Business Communication Analysis

Wendy Peterson Case

Submitted by:

Group 8, Div G

Pranav Bharara (G008)

Pratibha Balaji (G018)

Saurabh Mishra (G028)

Saumya Goyal (G038)

Akash Bamankar (G048)

Situational Analysis

Wendy Peterson is one of the promoted employees at AccountBack, and is responsible for increasing
the revenue of the Plano office by 40% in 2 years. She has identified the service businesses led by
Chinese entrepreneurs to hold significant potential in achieving her target. In line with this, she hires
Fred Wu who despite not having the relevant software sales experience, has a network of Chinese
executives with whom business relationships could be cultivated. Considering his special situation,
Wu is given six months to achieve his target instead of the usual three months given to new hires.
Within eight months of being hired, Wu closes his first deal worth $400,000. While this is a great
success, there are significant red flags in Wu’s way of working. He rarely comes to office and does
not regularly provide updates regarding sales activities. He explains this is due to his busy schedule
and is pursuit of three lucrative accounts. Further, he bypasses the chain of command in authorizing
add-on services for the new client. The account services team’s work is also being hindered by Wu’s
micro-management. Wendy is put in a dilemma when she is given an ultimatum by Wu, to provide
him with a sales assistant – only provided to senior and successful executives, to take care of
administrative tasks. He has threatened to leave for a competitor if his demand is not fulfilled. Given
the situation, Wendy must evaluate whether the benefits of retaining Wu and acceeding to his
demands, outweigh the risks and costs involved in doing so. Wu has a few factors in his favour – he
has already surpassed his annual target of $250,000. Moreover, the potential to convert more
Chinese clients would mean the office would be on track to achieve their targets and bonuses. If she
lets him go, they may lose out of valuable business. His requirement for an assistant may also be
guinuine due to the complex relationships with Chinese clients and the efforts and time demanded
by him. However, by meeting his demands, Wendy may be put in a politically disadvantaged position
and Wu could have more leverage over her, with more seemingly unreasonable demands in future.