Strategy Exercise: Working in groups of three to five students, read the following vignette and develop some suggestions for the company based on the material you read in this chapter. Be prepared to share your ideas with the class.

Twisted is a small company with big dreams. The shopping mall–oriented hot pretzel company has successfully grown its revenues by a rate of 10 percent annually over the last 10 years. Twisted wants to sustain its growth rate in the years ahead. The company has traditionally hired new store managers from outside of the company.

However, in the last few years, it has had a difficult time recruiting enough of these people. The CEO feels that there are probably a large number of employees who might make good managers.

However, the company has no good internal assessment systems in place to identify them. The CEO asks your group to help the firm identify internal managerial talent so it can continue to pursue its growth strategy. What methods would you suggest for doing so?