Role f: The Head of Marketing

You are totally opposed to this project and would not risk any money on it. As the book, La Cantonaise, has sold well in French, but not been translated into English, it is impossible to judge if a film based on it would be a worldwide success. More important, this film is much too big for Thana. How can a company with an annual turnover of under $10 million possibly take on a project of at least $50 million?

You should continue to do what you do well, namely make television films, and aim to continue the rapid growth of the last few years. Then you will soon be able to start major feature films with budgets of several million dollars, and later, thanks to your acquired experience, launch a major, Hollywood-style project.

Role g: The Technical Adviser

You know the book, La Cantonaise, very well. You are convinced that the story is perfect for the cinema. It has all the ingredients for success – romance, suspense and exotic locations. It needs a big budget, that is, $100+ million. Your experience of working for other production companies, including some American ones, makes you sure that this film will be a hit.

Friends and colleagues of yours have calculated that the film could make a $10 million profit. The $50 million budget would be enough to make a good box-office success. However, according to these same calculations, the return would in that case be much lower, in percentage terms, for your company – at most $3 million.

Role play 6. Servicing a debt

Introduction

Your company manufactures tyres for road vehicles like trucks, cars and bicycles, but it is going to close down. It is bankrupt.

1. Look at this list and put a tick next to those who will suffer because of your company’s closure:

customers	employees	insurance companies
shareholders	vehicle manufacturers	local businesses
banks	the government	investors
competitors	subcontractors	taxpayers
the general public	suppliers

2. Who will suffer most? Choose five people/institutions that you ticked in the above list, and put them in order (1 = the people/institutions who will suffer the most).

1________________________

2________________________ 4________________________

3________________________ 5________________________

3. Which of those you ticked in Question 1 will have some form of protection from, or compensation for, loss? (For example, a national insurance system might give benefit to employees who lose their jobs, or shareholders might have priority to receive money from the sale of the bankrupt company’s assets.)

4. Will the people who suffer more be those who have the best protection, or those who receive compensation? Situation

One year ago the first vehicles paid a toll and crossed the longest bridge in the world between Osted and Egtved in Denmark. Since then, thousands of cars and trucks have used this 25-kilometre-long bridge. It takes about 20 minutes to cross, compared to an hour on the ferry previously, and the toll is only about half the price of the ferry. Traffic has been heavier than expected, as this fabulous engineering achievement not only joins two Danish islands, but also creates an uninterrupted roadlink between Germany and Sweden.

Danegelt is the name of the company behind the project. It owns and manages the bridge and takes the tolls. It initially raised capital by a share issue. When the cost of building the bridge rose, more capital was raised through issuing more shares. When the opening of the bridge was delayed, a consortium of banks, most of which are also shareholders, granted a loan to cover Danegelt’s needs in working capital.

Last month, Danegelt suspended repayment of its debts to the banks. It is entitled to do this (for six months) according to a clause in its agreement with the banks. This move became necessary because repayments of the debt still exceed income from tolls.

Today, a meeting has been called for the representatives of everyone (Danegelt’s management, bankers and shareholders) connected with the problem of the company’s debt repayment, share price and poor economic situation.