Reference no: EM131201209

MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION ASSIGNMENT

Introduction:

As a business manager, you may encounter situations that require a wide variety of communication responses. For this assessment, you will be creating a portfolio of communication documents. Please format each communication appropriately for the message type.

Scenario 1:

You are a manager of a company that has recently purchased a smaller company. The purchased company has an existing product, which will now be part of your product offering. The product is a weight-loss supplement called Weight Loss Optimizer. The product has been very successful for the previous owner, but the company had limited ability to adjust its manufacturing system to accommodate growth, as well as a limited potential sales audience. Your role is to oversee and coordinate all aspects of launching the product from the newly acquired company. You have a far greater manufacturing capacity and more potential customers readily available because you already sell several weight-loss related products to a large base of customers.

Weight Loss Optimizer has been proven successful by a research study. The study consisted of 100 participants, 90% of whom lost at least 15 pounds over a reasonable time period. To date, the study participants have successfully maintained their weight loss by continuing to use the product. Of the users, 80% were able to maintain their weight loss with continued use of Weight Loss Optimizer. The 10% of study participants who were not successful may have been unsuccessful because they did not follow the program's protocol as set forth. An inherent risk in a weight loss product is the inability to determine if the product has failed to produce results or if the user has not followed directions. Dissatisfied customers present a challenge as a result.

Your success relies upon your external business partner, Pills Inc., who manufactures the pill casing for the Weight Loss Optimizer. You will need to work closely with this partner to ensure your manufacturing operation is able to increase as needed in a just-in-time environment to meet sales demands. Your contact's name at Pills Inc. is Susan Jones.

You have received a customer complaint via the company's social media page. The customer's complaint is as follows: "Weight Loss Optimizer does not work! I've been using this for a week, and I haven't lost anything! No one should buy this product!"

Scenario 2:

You are the CEO of a small pharmaceutical distributor. Your company has been awarded the exclusive contract to distribute a new drug. Araba, the company who developed and will manufacture the product, does not have distribution capability.

The new drug is called Complexia. It has been approved to treat breast cancer and will compete directly with Tamoxifen, a highly used treatment in cases where breast cancer is hormonally-driven. This is not chemotherapy; Complexia is a drug used to prevent recurrence of disease during and after treatment.

Your company, through your sales and customer service representatives, already has extensive relationships with oncology providers. There is also great anticipation within the market about the potential efficacy of this new treatment. Studies indicate breast cancer recurs in 110/0 of patients within five years and in 20% of patients within 10 years (Brewster et al., 2008). Initial clinical trials indicate this new drug may help to lower recurrence rates; however, clinical trials only demonstrate a new drug's efficacy in a small group of patients over a limited amount of time. Long-term product efficacy rates have not been established for this product yet. As with all new drug launches, your company anticipates this unknown factor could result in some patient dissatisfaction if desired results are not achieved. In those cases, the company will work directly with the treating physician and not with the patient directly.

The success of Complexia relies upon an external business partner, Shipping Inc., who manufacturers the refrigerated casing designed specifically for this product. The product is required to be shipped overnight in a temperature-controlled package. You will need to work closely with this partner to ensure your manufacturing operation is able to increase as needed in a just-in-time environment to meet sales demands. Your contact's name at Shipping Inc. is Lee Harold.

You have received a customer complaint via the company's social media page. The customer's complaint is as follows: "My wife took Complexia, and she got incredibly sick! Who knows if the treatment will help her at all, but how can we even find out while she's so sick? Maybe this drug shouldn't be approved yet."

Scenario 3:

You are the CEO of a research company. Your research team has developed a transition package that allows a gas-powered engine to transition to running on biofuels. The availability and low cost of biofuels make the transition package a potential game changer in the automobile market. You have named the product The Gas Replacer.

In addition to tests completed by your entire staff, you have partnered with a large automobile producer to ensure the transition package works with many different types of vehicles. The large automobile producer remains a partner in the product as a result of their involvement, and you anticipate that future vehicles from the producer may use the technology when initially built. With the producer's assistance, you anticipate 50% of cars currently on the road can potentially be retrofitted with your product. The producer has created a guide for your sales force to ensure that The Gas Replacer is not sold to customers whose cars are not compatible with the product.

This is the first big product developed by your company. Your sales and service teams do not have current relationships with potential buyers. One potential risk is that purchasers may choose to install the transition package on their own rather than choose a knowledgeable automotive professional to install it. You anticipate there may be issues with installation as a result.

The success of The Gas Replacer relies upon an external partner, Filters Inc., who manufactures a filter critical to the proper operation of the transition package. You will need to work closely with this partner to ensure your manufacturing operation is able to increase as needed in a just-in-time environment to meet sales demands. Your contact's name at Filters Inc. is Glen Dean.

You have received a customer complaint via the company's social media page. The customer's complaint is as follows: "I bought and installed The Gas Replacer. It doesn't work! The instructions didn't match my engine's layout, and now my car doesn't work at all. Do not buy this product!"

Requirements:

A. Choose one scenario from the introduction to complete the communications for parts B-H.

B. Develop an e-mail to motivate and encourage the staff within your company from your chosen scenario.

1. Discuss two advantages of the newly acquired product.

2. Predict two disadvantages that may appear.

a. Explain how to mitigate these disadvantages, should they occur.

C. Develop an e-mail to motivate and encourage external stakeholders of your company in your chosen scenario.

1. Discuss two advantages of the newly acquired product.

2. Predict two disadvantages that may appear.

a. Explain how to mitigate these disadvantages, should they occur.

D. Develop a company blog entry in support of the new product from your chosen scenario.

1. Discuss three of the product's benefits for users.

E. Develop a persuasive letter to the business partner in your chosen scenario in which your goal is to overcome your business partner's objections to a shorter manufacturing lead time.

F. Develop a response to the customer from your chosen scenario who posted a complaint about the product to the company's social media page.

1. Discuss the necessary steps to resolve the conflict.

2. Discuss your resolution offer to the customer.

G. Evaluate the effectiveness of the positive and negative communication strategies used throughout your communication portfolio for both internal and external stakeholders.

H. Evaluate the effectiveness of the different communication modalities (e.g., e-mail, blogs, social media, and formal letters) used throughout your communication portfolio for both internal and external stakeholders.

I. When you use sources, include all in-text citations and references in APA format.

Reference List: Brewster, A. M., Hortobagyi, G. N., Broglio, K. R., Kau, S., Santa-Maria, C. A., Arun, B., ...Esteva, F. J. (2008). Study Quantifies Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence. Retrieved from -

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/news/news/study-quantifies-risk-of-breast-cancer-recurrence.