Decisions in Paradise

Milliman, Inc. is a consulting firm in the process of expanding a business to the island of Kava. Milliman has met with various government agencies and businesses on the island to determine what type of financial planning is needed. The following will examine the factors affecting the decisions of creating a business on kava and the process that will assist in making the business successful.

Factors affecting the decision implementation

When starting a new project, one of the biggest factors that could affect implementing any decision is communication. As leaders for the Kava project, Alex and I need to make sure that we clearly and thoroughly explain what the goal is, and listen to the members of our team to obtain quality solutions. "Effective communication is without doubt a key component of successful change." (Lewis, 2006). For the Kava office to be successful, our team must be able to communicate the goals and expectations to the team. We must also be willing to hear feedback and value the input received from the team members (Lewis, 2006).

The first three goals established were to hire a local employee, create a marketing brochure, and obtain proper business licenses and tax requirements to operate legally in Kava. Although we have used the resources at corporate to help with all three, there are still small issues that Alex and I must be able to deal with, and also need to create options in the event the original plan does not work. Developing back up plans will help make the transition easier and will allow our team deal with any last minute situations that may arise.

One of the first items to take care of was to introduce our new employee, Sam, to the rest of the consultants at Milliman. Our team believed it was as valuable for Sam to meet the resources that we have available, as it was for the other consultants to meet Sam. The original plan was for Sam to attend the annual consultant meeting. However at the last minute there was a storm in Kava and we could not leave the island. We contacted our information technology department and arranged to set up a video teleconference with the consultants attending the meeting. Although there were a few delays in sound, the meeting went well, and Sam could put some faces to names, and chat with the various consultants who have been assigned to our project.

The next step we had to accomplish was registering our business in Kava. Sam was hired as a remote employee for our Seattle office until the business had set up physical presence in Kava so he could begin working as soon as possible. We obtained office space and signed a lease, and began on the government tax filing requirements. Alex and I were fortunate to have the expertise of the legal department to establish the business in Kava. Our team did have a few legal "hoops" to jump through, and we did need to find a local tax attorney to help us finalize the paperwork.

The final process we have been working on is the marketing brochure that will be distributed to potential clients. The focus group that was pulled together gave some feedback that our marketing group was able to use in creating an easy to read brochure that was full of useful information. Our team wanted to print the brochure with a local printer to save on shipping. We were fortunate to have a referral from the vendor used by the Seattle office for a printer in Kava. We have also been asked by the local printer to meet with them to discuss investment opportunities because they read through our brochure while printing it.

Resources and actions for decision implementation

Our team in Kava has been fortunate to have the resources of the Milliman corporate office.