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small manufacturing company in a serious financial difficulty
problem:
Your small manufacturing company is in serious financial difficulty. A large order of your products is ready to be delivered to a key customer, when you discover that the product is just not right. It does not meet performance specifications, will cause problems for your customer, and will require rework in the field – but this will not become evident until the customer has received and paid for the order. If you do not ship the order and receive the payment as expected, your business may be forced into bankruptcy. And if you delay the shipment or inform the customer of these problems, you may lose the order and also go bankrupt.
solution:
The most important thing is to act entrepreneurial and make the best out of the situation. I would neither ship the product nor delay. One option could be to call the customer and tell him straight away about the situation and ask him if it was possible to find a joint solution.
One option could be to offer him free products for the future; a discount for future shipments; send people for free to work in the field; ask for a credit/loan; offer shares in the
company; look for alternative customers that perhaps do not worry too much about “perfect” products.
