Global Consumer Product

Bibliography Executive Summary Global Consumer Products Company, a well-established company decided to launch a new product range. That is Baby Soap ranges. Suddenly they identified a need of a Brand Manager for this product ranges. And decided to recruit a person externally. Since this was not pre-planned and the company is in a hurry to introduce their new product to the market, the recruitment and selection process was carried out within a very period of time.
There were several major mistakes in the advertisement they repaper in order to publish on the newspaper. The company had failed to include the Job Description, Job Specification and a description about the company. Hence the advertisement was unable to attract enough number of candidates. Somehow they managed to select number of people to call for the initial interview. Marketing Manager and the HRS Manager were supposed to carry out this interview. But this was placed on the exact date on which the company had its monthly Board meeting.
Since it is mandatory for these two responsible managers to attend to that the interview was done hurriedly and selected two candidates for the last interview. As the CEO and the Marketing director had to participate in an exhibition through which their target was to create new customers for their new product, they are hoping to launch in the near future, the last interview took place but late. Mr.. Anton was selected as the Brand Manager. In the first week he was supposed to give an induction to make him familiar with the company and the Job. But he had to involve in the business activities from first day onwards.

He was asked to come up with a strategic plan for branding no sooner he came. He didn’t have proper knowledge and kills and also didn’t have time to study the branding architecture of the new products. So the branding strategy and the action plan he brought was not successful when compared with the rival firms. And the product proved to be a failure from the very beginning. Mr.. Anton understood that his level of competency and technical knowledge was under the required level and hence he was denominated. Since the company target couldn’t be achieved whole branding group was denominated. As a result Mr..
Matron’s probationary period was extended. That is the overall summary of the case study to be analyzed. Analysis: Issues involved in the case. Global Consumer Products Company (GAP), had planned a strategy to launch a new product range. (Baby Soap Ranges). Planning a new product is a long term procedure. Hence identifying the Manpower requirement in order to carry out the plan must be done along with the product planning. Because it is a part of the product launch. Failure to do so resulted in several issues including product being failed in the market. Key issues identified are discussed below. 1.
Poor HRS Planning The key reason for all the issues discussed here is poor HRS planning. The GAP Company failed to identify the HRS requirement for the post of Band Manager, when they were planning the new product. This post can be considered a critical post, to which selecting a person is very difficult. Because, they are going to introduce a new product, I. E. Baby soap range to the market. In Sir Lankan context, the market for the baby soap is almost saturated with both local and imported baby soap products. Mostly the brands are now inculcated in customers and hence it is difficult to creep into this market and create an own brand.
But knowing that, still deciding upon to launch this product, company is taking a huge risk. They need ample of marketing campaigns and plans and ways of making the brand familiar to the customers and create a new customer segment. It is, the brand manager who has the responsibility to work it out. Therefore company should recruit a person with vast experience and knowledge regarding Marketing and Branding of products. The study states that Mr.. Anton does not have the required level of experience and competencies to do it. But this was found out later.
Required Brand Manager must have to have the enough competencies and skills plus a good understating about the industry and the monitors in order to create a very strong branding strategy to grab the market. He must have the talent to create a brand strategy which makes the product popular among the target customer segment. Since the company was in a rush to hire a Brand Manager within very short period of time, they didn’t have enough time to create a suitable Job Description and a Job Specification to publish in the newspaper. Job Description describes the Job.
The responsibilities, duties assigned to the Job, etc. Whereas Job Specification the type of person you wish to hire. His qualifications, skills knowledge and, competencies. Etc. This is yet again, another adverse result of poor HRS Planning. 2. Mistakes in the Advertisement The company was in such a hurry to hire a Brand Manager; they didn’t give much of an attention to create a professional attractive advertisement. The advertisement appeared on the newspaper was suffering from absence of several vital information such as Job Description, Job Specification and details about the company.
After Effects: The company was failed to attract enough number of candidates. The cost incurred in the advertising was in vain, because the company made a wrong selection ultimately. Most suitable candidates have not applied for the post because of the lack of information provided. Study clearly says that because of the careless mistakes done by the company when doing the advertisement, their expectation on getting a pool of candidates was not fulfilled. Only very few applied, and among them there wasn’t a single C.V. that will fit into the Job well.
Since they have incurred a cost, and it is and extra cost plus a time consuming process to correct the mistakes and advertise again and get another round of C.v., they have decided to proceed further with the received C.v.. 3. Mistakes and Failures in the Interview Process Marketing Manager and the HRS Manager once shortlist the available C.v. and called for interviews. Another mistake they did was, without checking the company’s schedule, they placed the date of the interview.
As a result they have scheduled the interviews on the exact date of monthly Board meeting was supposed to take place. Initial interview is the first time the candidates and employers met physically. Hence the interview should be well organized properly planned and should be done with a greater care. Because, we have to select a person who has the skills, knowledge, experience, and also the right attitude towards the Job and the company. Each and every candidate should be given same attention and same questions and evaluated on a fair manner.
Since both the interviewers were in hurry to participate in the monthly Board meeting, which also has a similar importance, there is a question whether they did the interview accordingly. They were under a pressure to finish off the interview as soon as possible to present at the meeting. Questions arising with regard to this improper interview session: Were all the candidates given same time eroded? Were all the candidates asked same questions and in the same sequence? Were the candidates given enough time to describe themselves and give information?
Were candidates being questioned stressing on the subject matter? (I. E. Were they asked questions relating to the post of Brand Manager, so as to get an idea regarding whether he/she has the capacity to work as the brand manager) Were candidates given time to ask questions about the company and the Job post? (Since the advertisement doesn’t provide information enough, candidates must have questions ND doubts to clarify) Did interviewers pay attention on the candidates’ behavior, non-verbal communication etc? Interviewer should have a free mind to interview people and observe them closely.
They were in a hurry to go to the board meeting. Therefore they did the interview without paying much of an attention and interest. Still they managed to select 2 candidates for the final interview. They might have missed more competent candidates while they rush through the interview. 4. No Induction program Once a candidate is hired to any company, it is an essential aspect to give him/ her n induction program. Through that the new employee familiarizes to the company culture, and to the department he has to work plus introduce him to other employees with whom he/she has to work.
Then he can get a better knowledge about the nature of the Job he has to perform, his peers, subordinates and superiors. In this case, GAP Company didn’t give Mr.. Anton an induction to make him familiar with company’s systems and processes. Instead he was directly put into his Job and was expected to work as there were lots of requests to the new product. At least he was not given knowledge about the new product range the company is expecting to launch in the future, or the requests and demand placed on the product by the external parties. Even Mr.. Anton was not informed about the market company tried to create by visiting the exhibition.
Correctly speaking Mr.. Anton should have been selected before the exhibition, so that he could have participated in it. Because, every decision was taken without his knowledge, and participation prior to his arrival. As the Brand Manager he must be a part of the decision making process as far as this new product is concerned. 5. Poor Performance of Mr.. Anton Mr.. Anton was not familiar with the systems and processes of the company. Also he does not have a good knowledge about the Job he has to perform, because as soon as he was employed, directly put into the Job.
Then, with no time he was asked to develop a branding strategy for the new products range. Mr.. Anton faced a huge problem here. Because he did not have expected level of knowledge and experience in Strategic Management initiatives. He didn’t have adequate time to study the Branding architecture of the new product. He has not exposed to such experience in his previous Job. He didn’t have time to study the nature of competitors the company has to compete with, so that he could have created a Branding Strategy and an action plan to bring out their products.
Therefore it is reasonable and natural that the strategy and action plan he created being failed. This made him understand that he is not suitable to this position. Especially he understood that he does not have the expected knowledge and experience to perform as the Brand Manager, Sometimes he had to listen to his subordinates when it comes to technical areas of the Job role. 6. Product fails in the market Ultimate result was the product range couldn’t compete with the well establish rivals and it was at a failure. Branding team was not lead by a powerful manager, therefore in latter part hardly branding activity took place.
Hence employees were denominated. They couldn’t achieve the given targets. GAP lost the contacts the company managed to create in the beginning, and lost the market share. 7. Poor HRS practices in GAP All above issues created because of the poor HRS practices of the company. Even though it was not clearly mentioned in the text, the way they acted in recruiting Mr.. Anton implies that. HRS department has failed to fulfill certain duties and responsibilities placed on them. The whole process of recruiting, selecting and induction was not planned at all.
HRS department had not planned for future HRS needs in the company. Didn’t plan the Interview process properly. 1 . JDK and AS must be prepared carefully clearly mentioning the type of person and the nature of the Job he has to perform. 2. When advertising in public media, HRS division must be more responsible to make sure that every information is provided. 3. Scheduling the date of interview must be done without clashing with other programs n the company. Recruited employees must be given a proper induction. Evaluating the performance of the new employees.
Had the HRS division done so the performance of Mr.. Anton as the Brand Manager, they could have identified the problem facing by Mr.. Anton. The issue could have been addressed earlier than this. Recommendations Mr.. Anton is employed as a permanent employee to this company, he cannot be terminate purely based on his poor performance. As the first step, company can arrange a proper training and development session for Mr.. Anton to give him an opportunity to enhance his knowledge on branding. It will help him to develop his technical competency required in his Job.
Proper training will take some time for him to gain the expected level of skills and competencies, but still the company has to do it as there is no replacement and it was company’s fault of providing insufficient information and recruiting the wring person. Another recommendation is to hire an external professional temporarily to develop a stronger strategy to relocate the product and reenter into the market freshly. This is costly option but still as the company has invested a huge amount on this new product and hence the opportunity cost is very high, company cannot discontinue the operations.
And can make Mr.. Anton work under the hired external professional for some time. This will be an excellent on the Job training to him. When considering the situational factors, hiring an external professional to the company is a very good short term solution. The company can monitor the performance level of Mr.. Anton. If he shows improvements in the Job then the company can continue to keep him as the Brand Manager. The marketing team should implement some attractive and string marketing campaigns to reenter to the market. A very aggressive alternative is also is available.