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Technology Stocks : Y2K (Year 2000): Is Wall Street & Banking Vulnerable? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (84)	7/20/1999 4:39:00 AM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 158

'Year 2000 Retail Contingency and Business Continuity Planning Survival Beyond the Century Change nrf.com 'Do you want to stockpile? Most retailers say that they won't stock extra inventory of season-specific merchandise like apparel or shoes, or non-critical items like perfume. But you may want to order an additional week's worth of goods that consumers might want to keep extra supplies of, such as diapers, formula, toilet paper and paper towels. If you carry these items and may want additional supplies, you should consider making your needs known to your manufacturers as early as possible. While this is antithetical to the theory of just-in-time, community action groups and IT consulting organizations are urging individuals to stock up to five days' contingency supplies of key consumable materials.' .... '... Telecommunications failure - international Scenario: Inattention to remediation results in serious problems for another country's telecommunications infrastructure. Incoming and outgoing calls are completed only occasionally; most call attempts are met with a "call cannot be completed as dialed" error message. Considerations: How much product do you import from that country? How much do you have on hand and how long will it last? Can you source from an alternate source? Can you place orders by having someone visit your supplier rather than phoning there?' .... '..... Failure of customs/port authorities Scenario: The port of Guangzhou (Canton) is rendered nearly dysfunctional when the 386 PCs used for Customs fail. The Chinese government announces that no further transactions will take place until their system is up and running. They do not offer estimates of when that will be. Considerations: Are you willing to bear the risk and expense associated with hoarding merchandise in case of a scenario like this? Most retailers aren't. Do you have alternate international or domestic sources for merchandise? Do you have pre-existing business arrangements with them? How long might you be willing to tolerate a situation like this? ..... '.... Financial issues - extra cash in the money supply Scenario: The Federal Reserve issues $50 billion in new cash, in larger denominations, to accommodate Americans' desire to have some extra cash on hand just in case. Considerations: If a number of customers arrive at your store with $100 bills during a given day, can you make change? Is your store in a neighborhood where customers might face danger if they're thought to be carrying large bills? Might you face liability if they're attacked on or near the premises? If customers prefer to use cash instead of payment cards, this may increase vulnerability to theft and pilferage, will this affect the method you use to transport cash to the bank at the end of the day