The Veggie Connection
Role of Amedeo Brusco – Fresh Market
You are the owner of “Amedeo Brusco’s Fresh Market Produce”, a small Swiss company that you launched eight years ago. It is a family business and your son works with you; he does the bookkeeping and some office work. Your specialty is the import of vegetables, fruits, and mushrooms, particularly from Italy, but also from Poland, Hungary, and Croatia. It is a profitable business, which however, is exposed to some risk.
Recently a cargo full of Italian vegetables was blocked at the border. Your cargo remained there blocked for four days, the vegetables rotted and you managed to save barely 10% of the produce. No insurance will cover such risks at a reasonable price, so each time, something this happens, you are on the verge of insolvency.
Late last night you had a phone call from Hungary: it was János Kovács, a small-scale businessman, who transports Hungarian vegetables for you. In the afternoon his truck was involved in an accident in Gyöngyos, approx. 80 km east of Budapest. The goods are all right, but the continuation of the trip is impossible. He was transporting 20 tons of vegetable, fruits, and mushrooms for you.
After these bad tidings you had a sleepless night. Kovács is probably also not insured. Either way, even is he is, by the time the money arrives you may already have gone bankrupt… How could you bring these goods to Switzerland within two to four days?
In the morning you desperately called transport companies but none of them could arrive in time to Hungary. And then… suddenly a stroke of good luck! Mr. Berger, of the company “Berger Transport AG”, has a truck that could already leave this afternoon!
You’ve packed your documents and go to Berger Transport AG to negotiate the conditions. – Normally such a transport costs between
8’000 and 14’000 CHF. But this time you must save your goods!
How will you tackle the negotiation with Berger?
Notes:
- Zurich – Budapest 999km (958 km expressway)
- Travel time about 15 hours
The negotiations should not exceed 20 minutes.