Fall Week 5

Part 1: 

Step 1

The facts:

  1. Neem is indigenous to India and is considered sacred
  2. neem used extensively over the past 2,000 years for medicinal purposes, food production, toiletries, fuel, and pesticides. 
  3. Neem products used widely across India and the industry as a whole employs many poor people
  4. Chetan operates a small business of neem tree products
  5. Chetan’s family has owned this business for the last seven generations
  6. The business employs 60 people in different functions
  7. Despite being familiar with over 200 applications of the tree and its derivatives, Chetan does not know the exact name of the neem seed extract, Azadirachtin. 
  8. Ten years ago, Tom Johnson (OOPS) discovered the neem seeds’ use as a potent pesticide. 
  9. Tom received a patent for the pesticide formula and brought the product to market
  10. They have a worldwide patent and financial capital to manufacture and sell the product on a large scale.
  11. People are likely to prefer buying products from US companies over small Indian cottage, affecting business locally

 

Step 2 & 3:

The stakeholders

  1. OOPS
    1. Professional: Making a lot of money, Gain a large market share
    2. Personal: Make a lot of money for themselves, they also have serious money at stake
  2. Chentan
    1. Professional: Keep his employees, have a business to still run/not be the guy who ran the company to the ground
    2. Personal: Family relationships at stake, money (not as much a worry though)
  3. Chentan’s employees 
    1. Professional: They don’t want to lose their jobs, they probably like the jobs
    2. Personal: They rely on the job to make ends meet, they need the money from the jobs and probably will have a hard time finding a new one 
  4. Other Indian growers of neem trees
    1. Professional: money/job security
    2. Personal: feeding families, social worth
  5. Competing companies (Chentan could help them instead)
    1. Professional: 
  6. Consumers in India
    1. Professional: Economic impact of large job layoff
    2. Personal: Want there friends to have 

Step 4:

Solutions:

  1. Try and employ the people affected in a new way by selling a different product/Work with locals to create a new formula and have a shared patent
    1. Pro: This could fix the problem from a revenue standpoint, they would have all of the systems to sell the product as well as the expertise to do it.
    2. Con: It would be hard to find a new strain to a patent if so the patent might not hold up. It will be expensive to create a new formula from a farming point of view and a legal point of view. Plus people might still prefer the other product.
  2. Try and persuade the government to not accept the subsidized goods
    1. Pro: This would allow the locals to manufacture the goods and sell them locally at the price they were at before.
    2. Con: It might be really hard to get them to actually convince the government to actually do this. After all, there is not an extremely important reason to not enforce the patent.
  3. Have the locals sue in regards to the patent because it probably isn’t strong enough. (Have the local form a gang). 
    1. Pro: This could fix the problem without having to deal with the government which could be a large factor. They would win the fact that the this material is not patentable, but thats not really a win-win situation because it could against there favor later on if they tried to patent it.
    2. Con: OOPS has the money to out price them in the short term just to force them anyway so the patent is sort of irrelevant in my mind, whether they would do this is its own ethical question. It’s also extremely expensive to try to sue the US company, especially when it comes to

 

Step 5:

Additional Resources

http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2015/the-patent-landscape-of-genetically-modified-organisms/

https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2016/si/article_0004.html

Step 6:

Best Course of action

 

I think the best course of action would be to try and get the patent taken away while trying to convince the this is by far the most expensive, most difficult, as well as most time-consuming approach, but I think it is the only one that brings them back to an even playing field. If they don’t take drastic measures they will probably go under anyway so you might as well go out with a fight. You can try and employ the people using other methods or by growing crops, but you don’t know that would work plus if you have to find the money for more crops, you gonna be short anyway so you might as well be short, and have a chance at fixing your problem long term by making sure you can’t get your product stole by a US corporation. I think that OOPS is ethically allowed to do what they did, is it legal from a sense of intellectual property, I don’t think so, but I do think it is ethical. The basis of IP law is to ensure that if you spend a bunch of money on R&D you get the money back. Did OOPS do this, no, but did they use the law to their advantage, that not ethical, it’s just a little immoral. The world is a capitalist society, well sort of, so is it ethical to sell a product at a lower price than others can: yes, as long as your not price gouging which they weren’t doing. 

 

Step 7:

Implication

The implications of fighting the patent are enormous. The first one is the debt the locals will incur if they choose to hire lawyers. They also will have to spend a tremendous amount of time gathering evidence and using their time to win this trial. It is entirely possible that could go bankrupt if they lose the case. There are also legal implications if the case is overturned and precedent if it is not. Either way, this could impact other business of similar nature, thus they might be able to ask outside sources to help fund the battle.

 

Part 2:

Step 1:

Facts

  1. Neem is indigenous to India and is considered sacred
  2. neem used extensively over the past 2,000 years for medicinal purposes, food production, toiletries, fuel, and pesticides. 
  3. Neem products used widely across India and the industry as a whole employs many poor people
  4. Chetan operates a small business of neem tree products
  5. Chetan’s family has owned this business for the last seven generations
  6. The business employs 60 people in different functions
  7. Despite being familiar with over 200 applications of the tree and its derivatives, Chetan does not know the exact name of the neem seed extract, Azadirachtin. 
  8. Ten years ago, Tom Johnson (OOPS) discovered the neem seeds’ use as a potent pesticide. 
  9. Tom received a patent for the pesticide formula and brought the product to market
  10. They have a worldwide patent and financial capital to manufacture and sell the product on a large scale.
  11. People are likely to prefer buying products from US companies over small Indian cottage, affecting business locally
  12. 6 months down killing the Indian market
  13. 20 products sold at supermarkets
  14. Neem based soap is best product
  15. The wrapper of soap has tom on it
  16. Chetan has his grandfather on i 
  17. Chetan met with tom multiple times urge him to move out of the market
  18. Tom refused to move out but would collaborate
  19. Chetan business is suffering
  20. Likley will have to lay off workers at least half
  21. They have worked with the company for a long time
  22. Chetan is finically well off and will do fine if the company shuts down
  23. Chetan is sad to lay them off
  24. His employees think he cut a deal with OOPS
  25. They feel cheated by chetan


Step 2 & 3

  1. OOPS
    1. Professional: Making a lot of money, Gain a large market share
    2. Personal: Make a lot of money for themselves, they also have serious money at stake
  2. Chentan
    1. Professional: Keep his employees, have a business to still run/not be the guy who ran the company to the ground
    2. Personal: Family relationships at stake, money (not as much a worry though)
  3. Chentan’s employees 
    1. Professional: They don’t want to lose their jobs, they probably like the jobs
    2. Personal: They rely on the job to make ends meet, they need the money from the jobs and probably will have a hard time finding a new one 
  4. Other Indian growers of neem trees
    1. Professional: money/job security, will OOPs get a monopoly?
    2. Personal: feeding families, social worth
  5. Tom
    1. Professional: needs to make the most of his company, can’t afford to give up anything in a tough market.
    2. Personal: Probs doesn’t want to have to make Chetan lay off workers

 

Step 4:

Solutions 1

  1. Potential Solution: Negotiate a partnership with OOPS
  2. How does it solve the problem? 
    1. Pros: It allows them to keep running, at a decreased profit, but still run. You also get to keep your employees or at least some of them
    2. Cons: Your probably gonna have fewer employees and less profit, doesn’t look great for image
  3. How does it save the face of those involved?: It allows you to keep the business running but at a decreased profit. You save jobs and people’s livelihoods.
  4. Implications on relationships
    1. Short-term: Might piss people off that some lose jobs and that people probs get paid less
    2. Long-term: Might help keep your business running in the long run, thus making you not look like the person who killed the business
  5. Implications on the venture
    1. Short-term: Cash flow back in, Keep jobs, keep employees, low moral over layoffs
    2. Long-term: Could save accounting problems and cash problem with competition

Solutions 2

  1. Potential Solution: Convince OOPS to buy them out
  2. How does it solve the problem?
    1. Pros: This has the same benefits as solution 1, but adds to the fact that opps are incentivized to make your company work and function because otherwise, it is a cash problem. Verse with solution 1 they don’t care if you do badly only if you do well.
    2. Cons: Will be extremely hard to make happen unless Chetan sells at a deal, everyone might not keep their jobs, and the company might just be sold for scraps
  3. How does it save the face of those involved?:  It allows Chetan to exit peacefully and make this toms problem. It also lets people keep their jobs, probably temporally, but long enough to figure out what to do.
  4. Implications on relationships
    1. Short-term: Might be considered a coward, but should help keep family has a little hope, buy out can lead to house cleaning, which could be bad for morale.
    2. Long-term: People might have a chance to keep jobs long term vs the other solutions don’t offer the same incentive. 
  5. Implications on the venture
    1. Short-term: Might allow for cash flow to start back in, which could allow people to keep jobs, also might kill jobs unknown
    2. Long-term: Could keep the business long term, or could be sold for scraps.

Solutions 3

  1. Potential Solution: Shut down the business
  2. How does it solve the problem?
    1. Pros: No longer have cash hemorrhage, can retire, less stress
    2. Cons: You have to fire everyone, pay severance packages, no income from your end
  3. How does it save the face of those involved?: It doesn’t necessarily, but it prevents a long drown out bankruptcy which people would get nothing, thus saves the company from this.
  4. Implications on relationships
    1. Short-term: People might be mad they lost jobs
    2. Long-term: People might hate you for shutting down the company
  5. Implications on the venture
    1. Short-term: Money for exit 
    2. Long-term: N/A

 

Step 5:

https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/manage-your-business/close-or-sell-your-business

https://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/closing-a-business/necessary-steps-to-dissolve-your-company.html

https://thebusinessprofessor.com/knowledge-base/closing-up-shop/




Step 6:

I think I would try to get the company bought because either way it is going to shut down. Do I believe I owe jobs to each employee, not really because my job is to best for the company, so if selling it or shutting down is best then I must do that. Would I write great recs, of course, but thats a moral reason not because I feel obligated too. I think that in this scenario selling might get people jobs for a little longer, thus I think it worth trying, also the sale could be used for a fund for severance packages for the works who might get laid off. If I can’t sell I would shut down the business because it is not a charity, it is not supposed to run at a cash negative state. If it’s not making money it shouldn’t be open. Does that suck for the employees, yes, but times change, and if you don’t change with it you get left behind.

 

Step 7:

  1. Try to get company bought
  2. If fails shut down
  3. Write recs for employees
  4. If successful sell and help run the company for a little so they don’t run it to the ground.

 

Part 1: 

Step 1

The facts:

  1. Neem is indigenous to India and is considered sacred
  2. neem used extensively over the past 2,000 years for medicinal purposes, food production, toiletries, fuel, and pesticides. 
  3. Neem products used widely across India and the industry as a whole employs many poor people
  4. Chetan operates a small business of neem tree products
  5. Chetan’s family has owned this business for the last seven generations
  6. The business employs 60 people in different functions
  7. Despite being familiar with over 200 applications of the tree and its derivatives, Chetan does not know the exact name of the neem seed extract, Azadirachtin. 
  8. Ten years ago, Tom Johnson (OOPS) discovered the neem seeds’ use as a potent pesticide. 
  9. Tom received a patent for the pesticide formula and brought the product to market
  10. They have a worldwide patent and financial capital to manufacture and sell the product on a large scale.
  11. People are likely to prefer buying products from US companies over small Indian cottage, affecting business locally

 

Step 2 & 3:

The stakeholders

  1. OOPS
    1. Professional: Making a lot of money, Gain a large market share
    2. Personal: Make a lot of money for themselves, they also have serious money at stake
  2. Chentan
    1. Professional: Keep his employees, have a business to still run/not be the guy who ran the company to the ground
    2. Personal: Family relationships at stake, money (not as much a worry though)
  3. Chentan’s employees 
    1. Professional: They don’t want to lose their jobs, they probably like the jobs
    2. Personal: They rely on the job to make ends meet, they need the money from the jobs and probably will have a hard time finding a new one 
  4. Other Indian growers of neem trees
    1. Professional: money/job security
    2. Personal: feeding families, social worth
  5. Competing companies (Chentan could help them instead)
    1. Professional: 
  6. Consumers in India
    1. Professional: Economic impact of large job layoff
    2. Personal: Want there friends to have 

Step 4:

Solutions:

  1. Try and employ the people affected in a new way by selling a different product/Work with locals to create a new formula and have a shared patent
    1. Pro: This could fix the problem from a revenue standpoint, they would have all of the systems to sell the product as well as the expertise to do it.
    2. Con: It would be hard to find a new strain to a patent if so the patent might not hold up. It will be expensive to create a new formula from a farming point of view and a legal point of view. Plus people might still prefer the other product.
  2. Try and persuade the government to not accept the subsidized goods
    1. Pro: This would allow the locals to manufacture the goods and sell them locally at the price they were at before.
    2. Con: It might be really hard to get them to actually convince the government to actually do this. After all, there is not an extremely important reason to not enforce the patent.
  3. Have the locals sue in regards to the patent because it probably isn’t strong enough. (Have the local form a gang). 
    1. Pro: This could fix the problem without having to deal with the government which could be a large factor. They would win the fact that the this material is not patentable, but thats not really a win-win situation because it could against there favor later on if they tried to patent it.
    2. Con: OOPS has the money to out price them in the short term just to force them anyway so the patent is sort of irrelevant in my mind, whether they would do this is its own ethical question. It’s also extremely expensive to try to sue the US company, especially when it comes to

 

Step 5:

Additional Resources

http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2015/the-patent-landscape-of-genetically-modified-organisms/

https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2016/si/article_0004.html

Step 6:

Best Course of action

 

I think the best course of action would be to try and get the patent taken away while trying to convince the this is by far the most expensive, most difficult, as well as most time-consuming approach, but I think it is the only one that brings them back to an even playing field. If they don’t take drastic measures they will probably go under anyway so you might as well go out with a fight. You can try and employ the people using other methods or by growing crops, but you don’t know that would work plus if you have to find the money for more crops, you gonna be short anyway so you might as well be short, and have a chance at fixing your problem long term by making sure you can’t get your product stole by a US corporation. I think that OOPS is ethically allowed to do what they did, is it legal from a sense of intellectual property, I don’t think so, but I do think it is ethical. The basis of IP law is to ensure that if you spend a bunch of money on R&D you get the money back. Did OOPS do this, no, but did they use the law to their advantage, that not ethical, it’s just a little immoral. The world is a capitalist society, well sort of, so is it ethical to sell a product at a lower price than others can: yes, as long as your not price gouging which they weren’t doing. 

 

Step 7:

Implication

The implications of fighting the patent are enormous. The first one is the debt the locals will incur if they choose to hire lawyers. They also will have to spend a tremendous amount of time gathering evidence and using their time to win this trial. It is entirely possible that could go bankrupt if they lose the case. There are also legal implications if the case is overturned and precedent if it is not. Either way, this could impact other business of similar nature, thus they might be able to ask outside sources to help fund the battle.

 

Part 2:

Step 1:

Facts

  1. Neem is indigenous to India and is considered sacred
  2. neem used extensively over the past 2,000 years for medicinal purposes, food production, toiletries, fuel, and pesticides. 
  3. Neem products used widely across India and the industry as a whole employs many poor people
  4. Chetan operates a small business of neem tree products
  5. Chetan’s family has owned this business for the last seven generations
  6. The business employs 60 people in different functions
  7. Despite being familiar with over 200 applications of the tree and its derivatives, Chetan does not know the exact name of the neem seed extract, Azadirachtin. 
  8. Ten years ago, Tom Johnson (OOPS) discovered the neem seeds’ use as a potent pesticide. 
  9. Tom received a patent for the pesticide formula and brought the product to market
  10. They have a worldwide patent and financial capital to manufacture and sell the product on a large scale.
  11. People are likely to prefer buying products from US companies over small Indian cottage, affecting business locally
  12. 6 months down killing the Indian market
  13. 20 products sold at supermarkets
  14. Neem based soap is best product
  15. The wrapper of soap has tom on it
  16. Chetan has his grandfather on i 
  17. Chetan met with tom multiple times urge him to move out of the market
  18. Tom refused to move out but would collaborate
  19. Chetan business is suffering
  20. Likley will have to lay off workers at least half
  21. They have worked with the company for a long time
  22. Chetan is finically well off and will do fine if the company shuts down
  23. Chetan is sad to lay them off
  24. His employees think he cut a deal with OOPS
  25. They feel cheated by chetan


Step 2 & 3

  1. OOPS
    1. Professional: Making a lot of money, Gain a large market share
    2. Personal: Make a lot of money for themselves, they also have serious money at stake
  2. Chentan
    1. Professional: Keep his employees, have a business to still run/not be the guy who ran the company to the ground
    2. Personal: Family relationships at stake, money (not as much a worry though)
  3. Chentan’s employees 
    1. Professional: They don’t want to lose their jobs, they probably like the jobs
    2. Personal: They rely on the job to make ends meet, they need the money from the jobs and probably will have a hard time finding a new one 
  4. Other Indian growers of neem trees
    1. Professional: money/job security, will OOPs get a monopoly?
    2. Personal: feeding families, social worth
  5. Tom
    1. Professional: needs to make the most of his company, can’t afford to give up anything in a tough market.
    2. Personal: Probs doesn’t want to have to make Chetan lay off workers

 

Step 4:

Solutions 1

  1. Potential Solution: Negotiate a partnership with OOPS
  2. How does it solve the problem? 
    1. Pros: It allows them to keep running, at a decreased profit, but still run. You also get to keep your employees or at least some of them
    2. Cons: Your probably gonna have fewer employees and less profit, doesn’t look great for image
  3. How does it save the face of those involved?: It allows you to keep the business running but at a decreased profit. You save jobs and people’s livelihoods.
  4. Implications on relationships
    1. Short-term: Might piss people off that some lose jobs and that people probs get paid less
    2. Long-term: Might help keep your business running in the long run, thus making you not look like the person who killed the business
  5. Implications on the venture
    1. Short-term: Cash flow back in, Keep jobs, keep employees, low moral over layoffs
    2. Long-term: Could save accounting problems and cash problem with competition

Solutions 2

  1. Potential Solution: Convince OOPS to buy them out
  2. How does it solve the problem?
    1. Pros: This has the same benefits as solution 1, but adds to the fact that opps are incentivized to make your company work and function because otherwise, it is a cash problem. Verse with solution 1 they don’t care if you do badly only if you do well.
    2. Cons: Will be extremely hard to make happen unless Chetan sells at a deal, everyone might not keep their jobs, and the company might just be sold for scraps
  3. How does it save the face of those involved?:  It allows Chetan to exit peacefully and make this toms problem. It also lets people keep their jobs, probably temporally, but long enough to figure out what to do.
  4. Implications on relationships
    1. Short-term: Might be considered a coward, but should help keep family has a little hope, buy out can lead to house cleaning, which could be bad for morale.
    2. Long-term: People might have a chance to keep jobs long term vs the other solutions don’t offer the same incentive. 
  5. Implications on the venture
    1. Short-term: Might allow for cash flow to start back in, which could allow people to keep jobs, also might kill jobs unknown
    2. Long-term: Could keep the business long term, or could be sold for scraps.

Solutions 3

  1. Potential Solution: Shut down the business
  2. How does it solve the problem?
    1. Pros: No longer have cash hemorrhage, can retire, less stress
    2. Cons: You have to fire everyone, pay severance packages, no income from your end
  3. How does it save the face of those involved?: It doesn’t necessarily, but it prevents a long drown out bankruptcy which people would get nothing, thus saves the company from this.
  4. Implications on relationships
    1. Short-term: People might be mad they lost jobs
    2. Long-term: People might hate you for shutting down the company
  5. Implications on the venture
    1. Short-term: Money for exit 
    2. Long-term: N/A

 

Step 5:

https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/manage-your-business/close-or-sell-your-business

https://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/closing-a-business/necessary-steps-to-dissolve-your-company.html

https://thebusinessprofessor.com/knowledge-base/closing-up-shop/




Step 6:

I think I would try to get the company bought because either way it is going to shut down. Do I believe I owe jobs to each employee, not really because my job is to best for the company, so if selling it or shutting down is best then I must do that. Would I write great recs, of course, but thats a moral reason not because I feel obligated too. I think that in this scenario selling might get people jobs for a little longer, thus I think it worth trying, also the sale could be used for a fund for severance packages for the works who might get laid off. If I can’t sell I would shut down the business because it is not a charity, it is not supposed to run at a cash negative state. If it’s not making money it shouldn’t be open. Does that suck for the employees, yes, but times change, and if you don’t change with it you get left behind.

 

Step 7:

  1. Try to get company bought
  2. If fails shut down
  3. Write recs for employees
  4. If successful sell and help run the company for a little so they don’t run it to the ground.


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