1.4 Stakeholders questions for IB Business Management

Lagoon Air

[1] Lagoon Air is a small airline based in Nadi, Fiji. It operates seven turboprop aircraft on domestic routes between Fiji’s islands, carrying mainly tourists from resorts. Lagoon Air is a private limited company owned by a group of Fijian investors. Its chief executive, Litia Naivalu, has built a reputation for punctual flights and friendly crews.

[2] Most of Lagoon Air’s passengers arrive in Fiji on long-haul flights operated by Tasman Pacific, a large Australian airline. Tasman Pacific has proposed a strategic alliance. Passengers would be able to book a single ticket from Sydney or Melbourne to an island resort, with their luggage checked through to their final destination. Tasman Pacific’s frequent-flyer members would earn points on Lagoon Air flights, and the two airlines would share check-in staff at Nadi airport.

[3] Litia expects passenger numbers to rise by 25 %. However, Lagoon Air would have to adjust its timetable to fit Tasman Pacific’s arrival times, which could mean fewer flights for local Fijian passengers in the middle of the day. The Fijian pilots’ union is concerned that Tasman Pacific might later try to take over Lagoon Air.

Grand Harvest is a national supermarket chain in South Africa. To improve its cash position, its board has told all suppliers that from next month it will pay invoices after 75 days instead of 30 days. Many of its suppliers are small farms and family businesses, such as Sizwe Dairy, owned by Thandeka Dlamini, which sells 80 % of its milk and yoghurt to Grand Harvest. Thandeka says she will need an overdraft to pay her workers and feed suppliers while she waits for payment.

Analyse the implications for Grand Harvest of increasing its creditor days from 30 to 75 days.

Hilos de Sololá

Hilos de Sololá (HdS) is a social enterprise, set up as a private limited company in 2017 by Lucía Xoc in Sololá, a town above Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. HdS sells scarves, table runners and bags woven by Maya Kaqchikel women on traditional backstrap looms. The weavers work at home, part-time, and are paid per piece. Its objectives are to give indigenous women a reliable income, to keep traditional weaving alive, and to be financially self-sustaining. HdS sells online to customers in North America and Europe and in a small shop for tourists.

Resource 1: email from Lucía Xoc to the HdS team

“We now have 110 weavers, almost double the number in 2023, and 40 more women on our waiting list. But each weaver is earning less, because we have more weavers than orders. For many of them this is the only cash income in the family. We made a loss for the first time this year. Something has to change.”

Resource 2: Table 1: HdS key data, 2023–2025

Resource 3: extract from a Guatemalan newspaper article

“Machine-made copies of Maya textiles, many imported from Asia, are now sold in tourist markets for a quarter of the price of hand-woven pieces. Tourists often cannot tell the difference. Several weaving groups around the lake have closed.”

Resource 4: email from a US home-goods retailer to Lucía

“We would like to order 6 000 scarves for delivery within four months, at GTQ 180 each. Your online price is GTQ 420. To meet our price we would need simpler patterns, and synthetic dyes would be acceptable. If this goes well, we could order every year.”

Resource 5: social media post by a customer in Canada

“Bought my third HdS table runner! I love that every piece has the weaver’s name on its tag and that the money goes to the women who made it. Please never become just another factory brand.”

Brightwave Software

[1] Brightwave Software (Brightwave) is a publicly held company in Tallinn, Estonia. It develops accounting software for small businesses in the Baltic states and Finland. Brightwave was founded in 2011 by Kadri Tamm, who still owns 18 % of the shares and is chief executive. Brightwave is known for its flat structure, flexible working and generous share scheme for its 210 employees.

[2] Growth has slowed in the last two years. Brightwave’s share price has fallen by 30 %, partly because larger competitors offer cloud-based packages that include payroll and banking services. Kadri believes Brightwave can recover by spending €6 million on developing its own cloud platform, financed by retained profit, but this would take three years.

[3] Last week NordLedger, a Swedish software group ten times Brightwave’s size, announced a hostile takeover bid. It has offered shareholders €9.60 per share, 40 % above the current share price. NordLedger says it will integrate Brightwave’s products into its own cloud platform, move development work to its Stockholm office and keep the Brightwave brand for small customers.

[4] Brightwave’s board has recommended that shareholders reject the bid. Several investment funds, which together own 45 % of the shares, are in favour of accepting. Employees have started a social media campaign to keep Brightwave independent.

Son Tra Hotels JSC (STH) owns three boutique hotels in Da Nang, Vietnam. Its accountant has prepared the statement of profit or loss below, but three figures have been left out.

Table 1: Statement of profit or loss for STH for the year ended 31 December 2025 (VND billion)

Comida Compartida

Comida Compartida (CC) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Mexico City, registered as a non-profit civil association. Its vans collect surplus food from supermarkets, markets and restaurants and deliver it to community kitchens, shelters and schools in low-income neighbourhoods. CC has 14 paid staff and relies on volunteers to sort and deliver food. Its director is Gabriela Torres.

Resource 1: Table 1: CC key data, 2023–2025

Resource 2: email from the sustainability manager of a supermarket chain

“We would like CC to collect from all 40 of our stores twice a day, not once. If you cannot, we will send our surplus to a biogas plant, which will pay us for it. Our lawyers also want CC to accept full responsibility if anyone becomes ill from food you collect from us.”

Resource 3: social media post by a volunteer

“Three years volunteering with CC and I love the mission, but we are exhausted. Two of the three vans broke down last month, and nobody thanks us any more. Half my team has stopped coming.”

Resource 4: extract from a newspaper article

“The city government is preparing a law that would require large food retailers to donate edible surplus food to registered organizations, with fines for wasting it. Food banks say the amount of food available could triple.”

Resource 5: email from the marketing director of a restaurant chain

“We would like to sponsor CC for MXN 2 million a year. In return, our logo would appear on your vans and we would publicize how many meals we have helped provide.” (The chain was criticised in the press last year for paying low wages.)