Caroline Regis at Excel Systems: Discussion

Sumit Mitra- IIM Kozhikode

1. What was the overall strategy being followed by Vardian?

 Verdian sold s/w to firms in finance industry- Clear Strategy,

product-market mix, focused orgn.

2. What was the role of Caroline in implementing Vardian’s strategy?

a. What skills and biases did Caroline develop in the process?

 Rational, analytical, fact based approach to mgmt..

 Regis had advantage of fin background (MBA). Promoted 3 times-
Head of Installation & Support- from fin to oprn/mfg job shift.
 Used analytical & Communications skill, does not play politics
 Willingness to learn, follow thru, dedication to team
 Behavior was reinforced by her boss Anderson and peers

3. What was the strategy followed by Excel Systems prior to its merger
with Gemini?

 Build custom H/W that can analyze individual behavior and use
data to build useful info for consumers. Web data can aggregate, do
analytics on this data- Integra using fitness s/w tools with social
media
 Shifted out of individual interphase with home to only personal
data and social media

a. What role did Caroline play in implementing this strategy?

 Took a demotion to join Excel

 Contributed to interphase H/W and S/W- thick of things.
 Extended experience of Vardian to Excel- more deeply entrenched
into manufacturing- balancing s/w & h/w
 Had to refocus manufacturing from home sensors to personal
products etc- typical scenario of entrepreneurial firms in
forefront of emerging technologies.

o Had to salvage h/w and s/w efforts in manufacturing form

old project to new one incl. systems & processes, people
communication required

 Was inward focused, did not know how product was doing in
market, did not meet market& sales teams to understand-
functional focused
o Early Anderson warning ‘…sometimes she is so convinced
that is unable to appreciate the conditions someone else is
facing…’

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 b. Did Caroline’s role reinforce some of her skills and biases
from Vardian?

 It did…

4. What do you think was the strategy being actually followed post-
merger of Excel Systems with Gemini?

 Gemini with simple wrist health tracker was doing better in market,
brand recognized.
 Dreanan of Gemini as CEO of Excel- professional, finance control,
process oriented.
 All Excel products under Gemini brand name- marketing & sales
control by Gemini. Thought was Gemini key products being
incorporated into Excel’s –Anderson thought…
 Gemini had no manufacturing and it outsourced form China-Margaret
Ogilvie in Charge of outsourcing in Gemini.
o Excel and Gemini very different companies

5. What did Caroline think the strategy was? What role did she think of
playing in implementing that strategy?

 Thought Gemini brand would be used to sell Excel products-sales &

marketing area to give higher competitiveness, market share for Excel
products.
o More of branding/ advertising issue and not of pricing arising
out of outsourcing in place of in-house manufacture.
o Bias of lost of technology, control of inventory etc.
 Gemini would outsource its products till a newly engineered version
could be developed for in-house production at Excel- increased role
for Caroline?
o Better engineering-mfg link to produce exclusive featured
product as product features AND not price decided its future-
industry infant.
o Completely unaware of Chinese mfg capability
 Did not try to find out even after Margaret said so.
o Opportunity to make her case in June meeting- Excel’s complex
products& systems Vs Gemini’s off the shelf product
 Future scope of outsourcing Vs in-house
 Dreanan is open to mfg idea
 Only attacking Ogilvi’s outsourcing policy instead of
justifying/ highlighting mfg policy, its strengths,
flexibility, in-house expertise, close working of engg-mfg
etc.

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 Local mfg. can never match outsourcing in cost- US Vs
China. Exposed Caroline’s narrow focus- not expected
from top mgmt. potential employee
 Biased by peer advice that Dreanan-Ogilvy is a political
nexus
o Werner gives hint of overall different intention from merger
and hence strategy can be different.
 Dreanan wants to buy over Caroline to his side and
allow manufacturing- possible??

6. Is the problem that Caroline is facing in Excel Systems a case of non-

communication of strategy by top management? Is it a problem
arising out of the mismatch of skills and biases of Caroline with Excel
systems strategy? Is it resistance to change by Regis?

 Excel Systems may not have one single strategy clearly laid out after
merger unlike Verdian
 Definitely no single strategy has been clearly communicated to
employees.
o Employees do not know what their functional area strategy-say
Mfg for Caroline should be.
o Caroline relies on her understanding of strategy of merger to
arrive at her understanding of manufacturing strategy.
o However by Gemini’s earlier strategy manufacturing is
replaced by outsourcing- Dreanan may be considering whether
to follow Gemini’s strategy or Excel’s strategy post-merger.
o Gemini has strength in marketing and Excel in innovation thru
h/w & s/w integration, engg-mfg linkages etc.- There may be
no politics and Dreanan-Ogilvi nexus at all.
 Regis’s attitude goes from the wrong-headedness to the idea to
anger and confusion when the idea is taken seriously

7. What would you as Dreanan-CEO or Spanner-COO or Anderson- head

of manufacturing do with Caroline at the end of the case?

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Learnings:
An employees harmonious existence and productive role in an organization is
affected by these different layers of context:

 Industry: The pace and nature of change in an industry has implications

for the task, behavior and competencies that organization has to prepare
for over time.
 Organization: An entire organization creates a context including its
strategy, and how clear and articulate it is for its employees; stability of
its top management team, and the degree to which these managers work
as a team, transmitting similar messages throughout the organization.
 Functional: Different departments, functions in an organization may
provide different contexts for its employees- mfg. may be cost conscious
while R&D, marketing may focus on innovation
 Employee: Supervisor or team leader can be another creator of context-
can be harmonious, highlighting cooperation and coordination or can
highlight discord, lack of focus or tension in an organization

All this has impact as:

 Career and behavioral strategies that are successful at one point in time
may become dysfunctional as the person advances through the
organization
o New skills particularly inter-personal and less of analytical or
technical needs to be developed
 In many organizations there are times of power struggle at the top,
particularly in transition- M&A of Excel and Gemini affecting decisions
o May have nothing to do with junior employees in the organization
but people like Caroline cannot ‘connect the dots’.
 ‘Holding ones ground’ is quite different from ‘obdurate resistance to new
ideas’, the latter is not a virtue
o The process of grief is often thru: denial, anger, depression before
acknowledgement of the changed reality to again permit action.

What Caroline Regis learnt…..

I learned that I should remain focused on the facts, rather than the emotions of a
situation. I became overly defensive, when I should have simply peeled the onion on
the problem and come to a rational point of view. In the future, I need to keep my
head up and keep my feelers out for what is going on below the surface. I also need
to sell my ideas more. In the past, I just assumed people would follow my lead
simply because it was right.