Synopsis

Water tank industries Private Limited is a company producing plastic water tanks. The company has established a plant in one of the VDC whose residents are complaining about the pollution created by the company. The company is trying to settle the matter in the short run by providing gifts to members of VDC and selected people but in the long run it needs to buy incinerators to control pollution. The company is however reluctant to install incinerators as it may make the whole plant infeasible.

Issue
Though the case covers major issues relating to wide areas of interests such as environmental, ethical, legal, technological, economic, and political but the major issue of the case is as follow. What should the company do to minimize complaints?

Facts
The various facts to support the existence of complaints are as follows: Settlement of objection through gifts to selected people and VDC members. Settlement of objection by good words

Analysis: What should be done to minimize complaints?

Short term plans to minimize complaints: Continuation to influence key people in the VDC to reduce objection and complaints. Continuation to provide gifts to VDC members to create a positive attitude towards the company. The above mentioned plans may not be applicable for longer period as VDC members are not stable as well as residents may revolt against the company.

Long term plans to minimize complaints: Installation of incinerations to destroy waste. Identification of other ways to reduce pollution.

Identification of alternatives
The various alternatives available to the company are as follows: Installation of incinerators Relocation of plant Change in production technology that emits less pollution

Evaluation of alternatives
Evaluation of alternatives involves setting up of various criteria and evaluation of identified alternatives on the basis of those criteria. The criteria for the evaluation of installation of incinerators could be as If the incremental revenue after installing incinerators is greater than is incremental cost then the company should go for its installation. The company has to calculate NPV and IRR of the projects for each alternative and make the decision based on them. The company has to consider the public perception regarding various alternatives, whether or not it will be able to create positive image in the mind of customers as well as general publics. The company has to find if the company will be able to recapture investment (ROI) in reasonable amount of time. Performing the cost benefit analysis of each alternative. Performing the feasibility study of each alterative; i.e. operational feasibility, technical feasibility and economic feasibility.

Selection of alternative
After the evaluation of alternatives on the basis of various criteria, a best alternative is selected and action plan is developed in order to implement that alternatives. If installation of inclinators is selected then the action plan is developed which may involve decision regarding acquisition, pre-installation, installation, and maintenance of the new system.