Please discuss the below given case study, briefly articulate the following elements of the case: (1) Identify the real, root problem of this case, (2) Diagnose the fundamental cause(s), (3) Possible alternatives available to the partners, (4) Evaluate their plan of action (decision/implementation), and (5) State the importance and relevance of the case to the study of business. Consider the primary stakeholders motivations. In considering motivations, take into account the applicable motivational concepts and theories found in Chapter 3 of Organizational Theory.

1 Pro-Net Business Connections Young Entrepreneurs Seizing Opportunities and New Directions Melodie Stewart and Kim Doherty Nova Scotia The case also provides interesting testimonial to motivational factors that are personal, as well as financial. Precipitating Events to New Venture Creation Suddenly in Spring 1996, Melodie Stewart found out from her manager at Atlantic Women, that the magazine was going bankrupt. The creditors arrived, removed all of the physical assets, and locked the doors. Oh my god, Melodie thought as the reality of the situation became more and more clear, Now what am I going to do? I just sold all of that advertising to my clients, and now there is no magazine and no job for me. I have a mortgage payment due in two weeks. I just charged many of the magazines costs to my personal credit card. My last paycheque bounced and I have $12,000 debt! Yikes!!! After the initial shock subsided, Melodie started calling all of her clients to let them know what had happened. She dreaded this embarrassing task but believed that they had a right to know. In her view, what had just happened to the magazine meant that her clients had been robbed of their money. I have to tell them the truth, she thought. During these phone calls, many of her clients expressed understanding along with their disappointment and uttered statements like, these things happen. Interestingly, many of them also offered Melodie a job, but she was reluctant to accept any of the positions offered. The thought of working for someone and making herself vulnerable once again worried her deeply. The experience at Atlantic Women was not the first time Melodie had been stung financially by her employer. In a previous job, she was left $3000 short. Her trust had just been shattered again. 2 Melodie knew that she had to think clearly at that moment. She was thrust into a difficult situation and had to decide what to do next. She asked herself, Should I accept one of these jobs or not? The sudden job loss had caused her to worry about how she was going to make her payments. She had been financially independent from her family for a very long time now and, even though she had worked in highly competitive commission jobs, she coped with the stress and managed to do quite well. Now she had to assess her options and sort through her many emotions. As she considered her situation she thought, I cant rely on my family financially; Im already emotionally dependent on them. No, thats not the answer. At the same time, how can I go back to a state of dependence on an employer and be at risk of another situation like this one? Neither question was a quick or easy one for Melodie to answer. Somehow, she thought, I have to figure out a way to maintain my economic independence and move forward. As Melodie sat in the centre of her turmoil, she realized that the events that had just taken place put her at a turning point in her life. She knew that she had to puzzle through the issues, the questions, and the emotions associated with her job loss before making her decision. But she also knew that she had to act quickly and decide how to proceed. During the darkest part of Melodies introspection, she remembered an idea that she had regarding information networking. she thought that there might be a market niche to provide an organized networking service to help other professionals. Thoughts started to speed up in her mind as she mused over the networking business idea. Maybe I could explore networking as a possible business opportunity using my existing circle of contacts to begin. It is so important to get out and mix with people, she thought. People really want to do business with those that they know, like, and trust. 3 As Melodie thought more and more about the possibility of networking, helping others mix into the network, and providing information brokering, her excitement level climbed. It became clear that this type of enterprise would be a natural fit with her personality. Melodie had a natural tendency to collect and record information and then pass it on to her colleagues and friends. I like people and I often engage in a natural brokering of information she thought, why not try and work at it as a business. As she further developed the idea, she became convinced that it would be useful for other professionals to have this ready information on networking events, information on services, market opportunities in different regions, and where to meet others to schmooze. Melodie was still not 100% comfortable with pursuing the business idea though. She wondered what her family would think and again reviewed the business idea in her mind. She knew that her parents were her biggest fans and that if she told them that she intended to become an astronaut next, given her track record, they would likely believe her. But she also knew that they would be concerned with her decision and as a result would pose excellent questions with which she could further clarify her direction. Melodies family encouraged her to proceed. In fact, her parents offered her four post-dated bi-weely cheques of $200 each to help her get started. Melodie began to plot her next steps. Once again, she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. It wasnt that stress was anything new in her life. It was quite familiar to her since all of her previous jobs were paid on commission, but this was different. This new direction was risky in contrast to the safer route of the employment offers she had received. Now she had to take charge and determine how to proceed with her networking idea. 4 The first task on Melodies mind was to produce a business plan. She immediately went to a friends office. She explained what had happened, what she had decided to do, and asked to work there over the weekend. Her friend agreed. Once inside, she took a deep breath and started writing down her thoughts. This is not devastating misfortune, she told herself. This is an opportunity to start again. The buck stops at me. If I dont generate a cash flow, I dont get paid! And so Pro-Net was conceived at that moment. Melodie attacked the project with a vengeance. She wanted to create the business plan over the course of the weekend and then on Monday morning, pitch it to gain venture capital. She didnt have the luxury of time to do much research on the idea, or to learn how to do a business plan, or to develop a marketing strategy. Oh well she thought, Im determined that I can make this work. I will learn and correct as I go along. Nothing is going to stop me now. Melodie asked her friend Kim Doherty to help her with the computer to do her business plan. Kim will help me over the rough spots, she thought. Melodie began to work through her idea. How will I start this? What will I write first? Kim stopped by with lunch for Melodie and herself, and to check how things were going. She found Melodie seated with papers spread out all over the place and operating on very little sleep. Kim decided to stay and help Melodie input the first draft of the business plan into the computer. As Melodie watched Kim, she thought, Wow. Kim is a great friend and she really seems to be into this idea. It must be a really great concept! But, Kim is always around when I need her, supporting me, anticipating my next move. Maybe I should ask her to be my business partner in this. Hmmm. It would be a lot more fun and her skill sets would really balance out mine! At the end of the weekend, Melodie and Kim had produced a working draft of her business plan to use when visiting banks to seek new venture funding. On Monday morning, she was up early and called upon the first bank manager, then the second, and the third. The visits were disappointing. All of the bank managers turned her down. 5 They said that she didnt have a track record, and she didnt have office space, or business cards, or a ready clientele. Now what? thought Melodie. This last bank manager that Melodie pitched her idea to said that he would like to help her but couldnt since the business idea was sketchy, novel, and although interesting, untried. For these reasons, he couldnt justify a loan. Just as Melodie started to feel the life drain out of her, this last bank manager added if you can do something to wow me, Ill lend you some money. At that point, Melodie decided to clear up some of the uncertainty around her plan and prepared to really wow this man. Melodie busied herself finding office space and developing a preliminary client list. She contacted many of her ex-customers to tell them what she was pursuing and asked for a letter of support if interested. Melodie told her friend Kim of her activities and once again, Kim came through. Kim said Melodie, I want to buy the first membership. Kim then handed over a cheque for the membership fee with a little yellow Post-it _note stuck onto it with a happy face and the words invoice 0001 on it. This was exactly the boost of encouragement that Melodie needed. Armed with the faxed letters of support and a new lease for office space, Melodie returned to the bank. She slapped her package on the bank managers desk, pitched her idea once again, and ended with the statement, I can get to work now. All I need to do is get business cards and invoices with the money you lend me! The bank manager watched Melodie, his mouth agape in amazement. Before him he saw a very young professional woman, polished in her approach that she pitched non-stop. She was committed, excited, and her concept was new and innovative. When she stopped to take a breath, he told her that he had decided to give her a chance with a small overdraft loan of $1,500. Melodie was elated and exhausted. Now she thought, the real work must begin. Later on Pro-Net also obtained $10,000 from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation to pay for their incorporation, trademark, copyright, partnership _6 agreement, and computer training. But the initial $1,500 allowed the concept of Pro-Net to leave the idea stage and become a business reality. The Business Plan Melodies business idea was to provide a matchmaking service for business, government, and non-profit organizations. In order to accomplish this, Melodie planned to do three things. First, she would produce a newsletter that highlighted local networking events. The newsletter would provide a schedule of the events, the time, date, place, speaker, and cost allowing easy identification of appropriate networking opportunities. Second, she would have each new client fill out a detailed profile outlining their networking needs. These profiles would then be entered into her company computer to a database so that her clients could use the information provided to find services that they needed, to identify other companies to develop partnerships with, or to find new business opportunities. And third, she would provide seminars on effective networking techniques so that busy business people could make the most out of their time. The costs of these services would range from $150 (membership fees for students and non-profit organization members) to $600 per year (fees for government agencies). People from small businesses constitute the largest group in the client base. Their annual membership fee was only $300. Melodies ultimate goal for Pro-Net was to be the first company that people think of when they need information. She also wanted to produce a service that would assist people. Its not just about sales. It is also about building relationships and adding value. Ultimately people want to do business with those that they know, like, and trust. And while I want to make a profit, I want most of all to add value. Really, thought Melodie, the most advantageous part about owning your own business is the fact that you can really help other people. She became increasingly certain that she made the correct decision as time progressed. This is really going to be fun. Now with all of the pieces in place, Melodie turned her attention to getting her office setup so that she could sell her product. As she was getting things organized, she decided to try to convince Kim to join her as her business partner. Kim had to think about the 7 prospect for a while. This decision meant that she would have to give up a lot and she was not altogether comfortable with the ambiguity associated with that decision. Still, Melodies enthusiasm was infectious; her vision was so clear and she really believed that this business could add a lot of value and make money. After much introspection, Kim decided to take the risk and join Melodie in launching Pro-Net. The first decision made was that Melodie and Kim were to be equal partners. This meant that they would make all decisions in a collaborative manner. They placed their desks across from one another and proceeded to discuss how they would break into existing circles to sell their product. Their first success was a reciprocal agreement with the Halifax area Chamber of Commerce. In return for access to the Chambers members, Pro-Net would offer their networking seminar free of charge. They thought that this plan of action would give them the desired access they needed to continue. However, this strategy was not without challenge. At one of their early seminars, a cynical member from an Old Boys club suggested that perhaps Pro-Nets message was really about having lunch at the Halifax Club. Melodie would not be put off by this comment. She responded quickly by launching into her pitch about the importance of their product as business needs changed. On another occasion, Kim attended a meeting where she found herself the lone woman in a boardroom full of men. She initially felt somewhat out of place being the only woman in the room, particularly when the conversation turned to sports, but Kim knew that she could not stay quiet. To sell her product she had to find a way to deal with the issues and get around them. Melodie and Kim discussed their experience with this sort of treatment. They both agreed that they needed to figure out a way to deal with it effectively. In their minds, they knew that they could not let this kind of resistance, or perception of their ability and product, interfere. They sat across from one another and discussed the situation in earnest. Finally, they decided that neither one of them wanted to spend a lot of time worrying about the gender issues. Surely, noted Melodie, even the thickest-skinned 8 walrus can see the business world is changing. We cant get bogged down because of how we might be perceived based on our gender or youth. A lot of new entrepreneurs experience this. Melodie and Kim agreed that they would not be cast as fighting the gender thing. I