Producers have a special relationship with suppliers. Suppliers get feedback on the quality of the material they had supplied. Suppliers also get to understand the end product, its ultimate users and how the material they supply fits into the production-deployment cycle. Producers understand the constraints under which suppliers work in churning out the raw material. Producer holds an annual get-together of suppliers for such a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge. During the meet, the producer briefs the suppliers the possible future profile of products and how the suppliers should gear up to meet the changing profile. The producer’s volume of business and profits are several times higher than any supplier. Hence it is the producer who hosts such a gathering. There are several competing producers producing the same or similar items competing for the same raw material. If a good supplier closes his door on a producer, the latter has to shut shop because the product is a strong function of the raw material. Hence each producer outdoes the other in wooing the suppliers. Suppliers are invited along with their spouses for an all expenses paid annual gathering. The travel is by Business Class, the accommodation is five-star and a car is at the disposal of each guest from the time of arrival till the time of departure.
The team that handles the logistics and PR at the producers’ end has a huge cache of humorous anecdotes that gives a glimpse of the behavior of the guests. Sample some of these:
"A" brought his mother-in-law in place of his wife because the wife had no interest in the venue, while the mother-in-law had been keen on visiting the temple at the venue. The implication was that the hosts had to arrange an extra room at the hotel.
"B" brought his grandson along and the imp was making such a ruckus that he had to leave the meeting immediately. He felt that he had lost nothing in the process and thanked his grandson for freeing him from hearing the dry business statistics of the producer.
"C" wanted to know if he is eligible to bring two spouses (he confirmed that both were legal wives) because he has a hard time choosing one over the other.
"D" cleaned up two full bottles of imported whiskey in one night.
"E" called all his relatives spread over the world – Kenya, New Zealand, UK, Canada and ran up a telephone bill running to six digits.
"F" indulged in facials, massage, spa and other exotic treatments twice within a space of twelve hours.
"G" had gone out early morning and decided to have breakfast outside. He submitted the breakfast bill for reimbursement (Rs.64) because he was anyway entitled to the hotel breakfast that costs Rs.300!
"H" wanted one more gift packet because he was only representing his boss and on return he has to give the boss his due.
"J" was shouting that while he has received several international awards for his work, the Indian producers who have used material designed by him have not chosen to fete him appropriately.
"K" was a self-invited guest at the get-together. The producer had the policy of rotation for invitees. Since it is not possible to handle all of them together, they were invited by turns. When K found that his colleague from another supplier has been invited he assumed that his invitation must have got missed. He justified his presence saying “How can the producer afford to forget me?”
"L" submitted a bill for Rs 3000 being the taxi fare from his residence to the airport (15 Kms). All that he had done was to make a detour of 75 Kms from the normal route so as to pay a visit to his village and enjoy the envy of the countrymen seeing him in a luxury car.
"M" telephones the host at 2 AM and demands that he needs the car at 3 AM so as to make a quick dash to the neighboring town to see his uncle and return before breakfast.
The guests were invariably males, hence spouse meant wife. There was just one exception, a lady Director of a supply agency. Dutifully, the husband (spouse) tagged along. When the men were in conference, a shopping cum outing trip had been organized for the ladies. The man really felt to be the odd one out. He could join neither the conference nor be the lone man among 20 ladies on a shopping spree. He sulked and complained that no separate program had been chalked out for him. Finally, the local club was persuaded to allow him the use of the golf course.
The ladies, while on shopping, decided to have a light snack before lunch. The host had deputed a lady to tag along with the ladies, as a matter of courtesy. The snack might have been light on the stomach, but the prawn cooked in a Russian sauce was heavy on the purse. The hapless lady had not anticipated such a situation and was helpless when she was presented a bill for Rs.8000. She had to plead with the hotel manager, establish her identity, the credibility of the company and request the manager to send the bill to the company for payment. All the guests were kept as hostages till the manager was convinced and let the ladies go without making payment. This happened when the usage of credit cards had not become commonplace.
At the closing ceremony, some of the feedbacks from the guests were:
More non-vegetarian items should be available in the buffet dinner
Price of the supplies should be increased because other competing producers were paying more
The process of X-ray screening of the material should be scrapped
The next year’s meeting should be in Maldives / Dubai / Singapore
When the guests had finally left the hotel they had left behind all useless stuff - the company brochures, case studies and so on. They had only carried the “goodies” – a leather suitcase, dress material, sweets and dry fruits.
Would the behavior of similar guests be similar under similar circumstances in other cultures such as Western countries, China, South Africa and so on?
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