Jacob Stewart

Case Analysis Report: Charles Foster Sends an Email

February 26th, 2019
 A. Introduction and Summary
Charles Foster is a U.S. national sales manager for a large multinational technology
company that’s headquartered out of France. He is concerned about the availability of an
important new disk drive, the XD19, which is selling better than anticipated. Foster decides to
send an email to his supervisor and vice-president of sale Richard Howe. In this email Foster
informs Howe about the lack of XD19 drives as well as another issue regarding the Version 08
firmware, this ranges from issues related to inventory and manufacturing to safety issues and
bugs with the new firmware. Unintended by Foster, Howe then passed the email on to Maurice
LeBlanc, head of Strategic Business Unit headquarters in France, and added that the company
will lose money waiting for their joint venture to produce the next batch of inventory. LeBlanc
proceeded to pass this email on to Ahmed Hassan, president of the Franco-Japanese joint
venture.

A couple days after sending the email, Foster was in the office completing some sales
reports when he received a phone call. On the phone was Hassan who was very upset and yelling
at Foster in regards to the email that had been forwarded to him. After Foster expressed his only
real concern, which was that pertaining to the inventory of the XD19, Hassan calmed down.
Roughly a week after sending the email to Howe, Foster received a detailed point-by-point reply
composed by the staff of the joint venture. The email had addressed issues proposed by Foster
regarding inventory of the XD19, manufacturing of these drives as well as safety problems and
firmware bugs. From this email Foster took note of the differences in perspective between the
U.S. company and its overseas partner. ​Their focus wasn’t on what the company could do to take
care of its customers but on how the U.S branch had a problem because they had sold more than
the forecast.

B. Statement of the Problem

a. The company does not have enough XD19 drives in stock to complete customer orders.
i. Symptoms:
1. The launch of the XD19 may lose momentum.
2. Version 07 firmware is no longer being installed on the XD19.
3. Customers may begin to prefer competitors.
4. Ahmed Hassan has negative feelings towards Charles Foster.
5. Complications in communication between offices.
ii. Root Causes:
1. There are not enough XD19 drives in stock.
2. The JV switched over to Version 08 firmware.
3. Stock of the XD19 drives gets depleted.
4. Foster’s personally intended email gets forwarded.
 5. Charles Foster addressed a problem in a non-professional context.
iii. Foster needs to ensure there will be enough XD19 drives with Version 07
firmware in inventory to meet his customers request without upsetting his
overseas supplier.

C. Decision Criteria and Alternative Solutions

a. An effective solution cools the tension between the U.S. sales department and the
overseas manufacturers/suppliers while ensuring customers receive the XD19 drives they
need.
b. Alternative Solutions:
i. Foster and Howe can approach Hassan in a polite professional manner and
explain the risk of losing customers to the competition if they don’t produce more
XD19 drives that use Version 07.
ii. Foster and Howe could propose the idea to Hassan of a discount for customers to
switch from Version 07 to Version 08 to make up for the lack of XD19’s with
Version 07 in inventory, thus not leaving customers empty handed.
iii. Foster and Howe could begin to look elsewhere for a manufacturer/supplier that
can make them XD19 drives that utilize the Version 07 firmware.

D. Recommended Solution
a. Foster and Howe should set up a meeting to politely and professional address this issue
with Hassan showing him that they will lose customers to the competition if they don’t
produce more XD19’s using Version 07 firmware. They can express to Hassan how this
will hurt the overall revenue for the company. If this idea is denied by Hassan Foster and
Howe can then suggest giving customers a discount if they switch to the newer drivers in
an attempt to keep customers from leaving and using the competition instead. At this
point, maintaining positive communication should keep relations swell between the two
offices, however if Hassan cannot agree on either of these alternatives Foster and Howe
will have to look elsewhere to ensure its customers don’t leave. As a last resort Foster
and Howe will have to look towards another manufacturer/supplier to purchase disk
drives from.