sItUatION 2A few years after successfully launching a new outdooradvertising business, Sean Richeson found himselfspending 16-hour days running from one appointment toanother, negotiating with customers, drumming up newbusiness, signing checks, and checking up as much aspossible on his six employees. The founder realized thathis own strength was in selling, but general managerialresponsibilities were very time consuming and interferedwith his sales eff orts. Richeson even slept in the offi ce oneor two nights a week just to try to keep up with his work.Despite his diligence, however, Richeson knew thathis employees werent organized and that many problemsneeded to be addressed. For example, he lacked the timeto set personnel policies or to draw up specifi c job descriptionsfor his six employees. Just last week, he had beenwarned that one employee would sometimes take advantageof the lax supervision and skip work. Invoices oftenwere sent to customers late, and delivery schedules werenot always kept. Fortunately, the business is profi table, inspite of the numerous problems.Question 1 Is Richesons problem one of time managementor general managerial ability? Would it be feasible toengage a management consultant to help solve the fi rmsproblems?Question 2 If Richeson asked you to recommend sometype of outside management assistance, would yourecommend a SCORE counselor, a student consulting team,a CPA fi rm, a management consultant, or some other typeof assistance? Why?Question 3 If you were asked to improve this companysmanagement system, what steps would you take fi rst?What would be your initial goal?situatiOn 2Jonathan Tandy, owner of a small furniture manufacturingfirm, is trying to deal with the firms thin workingcapital situation by carefully managing paymentsto the companys major suppliers. These suppliersextend credit for 30 days, and customers are expectedto pay within that time period. However, the suppliersdo not automatically refuse subsequent orders when apayment is a few days late. Tandys strategy is to delaypayment of most invoices for 10 to 15 days beyond thedue date. Although he is not meeting the letter of thelaw in his agreement, he believes that the supplierswill go along with him rather than risk losing futuresales. This practice enables Tandys firm to operatewith sufficient inventory, avoid costly interruptions inproduction, and reduce the likelihood of an overdraftat the bank.Question 1 What are the ethical issues raised by Tandyspayment practices?Question 2 What impact, if any, might these practiceshave on the fi rms supplier relationships? How seriouswould this impact be?Question 3 What changes in company culture, employeebehavior, or relationships with other business partners mayresult from Tandys practices?