer base and rising cost of business. Upon your return from the university you join your father, Mr. Nsiah in the family business and have to find innovative ways to compete favorably.

i. Identify two causes leading to the decline of the business?

ii. With the knowledge gained from your study of Introduction to Total Quality Management, discuss two measures you would put in place to minimize the decline in the business.

iii. Analyze four business performance indicators you will suggest to Mr. Nsiah to help improve the competitiveness of Farmers Market Enterprise.