ACCOUNTBACK LTD

411, Park Street, Down Lane, Plano 467890

May 5, 2011
Ms. Leonore Fielding
Senior Vice-President of Sales(West)
AccountBack Ltd,
Texas ON K4N 2T3

Dear Mr. Moore,

The attached report, which you requested on April 1, is a detailed description of the situation,
options and evaluation basis for my decision to allot a sales assistant to the newly recruited
sales executive Fred Wu.
The options listed in the report were mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive in scope
to the best of my knowledge. I have taken the decision in the best interests of AccountBack’s
business and longterm sustainability of the Plano office.
I look forward to discussing any reservations you may have with regards to the decision and
will be happy to meet with you and your staff regarding our report and its implications. Commented [p1]: Descriptive rather than informative.

Sincerely
Wendy Peterson
Wendy Peterson
Vice President Sales, Plano Office
 Situation Analysis
The characteristics of the Plano office when I came here were as follows:
Revenue - $9 Million
Sales Executives – 11
Sales assistants – 3
Average Client Base per Sales Executive – 15 to 20
Revenue Concentration: 75 % revenue from 25% clients Commented [p2]: Will Moore be interested?

Apart from the above-mentioned parameters the Office consisted of sales executives who had
grown up in Texas or Dallas and was not very diverse. In my view the culture at the office
was very disengaged and I took steps to make it a more close-knit and collegial culture. Commented [p3]: Dangerous sentence to disclose to Moore.
Under my direction we have exceeded the 2010 targets for new business by 15% and the
yearly goal is to increase revenues by 30% in the coming year.
Market Dynamics
The Plano market has recently seen setting up a lot of fast growing service-businesses run by
entrepreneurs from mainland China. To achieve the new sales target, I decided to target the
Chinese Market. As none of the existing salespeople were familiar with Chinese culture or
had any personal contacts in the market a new Chinese sales executive needed to be hired. It
was to this end that Fred (Xing) Wu was hired.
Profile of Fred Wu
Wu was born on mainland China but has done his college education in the US. He
successfully started and sold a printing business in Dallas. Due to his venture he had
substantial access to the Chinese business executives in the Plano area. He also had prior
sales experience as he was currently employed as a sales executive in a Chinese
manufacturing company.
Wu’s Performance over the Year
Wu’s first months in the company were used by him diligently assimilating all information
about AccountBack’s products and also creating his own internal resource network. I have
received positive reviews with regards to Wu’s capabilities, diligence and attention to detail
during the period. Post his initiation Wu’s sales targets were set, according to consultation
with him the first 3 month sales requirement was relaxed as he estimated that setting up and
acquiring large contracts would take time. Owing to our inexperience with Chinese culture
the suggestion was undertaken. Wu took 8 months to sign his first client but his first sale
became the largest customer in the Plano office with $400000 in revenues. Subsequent to the
first sale Wu made three additional sales to the same client. The secondary sale was not as per
AccountBack guidelines and upon questioning Wu showed proof that the client had asked for
the same.
Other Behavioural Inconsistencies of Wu and the Plano Office
Even though Wu had created a good working relationship with his fellow executives and was
already ready to help them, the following aberrant behaviours were noticed:
1. He printed out his own sales card in Mandarin without informing others.
2. He never took calls in Public as was the general habit of Plano sales staff.
3. He skipped volunteer duty at AccountBack sponsored event without informing
anyone.
4. He did not update the new sales tool regularly and rarely did any cold calling.
5. His preferred method of sales was via luncheons and dinners.
6. He was overtly formal in his dealings with colleagues.
Incident leading to Decision
At Wu’s annual review he demanded a sales assistant in light of him becoming the sales
executive with the largest client base as he was confident of landing three new deals. Upon
refusal he threatened to join a competitor. Commented [p4]: Structured presentation of case facts minus
the inferences. 11.5/3

Problem Statement
To gain a foothold in the close knit Chinese entrepreneur market without losing existing
revenue streams and managing office dynamics. Commented [p5]: Outside the scope of the current problem.
.5/1
Options Available
Based on the incident and in light of Wu’s performance and Behavior, I had the following
options available to me:
1. Refuse to provide Wu a sales assistant.
2. Provide Wu a sales assistant. Commented [p6]: Is the situation so straightforward? .5/1

Evaluation Criteria
I took my decision based on the following decision criteria:
1. Effect on Business Revenue
2. Effect on Morale of other Employees
3. Long Term Sustainability of the decision Commented [p7]: 1/2 Broad.

Evaluation of Options
Decision Business Effect Morale Sustainability
Refuse an Possible loss of Future Employees would be As the aberrant behaviour
Assistant Chinese Business negatively affected and idiosyncrasies would
due to achievement of be eliminated, no harmful
Bonus becoming long-term effect is
harder. envisioned.
Accept the Retain current Employees may be Precedent of buckling
Request Business and negatively affected under threats could be set.
possibility of due to preferential Would not be sustainable
achieving business treatment to particular without mitigating actions.
 objective. employee.
Upon evaluation of the two options it was evident that it did not make business sense to let
Wu leave over such a simple cause. However, it was imperative that this did not set a bad Commented [p8]: Your expressions need to be objective and
not judgemental to your superior.
precedent in the office.
Decision Taken
Based upon the evaluation Wu was provided with a sales assistant as it was anticipated that
further business was incoming. The effect on Wu’s colleagues was assumed to be minimal as
the new business would help achieve a bonus for everyone. Commented [p9]: .5/1 No terms of negotiation.

Future Recommendations Commented [p10]: Do you mean action Plan?

To mitigate the effect of acceding to Wu’s request and in light of our limited understanding
of Chinese culture and therefore Wu’s actions and method of operations, I suggest the
following steps for the future:
1. A Chinese section be set up consisting of Wu, the sales assistant and one more sales
executive. Commented [p11]: This is beyond the scope of current
discussion.
The action would lead to providing a context to the special status extended to Wu. It would Lang/flow: 1.5/3
also help us understand how to enter the Chinese market as the sales assistant and additional
Sales executive can act as a link between our current practices and the non-transparent but
effective sales practices of Fred Wu.