Report on the case

Wendy Peterson
In partial fulfilment of WAC course

IIM Sambalpur

Submitted to: Prof. Madhusri Shrivastava

Submitted by:
Yogendra Kumar (48)
 Memo of Transmittal

Sub: Submission of report on Wendy Peterson

This document has been submitted in partial fulfilment of WAC course and contains my
analysis of the case Wendy Peterson followed by the options that I considered would be
feasible as per the problem defined by me. I have evaluated these options on the basis of certain
criteria and have come up with an action plan. As per my recommendation, Peterson should
terminate Wu.
Please let us know in case any discussion is needed, so that a meeting could be arranged as per
your convenience.
Executive Summary
Wendy Peterson, vice president of sales at Plano, Texas, office of AccountBack, an
accounting software and services company, realised the potential of Chinese market in Plano.
To break into and dominate this market, she hired Fred Wu, a successful entrepreneur. Wu
closed his first business deal, a one year contract worth over $400,000 in annual fees, eight
months after he was hired. Wu had disconnections with Peterson regarding the feedbacks and
scheduled meetings. After signing the single-largest client of the downtown office, Wu
requested for a personal assistant, this was provided only to senior sales person. Wu
threatened to leave AccountBack over this issue. Peterson was in dilemma whether to
terminate or cave in to Wus demands.
 Table of Contents

1. Situation Analysis1- 2

2. Problem Statement......2

3. Options........2

4. Criteria for Evaluation............2

5. Evaluation of Options..2-3

6. Recommendation........3

7. Action Plan......3

Situation Analysis
Wendy Peterson joined AccountBack after graduating at the top of her Ivy League university
class in 2000 with a degree in economics. A tireless worker with a curious mind, she excelled
as a junior manager on a series of account service. By age 28, Peterson was managing
account service teams herself.
After six years working on and managing client engagements, sales seemed a challenging and
potentially lucrative opportunity to her. She had often been described as a doer. She did not
just suggest an idea and wait for someone else to take charge. She liked to do things herself.
She was one of the few sales employees who brought in lots of new business to AccountBack
in 2008 despite the global financial crisis; soon after she was promoted to manage the Plano
sales organization. To her, the Plano team she inherited seemed disengaged; she believed that
changing the culture by making her team closer and the office more collegial would boost
productivity and revenues. Under her direction the team exceeded 2010 targets for new
business by 15%. Increasing revenue by 30% was an aggressive goal, but she felt it was
doable with the right mix of talent and hard work.
Petersons own research revealed that, between 2003 and 2008, a cluster of fast growing
service business founded by Chinese entrepreneurs from mainland China had sprouted in
Plano; her growth plan included breaking into and dominating this market. To penetrate the
close-knit Chinese business community, she believed, would require hiring the right
salesperson. She had been worried about the diversity in the office for some time; they had
only recently hired a Hispanic salesperson and there was no one in the office familiar with
Chinese culture. Peterson was overwhelmed with resumes for the new sales position, for
which she made it clear Mandarin was preferred. Most candidates spoke some degree of
Mandarin and all held advanced degrees in business. None, however, exuded the confidence
and business savvy of her final choice, Fred Wu.
Wu was 39, born and educated in China but spent two years in the United States for college
where he studied business and economics. In 2004, he immigrated to the US and, soon after,
launched and operated a successful printing business in Dallas. In 2007, he sold the business
to a larger printing company for a substantial profit. Wu knew Chinese executives at both
established and start-up businesses in the Dallas area, including Plano. Outside of work, he
served on the boards of a Plano Chinese community center and Chinese school. Several
employees of companies on AccountBacks target client list regularly attended events at these
organizations with their families.
Normally, Peterson wouldnt have hired someone with as little hands-on experience in
software sales as Wu. But she was impressed with Wus access to executive at
AccountBacks target companies.
Peterson didnt click with Wu on a personal level.
During Wus first month, Wu arrived early and stayed late nearly every day. After a month,
Peterson proposed based on AccountBacks standard first year sales executive guidelines,
quarterly figures that added up to a first-year goal of 250,000 in revenue.
Wu emphasized that the short-term revenue might conflict with the lengthy process required
to land large accounts. Though it was uncommon to alter sales goals for a first-year
executive, Peterson assumed that Chinese business executives might be reluctant to sign with
AccountBack until Wu had established close personal relationship with them. She amended
Wus timelines; first sales target was set at month six instead of month three.
All members of the sales team made cold calls and client calls from the office, so Peterson
saw them daily. They kept Peterson up to date on sales activity via the new sales tool that
Peterson could access at any time. Wu however rarely performed this simple task. His
attendance at the weekly pipeline meetings was inconsistent as well.
Peterson began to worry about Wus work habits and performance.
Wu closed his first business deal, a one contract worth over $400,000 in annual fees, eight
months after he was hired. His client was the single-largest client of the downtown office.
As Peterson waited for the bill to arrive, she considered Wus request for a personal assistant.
She calmly explained that only a small number of AccountBacks most successful sales
executives with numerous accounts had assistants of their own.
They left the restaurant together. Later that day, Wu came to Petersons office and threatened
to leave AccountBack over this issue.
Peterson knew she would be up late thinking about the dilemma of whether to terminate or
cave in to Wus demands. If Peterson accepts Wus demand, it would affect the rest of the
office.

Problem Statement
Should Peterson terminate or cave in to Wus demands?

Options
Peterson should terminate Wu.
Peterson should not terminate Wu and cave in to Wus demands.

Criteria for Evaluation

Impact on work culture of AccountBack.
Impact on revenue from Chinese entrepreneurs in Plano.
Clash of ego between Peterson and Wu.

Evaluation of Options
Peterson should terminate Wu.
This will create deterrence for the irresponsible employees and will make sure that the work
culture of AccountBack remains intact. However, the company may suffer loss of revenue from
its existing Chinese clients as Wu may take the Chinese clients away once he leaves
AccountBack. After Wus termination there will be no more ego clashes in between Peterson
and Wu.

Peterson should not terminate Wu and cave in to Wus demands.

This will affect the work culture of AccountBack badly. Other employees at AccountBack may
feel being discriminated. However, the company may continue getting revenue from its
existing Chinese clients and may further add new Chinese clients to its portfolio. But the ego
clash may further worsen and this may hamper their individual productivity.

Recommendation
I recommend that Peterson should terminate Wu.

Action Plan
Peterson should terminate Wu and hire someone who knows Mandarin, has good
networking skills and hands-on experience in software sales.
The more experienced professionals at AccountBack should start imparting sales and
client management wisdom to the new hire immediately.