Wendy Peterson

Linda A. Hill; Alisa  Zalosh

Case | HBS Case Collection | May 2013

Wendy Peterson

by Linda A. Hill and Alisa Zalosh

Abstract

Wendy Peterson was recently promoted to Vice President of Sales at the Plano, Texas, office of AccountBack, an accounting software and services company. To penetrate a perceived market niche, Peterson hires Fred (Xing) Wu, whose familiarity with and access to Chinese business leaders in Plano is valuable. Wu was born and raised in China, partly educated in the U.S., and immigrated to the U.S. in 2005. Within 12 months, he had signed his regional team's largest client, but Peterson has reservations about Wu's performance and is uneasy about their working relationship. Wu has requested an assistant—unprecedented within AccountBack's flat organizational structure. Peterson reflexively perceives the request as unreasonable, but in responding she must take into account the implications her decision will have on the rest of her sales team, as well as her own career. This case is ideal for courses on managing performance, managing conflict, leadership, cross-cultural differences, conflict and negotiation, employee development, and performance evaluation.

Keywords: Leadership; Conflict Management; Salesforce Management; Rank and Position; Performance Evaluation; Management Teams; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Accounting Industry; Texas;

Language: English

Format: Print

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Citation:

Hill, Linda A., and Alisa Zalosh. "Wendy Peterson." Harvard Business School Brief Case 913-560, May 2013.

Michael Ku joined Pfizer in 2011, after the company had undergone three large-scale mergers and acquisitions. His mission was to drive the digital transformation of the company’s clinical supply chain, but he knew he had to start with the culture. Over the next eight years, Ku and his leadership team put in place the culture, talent, structure, and processes necessary to prime the clinical supply chain for digital transformation. By 2019, the clinical supply chain had made significant progress toward becoming the agile, innovative organization necessary to support Pfizer’s new ambition to focus exclusively on developing innovative medicines and vaccines. Ku knew there was more to be done before they could maximize their digital and innovation efforts. He had asked his leadership team to come up with a proposal to improve decision-making in the organization.

In 2017, Bill Connors, the President of Comcast’s Central Division, launched a startup accelerator in Comcast’s new Atlanta Regional headquarters. Comcast was America's largest cable and internet service provider, having built a profitable business bundling television content and delivering it via cable networks to more than 20 million households. The business was changing rapidly with the rise of streaming services, and Connors wanted to change the culture and orientation of Comcast’s central division. Connors was getting ready to meet Burunda Prince, a candidate for the position of Managing Director of the new accelerator. Is she the right person for the job? The case explores structural questions for corporate startup accelerators, such as whether Comcast should hire another company to manage the accelerator and where the accelerator should be located. It also provides a basis for discussions relating to the role that a startup accelerator can play in a large corporation. This case can be taught as a standalone case, or with its counterpart, HBS No. 420-057, “Burunda Prince at The Farm, a Comcast NBCUniversal Innovation Hub (Powered by Boomtown),” which would follow this one and focuses on the operational challenges of launching a corporate startup accelerator.

Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2019 (Revised October 2019)

Burunda Prince at The Farm, a Comcast NBCUniversal Innovation Hub (Powered by Boomtown)

Linda A. Hill, Eric Mankin and Emily Tedards

After a successful inaugural year, Burunda Prince, the Managing Director of Comcast’s startup business accelerator The Farm, was getting ready for an eventful 2019. Comcast was America's largest cable and internet service provider, having built a profitable business bundling television content and delivering it via cable networks to more than 20 million households. The business was changing rapidly with the rise of streaming services, and The Farm was an initiative spearheaded by Comcast’s Central Division to introduce innovation into the Division’s culture. The case describes Prince’s approach in building The Farm from her arrival in August 2017, with discussions around how she chose participants for The Farm’s programs; how she worked with Comcast and with her employer, Boomtown Accelerators, who was under contract to run The Farm for Comcast; and how she developed her Atlanta ecosystem of startups, investors, and mentors. Should the business accelerator maintain its position as a general business accelerator, or should it focus on areas specific to Comcast? Should it maintain the same curriculum structure for its accelerator programs? This case can be taught as a standalone case, or with its counterpart, HBS No. 420-056, “Bill Connors and The Farm, a Comcast NBCUniversal Innovation Hub (Powered by Boomtown),” which precedes this one and focuses on Comcast’s rationale for launching a corporate startup accelerator.

Keywords: innovation; accelerator; entrepreneur; Startup; outsourcing; hiring; Talent; culture; ecosystem; digital; women; African Americans; Leadership; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Management; Diversity; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Culture; Media; Entertainment; Transformation; Atlanta;