Lisa Benton (A) Case Solution

1. How did Lisa Benton get into this mess?

This case depicts the issues face by Lisa Benton, an MBA graduate from Harvard. Lisa had previously interned at Right-Away stores where she introduced a new business line of roller skate renting. Being the first woman manager in the company, she impressed her supervisor even more. The supervisor offered her a job at Right-Away, which she could take after the completion of her MBA. She had to move with her spouse to Chicago because that was where both of them saw opportunities for themselves. She was offered an opportunity in the Right-Away division in Chicago, but she was unsure. She had another opportunity at Houseworld, which was a much larger company. Houseworld was an established brand and had a significant market share in the industry. Right-Away was a small business in its initial years of operations.

Lisa considered the pros and cons of both the opportunities. For the time being, she saw only opportunities for herself at Houseworld; whereas, she saw a few benefits for herself at Right-Away. She was assured that she would be promoted to a senior position at Right World in no time, but she thought that assuming a role of a person responsible for a large part of the business and then being promoted was too much based on a meager internship in marketing. At Houseworld, she thought that she would assume a learning role in her initial years as an assistant brand manager and progress quickly. She saw a quick progression at Houseworld as well as at Right-Away. However, at Right-Away, she was the first female manager, and she thought that with this situation, she would not get the experience of a corporate environment. Therefore, she chose Houseworld. In her initial days, she deferred her questions to Ron, not Deborah, her reporting manager. She also kept following Ron’s advice and talked to them in meetings rather than in every work day. This communication gap did not allow Lisa to develop relationships with her supervisor. She kept thinking that she was interfering by asking Deborah Linton about her responsibilities that were a decision that messed things.

2. Could she have done anything differently?

There are two points at which she could have taken decisions differently. The first time she faced a decision was when she had to choose between Right-Away and Houseworld. Even though Houseworld held opportunities for her to be trained in marketing professionally, the opportunity and autonomy that she was offered at Right-Away was much attractive. She would have learned the practical things and her decisions and opinions would be more valued at Right-Away. Also, she could have put her ideas into practical action. She should have considered that in large organizations, the position to implement ideas come at a later stage. She learned that Houseworld’s marketing department faced low morale because there had been few promotions in the past years. She was told that she would become a brand manager in 2-3 years. However, she did not consider the information about promotions available to her. At Right-Away, her promotion to VP was guaranteed.