of decision making.’” Héloïse pauses and sighs.
“I also see a diagram with handwritten words added: ‘risk management,’ ‘PDC ... A,’ I think ...” She hesitates. “... ‘vision’—followed by three question marks ... ‘strategy into action’ ...”
Héloïse looks around anxiously, trying to catch someone’s glance. It is Jean-Marc who catches hers and jumps at the chance to speak. He could never stay quiet for more than three minutes at a meeting.
“I need the production plan or the schedule, whatever you call it, for this month, because I have two guys who are still on holiday, and I need to know whether or not to replace them. We can’t wait forever to decide.”
Georgette raises her chin and launches into her high-priestess-of-the-company-accounts act. “If you are going to discuss things at this level of detail then we also need to know whether we’ll continue to make tables and chairs for the Collectivité product line, because, if we keep buying raw materials to make inventory that doesn’t sell, I won’t have enough money to pay employee salaries ...”
Roger, his muscles bulging underneath his white T-shirt, makes an effort to speak, his voice finally booming like a cannon. “All the same, I don’t want to leave my crew idle. It looks like we’ve lost the order for those armchairs from Saint-Nazaire, and I don’t know what else to give them to do!”
Feeling targeted, Hubert speaks up. “Yes, we’ve definitely lost the Saint-Nazaire order. The news came last week, which is surprising, since it was during everyone’s vacation. It must be that young assistant of Durois in purchasing, taking advantage of his boss’s absence to get rid of us. Durois was on vacation, and this assistant was no doubt overzealous and wanted to make his performance metrics look good. But I don’t want to make excuses to imply that it’s the customer’s fault. I’m too old for that. For months I haven’t known what to do to keep up our image as a professional company in the eyes of this long-standing customer. It must be said: this is the third time we’ve sent the wrong accessories for the backs of the armchairs in the officer’s bar, and their technicians discovered they didn’t fit snugly when they assembled them. This time even Durois would have had a hard time forgiving us!”
Hubert puts his hand to his forehead and, trying to hide his exasperation, continues. “We never know when their technicians are actually going to install the armchairs, because they keep our deliveries in stock for a long time before they open them on-site. This time, they opened them all at once and realized more than one-third of the accessories were wrong. May I remind you that we’re talking about a luxury item here—”
“But it’s not my fault!” Roger has interrupted him, panic-stricken. “I told Thierry that Mr. Rami hadn’t approved the bill-of-materials update. So Léon ordered the old accessories as usual, the ones that are now creating problems!”
Making the most of the crescendo of confusion, Jean-Marc presses his own point: “So what exactly should we do in the metal shop? We got the drawing for the bases of the countertops for the Dapare shops. We have to make thirty of them in two months, so we need to start right away. The Mercier boy is now available as a temp. I intend to hire him, to give him a try ...”
Héloïse tries to follow these exchanges, dumbfounded. It’s like she is listening to an amateur orchestra trying to tune their instruments without the will to play from the same score. She immerses herself in Thierry’s memo, shutting out all the voices. She can’t see any connection between what she is reading and what she has just heard. She is more anxious than ever for this day to end.
1 Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP, refers to integrated business-management software.
2 From Ken Blanchard, an American consultant in management.
A THREAT OF BANKRUPTCY AT H. RAMI
TUESDAY. 8:00 A.M. Héloïse pulls into the parking lot. She hesitates, and then decides to park again in the spot reserved for her father. She notices Thierry Ambi’s spot is still empty. Feeling her stomach knot up, she picks up her bag and enters the building.
Georgette’s head appears immediately at the door of her office.
“Still no news?” asks Héloïse.
“Still no news,” answers Georgette, approaching somewhat reluctantly. Héloïse motions her toward Henri Rami’s office and follows her in.
Georgette continues, “Last night, on the way home, I went past Mr. Ambi’s house in town. It was all locked up, and the front yard looked as though it hadn’t been maintained at all the whole summer. I’m quite sure he hasn’t come back from his holidays yet. We could ask the neighbors.”
“It just doesn’t make sense,” exclaims Héloïse.
“I called our business advisory association to ask what to do if he’s absent for several days without us having any news of him. I didn’t dare call initially, because Mr. Rami didn’t want to pay the annual fees for the association’s services.”
“You’ve done the right thing, Georgette. And what did they say? He hasn’t been missing from work for long.”
“They told me that we can’t file a missing person report with the police. As you know, only the family of someone who has gone missing can do that.”
“Isn’t there anyone here at the factory who knows him well enough to know where he might be, or who has any means of contacting him or his family?”
“I haven’t been able to find anyone. But Léon remembered that when he looked up the dialing code for Canada last May, in order to send a request for a quotation on some maple wood, Mr. Ambi was able to give it to him right away. Léon asked him if he knew the dialing codes for every country by heart. Mr. Ambi answered that he knew this particular code because his wife’s family lived there— not far, as it happens, from our wood supplier whom, oddly, he also knew.”
“Well, that’s not much, but I guess it’s a start. Thank you, Georgette. Everything’s going well otherwise?”
Georgette shrugs, with the attitude of someone who is always quite certain of things. “Things are fine, ma’am.”
“Georgette, you can call me Héloïse.”
Georgette seems to roll her next words in her mouth before she speaks them. “Mr. Rami gave signing authority for large sums of money to no one but Mr. Ambi. Léon’s purchase orders are about to get blocked.”
“What about Hubert? Can’t he do it?”
Georgette hesitates still longer, coughing a little, nervously. “It’s just that Mr. Rami withdrew Mr. Lancien’s signing authority when Mr. Ambi joined the company. In any case, Mr. Lancien is often away for long periods, so it isn’t really practical”—she coughs again, and continues—“and it was only ever Mr. Rami who could decide about the temporary workers. Jean-Marc
