1. Use either the stepladder technique or the nominal group technique (see Chapter 5) to decide which candidate the company should send abroad. Defend your decision. As a member of the regional sales management team for a multinational corporation with offi ces located on almost every continent, you’ve made some tough decisions throughout your career.100 Unfortunately, you feel that today’s decision might possibly be the team’s hardest yet. Sales in Asia have been dropping lately, and the team has been charged with choosing one of its salespersons to take over as the new regional manager for that area.

Two salespeople immediately come to mind. Laura, one of the potential candidates, has been a sales representative for the North American region for seven years.

She has a master’s degree in business administration and was a foreign exchange student in Hong Kong for two years during college. She is extremely competent, knowledgeable, and confi dent and has consistently been a top performer at the company since she was hired. Adam, the other possible candidate, has been with the North American region for only four years, but before that he served three and a half years as a sales representative for the European region of a well-known competitor. He too is qualifi ed, with a master’s degree in business and considerable experience in international assignments, but his performance has not been quite as stellar as Laura’s. Neither candidate speaks any Asian languages.