Harvard business change management simulation

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ONLINE SIMULATION SCENARIO INTRODUCTIO N

Change Management: Power and Influence

Scenario 3: Director of Product Innovation

You are the Director of Product Innovation within the Research & Development unit of Spectrum

Sunglass Company. You have noticed that the topic of sustainable economic development and the link

between sustainability and innovation is featured in more professional articles, such as "Why

Sustainability Is Now the Key Driver of Innovation." You are frustrated that you don’t have any new

sunglass products to offer to the vocal customers who increasingly express concerns about Spectrum’s

environmental impact. Sustainable development makes sense to you personally, from both a moral and

an economic standpoint, and you also see this as an exciting opportunity to differentiate Spectrum’s

products and the overall company from your competitors, which focus primarily on price and design.

At a Spectrum executive strategy retreat in October, you decide to ask for a special, unplanned session to

discuss the conversations you recently had with a vice president at Spectrum Sunglass Company’s largest

retail customer, BigMart, which has more than 1,000 retail outlets across the continental United States.

Sales to BigMart constitute 30% of Spectrum’s annual revenues, representing the company’s top account.

Just a few days ago, at the annual sunglass-industry trade show in Las Vegas, a BigMart executive

approached Spectrum’s booth. The VP explained that he was now in charge of national sunglass

procurement for BigMart and that BigMart recently started an in-house labeling program whereby

products that receive a "Green Stamp" manufacturing certification for environmental friendliness would

get special promotion at BigMart. Notably, the retail giant’s in-house market research revealed that even

its most price-sensitive consumers were starting to prefer green products within their price range. The VP

explained that BigMart was now considering recommending that all of its suppliers go through the Green

Stamp certification process.

As your colleagues at the Spectrum retreat listen to your presentation, they become increasingly agitated.

When Henry Adams, the CEO, asks what BigMart’s specific terms are, you reply that BigMart wants

Spectrum to reduce its dependence on petrochemical raw materials (such as polycarbonate plastics) in the

Online Simulation Scenario 3 Introduction—Change Management Simulation: Power and Influence

2 ONLINE SIMULATIONS | HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING

sunglass manufacturing process from 90% to 50% within two years. The company has also given

Spectrum a quantitative target and a deadline to meet. Furthermore, BigMart’s VP not-so-subtly

threatened that if Spectrum doesn’t respond within three months with a detailed implementation plan of

how it is going to reduce its manufacturing dependence on petrol