CASE INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT:

Main character of the case: Maureen Frye who joined the company Quaker Steel and Alloy Corporation after graduating with an MBA from Harvard Business School. She joined the company first as a trainee moving on to be a market analyst and eventually became an assistant product manager for Titanium Alloys which is her current role. Her background is in marketing and finance.

Maureen is responsible for coordinating the efforts of the salespeople selling extruded titanium alloy products which amounted to $300 million in 1995.

Maureen had to face some difficulties in her current role mainly being: there are few women managers at Quaker, she was hired as an outsider, she had to learn the Quaker way of working, she has less experience in the field and only knows a small number of the salespeople well.

A brief overview of the company: Quaker Steel and Alloy specializes in high-margin and high quality metal alloys. The company has a strong philosophy for servicing and assisting customers. They enjoy customers’ loyalty in spite of the higher margin charged. The company has a small-town feeling, work culture is friendly and open. There is lack of hierarchy and managerial positions are usually filled from within.

Issue on hand: Maureen has been asked to roll out an action plan for adjusting the call patterns of the salespeople. Presently the salespeople spends a large portion of their time on small business accounts. Maureen had attempted earlier to implement changes in the call patterns which was not successful but an express call mandate of top management urges her to present an plan by March 1996 that will work and can be implemented for 1997.

Why the shift towards larger accounts? First of all, one has to question if there is indeed a need for a change. In early 1994 Maureen was faced with statistics showing a decline in