In April, 2008, the president of Tiburon, a manufacturer of camouflage components based in the Dominican Republic, met with Tiburon’s parent company and sole customer, GMA. GMA, based in Guelph, Ontario, was an equipment supplier to the United States Army. Tiburon had only been in business one month, and the president was analyzing the current production process in each of the Dominican and Guelph plants. There were noted differences between the two plants’ production methods, which could affect Tiburon’s ability to meet monthly capacity demands of GMA. The president wanted to present and implement her own ideas to improve the efficiency, quality and cost effectiveness of the production line in the Dominican Republic. In doing so, she had to balance the high expectations of GMA and Tiburon’s investors with the plant managers’ cultural observations about employees and their work.
