Goodway, Inc.


Goodway, Inc., is a large pharmaceutical company with two key divisions that develop prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines. Two years ago, Goodway ventured into the consumer health care market and created a third division to develop products such as mouthwash and body lotion. Each of the company's three divisions operates independently. They each have their own research and development, marketing, and sales staff. Unfortunately, little knowledge sharing takes place across divisions and cross-collaboration is virtually unheard of. One year ago, a new chief executive officer took the helm at Goodway. His mission is to bring the three divisions closer together in order to leverage capabilities and present a more unified face to the customer. He's made it clear that improving collaboration across divisions is his number one priority. Implementing the new vision is the responsibility of the firm's three vice presidents.

Paul Rosenthal, Vice President, Consumer Health Care Products


Paul has been a vice president at Goodway for the past two years. Paul is charged with growing his new division's revenues. The consumer health care products division has been designated as an area of high growth potential. If the division performs well, it will have a viable future. If it misses its revenue targets, the division may face cutbacks or even close.

Adam Mitchell, Marketing Director, Consumer Health Care Products


Adam is a talented marketer who reports to Paul Rosenthal. Paul has just hired Adam because of his strong track record of delivering outstanding results. In his previous job, Adam exceeded revenue targets three years in a row. Adam enjoys a challenge and is eager to generate the revenues needed to make the consumer health care products division a success.

Emily Reyes, Vice President, Over-the-Counter Medicines


Emily has been a vice president for Over-the-Counter Medicines for seven years. As a fellow vice president, Emily has been helpful to her colleague Paul during his two years at Goodway. Emily strongly supports the chief executive officer's mission to bring the three divisions closer together. She knows that cross-division collaboration will ultimately benefit everyone—especially the customers. She is known for being a good manager and is well regarded by others in the company.

PAUL
Adam, it's great to have you on board. We have an ambitious year ahead. As you know, all eyes are on us—this year is critical for bringing in revenues. Our performance will determine whether this division is viable.

ADAM
Our targets are aggressive, but I'm excited about the challenge. I think we'll be able to achieve our goals.

PAUL
Terrific. One last thing: individual performance expectations are due in a week. Given our conversation, I think one of your expectations should focus on growing revenues. Another should focus on expanding into new markets. And the last one should probably focus on new channels. Could you draft these goals and get them to me by Friday?

ADAM
Sure thing.

Four months later, April

To: Adam Mitchell, Marketing Director
From: Paul Rosenthal, Vice President
Subject: Well done!
 

Adam,

Congratulations on the success of the mouthwash campaign. The numbers are phenomenal—25% over target. Keep up the good work!

Paul

PAUL
Hey Em, what did you think about Adam's marketing campaign for the new mouthwash? Sensational results, right?

EMILY
Yeah, the results of the mouthwash campaign were fantastic. But Paul, can I give you some unsolicited feedback?

PAUL
Sure.

EMILY
According to my marketing group, Adam was difficult to work with on this campaign. My team was under the impression—in the spirit of improving corporate "collaboration"—that they'd be working with him to brainstorm ideas and launch the new mouthwash product together. They told me he had his own agenda and wasn't interested in learning from our group. The irony is that the product launch was a huge success. His revenues exceeded everyone's expectations.

PAUL
Hmm . . . I appreciate your telling me this. I'll be sure to follow up with him.

Adam,

I'm in New York today, but wanted to mention this to you while it's on my mind. I ran into Emily Reyes last week. She said that her marketing group enjoyed working with you on the mouthwash campaign, but that they had hoped to be more involved in the "process." Do me a favor, as you plan future campaigns, be sure to bring them into the loop. Emily's team is smart—we can learn a lot from them.

Thanks,
Paul

Goodway Quarterly Newsletter

Revenues Skyrocket for Consumer Health Care

The quarter is over and the numbers are in. Consumer Health Care had another tremendous three months. Marketing outperformed its budget by 18%. Sales were also over target by 9% . . .

EMILY
Hi, Paul. Do you have time to talk later today? I want to discuss two things. First, my marketing group just finished up a project with Adam and they're completely up in arms. Some of them refuse to work with him again. The issue is his lack of collaboration—they say it's been an ongoing problem. The second thing is marketing expenses. One of my team members reviewed Adam's vendor costs, and the numbers were high. Apparently, Adam has been using his own vendor for direct marketing campaigns. If my calculations are correct, Adam paid $35K more than he would have if he'd used our vendor. I know you're busy, but this is important.

PAUL
Emily. Got your voicemail. I'm surprised. I wasn't aware of this. Let's talk at 2:00. I want to hear what you have to say so I can address it in Adam's performance review; his review is coming up in a few weeks. I'll make sure we figure out next steps so this doesn't happen again.

PAUL
. . . yeah, I just got the e-mail from human resources. Performance reviews again. I don't know when I'm going to get to them. Didn't we just do reviews? I guess I'll just pick a day, close the door, and get them done.

PAUL
Two down. Four to go. Next up—Adam Mitchell. Where's his self-appraisal? Here it is. Yup, in sync with my thoughts. A great year. First big success was the mouthwash rollout. Twelve out of 21 campaigns exceeded revenue targets. Expenses were a little over budget—maybe because of those vendor costs Emily mentioned. Interesting . . . Adam didn't talk about his working relationship with Emily's marketing group. Wonder what he thinks about that.

PAUL
As you know, the purpose of this meeting is to review your performance over the past year. We'll talk about what you did well, what you could improve, and next steps. I thought we'd begin with your self-appraisal. Tell me how you think things went last year.

ADAM
I think I had a great year. I had ambitious goals and worked hard to achieve them. The majority of my campaigns were successful. Twelve out of 21 campaigns exceeded revenue targets. I feel like our division hit its goals largely because of my campaigns.

PAUL
Our division did hit its aggressive revenue targets because of your successful campaigns. You did an excellent job of implementing creative campaigns, forecasting market demand, and generating revenues. I was impressed by your ads on drug store Web sites. Outstanding work.

ADAM
Thanks. Of all the campaigns, I was most pleased by the mouthwash rollout—my first product launch at this company.

PAUL
Tell me more about that campaign.

ADAM
We generated 25% more revenues than expected. We blew it out of the water!

PAUL
Could you describe your working relationship with Emily Reyes's marketing group?

ADAM
It's been fine. We met throughout the year to collaborate on campaigns. I found them helpful, but I didn't think they added a whole lot of value to our marketing efforts.

PAUL
Really, why not?

ADAM
They approach things differently. They rely on tried-and-true practices that work for their markets. Our markets are different.

PAUL
Do you think there are lessons they've learned that we could leverage?

ADAM
Sure, and I think we did.

PAUL
I'm asking about this because Emily Reyes told me that her group was frustrated working with you this year. Her group thought they would be more involved in the brainstorming and decision-making processes. They felt you had your own agenda and had little interest in learning from their best practices.

ADAM
What? That's ridiculous. If anything, I've bent over backwards to listen to their ideas. Name one time when I wasn't collaborative.

PAUL
Emily said her team felt that way on all the campaigns that you worked on together. She said it started with the mouthwash campaign.

ADAM
Look, my memory is foggy because the mouthwash campaign was nine months ago, but here's how I remember it: I analyzed customer needs, competitive products, market trends, and created several game plans—ways to launch the product. When I met with her team, they ignored my research. We only talked about how they roll out products. I listened, but when I asked for data from previous launches, they seemed put off and said everyone was "swamped." I couldn't consider their suggestions without supporting data.

PAUL
I can see how that would be a problem. So what did you do about it?

ADAM
I met with her group several times but conversations didn't get far. In the end, I worked with my team to craft a strong marketing campaign. The results were phenomenal. I don't see what Emily's team could have added to improve results.

PAUL
Adam, you did deliver outstanding results, but your behavior was not perceived well by others. Emily's team felt like you had no interest in collaborating with them. She mentioned you might have cut costs had you used their vendor for direct marketing campaigns. Maybe if you had followed up on their suggestions, they would have felt more included and given you the data you requested. Improving collaboration is an important company mandate.

ADAM
I understand the situation, but let's be clear. When you hired me, you said you were looking for someone who would deliver results. You said that the next year was critical: if we hit targets, the division would be considered an area of high growth potential; if we didn't, our future would be uncertain. I worked my tail off to help this division reach aggressive revenue goals. Now you're telling me that because I wasn't "collaborative," I'm being penalized?!

PAUL
Slow down, Adam. I didn't say you were going to be penalized. I'm just trying to give you some constructive feedback.

ADAM
If this so-called "constructive" feedback is part of my formal performance review, I object. Put yourself in my shoes. How would you feel? I've had an incredible year. I surpassed my goals.

PAUL
I can see you're upset. And I'd like to take some time to think about this before we continue. Let's adjourn for now and meet again tomorrow morning.

The performance review meeting did not unfold the way Paul intended. Paul knows he has to hand in a formal, written performance review for Adam's personnel folder.