ANS TO THE QUE NO 1

Cost and Benefit analysis of several aspects of the Nissan responses that were particularly
beneficial:

Sharing information
Since Nissan is a globally operating Company; it ought to share information with their global
operational regions about the disaster affected situations and after bringing each of the regions
in their response process, their information sharing was assured. Non-Japanese firms associated
with the operations of the Company might directly or indirectly get affected by the disaster. Thus,
sharing information can keep them informed for the betterment of their own interests. However,
there are certain limitations faced by the Company regarding this. These include, an additional
effort to provide information to the concerned global regions might distract the people handling
on the local crisis and the information provided could also be used for their own personal
interests. These two issues were a major concern to the Company. Hence, to overcome these,
Company decided upon asking each region to send two staff members to Japan to gather
information concerning their interests rather than providing them unwanted information which
could later be misused. Holistic approach was adopted by the Company in solving problems which
is good for the Company as a whole. This idea of sharing information led to valuable contribution
from global regions instead of becoming a burden on the Company.

Allocating Supply
Post the disaster, several consequences were faced by the Company. Such as: capacity
constraints and dependencies across the Nissan operational network. However, allocating
component parts was a critical decision for the Company. Allocation of supplies is another
important area of aspect which is to be considered by the Company and seriously looked into.
This determines continuity of operations and vigilance. The Company particularly focused on high
margin goods for allocating supplies instead of low margin goods. For example, the supply of
Integrated Global Positioning System (GPS) was confined to high-end models of cars rather than
low-end models. This helps in optimal utilization of scarce resources available, enables
manageable supply allocation in different regions and further enhances revenue generation of
the Company during the time of such catastrophe.
Managing Production
In such a situation, the production process of any Company gets affected. Hence, Nissan slowed
their production upstream and downstream considering anticipated bottlenecks. This further
saved them from costly overtime. For any Company, in such a situation, in-stock and in-transit
inventory would be the first priority than producing new goods. Hence, the Company focused on
these. The Company also used the in-transit inventory time to identify and implement supply
alternatives of critical components. This indicates effective time management by the Company.
The Management of the Company could also secure air freight to get the critical parts out of their
country faster and reduce the apprehension towards in-transit stocks.

Empowering Action
The well-developed emergency response plan established beforehand helped the Company in
making quick decisions after the disaster. Foreseeing situations arising from a major disaster and
preparing well for them enabled the Company to take prompt actions when the time came.
Management of the Company was empowered to make decisions without any lengthy analysis
from a central authority. The Company also used flexible approach by modifying its delegation of
authority to speed up critical decision-making process for recovery concerns. One of these
decisions includes launching the Global Disaster Control Headquarters after mere 15 minutes of
the disaster. The team further, worked upon the situation effectively by assessing damage while
overseeing restoration efforts at various facilities. Latest information including details about
employees’ safety and damage caused was absorbed and appropriate actions based on this were
taken. Hence, the Company used proactive measures post the disaster situations rather than
consuming time and delaying decisions which were indispensable. This was possible only through
preparing a backup recovery plan well before the disaster, integrating tasks and taking several
imperative decisions timely