Written in 2012 by Brenda Ellington Booth and Karen L Cates from Northwestern University, Growing Managers: Moving From Team Member to Team Leader, describes a fictional scenario from the point of view of a newly promoted Sales Manager named Melissa Richardson in a company called ColorTech Greenhouses Inc. Melissa faces an abundance of problems that many new managers are unprepared for. (Ellington Booth & Cates, 2012 Kellogg School of Management) Company Overview-
Located primarily in the southern region of the United States, with its corporate headquarters in Phoenix, ColorTech is a privately held company that grows and supplies annual and perennial flowers to big-box stores. Some of its clients include Walmart and Home Depot. They rented greenhouse space in other US cities to be able to handle special orders, with greenhouses in the North which helped them provide region specific and seasonal plants.
ColorTech profits had been consistently dropping due to a change in the market and industry. A saturated market and a shift away from water and high maintenance intensive gardens, along with increased price competition are the major reasons why we have seen a loss in profits for ColorTech. Demands for lowering prices and very costly customizations from the big-box stores made ColorTech even more exposed than other competitors.
As part of its growth strategy and an effort to generate additional revenue, ColorTech recently acquired a Colombian company specialized in cut flowers, and quickly became one of the largest growers in North and South America. Character profiles-
Melissa Richardson- She is the main character in this case study. Melissa was the top sales performer in Chicago before her recent promotion to sales manager of the Phoenix office. Melissa is excited and eager to step into this position, hoping that her previous experience and success will be able to help the
References: Kinicki, A. (2008). Organizational Behavior. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin