6、令VP痛苦的决定

6、令VP痛苦的决定

经过一番痛苦的挣扎，Johnson终于听取了Nancy的建议，下定决心下令收回有问题的software。选择什么样的方式来发布product withdraw（召回产品）的消息合适呢，如果力度不够，有些顾客可能不能及时得到消息，负面影响不会及时被消除，但是如果过于fuss-making（大张旗鼓，小题大做），反倒会引起更多原本没有注意到这件事的顾客的关注，引起他们不必要的担忧。这个度的把握还真是不容易。没办法，Public Affairs Department又请公关公司来帮助解决问题。公关公司建议通过出现问题的地区的local media（地方媒体）来发布消息，尽量减少影响，但又能体现Innovo对顾客负责的态度。事态总算控制住了，但是给Innovo带来的直接损失却是相当大的。

为了避免今后再出现similar（类似）问题，Johnson下令研发部赶快根据市场需求，同时注重产品质量，尽快研发出新的产品去占领市场，消除之前的负面影响。R & D Department的Thomas认为光靠他们一个部门的力量是不能从根本上改变局面的，其他各个部门的共同努力和相互配合是必须的。他向Johnson表达了自己的想法，Johnson表示同意他的看法，并把协调任务全权assign（交付）给他。

Thomas先组织R & D Department针对市场需要确定下一步需要研发的产品所应该包括的functions（功能）和features（特性）。之后他叫助理把研究结果做成paper documents（纸质文档）circulate（分发）到各个部门，要求大家先仔细阅读然后再在开会时提出指导意见。Thomas的目的是希望其他部门从这份研究报告里意识到自己部门工作的inefficiency（不足）和完成新产品推广所要加强的各方面工作。所以在开会的时候，他并没有用过多时间给大家介绍这份研究报告，而是抛砖引玉地让其他部门发表自己的看法，积极地参与到这个project里来。Thomas这次的发言由以下三个部分组成的：

Present what you did and what else need to be done.

Remind the related parties to realize their responsibilities.

Be soft and indirect as being tough won't work.

Using all of the information that my assistant has just presented as a starting point, my product development team has been trying to enhance our product to include more of customer's desired features. Our specific proposals were described in detail in the memo that was circulated last week, so I see no reason to cover them in depth at this point in time. However, we do need to open a dialogue about which changes we're going to implement, and a timeline for doing so.

So, as our presentation concludes, I want to repeat the key points. First, our market share is showing a downward trend. Second, our marketing campaign isn't appropriate for our target audience. Third, many key features are missing from our product. Our recommendations are to revamp our marketing campaign and redesign our product. We are facing some serious problems, and we need your input in order to deal with them as quickly as possible.

Without further ado, I'd like to open the floor for discussion. Just feel free to make your comments.

Thomas这么一开头，其他部门的同事也不好袖手旁观，纷纷提出建议和对自己可以参与的工作作保证。大家还很快制定出一个各部门都包括在内的整体工作timetable（时间表），根据这个进度，Innovo应该可以在一个月内就研发生产出一款取代之前产品的新产品，并且能够guarantee（保证）质量。