Hale and Dorr (A)

1. Notice the differences among the three sets of stories that Lee heard
from Burgess, Sherman and O'Reilly. What do these stories suggest about
each of the networks of Burgess, Sherman and O'Reilly? Discuss from
the perspective of network structure, network's strengths and network's
weaknesses.

John Burgess had initially had a contact with Townshend Butler and then
leveraged it to connect with a Dutch Semiconductor manufacturer
through which Morgan Stanley’s contact has been achieved. Then he
went on to have contacts with Dutch and Irish Semi conductor firms and
Goldman Sachs, which in turn had got many projects including the
Infineon.

Most of the networks that John Burgess leveraged are of Task Networks.
There was one instance of John when a semiconductor firm heard about
the work and wanted to meet him. He spoke about the technical expertise
and specific job related information/advice and converted into an IP. The
types of people would be functions/subgroups and the core network
would be short term, instrumental ties as both parties’ leverages on the
functional expertise each other have.

Strength:
 John burgess’ story gives a notion that this network wants to use
the expertise or other information and wants to leverage it
completely
Weakness:
 No follow up with the clients, as he believed that generating new
business can be achieved only through luck
 Over dependence of one particular or a few contacts in that
particular organization.
2. What changes/modifications in the networks of Burgess, Sherman and
O'Reilly are desirable for Hale and Dorr?

Burgess:
Following up of the clients in order to get the new business as it is
not just about luck but about maintaining and sustaining client
relationships

Sherman
Sherman should take more steps in connecting to more people and
also mainly in leveraging the contacts that she had built in generating
new business opportunities for the company

O’Reilly
Even though most of the clients of the O’Reilly were just
individual property owners/developers, he should try to cross sell his
clients to better leverage the relationships