INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME IN MANAGEMENT FOR EXECUTIVES 2016-

17

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, LUCKNOW

Analysis of A Blogger in Their Midst by Seven Step Approach

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Prof. Neerja Pande

SUBMITTED BY
Name Roll No.
Sanjoy Maji IPMX09045
Situation Analysis:
Will Somerset, CEO of Lancaster Webb Medial Supply, is facing a perplexing issue dealing with
ethics, free speech and possible lawsuit regarding an employee of his company. He was initially
startled with the knowledge that one of his employees were blogging about company details and
happenings in her personal blogs. After a closer look and feedback from employees and
customers, the line of benefit and harm to the company became blurred.
The incident takes place when Will Somerset is about to launch nitrile gloves, a new product of
the company. During his industry conference, it was sparsely populated and an important
customer Samuel Taylor, medical director of Houston Clinic, did not turn up. The small crowd
was probably due to a blogger Glove Girl speaking in the ballroom next to Wills conference
who was from the same company.
After the event, Will inquired about the reason of Houston Clinics director not turning up and he
found out that that may be due to Glove Girl writing about Houston Clinics cesarean delivery
rates and questioning the ethics of her own companys doing business with Houston Clinic.
During the inquiry, he also learns that the blogs helped in selling older products(SteriTouch
gloves). On the same day, he could make a deal with Fort Worth General(a new customer) due
to the Glove Girl blog and the customer lauded the efforts of the Glove Girl blog in promotion
of the company products and was eager to utilize her services. The Glove Girl blogger also
posted a correction in her blog regarding Houston Clinic after she learnt of why the cesarean
rates were high in the clinic from one of the nurses of Houston Clinic.
Will Somerset is faced with a particularly tough situation. He is faced with a tough decision
because the action of the blogger was profitable for the company, is cost efficient and is more
efficient in reaching out to potential customers. However, it is a clear ethics violation. The blog is
a personal blog where the blogger shares personal experiences with professional information
but the readers consider the blog as company authorized which is not the case. The blogger
does not always post correct information in her blog and there is potential of immense harm to
the company in case the employee goes rogue. Judy Chen, the communications chief and Evan
Jones, VP of marketing, were completely aware of the blog and did not report to the CEO since
the blog helped in higher sales and better connect with the customers of the company. This also
undermines the position of other employees and management of the company.

ProblemSolving Approach:

Problem Definition:
What should Lancaster Webb do about Glove Girl?
The case also involves two basic issues that the CEO needs to deal with: Handling of social
media for benefit of the organization and Channelization of external communication.
SWOT Analysis of Lancaster Webb:
Strengths:

Good product mix with new and old products

New customer eager to buy the companys products

Weaknesses:
 Management and Internal communication problems as the management is not sharing
information among themselves
Reliance on Glove Girl, a free agent, as a tool to the market the products of the
company
Marketing team not updated with latest technologies for marketing of products
No clear code of ethics and external communication policy of the company

Opportunities:

Use Glove Girl for social media communications

Blogging as a new avenue for marketing

Threats:

Glove Girl is a threat since classified information of the company can be made public.
Personal bias and reasoning by Glove Girl can alter the objectives of the company
Chance of competitors suing Lancaster-Webb if malafide information is put in the blog
since even though the blog is private, people assume it to be company authorized
Losing out competitive advantage and business to competitors if incorrect information is
spread
Marketing team relying on Glove Girl for short term gains and not having long term
marketing strategies.
Glove Girl discussing about company customers in her blog even after Judy,
communications chief, asked her not to do so
Evan, VP of Marketing, relying too much on Glove Girl without taking his CEO into
confidence

Decision Criteria:
Effectivess of the blog in terms of Sales and Market Penetration
Able to Connect with customers
Competition
Violation of company policies and standards
Legalities of governing free speech
Company Image
Options:
1. Promote Glove Girl to head social media communications and make Glove Girl the
official company blog
2. Fire Glove Girl and suing her in court for writing about official information in private blog
3. Let her continue AS-IS and do not do anything
4. Open a separate official company blog and warn Glove Girl through legal channel to not
post official information
 5. Open a separate official company blog and put Glove Girl in charge of the official blog
and warn Glove Girl not post official information on her personal blog

Criteria Evaluation:

Scale of 1-5 with 1 being lowest and 5

highest
Official
Promote Fire Ignore Warning blog
Effectivess of the blog in
terms of Sales and
Market Penetration 3 1 3 4 3
Able to Connect with
customers 4 1 4 4 3
Competition poaching 5 1 1 1 5
Violation of company
policies and standards 5 5 2 2 5
Legalities of governing
free speech 5 1 5 2 5
Company Image 4 1 3 4 4
TOTAL 26 10 18 17 25

Action Plan:
Based on the criteria evaluation, the company should Promote Glove Girl to head social media
communications and make Glove Girl the official company blog to capitalize on the growing
popularity of the blog. Glove-Girl in a way was promoting the company. Her thoughts and ideas
and style of writing are what made people attracted to the blog and drag the attention of
everyone. Glove-girl was probably making a better job than the marketing and communications
department personnel and she should be promoted for her efforts.
The subsequent step would be to create a blog code of ethics that the employees who write
personal blogs or post to social media are to follow. In addition, Lancaster-Webb should create
a social media use policy as part of the confidentiality agreements they have employees sign
when starting with a company to respect and protect the companys confidentiality and
proprietary information. By establishing these standards it addresses the legalities of governing
free speech and makes it a violation of company policies and standards.
The company should also have a charter on external communications policy to legally bind
employees not to write or talk about companys official information without management
permission.
The company should also invest in new cost effective marketing stratgies to save on marketing
budget and also reach maximum customers at minimum cost.
Contingency Plan:
In case Glove Girl does not want to make her private blog the official company blog, she should
still be promoted. An official company blog should be opened and Glove Girl should be given
the responsibility of the blog. She should be warned not to post official information about the
company on her personal blog and ask her readers to read the company blog for official
information about the company and its products. This will prevent competition poaching.
If this option does not work and she goes to work for a competitor, she should be legally sued
for providing official company information in her private blog.