Cooper Pharmaceuticals Inc.

5 C Analysis 2
Company
 CPI was a major manufacturer of prescription drugs for the medical and dental professions
Competitor
 Abbott, Lilly, Merck, Upjohn and Schering
Collaborators
 All the products of CPI are carried out by drug wholesalers and drugstores for resale to
public through hospitals and physicians
Customers
 Hospitals
 Physicians
 Drug Wholesalers
 Drug Store ( Resale to the end users)
 Dental and medical professionals
Bob Marsh as an Individual 3

Strengths Weaknesses
●
Excellent Customer Rapport ●
Lack of planning and unstructured
●
Loyal and sincere employee record keeping
●
Cooperative with managerial ●
Tendency to prejudge the customer’s
instructions interests
●
Maintains good relationship with ●
Non identification with company
physician and hospital staff promotion policies
●
Marsh is sincere ,aggressive and ●
Sample bag was cluttered and poorly
enthusiastic organized
 Working with Different District Managers
4

John Meredith

●
During this time under leadership of Meredith his salary increased from $35,000 to $50,000
●
Problems identified by John- lack of attention to organization, planning, follow-up
●
Measures taken- suggested Marsh to do less visiting during hospital calls and use this time for more sales presentations
●
Result- Increased CPI’s prescriptions by physicians, increased buying of CPI products for office use.
●
Bob’s overall Performance rating increased from Below Standard to Above Average

Bill Couch

●
First performance review- satisfactory ratings across board, with exception of planning and record keeping
●
During this time Bob completed his 5 years in the company
●
Marsh’s salary has reached $60,000 in 1986
●
Overall work performance was recorded as Well above average
 5

Jim Rathbun

●
Problems identified:
●
Poor penetration with dentists
●
Dissatisfaction with Marsh’s record in establishing new products with Physicians , suggested for detailed presentations rather than rambling for 5-6 products
●
Actions Taken :
●
Outlined preliminary sales goals to attain within 4 months and probation period for Marsh
●
Results:
●
Increased drugstore selling confirmed by special orders
●
New product goals researched in selected hospitals
●
Under the leadership of Rathbun bob marsh was put on probation for 90 days
●
Marsh was given a salary increase to $62500 in 1988
●
Performance is Satisfactory on all accounts
 Working with Different District Managers(Cont.) 6

Vince Reed

●
Reed is newer and younger person than Rathbun
●
Reed recommended a salary increase of $2500 for Marsh
●
Under the leadership of Reed Marsh’s performance slipped from Satisfactory to completely unsatisfactory

Ted Franklin

●
He pointed Marsh about his performance and warned to improve the same in due course of time
●
Marsh was required to complete questionnaires on each of his major hospitals
●
In Franklin judgement Marsh is moody, lethargic and unfriendly
●
Franklin along with Mallick take a decision to terminate Marsh
 7

Should the management consider reinstating Bob

●

Decision Problem Marsh or stand firm on their decision of firing him

Question on following factors: 8

Role of the customer in

Recruitment and human Course of action that is
reference to the sales
resources (HR) policies that CPI suggested for CPI to undertake
representative and the
practiced in this scenario
company
Recruitment and human resources (HR) policies that
CPI practiced 9
Performance appraisal was done on two factors:
 Sales targets
 Relationship with customers
Marsh was considered at satisfactory or above level for both the factors

Issues with the process:

 All managers were transactional and nobody attempted to be transformational

 They never realized Marsh’s unique motivational needs
 Frequent change of managers while Marsh stayed constant
 Nobody tried to communicate to Marsh about the benefits and pitfalls of tidiness by setting examples
 Very little signs of job enrichment for Marsh. ( No new territory or assignments)
 The latter managers only went by past records, no fresh start
 No follow up on his probation, managers changed and the issue “Evaporated”
Role of the customer in reference to the sales 10
representative and the company

 Marsh was the one who established contact and maintained rapport with the
clients and was the face that highlighted the products and services that CPI
provides
 The client feels closer to the sales representative who they have been dealing
with, and are comfortable with their presence
 The establishment of a relationship with a new individual from the same locality,
might have caused further agitation among the clientele, prompting the
collective action to question CPI’s decision
Course of action that is suggested for CPI to undertake 11
in this scenario

The appropriate method would be to reinstate Bob Marsh. This is due to several
reasons, but the most important ones are:
 His strong bond with the clientele means that the risk of losing any valued
customers could be negated
 His ability to meet sales target means that the company was not affected
financially by his actions
 His loyalty to the organization with 12 years of service should be considered
as a guarantee of his commitment to the growth of the organization
Recommendations 12

 Rehire Marsh to his former position

 CPI should investigate into development of the skills that are lacking in an
individual
 There should be two-way communication between management and employees
 Other motivational schemes rather than just salary increase should be
implemented
 Training programs at headquarters should be held frequently and senior
employees should also be included
 Employee grievance program should be implemented