Post Graduate Programme in Management

REPORT ON THE CASE

WE GOOGLED YOU
submitted to

PROF. MADHUSHRI SHRIVASTAVA

In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the course

WRITTEN ANALYSIS AND COMMUNICATION

by

PARISHMITA GOGOI, 2013PGP269

SECTION-E

DATE: 7 FEBRUARY -2014

Written Analysis and Communication Parishmita Gogoi

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
February 6, 2014
Prof. Madhushri Shrivastava
Department of Communication
Indian Institute of Management Indore
Indore -453556
Subject: Report Submission of case We Googled You
Respected Madam,
As per the guidelines provided during the classroom discussion, I have been assigned the task to
prepare a report on the case We Googled You in last WAC session dated February 4, 2014.
I have gone through the case thoroughly and am pleased to present my report covering
situational analysis, problem, options, recommendation, action plan and contingency plan.
Kindly evaluate the report and provide me with the review and feedback.
Yours Sincerely,
Parishmita Gogoi, 2013PGP269
Section E
PGP1, Indian Institute of Management Indore
Indore-453556

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Fred Westen had been working to improve the fortune of the luxury apparel brand Hathaway
Jones and the best bet presently was to delve into the Chinese Luxury market. Mimi presented
herself as an impressive candidate and her credentials and experience ratified her confident and
creative talk.
The VP of HR fished out some half a dozen articles from internet which colors Mimi in a
compromising and risk inducing position. Her involvement with the protest groups against WTO
and Chinese Consulate possess the threat to derail the plan of investing in China and thus Fred
had to take a decision regarding her candidature in light of the online history and her impressive
and creative credentials. He has to carefully draft the options available before him and evaluate
each one of them. The options have to be weighed against some criteria to arrive at sound course
of action. Upon careful deliberation of all the options and evaluating them, I recommend that
Fred shall fix another interview with Mimi and put forward the hesitations and based on her
stands about the issue take the decision.

Written Analysis and Communication Parishmita Gogoi

Table of Contents
1.

Situation Analysis .................................................................................................................... 4

2.

The Problem ............................................................................................................................ 4

3.

The Option ............................................................................................................................... 4

4.

Criteria for Evaluation ............................................................................................................. 5

5.

Evaluation of Options .............................................................................................................. 5

6.

The Recommendation .............................................................................................................. 6

7.

Action Plan .............................................................................................................................. 6

8.

Contingency Plan ..................................................................................................................... 6

Written Analysis and Communication Parishmita Gogoi

1. Situation Analysis
Hathaway Jones, a luxury apparel retailer, had fallen on hard times as the company image was
getting old and a major decline in the designer clothing were showing up. Fred, the CEO, was
ready to place his bet on the growing Chinas luxury goods market to revamp the companys
fortune. Mimi presented herself as an impressive candidate to Fred and her credentials and
experience ratified her exuberant aggressive talk.
Fred walked into a tricky situation when the VP of Human Resource, Virginia, apprised him
about the dicey information available on internet about Mimi. As a background check on internet
Virginia found almost half a dozen newspaper articles manifesting the involvement of Mimi with
various protest groups, few against Chinese Consulate as well. Though a well suited candidate
these online baggage possess a threat to derail the Multi-million Project and Fred had to take a
call on her candidature.

2. The Problem
In order to build a winning team for the web oriented and emotionally sensitive Chinese market,
Fred had to decide on Mimis candidature considering her nearly perfect credentials against a
compromising online history.

3. The Option
Fred had the following option in order to decide a particular course of action:
a. HIRE: Ignore the online information and the threat of it being used by wrong people and

give importance to Mimis credentials only.

b. REJECT: The online history of Mimi can derail the China project and without taking the

risk of getting involved in the legal issues of discriminating against a candidate based on
online information, back off now only.
c. INTERVIEW AGAIN TO CLARIFY ABOUT THE ONLINE BAGGAGE: Call

Mimi for another interview and discuss with her what has come up. Hear her side of story
and if she has changed her stance; ask her to make her online presence friendlier towards
China and consider her for hiring.
d. HIRE FOR STARTEGIC PLANNING BUT DONT SEND TO CHINA: Hire Mimi

and make her a part of strategic team for China and use her to build ideas without letting
her come out as a company face in public or to deal directly with the government.

Written Analysis and Communication Parishmita Gogoi

4. Criteria for Evaluation

The criteria that should be used from for evaluation form Freds perspective are as follows:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Consider Mimis Credentials.

Avoiding negative internet Reputation for the Company.
Adding boost to China Project.
Maintaining a Healthy Relation with Chinese Government.

5. Evaluation of Options
The above mentioned alternatives could be evaluated as follows:
a. The first alternative gives an edge to Fred in the Chinese market with the help of Mimis
creativity and expertise but carries a risk of Mimi catching the wrong side of Chinese
Government and not standing to the expectations of the local employees with her brash
and opinionated behavior.
b. The second alternative is risk free but may not help Fred to put together the best strategic
team for China and loosing on candidates like Mimi is competitors gain.
c. The third alternative gives Fred a chance to understand Mimis present perspective on the
online history and if she has calmed down her defiance; to make online presence more
government friendly thereby lessening the risk of attracting troubles. In case she has not
changed her stance, the company runs the risk of getting into a legal issue for
discrimination against a candidate based on internet information.
d. The fourth alternative allows Fred to block Mimi for competitors and use her expertise
and strategic planning to develop the China project without having the issue of
compromising online history. The down part is this option doesnt fully exploit Mimis
credentials and thus is not very relevant with the China Project.

Table I: Evaluation of Options

Mimis
Credentials
Alternative 1
Alternative 2
Alternative 3
Alternative 4

Yes
No
Yes
Yes

Avoiding negative
internet reputation
for the company
No
Yes
Maybe
Maybe

Adding Boost to
China Project
Yes
No
Yes
No

Maintaining a
Healthy Relation with
Chinese Government
No
Yes
Maybe
Maybe

Written Analysis and Communication Parishmita Gogoi

6. The Recommendation
On the basis of foregoing analysis, it appears that Alternative 3 i.e. interview again to
clarify about the online baggage would probably meet all necessary criteria of evaluation
and hence is recommended.

7. Action Plan
Fred Westen should follow the following sequence of steps:
a. Fix an interview with Mimi Brewster and discuss about her online history.
b. Talk to her about her defiance against the government and see if she has changed her
stance over the issue; make her aware regarding improving the online presence in
relevance with the China Project.
c. Ask her to write positive blogs about World Trade Organisation, and her current
thoughts reflecting how she has changed over the years.
d. Let the HR team interview the candidate and if everything falls in place hire Mimi for
the project and work closely with her to revive the company.

8. Contingency Plan
The contingency plan would be to hire Mimi for strategic team and building ideas without
letting her come in contact with the Chinese Government in any wrong way.