The case is a synopsis of a meeting between the chief executive and six departmental heads of a company employing over five hundred workers. The meeting has been held in order to decide whether a loan of Rsá1,000 should be given for flood relief. Crisis in cash collections, low profitability of the firm, likelihood of loss of skilled manpower to competitors, and loss of opportunity for technological breakthrough are factors to be considered. A further complication is the advent of a militant rival union.