An article in the New York Times (April 2,2012) describes worker frustration at GM’s Opel plant in Bochum, Germany, with worries that it will be shut down in 2014. Wages at the plant are six times the wage rate in GM’s plant in nearby Poland. Shutting down the plant will cause GM to incur cleanup costs for the former coal mine site, and high severance payments. The plant produces a popular minivan, the Zafira, but the company has made no investments in the past few years, and the two story plant layout is not as efficient as a single floor. Should GM keep the plant open to save shutdown costs ? Should new investments be subsidized by the local or central government to preserve jobs ? Should employees offer productivity improvements to keep the plant alive ? How should this plant justify itself in GM’s global supply chain ?