Title

Vagabonds in Vietnam:
An American computer game company considers outsourcing to The Republic of Vietnam.

A role-play simulation designed to teach
cross-cultural negotiation strategies. (2003)

Author

Maureen Maguire Lewis
The Fuqua School of Business
Duke University

Length

Instructor’s Book: 98 pages, including appendix and bibliography.

Level of Difficulty

Appropriate for undergraduate, graduate, and executive education students, for cultural and business courses, foreign language courses, organizational behavior, international business and negotiation courses.

Issues Involved

The highly competitive computer game industry in the United States, outsourcing high–tech computer game programming to other countries; intellectual property issues; political, economic, and business climate in modern-day Vietnam.

Abstract

Vagabond Ventures, a fictional computer game design company established in 1997, is a relative newcomer in this industry. But it has already become well known and somewhat influential in the game world. The company wants to maintain its reputation for excellence and originality. However, since 2001 Vagabond Ventures has been experiencing considerable financial problems; dozens of talented but expensive programmers have been laid off.

Now the company's officers must decide whether or not to outsource their programming to foreign countries. Countries under consideration include Vietnam as well as Ireland, Canada, and India. Vagabond CEO, Edward "Puck" Pukovski, does not like the idea of outsourcing, but the fully loaded costs of hiring and keeping American programmers are simply too high. Puck wants to know why Vietnam, and not someplace less "different?" What does a tiny country like Vietnam have to offer in terms of high quality programming and project management?

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