Page 146 - Business Principles and Management

C HAPTER 5 A SSESSMENT

CASE IN POINT

CASE 5-1: Partnership Problems
Sharon Gillespie, John Jensen, and Laura Cho have been close friends for
years. About two years ago they formed a partnership to build Web pages
for small entrepreneurs who want to expand their businesses. Sharon,
John, and Laura are experts at what they do. However, their partnership
has not been very successful and is not growing. John is in charge of find-
ing and dealing with customers and handling the necessary paperwork.
Both Sharon and Laura build the Web pages for their customers.
Recently, John confided to Laura that he is getting many complaints
about Sharon’s treatment of customers. “That may be the major reason
we aren’t doing that well, but what can we do about it?” He continued,
“Her customers don’t often come back to us when they need to add new
products or offer new services on their Web pages. Some have even jotted
complaints about her on the bills I send them. Yesterday one customer
said he’ll take his business elsewhere if we don’t replace her.” The phone
rang, and John excused himself to answer it.
After thinking about this for a while, Laura told John, “We have to
get rid of her because she isn’t going to change. If we want our business
to survive and grow, let’s ask her to leave. What else can we do?”
John paused and then said, “She owns one-third of our business.
You can’t fire a partner.”
Laura asked, “Didn’t our lawyer provide for this type of problem in our
partnership agreement? Or maybe it’s in our business plan.”
“No, it’s not in either place,” John responded. “We have to work this
out together.”

THINK CRITICALLY
Your instructor may wish to place you into groups of three students
each to answer the following questions and to report their answers to
the class.
1. What conditions existed before the partnership was formed that
gave rise to this problem?
2. How important are the skills and personalities of the partners to the
formation of a successful partnership?
3. Can Sharon’s attitude toward customers somehow be changed?
If so, how?
4. What is the best solution for this problem? Carefully explain your
answer.
5. Do you believe that John and Sharon would be better off trading
jobs with each other?
6. How is this partnership situation different from that of student
groups that attempt to solve other types of group problems?

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