Assignment task:
You are the sales manager of an import/export company and you sell food products to various retailers throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Michigan.
Your company has primarily sold very "American" meal kits to its customers, but the owner of the company wants to sell more international foods.
One of your new products is a vegetarian meal that is supposed to be similar to a traditional Indian meal of lentils, vegetables, and rice. Customers would simply have to open the box, mix the various ingredients in a pot, cook the food, and then serve.
Your marketing department will be promoting the product as an authentic Indian meal with a very colorful box that shows an Indian family enjoying the food.
Rama R., one of your key salespeople is from India and when the new product arrives for sale at the company warehouse, he tells you the following:
"Boss, this is not an authentic Indian meal. First, it is not made in India...the ingredients all come from other countries. Second, the meal that you are showing in the pictures on the box does not look like what customers would actually see once they finish cooking the food. Finally, the food in the box is loaded with very high levels of salt and tons of artificial flavors and colors. Some of the listed spices are not used in Indian cooking. Why are we selling this? If an Indian family buys this, they may feel insulted and then we are giving people who are new to this type of food a bad impression"
You take Rama's concern to the owner of the company and they tell you the following:
"Look, manager, I am not really concerned about food taste and appearance. The food is safe to eat right? It has nothing poisonous, correct? Our competitors are way ahead of us with meal kits from other countries.
If you remember, our company has a very diverse workforce and I sent out a survey months ago about this idea and I asked how people felt about this new product even thought it it may not be 100% a traditional Indian meal. We only had a 2% reply rate on the feedback and most of them were positive. One of our vice presidents is from another country and they had no issues! What is wrong with your employee, Rama?
Finally, I was able to get a vast quantity of this meal at a low price and I want to really show our retailers that we are serious about serving and increasing our diverse customer base. We are also addressing diversity by offering meals that are quick to create since our customers lead very busy lives. We can fix any issues once these are sold. Get these meals into the hands of our current customers right away so we can focus on foods from another country. Go tell Rama to do his job!"
About three months later, your company's social media feed, website, and mail are flooded with complaints from many customers regarding the failure of authenticity, the taste, and the negative impact the marketing has on diversity. The owner of the company is upset, admits their error, and then tells YOU to find a solution.
1. What is wrong in this scenario?
2. How do you fix the problem?