Sarah Goodwin was a recent MBA graduate who was interested
Sarah Goodwin was a recent MBA graduate who was interested
Sarah Goodwin was a recent MBA graduate who was interested in retailing. She had been delighted to receive a job offer from a large and prestigious department store chain. The first year of employment at this chain was considered a training program, but formal instruction was very limited. Each of the new trainees was assigned to work as an assistant to a buyer in one of the departments. The intent was that the trainees would work with five or six buyers during the year, rotating assignments every two months and would make themselves “useful” enough during those assignments so at least one buyer would ask to have that person join his or her department on a permanent basis. Buyers are critical in the management of a department store. They select the goods to be offered, negotiate terms of purchase, set retail prices, arrange displays, organize promotions, and are generally responsible for the operation of the departments within the store. In this particular chain each department acted as a profit center and sales and profits were calculated on a per square foot basis. Buyers competed, on a friendly basis, to outperform each other so that their square footage would be expanded. The buyers received substantial commissions based upon monthly profits. Sarah’s first assignment was to work for the buyer in the gourmet foods department. The buyer for gourmet foods, Maria Castellani, was a well-known personality throughout the company. She was considered competent, witty, and sarcastic. She had strong ties with most people in the company and it seemed that everybody in the store seemed to find a reason to stop by the gourmet food department at least once during the day to chat with Maria. Sarah was naturally included in these conversations, and consequently she was getting to know all the other buyers. This networking made it easy for her to build relationships with other buyers for her future assignments. For the first five weeks of her employment, Sarah was exceptionally happy and pleased with her career choice. She felt that she was performing well on her first job, and making sensible arrangements for her next assignment. Then, an event occurred that called her contentment into question: We received a shipment of thin little wafers from England that have a crème filling. They were packaged in foil-covered boxes, but somehow they had come to be infested with insects. We did not think that all of the boxes were infested, because not all of the customers brought them back. However, some people did and, obviously, we could not continue to sell them. We could not inspect the packages, and keep the ones that were not infested, because there were too many—about $12,000 worth—and because we have had to tear the foil to open each box. Maria said that the manufacturer would not give us a refund because the infestation doubtless occurred during shipment, or even during storage at our own warehouse. Maria told me to get rid of them. I thought she meant for me to arrange to have them taken to the dump, but she said, “Absolutely not. Call (name of executive) at (name of discount convenience store chain). They mainly operate in the inner city and they can sell anything. We’ve got to get our money back.”
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