Philips Healthcare Latin America

On a beautiful sunny afternoon in October 2013, Daniel Mazon (GMP 15), decided to take some time out of his busy schedule of the General Management Program (GMP) at the Harvard Business School to reflect on his company's situation. Mazon was the Vice President and General Manager of the Imaging Systems Division of Philips Healthcare in Latin America (Latam).
For three consecutive years, Philips Ultrasound business was losing market share in Latam. Mazon was concerned that sales representatives, who were responsible for a large portfolio of imaging products, were not giving enough attention to Ultrasound. He was wondering if change in the size and compensation structure of the sales force would solve this problem or if he would need to take the more radical approach of creating a dedicated sales force for Ultrasound. This choice was complicated by the matrix organization structure of Philips where regional general managers (GMs) had profit and loss (P&L) responsibility for the entire portfolio.