Report on the case

We Googled You

Submitted to:
Prof. Madhusri Srivastava

In partial fulfillment of the requirement of WAC

course
By
Ankit Gupta (2013PGP048)
Section-E

Indian Institute of Management

Indore -453 556 (M.P.)
7th February 2014

Letter of Transmittal
Dear Madam
As per instructed by you on 4th February 2014, I have analyzed the case and
the analysis is as follows. It is recommended that Fred Westen should follow
his instincts and readily hire Mimi Brewster for the expansion project in
China.
Yours sincerely
Ankit Gupta
Section E

Executive Summary
The case describes the dilemma that Fred Westen, CEO Hathaway Jones,
faces in deciding to hire Mimi Brewster for a project lead position for the
company's expansion in Chinas luxury markets. Hiring her would lead to
several consequences for the company in near future and therefore he needs
to weigh his options carefully. Fred has three options according to me i.e. do
not hire Mimi, hire her for the China expansion project or offer her a position
in their U.S. business. Based on the analysis done in the following report I
suggest that he should offer Mimi the project lead position and leverage her
knowledge of the Chinese culture and past fashion industry experience in
rebuilding the falling brand of Hathaway Jones.

Table of Contents

1. Situation
Analysis...............................................................................................Pa
ge 1
2. Problem
Statement.............................................................................................P
age 1
3. Options and alternatives with
Fred...........................................................................Page 1
4. Priority for evaluation of
criteria............................................................................Page 2
5. Evaluation of
options..........................................................................................Page 2
6. Recommendation.....................................................................................
...........Page 3
7. Action
Plan..........................................................................................................
Page 3

1. Situation Analysis
Fred Westen is the CEO of the luxury apparel retailer Hathaway Jones which
is currently in bad shape. The trend of high priced clothing was at a decline
across the United States and therefore Fred decided to tap into the foreign
luxury markets of China which had a potential for significant future growth. In
order to execute such a plan he required a team of individuals with adequate
skills and creative ideas. Mimi Brewster daughter of John Brewster was a
potential candidate for the team's lead. John who was Fred's roommates at
Andover introduced Mimi to him and asked him to give her a shot in
Hathaway Jones as a favor.
Mimi was a good and probably the best candidate to be a part of the
company according to Fred. She had fine credentials backing her
candidature. Although an average student, she was able to get admission
into Berkley where she graduated in Chinese history. After a stint in a
management consultancy firm she did her MBA from Stanford. She joined
Eleanor Gaston, the largest clothing, shoes, and accessories company in US
where she re-launched two successful brands. An ambitious Mimi now
wanted to move on and get some new experience in general management.
Impressed by her candidature Fred arranges for an initial meeting with Mimi
to gauge her interest in joining Hathaway Jones. In the following meet Mimi
readily makes her position strong by pitching her plans of how she would
create a fashion fantasy with the help of her deep knowledge of the Chinese
culture.
A satisfied Fred is shocked when he reads the background check on Mimi.
Virginia Flanders, the vice president of HR at Hathaway Jones tell him about
Mimi's past involvement in protests against the WTO and China's treatment
of a dissident journalist and how such a thing could prove to be devastating
for their company if dug up in future. Fred Westen now faces a situation in

which he needs to make a tough tradeoff between hiring Mimi and putting
his company's future at risk or to lose a candidate with such good credentials
and references.

2. Problem Statement
The problem faced by Fred is if he should hire Mimi Brewster irrespective of
her past involvements in protests against the WTO and China.

1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
4.

3. Options and alternatives with Fred

Hire Mimi for the China project
Hire Mimi for some other project in U.S.
Do not hire Mimi
4. Priority of criteria for evaluation
Skills of the recruit
Implications on the company
Reaction of the Chinese government
Cost of hiring

5. Evaluation of alternatives
1. Hire Mimi for the China project- The major criterion of getting a great
recruit with a dynamic, confident and creative personality will be
fulfilled if Fred hires Mimi for the job. Her out of the box ideas and
proactive nature would surely benefit Hathaway Jones in its new
venture. Future implications on the image and brand value of
Hathaway Jones might improve owing to Mimi's background in the
fashion industry and successful past brand re-launches. The third
criterion on the other hand might create a problem for the company in
future. Chinese people are known to be highly tech savvy and web
oriented, therefore the probability of them finding about Mimis past
involvements is quite high. Also the Chinese people expect their
leaders to be humble and modest which does not go hand in hand with
Mimi's personality who seems to be a bit brash for the situation.
Although her risk taking nature would be a plus for the position of
project lead, it could backfire as well. Finally, the fourth criteria of
optimizing hiring cost would also be satisfied since he was able to
generate a good candidate just through his contacts.

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1

2. Hire Mimi for some other project in U.S.- Another option that Fred could
exercise can be of hiring Mimi for a position other than the expansion
project in China. Since Hathaway Jones would probably need to
reinvigorate its strategy across its retail chain in the U.S., Fred can
utilize her potential for the same. Paralelly he can use her innovative
ideas and knowledge of Chinese archetypes as a consultant to build
the company's brand in China. This way Fred will be able to retain a
potential and credible candidate from being snatched by competitors
and also put Mimi behind the scene thereby reducing the risk of the
Chinese government finding about her involvements. Future
implications on the company are questionable as the success of the
expansion project would highly depend upon the new team of
managers. There might even be resistance in convincing Mimi to take
up the job in U.S. as the assignment may not suit her career
aspirations. No extra cost will be occur in further search of candidates
for the team lead.
3. Do not hire Mimi- This would be the most conservative approach that
Fred can adopt. He can forget about Mimi as a potential candidate and
can look for some cues that can be used to sideline her for the team
lead position. Although Fred would lose on a candidate with such rare
and impressive credentials like that of Mimis, but following this
alternative will visibly eliminated the probability of any future clashes
with the Chinese government. There might be some immediate
concerns with the legal aspects of background checking of employees
which would surely be questioned by Mimi for discriminating her on Page
basis of such private checks. This will create problems for problems for 2
Hathaway Jones as present. The cost criteria will not be satisfied as
Fred will have to search for a newer pool of candidates to fill in the
position.

Option 1
Option 2
Option 3

Skills of
recruit
Yes
Yes
No

Implication
on company
Positive
Questionable
Maybe
negative

Reaction of
Chinese
Negative
Positive
Positive

6. Recommendation

Cost of
hiring
Nil
Nil
Significant

According to me Fred should go ahead with option 1 i.e. hire Mimi for the
expansion project irrespective of her questionable past. I suggest this as the
highest priority criteria are being satisfied in the option as well as saving on
significant hiring and talent search costs.

7. Action plan
Fred can follow certain steps to ensure and minimize problems in recruiting
Mimi for the project lead position.
Step 1:
Step 2:

Step 3:

Arrange a meeting with a lawyer to discuss the legal aspects of doing a

private background check on potential recruits.
Discuss Mimi's past involvements in protests and apply a condition on
the job offer that she will be required to formally restate her position
on the WTO and China and that her opinions have now matured.
Fred then needs to discuss with Mimi on how they would tackle and
take up resistances from the Chinese people caused due to her brash
nature and how to mould herself according to the new environment.

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