Monday, August 3, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Pg 3-8 Urtian Incompetence
Thorid looks at the draft proposal and is furious. The document is only 10 pages long and lacks details. He grills the Urtians about the choice of junior consultants and demands to know if Lintas Corp has agreed to finance the Kr12 million security deposit.
Prys quickly interjects and tells Thorid that he has just submitted the draft proposal to the board of Lintas Corp. He is certain that the board will agree to finance the security deposit for a share of the profit.
Thorid warns the Urtians angrily that they had better not botch up this deal or they won't be getting Kr1 from him.
As Thorid storms out of the bar, Arken worries about the extent of their problems. Ordin had racked up a huge bill in Sairis and came back with nothing. GTC really needs to win the tender now to cover all its expenses.
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Pg 3-7 Petting Lounge
On hearing that Thorid will be coming to Urt, Arken calls Prys. The two men decide to entertain Thorid and one of the suggested venues is the Petting Lounge which Prys is certain Thorid will enjoy.
However, when the Urtians pick up Thorid and take him out, Thorid is more preoccupied with business than pleasure.
He demands Arken to show him the work that has been done so far. Arken takes out his computer nervously and shows Thorid the draft proposal developed by Skills Placement Inc.
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Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Pg 3-6 Thorid Worried
At the end of two months Qurida, Thorid's mole, reports that there is growing support within the Supreme Congress for the Urtian team. She informs Thorid that she has also arranged for their rookies to sell corporate equity to the elder members of Congress to ensure they have a "comfortable" start to their retirement. Meanwhile the Roqian and the Cetnarian teams have finished gathering information for their proposals and have engaged scientists, engineers and senior consultants for their teams.
Thorid, on hearing the news, is increasingly worried. Ordin had returned to Urt a fortnight ago and he has not heard a word from Arken about how GTC is progressing.
Unnerved by the silence, Thorid decides to fly to Urt to check on the team.
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Pg 3-5 Political Paranoia
At the same time, the Minister spreads his influence insidiously in the halls of power. Old wounds between Sairis and the northern belt countries re-surface. The members of the Supreme Congress are reminded that their long standing trade disputes with the northern belt countries are still unresolved. Discern over those countries illegally dumping their products in Sairis begin to grow louder.
Paranoia starts to spread in the shadows of Congress that the Roqian and Cetnarian governments could easily use this project to force Sairis to resolve the trade disputes in their favour knowing the country's state of desperation. Furthermore if Sairis were to engage either a team from Roq or Ceitnar it would be forced to depend on their imports. Some of the politicians go as far as to conclude that as a result Sairis would lose a lot of revenue, their companies will suffer and many Sairisites could lose their jobs. It would be a wiser decision to engage the Urtian team.
Where support cannot be garnered nor political favours traded to favour the Urtian team money changes hands instead.
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Pg 3-4 Ordin's Bribes
Ordin, however, takes a different tack. Arken had instructed him to impress the Ministry officials so Ordin wines and dines them every night at the best restaurants even though it will cost GTC a bomb. At the same time, Ordin gives them his spew about the merits of the Urtian team.
At every opportunity, Ordin showers the Ministry officials with gifts and high praises and eventually charms them to tell him what the consultants are expected to deliver for the project.
However, the official does not know and instead expects that it is the consultant's job to come up with those suggestions in their proposal leading Ordin's probing to a dead end.
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Pg 3-3 Cetnarian Team
Meanwhile the team from Ceitnar is busy holding discussions with Sairisite industrialists and engineers on the sources of environmental degradation. The Ceitnarians succeed in engaging the Union of Industrial Scientists and Engineers to contribute their expertise to the project.
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Pg 3-2 The Roqian Team
As time goes by, the competing bidders pour all their resources and efforts into preparing for the tender. The team from Roq secures a laboratory from the Sairis National Academy of Sciences and proceeds to gather preliminary data on pollution. The Roqian team also manages to interest the National Academy of Sciences to work together on the project to build a better future for all Sarisites.
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Pg 3-1 Ordin the Double-Crosser
Excited by all the opportunities for personal gain, Ordin quickly makes his way to Sairis. The long flight half way across the world gives Ordin time to hatch his own scheme. He decides that Thorid needs the Urtians so he will up Prys's deal and keep the rest of the money for himself.
In Sairis Thorid asks Ordin how GTC is progressing. Ordin replies that GTC is in the midst of consolidating the team. However, he adds that it is imperative to offer Kr5 million to Prys to convince the board of Lintas Corp to finance the security deposit.
Thorid is shocked by such a large request. He remains calm and agrees to the amount but tells Ordin that Prys will only get paid if they win the project and that Ordin is to report everything that happens in Urt to him.
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Cht 3 – Different Strokes
Book I. Chapter 3 - Different Strokes
There is no such thing as a level playing field when values are not universal.
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Pg 2-9 Prys's Deal
Prys quickly gets to the point. Ordin should impress on Thorid that Prys can influence the board of Lintas Corp to put up the Kr12 million security deposit. But Prys would like a "token of appreciation" for his efforts. Ordin smirks at the request and makes it clear that he could do Prys the favour. But in return he would also like a "token of appreciation" for his efforts.
Prys quickly agrees and suggests that Ordin asks Thorid for Kr3 million. Ordin would get kr500,000 for his part of the deal. Ordin is, however, unimpressed by the offer and tells Prys to be more generous if he expects the favour.... Kr1 million would be more reasonable to him.
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Pg 2-8 Alley Bar
Meanwhile Prys makes his way to a bar located in an obscure part of town with Ordin tailing him, unknowingly, in the shadows. Prys is relieved to see that Ordin decided to meet him.
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Pg 2-7 Vesta's Private Scheme
Vesta arranges to meet the senior manager of Skills Placement Inc at the earliest date possible. At the meeting Vesta tells the senior manager to develop the proposal and sell it to GTC. Lintas Corp will then hire them to do the work when they win the proposal.
Vesta then surreptitiously asks the senior manager on her way out what she "gets" for bringing this deal to the company. The senior manager replies that they will arrange for Vesta to get five percent of the project value as a "sales commission."
After Vesta leaves, the senior manager calls for a meeting with the Skills Placement managers to discuss the Sairis project. But they quickly realise that none of them are environmental specialists and the work involved looks highly complicated.
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Pg 2-6 Prys-Vesta Plot
Over the course of the next few days the GTC partner companies driven by the promise of millions and power strategise independently to secure the lion's share of the project for themselves. They plot to either build up their relations with the Sarisite Ministry, anchor in with Thorid, form alliances with other companies to strengthen their position in the project or source for more money to ride through the tender process as it is likely to be a long and costly affair.
Prys and Vesta then meet secretly in a park. As they find a shady and quiet spot Prys reflects on the fact that Lintas Corp is going bust and this project may yet save the company from bankruptcy. But personally he gets nothing for digging Lintas out of the grave besides his salary which the company has to pay anyway.
Far from prying eyes and sharp ears Prys tells Vesta to quickly secure the consultants and develop the proposal under the "Lintas" team. Prys will head off Ordin before he leaves for Sairis.
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Pg 2-5 Ordin
Arken quickly interrupts the warring factions with great concern not to anger Prys since they need Lintas Corp to finance the security deposit. He tells the group that he will send Ordin, GTC's external consultant, to Sairis to find out more information about the project. They will meet again another time.
Rigile leaves the room deep in thought. He realises that GTC is now outsourcing all its dirty work to Ordin since they can't be "seen" doing it themselves anymore. At the same time, Arken is only using him for ideas since Prys and Vesta have Arken cornered by dangling the security deposit as bait.
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Pg 2-4 Grab For Power
However, Prys interrupts and demands that since Lintas Corp is the security deposit financier he expects his company to be given the lead project management role in this project.
Angered by Prys's outright grab for power Rigile replies that Lintas has no experience working in environmental rehabilitation nor does the company have the manpower to handle a complex project of this size.
Vesta rebuts him and asserts that she is a board member of Skills Placement Inc. and her company can head hunt the people to form the team and manage this project.
However Rigile retorts that Vesta obviously isn't going to get very far since she didn't hear a word of his assessment of the project.
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Pg 2-3 Rigile's Assessment
However, Arken realises that none in the group are environmental scientists. He had best tap Rigile's brains as Rigile is the brightest of the lot present. Rigile assesses the project's requirements according to the invitation tender. He informs the group that the project details are vague and they need more information on the scope of work before they can develop a team and propose a budget for the project.
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Pg 2-2 The Urtian Team
Arken convenes a meeting with GTC's partner companies at the soonest date possible. Invited to the meeting are Prys, the Chief Executive Officer of Lintas Corp - a conglomerate that Arken proposes to be the security deposit financier for the project, and Vesta who is Prys's trusted external consultant. Not far behind them (the picture continues on the next page) is Ordin, an external associate of GTC. Last to arrive is Rigile, the brilliant Chief Executive Officer of Rigile and Associates a reputable consulting firm.
As they walk in, Prys tells Vesta they need to "block out" Rigile so that they can control Arken and the project. Vesta agrees readily to the idea.
Arken kick starts the meeting by telling the group that GTC has been invited to bid for the Sairis Environmental Rehabilitation Project. They need to form a team and develop a proposal to be submitted to the Sairis government.
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Pg 2-1 Rumours
Rumours of the Sairis project spread like wildfire among the business community in Urt. Soon everyone knows that GTC has been invited to bid for the project and that the company has never done anything like this before. The project is of national strategic importance to the Sairisites and it is huge. However, no one knows at this juncture how much the project is worth but some have speculated that it could be worth millions, tens of millions even. And some of the companies plot to secure a role for themselves in this venture.
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Cht 2 – The Power Game
Book I. Chapter 2 - The Power Game
The hearts of the small-minded are easily corrupted.
In a society where ethics is truly dead and one only answers to the call of money then the concepts of fairness, teamwork and cooperation do not really exist. The individual will go all out to protect his/her own personal interests at the expense of others the larger the deal or the more he/she has at stake. There can be no trust even among a band of thieves.
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Pg 1-9 Qurida the Mole
Thorid then tells Arken to find a financier. The government requires the participating bidder to put down Kr12 million as a security deposit to show the seriousness of its intent to tender for this project. Arken whistles at the substantial of money involved just for the security deposit alone.
To be certain that things go smoothly on his side, Thorid summons his assistant Qurida after Arken leaves. He tells her that he has arranged for her to be "stationed" at the Ministry's project office and she is to report everything that goes on to him. Qurida tells her boss that it would a pleasure to carry out his task.
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Pg 1-8 GTC A Shell
Arken is gleeful at the thought of such a huge project. He starts to market his company by saying that Thorid made the right choice since Global Tech Corporation has extensive experience handling environmental projects.
However, Thorid cuts him off. Thorid tells him he's aware that GTC is nothing but a shell company. He knows that Arken outsources all GTC's projects to other companies and instead charges them a "management fee" to oversee their work. Thorid knows that even then GTC doesn't always manage its sub-contractors and consequently the projects well.
Thorid is remorseful that he has no choice but to use GTC since the other Urtian companies are even less reputable.
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Pg 1-7 Thorid Meets Arken
A few days later, Arken arrives in Sairis and takes a taxi to Thorid Enterprises. Thorid greets him and tells him to put a team together to bid for the Sairis Environmental Rehabilitation Project.
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Pg 1-6 Arken the Stooge
Arken, the Chief Executive Officer of Global Tech Corporation, answers the phone. Arken is delighted to hear from Thorid and asks how he can help. Thorid tells Arken to come immediately to Sairis to discuss a business venture.
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Pg 1-5 The Country Urt
As the men walk out of the Ministry, the Minister thinks to himself that he has slaved twenty years for his country and has nothing to show for it materially. He deserved better. As they walk towards Thorid's car (the picture continues on the next page) the Minister exclaims that Thorid's vehicle is one of the fastest and most intelligent roadsters available today. He hints that he was thinking of buying one for himself. So Thorid thinks that as payment for the Minister's assistance that could be arranged. The Minister just has to lease the vehicle and Thorid would give him the cash to pay for it. That way there would be less of a paper trace on the both of them.
Back at his office, Thorid calls his business associate in Urt. Half way across the globe the phone rings.....
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Pg 1-4 Political Cahoot
Thorid's assessment of the political situation surprises the Minister. The Minister notes that Orguf and Arguld, the two inner members, have been after a seat in the Chamber of Lords all year. It is nothing that he can't take care of since he chairs the Chamber of Lords.
The two men then discuss ways to sway the politics of Congress in favour of a team from Urt. Thorid weighs his chances of winning the tender and decides that he will call his business associates in Urt to join in the bid.
As they leave the room, Thorid gets assurance that he can count on the Minister's support in his endeavour. The Minister makes it clear that this project means big money and in exchange for his help he knows that Thorid will take care of his "interests."
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