KELLEY CAMPBELL'S PROPOSAL (Mini-case D)

Kelley Campbell was recently hired by Brave Electronic Products Inc (BEP) as a senior marketing executive for the electronic houseware division. Her previous experience at Honeywell, a major competitor, had earned her a reputation for being a creative and hard-working manager. Her department at Honeywell had increased its sales at least 15% per year in the past five years, and she had been featured in a lead article in Contemporary Management. This combination of competence and visibility was what attracted the attention of Darryl Roberts, the CEO of BEP. Darryl was troubled about the two-quarter decline in electronic sales. This was the core of BEP's business, and he could not risk losing market share.

In the past, BEP's products had dominated such a large market share that, ironically, marketing wasn't considered very important. Production touted its high quality and low costs, purchasing emphasized its contribution to keeping cost low, and engineering stressed the durability of its designs. BEP products, it was argued by many, "sold themselves."

But that was before the cheaper, "look-alike" products from Asia flooded the discount stores. No longer could BEP expect high customer loyalty simply because it was the older, best-known, most reliable name brand on the shelf. Kelley was convinced that in order for BEP to stay competitive, the company needed to expand its product line, offering more options at different price levels. She felt it also needed to branch out into "trend designs" that appealed to the contemporary lifestyles of young adults.

These changes had far-reaching ramifications for other departments at BEP. For one thing, they meant engineering would have to shorten its design cycle, provide support for a broader range of products, and emphasize customer-oriented, rather than functional, features. These changes would obviously not sit well with the production department, which jealously protected its long production runs based on standard orders and relatively few model changes. It also stressed ease of fabrication and assembly. In addition, purchasing would be required to find new sourcing alternatives for non-standard parts, which would make it more difficult to get volume discounts and ensure quality.

After 3 months on the job, Kelley felt she was ready to make her proposal to Darryl. She pushed her staff hard to add the finishing touches before Darryl left on his two-week vacation to Lake Tahoe. She wasn't disappointed - he thought it was a winner. He was excited and ready to "sign on." But he was also realistic about the difficulty they faced convincing others that these changes were necessary. Kelley's counterparts in production, purchasing, and engineering would certainly object. "While I'm away, I'd like you to design a plan for getting the cooperation of the other departments. You can count on me for general support, but the culture in this organization is not consistent with sending out an edict. You'll have to figure out how to get their support some other way."

What specific steps should Kelley take to implement her chosen influence strategy as a way to gain the cooperation of the opposing departments? How should she address the concerns and objections of each department, and what arguments should she use to convince them to support the proposed changes? Be as specific as possible.