I thought this deserved an answer so I started this when no one else had had a go - now Robert has too.
Clearly this is a difficult situation so I'm not meaning to make it seem easy.
It seems to me that what you want is:
* for company A to get their act together wrt quality (I think this is what you meant). You think this is practically and financially achievable, and in fact would be to the benefit of A overall. (But they are not influenced by your advice).
* for company B (or anyone else) not to suffer by the actions of company A.
Despite your personal connection with company B, your desires are essentially altruistic - you do not stand to profit from them. However there is a potential conflict of interest to some extent, if your company is likely to be the one which would be called in to help A deal with their issues.
But you and your company are at significant risk if there is a perception of loss of confidentiality.
However, consider also the possible consequences for you and your company in the worst case scenario involving A's bad widgets.
It appears there is no reason why you can't tell your boss about the situation at B. (Unless you maybe want to act "off the record" without his/her knowledge.) S/he may be able to help.
Is A breaking the law? Are they complying with their own code of conduct, etc, or that of any body they are affiliated to, eg chamber of commerce, ISO9000, etc? ie, is there an enforcer you can defer to?
If there is no other source of A's widgets, does B carry enough weight to make A change? If so, then there is a possibility for you to use B to achieve your desired outcomes. [If not, then what would make A change?]
This would still mean that you need to be very careful about how you point B to look in the right place to see what you want them to see. But maybe some sort of QA process would include the QA of suppliers. Or maybe encourage the boss of B to visit the factories of all his suppliers on a fact-finding tour.
An alternative might be to go higher up in company A (the board?) and point out the danger of litigation if their widgets fail. This still might sour relations with the management of A.
On another line of thought, maybe you could work through another company that uses A's widgets - an anonymous tip-off, or something less dramatic. Or some independent person or body.
I hope this helps, sorry if it is all hopelessly simplistic.
Kind regards, Lindsay.
At 07:21 PM 14/01/04 +1030, Andrew Prior wrote:
This is kind of like it is....
Day 1 Boss sends you to company A... very top end of town. You are high paid, discreet consultant... [ well, Boss's company is high paid, maybe not you ;-( ] You discover A has Unbelievably World's Worst Practice in Widgets. You have nothing to do with Company A's widgets... you are there for another reason. You go pale, then tell them, politely, a la Duty of Care as their highly paid consultant. A's Widget Boss says very primly, "We are fine thank you." [Translation: Piss off!}
You go to toilet, vomit, laugh hysterically.... I mean like, this is serious stuff. You tell Boss. Boss says, I know, being telling them for ages. They don't think it's important. Much rolling of eyes.
Day 2 Boss sends you to Company B... also national company, if not quite top end of town Quite by chance, Managing Dir company B is also personal friend. Managing Dir company B is also good christian colleague, you have some church connections too. [SA is very incestuous like this for all you vics and nsw's]
You notice by chance while working at Company B that they will probably use Company A on large multimillion dollar project. You *are* directly hired to consider Company B's widgets, among other things, but have nothing to do whatsoever with the aforesaid project. You don't know if A's widgets will affect B's widgets.
Given you and Boss have been nagging Company A, they might think of you as a source of a leak.... A needs you, but has lots of clout... they could cause you lots of grief [translate: lose your job, Boss lose the company] B probably needs A, can't just go else-where.
So....
What will you say to who[m]?
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