Judgement and Decision Making

This paper provides a strategic analysis of the decision making process within AT&T Asia Pacific. The analysis contains an in-depth discussion on AT&T strategic decision in terms of the approach on multiple perspectives by Linstone (1984) and the power model by Parkin (1994). According to Parkin (1996: 155), strategic decisions can be divided into organizational decisions and social decisions. The consequences of social decisions affect the society as a whole and the process involves parties from outside of the organizations. The main focus of this paper is on the organizational side where parties from different levels of AT&T participate in making the final decision.

AT&T provides professional network service to enterprises. Services for Asia Pacific region include integrated Global Enterprise Management System, Internet data centers, voice over internet protocol, virtual private network, and data hosting. In order to provide a complete network solution to clients, AT&T, at the backend, is supported by their own data/network center, protocol and the undersea cable network. AT&T is proposing a network solution to one of their big clients BHP Billiton. BHP Billiton has subsidiaries in over 30 countries and they are considering to implement a professional network for better internal communications. The project will involve setting up an approximately two hundreds network sites in different countries within a tight time flame. The successful of wining this contract will drive AT&T Asia Pacific team to earn double of their existing annual revenue. This would be very attractive to AT&T due to the lost of a number of clients as a result of the economic crisis earlier in the year. An effective strategic decision process, as found by ...

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