Case Study Analysis: Erik Peterson at Biometra

Erik Peterson at Biometra: Case Study Analysis

1. What problems are facing Erik Peterson?

Problems, with which Erik Peterson had to deal at Biometra:

1) Rescheduling of a new product launch from February 1 to April 1, leaving only 3 weeks to prepare for the product launch.

2) Revision of Biometra’s sales volume target.

3) Low involvement of the top management into the project.

4) Lack of guidance and assistance from Peterson’s boss side, Jeff Hardy, who was a fresh MBA graduate with lack of product launch experience.

5) Strained relations between Peterson and Biometra’s team, as well as disagreements between team members, which fell under four categories: salary, competence, commitment and resentment.

 6) Personality conflicts with Karen Cantor and Scott Green, who were sent to help with the process of negotiation with KOLs and with whom Peterson was unable and unwilling to cooperate due to personal clashes he had with both of them during his summer orientation at SciMat.

7) Equivocation about the support from Biometra provided to KOLs, increasing the risk of them quitting.

 8) A technical delay caused by the relocation of Biometra’s manufacturing facilities to Costa Rica, which were only partly resolved by Peterson.

9) Sales and marketing issues. Wescott and Burns had a big disagreement whether to spend the marketing budget on printing ads or future conferences.

2. What are the underlying causes of these problems? How effective has Peterson been in taking charge of Biometra, in terms of managing the new operation and of providing leadership?

The underlying causes of above mentioned problems:

1) Lack of experience. Peterson at first was hired as the project manager bu soon after was promoted to the general manager. As Peterson did not have an experience launching new products and managing workforce, he was not able to be flexible and multitasking. Moreover, he did not how to monitor and control work in a proper way.

2) Unclear objectives and goals. When joining the company, Peterson was supposed to report about the project success directly to Jenkins but after his promotion he was assigned to Jeff Hardy, the vice president of planning and control for the peripheral vascular division, who did not have the required experience. As Peterson was not sure to who he should be reporting this caused misunderstandings, delays, etc.

 3) Lack of confidence and leadership skills. As the general manager, Peterson failed to gain respect among team members, make them follow his directions, resolve disagreements they had, delegate responsibilities.

4) Interpersonal difficulties. Even though Scott Green and Karen Cantor were sent to help with the product launch and give Peterson an opportunity to spend more time on other issues, he still remembered conflicts he had with them during his summer orientation at SciMat.

3. How effective has Peterson been in taking charge of Biometra, in terms of managing the new operation and of providing leadership?

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