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Hickling Associates Ltd.

Steven L. McShane

University of Western Australia

Perth, Australia

similarity with current names and places is purely coincidental.

This case may be used by current adopters of:

S. L. McShane Canadian Organizational Behaviour, 5th ed. (Toronto: McGraw-Hill

Ryerson, 2004); S. L. McShane & M. A. von Glinow, Organizational Behavior, 3rd ed.

(Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2005); S. L. McShane & T. Travaglione, Organisational

Behaviour on the Pacific Rim, 1st ed. (Sydney: McGraw-Hill Australia, 2003)

Hickling Associates Ltd.

Page 2

Hickling Associates Ltd.∗

By Steven L. McShane, The University of Western Australia

Introduction

For almost seven years prior to June 1983, Tony Azzara had been employed by Pisces

Exporters Ltd. The company, located in Vancouver, was a subsidiary of a U.S. food

products conglomerate headquartered in Los Angeles. Pisces was one of the largest

exporters for fresh and frozen seafood on Canada’s west coast, and had generated

revenues between $40 million and $60 million annually, depending on the quality of the

fishing season and market demand. The company’s major markets were primarily in

Europe as well as several areas of Asia and Japan. Pisces also traded other food products,

which, over the years, overtook seafood as the main revenue producer for the firm.

At the age of 27, Tony Azzara began his career with Pisces as a salesperson, where he

learned the complexities of exporting both fresh and frozen sea products to various

countries. Within two and a half years he was promoted to the position of sales manager

responsible for all seafood exports to Europe. This was an exciting job and a respected

position. He was given a comfortable office and a very acceptable compensation package.

There was an annual bonus based on group sales, which was as high as 100 percent of

Tony’s base salary in the best years. Even in the poorest years, the bonus was about 20

percent of base salary. He also received a generous car allowance. The work required

Tony to develop contacts with other people in the seafood industry in Canada as well as

with the major customers in Europe. He was able to take several trips to Europe to

expand the market there and develop better relations with Pisces’s existing customers.

The job was also a constant challenge, because of the increasing international

competition in seafood sales and the need to closely coordinate the sales group with the

buyers in Pisces. Tony learned early in his career that product quality and delivery time

were just as important as price in this market, and only by keeping in touch with the

company’s seafood buyers could he make those guarantees to his overseas customers.

After about two years as sales manager, it became increasingly clear that Pisces’s

products were being priced out of the European market. The competition from Asia and

Scandinavia was increasing dramatically as they improved their export marketing

practices to Europe. Equally important was the appreciation of the Canadian dollar

against most European currencies. This dramatically increased the price of Canadian

Any similarity with current names and places is purely coincidental.

Hickling Associates Ltd.

Page 3

goods in most European countries, whereas the seafood products entering from the

Pacific Rim did not experience these fluctuations. By the end of 1982, European seafood

sales from Pisces and all other North American exporters had dropped in both volume

and market share. Only in the higher end of the market—the expensive seafood products-

–did the price have only a modest effect on European market share.

Unfortunately, the American parent company of Pisces Exporters Ltd. was also

experiencing serious financial problems for several different reasons and, combined with

the depressed export market in seafood, the entire fresh and frozen seafood export

division of Pisces Exporters Ltd. was discontinued in the second week of June 1983.

Consequently, the vice-president, 6 sales managers (including Tony Azzara), 10

salespeople, and 5 support staff lost their jobs. The notices of permanent layoff were

given in March, and all laid-off staff were given reasonable severance payments in June

in amounts that corresponded to their position and length of service. For Tony, this was

equivalent to about four months’ salary.

An opening at Hickling Associates Ltd.

In the weeks leading up to the final day of work at Pisces Exporters Ltd., Tony Azzara

began telephoning around to the people he knew in the Vancouver area in order to let it

be known that he was looking for a job in the industry. He had the right experience and

had become fairly well known in the city as a good trader in the canned and frozen

seafood business. The president of Pisces even approached Tony before he left to say that

he would be pleased to write a letter of reference if it would help Tony’s search for

alternate employment. Tony was flattered by the gesture. In spite of these factors,

however, Tony Azzara did not expect to find another job in the seafood exporting

business in the near future. With a depressed seafood market and high unemployment

throughout British Columbia, securing alternate employment was not going to be easy. In

fact, Tony entertained the possibility of changing industries and even began to look

through the newspapers for sales positions in other products.

In early June, Mr. James Hickling telephoned Tony Azzara at his office and invited him

to lunch the next day. Mr. Hickling owned Hickling Associates Ltd., a medium-sized

trading organization in Vancouver that specialized in the import and export of several

types of canned and frozen foods. In addition, the company traded a few other

commodities such as grains and finishing nails. Tony had met Mr. Hickling in two joint

ventures between the two companies a few years earlier. However, Tony had worked

mainly with Thomas Siu, who was the export seafood trader at Hickling Associates.

Following the call from James Hickling, Tony tried to recall what else he knew about

Hickling Associates Ltd. and later in the day made several inquiries regarding the firm.

He knew that the company was mainly an importer of canned foods such as mushrooms

and oriental foods from several Asian countries. Seafood trading was restricted mainly to

the export of canned salmon and represented a very small factor in the business. As far as

Tony knew, Thomas Siu was the only person responsible for this part of the operation

and had been employed by Hickling Associates for about five years. Tony also learned

from one of his contacts in the industry that Hickling Associates was financially very

Hickling Associates Ltd.

strong and well established. It was founded by James Hickling’s father in 1934 and grew

steadily throughout the years. When the elder Hickling retired in the late 1960s, James

Hickling took over the company and had been given a lot of credit for the company’s

current success.

James Hickling was considered by many people in the import–export industry to be

something of a maverick, and was generally respected for his business sense and solid

understanding of the international merchant business. Tony had heard a rumour of a

disenchanted trader in canned foods who left Hickling Associates Ltd. a few years

previously. The trader joined a rival importer and took with him a few Asian accounts

whose contracts with Hickling Associates Ltd. were about to expire. Nevertheless, James

Hickling subsequently won back some of those customers and further expanded his

business in the import of mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and other canned goods.

The meeting with James Hickling

Tony Azzara arrived early at the posh restaurant where Mr. Hickling had made

reservations and ordered a glass of white wine while he waited. Precisely at 12:15, the

time of the scheduled meeting, James Hickling arrived. He was conservatively dressed in

a dark blue suit and looked to be in his early 50s. He introduced himself as he arrived at

the table and ordered a double scotch on the rocks. After a few initial pleasantries and