1. What competencies are illustrated in the case?

2. Using the Communication Inventory presented as an Experiential Exercise with Chapter 9, evaluate Valdez’ communication effectiveness. In what area(s) does she excel?

3. Is Valdez an effective team leader?

MINI CASE 

Yolanda Valdez, senior vice president for marketing of ClearVision Optical Group, arrived at her office at 7:25 a.m. Settling in at her desk, she began to think about the problems she needed to handle in the course of the day.

ClearVision Optical Group is a specialty retailer operating under the name of ClearVue with annual sales of over $20 million. The optical group owns 750 stores in 40 states, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, The Netherlands, and England. It is the United States’ largest provider of eye care products and services, and it seeks to expand its market share in other free world countries. ClearVision is one group of S. G. Davis, an Illinois-based company that also has pharmaceutical and medical product groups. The optical group is planning to expand into other broadly based health-care markets, and in 2010 it began experimenting with small shops that sell only sunglasses. ClearVision is a marketing-oriented company that bases its strategy on understanding customer needs and developing and delivering distinctive characteristics that appeal to customers. An example of this is ClearVue’s in-store labs that cut lenses for eyeglass frames on a “while-you-wait” basis, often getting the customer’s prescription filled within an hour. This service differentiates ClearVue from its competitors, who typically do not offer such speedy service.