Blue Ridge Spain Case Study
Blue Ridge Spain
This case is about a joint venture between the American company Blue Ridge which is owned by Delta Foods and the Spanish company Terralumen in Spain. Problems arose because of disagreement concerning the future growth rates set by Delta which are considered as unrealistic by Terralumen. Mikael Södergran is the young VP of Europe for Blue Ridge and wants to see the joint venture perform in the short run as this is the task he was given by Delta. He is very direct, getting to the business part immediately and fits into the American expectations of making business- quick, efficient, delivering performance. He is very task oriented and thinks that decisions have to be made based on objective facts (“The contract says you are required to grow the markets”). In addition, he judges personal feelings, personal relationship and respect for senior managers as negligible topics. He has a monochromic relation to time which means that he as a Finnish manager sets value on punctuality. Yannis Costas, European managing director of Blue Ridge works as an intermediary between the two involved parties in the JV. He is envious of the job of the younger and less experienced VP of Europe, Södergran, which he really wanted. He can’t understand that he wasn’t chosen although he has proven himself several times when assisting in JV, bringing a lot of experience to the table. In the Greek culture, his cultural background, people respect senior manager and would not prefer a young, inexperienced manager. On the one hand he has put much effort into the joint venture and identifies with his work. That’s why he wants to help Blue Ridge. On the other hand, he has a good relationship to the Spaniards who value his ability to establish an interpersonal relationship which can also be traced back to his Greek roots. Decisions are made on subjective feelings and he wants a harmonious balance, a consensus. Overall, he is rather on the side of the Spaniards than
This case is about a joint venture between the American company Blue Ridge which is owned by Delta Foods and the Spanish company Terralumen in Spain. Problems arose because of disagreement concerning the future growth rates set by Delta which are considered as unrealistic by Terralumen. Mikael Södergran is the young VP of Europe for Blue Ridge and wants to see the joint venture perform in the short run as this is the task he was given by Delta. He is very direct, getting to the business part immediately and fits into the American expectations of making business- quick, efficient, delivering performance. He is very task oriented and thinks that decisions have to be made based on objective facts (“The contract says you are required to grow the markets”). In addition, he judges personal feelings, personal relationship and respect for senior managers as negligible topics. He has a monochromic relation to time which means that he as a Finnish manager sets value on punctuality. Yannis Costas, European managing director of Blue Ridge works as an intermediary between the two involved parties in the JV. He is envious of the job of the younger and less experienced VP of Europe, Södergran, which he really wanted. He can’t understand that he wasn’t chosen although he has proven himself several times when assisting in JV, bringing a lot of experience to the table. In the Greek culture, his cultural background, people respect senior manager and would not prefer a young, inexperienced manager. On the one hand he has put much effort into the joint venture and identifies with his work. That’s why he wants to help Blue Ridge. On the other hand, he has a good relationship to the Spaniards who value his ability to establish an interpersonal relationship which can also be traced back to his Greek roots. Decisions are made on subjective feelings and he wants a harmonious balance, a consensus. Overall, he is rather on the side of the Spaniards than