We Googled YouCase Study

Submitted to:Sandip Timsina

(Course Instructor)Management Information System

Ace Institute of Management(Graduate School)

Submitted by:Sujata Timsina

Rushma ShakyaKhusbu Shrestha

Nikesh Dwa

July 2013

We Googled You

Case summary

Fred Westen is the CEO of the luxury apparel retailer Hathaway Jones. Based on Fred's impressive credentials and a lifetime's experience of working with luxury brands, the privately owned U.S. retail chain had hired him four years ago with the heavy responsibility of turning the troubled company around. For the purpose, Fred took several measures such as aggressive outsourcing, but his biggest plan was to enter China's luxury goods market which was growing at a rate of 70% per year. He had earmarked millions of dollars to open new stores in three of the largest cities, including Bejing and Guanzhou, with the flagship in Shanghai, China's wealthiest and most cosmopolitan city. Fred knew that he needed an excellent team of carefully selected individuals to make Hathaway Jones' entry into China a success.

Around that time, Fred got into touch with his old roommate, John Brewster. It happened so that John's daughter Mimi was following Hathaway Jones' movements and being aware of Fred's plan to expand into China, she wanted to be a part of the move. Mimi had grown up in China and could speak both Mandarin and a local Chinese dialect. She had majored in Chinese History from Berkeley and worked at a management consultancy right out of college. She then graduated from Stanford with an MBA. After that, she was recruited by Eleanor Gaston, the largest clothing, shoes and accessories company in the United States. After four years of experience there, she was now looking for some general management experience, preferably in a fast growing market like China. Mimi was very confident that she would be selected for the job at Hathaway Jones.

After an initial meeting with Mimi, Fred realised that she was the perfect candidate for the company. So he set up an interview for her with the vice president of human resources, Virginia Flanders. Virginia Flanders was a long time employee of Hathaway Jones and she had differing views from Fred regarding human resources. She thought that Fred ignored internal talent and relied too much on his sixth sense about who were the right people to bring on board. As she put together a file on Mimi, Virginia acknowledged that the candidates' letters of recommendation were impressive. Employers described Mimi as aggressively creative, original, opinionated, and a risk taker (which she though might be a little too much for the company). But it was Virginia's practice to Google applicants and scan the first 11 pages as a background check. During this routine check, she found out that Mimi had been the leader of a nonviolent but vocal protest group that helped mobilize campaigns against the World Trade Organization. Upon further investigation, it was clear that Mimi's involvement had been more than just a student's expression of defiance. One newspaper story featured a photo of Mimi sitting outside China's San Francisco consulate protesting China's treatment of a dissident journalist.

Initially, Fred downplayed the findings, assuming that no one has a clean internet trail. But upon further discussions with Virginia and his wife Martha, he realised that it would put this venture of Hathaway Jones at stake. Mimi could be the kind of person who could get the company into trouble in China. Now Fred was in a dilemma as to whether he should hire a good candidate with a bad online history (which might be false or fabricated as far as he knew) or in the future, settle for a less qualified candidate with a good online history as candidates with Mimi's credentials and references was not common.

Should Fred hire Mimi despite her online history?Expert views

John G. Palfrey, Jr.,(Clinical professor of law and the executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, and also a founder of RSS Investors)

Mr Palfrey thinks that Fred should follow his instinct and hire Mimi if everything else checks out. He should talk to Mimi about everything honestly and hear her side of the story. People who have been saints all their lives are uninteresting people and companies which hire only such people will lack leaders in the long run.

Furthermore, digital information cannot be relied upon as anyone with a little expertise can easily falsify the information. These false remarks travel very fast over the internet and it is very hard to track them down and remove them. So it is becoming increasingly important for companies to bring in the concerned person to clarify the situation if anything of concern is found online.

Mr Palfrey describes most senior executives as “digital immigrants” who have not immersed themselves in the electronic culture and new generation in their 20s as “digital natives” who share information online promiscuously without realizing the consequences of their acts. He says that the current hiring standards will have to change or companies will not be able to hire great people. But that is very hard for the digital immigrants to do so and will be applicable only when the digital natives themselves become CEOs and HR executives.

Jeffrey A. Joerres(Chairman and CEO, Manpower)

Mr Joerres describes the impact of online media and social networking in the employment landscape. It has led to the trend of informally checking the background of individuals online, prior to interviewing them. Not very long ago, someone with an imperfect past could move far away from his troubled history and start fresh in a new location. Today, the online community knows no boundaries and qualified candidates' background can be checked online for an unfavorable past even before he or she steps inside the organization.

He says that he would have sidelined Mimi as a candidate. Apart from the online revelation, former employers described her as opinionated and brash. In the interview with Fred, it seemed quite inappropriate for her to wink at him and call him “boss” on the way out of his office. These concerns might not have been a big deal if Mimi was applying for a job in the west, but China was a different case.

Mimi's qualifications and her background in China are not enough to maker her a good manager there. For the venture, Hathaway Jones needs a person who can build a constructive relationship with the local government. Hiring a person without such capabilities may hinder the company's ability to succeed in the Chinese market. And the fact that Chinese people are very web oriented and know how to Google would also make Mimi a bad candidate for the position. Furthermore, the local nature of the retail and service businesses would make it a bad choice to put an expatriate in the Shanghai position. Mimi's personality was also opposed to the type of personality that Chinese employees expect in their leaders i.e. modest and humble.

Finally, Mr Joerres highlights the need for potential employees to protect their reputations and think twice about the online personale they are presenting to the world. He recommends that candidates search the internet to find anything about themselves that might come up and be prepared to answer any questions that might crop up in relation to the findings. Furthermore, they should consider how they might use the web to demonstrate attributes that would make a positive impression on potential employers.

Danah M. Boyd(Doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, and an adviser to major media corporations)

Ms Danah M. Boyd is from the same generation as Mimi and she justifies the actions of her generation on the internet. The young people today are doing what the young people have always done: trying to figure out who they are. They are putting themselves in public for the others to examine and adjusting themselves according to the reactions that they are getting. The only difference is that they are doing it through a new medium, the internet. And as always, the adults are upset by the engagement of the new generation with new cultural artifacts.

The so called problematic behavior of the teenagers can be traced back to the narratives of the media. Teenagers are prone to imitate the activities of the people that the mainstream media portrays as celebrities. Reality TV shows link success with full exposure. All these factors have teenagers to be narcissists and attention seekers. So the World Wide Web has become a place for friends and also a space to seek attention.

Many young people will have questionable online presence. If Hathaway Jones doesn’t want to hire these people, it will miss out the best minds of the new generation. Bright people push the edge and what constitutes the edge is a matter of time. While a generation ago, it was about miniskirts and rock and roll, this time around, it is about having a complex digital presence. While Hathaway Jones might be able to find people who always play by the rules and do not have any blemishes on their records, it will also need some people who are creative. Like for instance, the job that Fred is trying to fill needs a creative like Mimi. So Fred should talk with Mimi and strategize together about how to handle the potential challenges posed by her online records.

Michael Fertik(Founder and CEO, Reputation Defender)

Michael Fertik is also from the same generation as Mimi. He acknowledges the fact that today, if we Google anyone hard enough, there is bound to be something bad. Our CV is no longer what we send to our employers – it's the first 10 things that show up on Google.

Mr Fertik thinks that Mimi presents a risk to Hathaway Jones as the online content about her is sensitive enough for Chinese decision makers even though it appears only on the ninth page of Google's search results. Someone is bound to find it sooner or later. Then people will write about it again on the internet and the community will take heed. Since Mimi didn't put the content on the internet herself, she is powerless to remove it, especially owing to the fact that it is a newspaper article.

Mimi should have disclosed the newspaper articles to Fred before the HR did. This would have helped her gain some favor. But this does not mean that she cannot pursue a business career in China all her life. She can carry out various activities like participating in public forums and writing blogs that show that her opinion has matured and admit that she has changed her earlier views.

Should Fred hire Mimi despite her online history?Individual Opinions and Issues

Sujata Timsina

Had I been in Fred's position, I would have hired Mimi taking the following points into consideration:

1. One cannot discriminate a potential candidate for a job just because his/her online profile contains some information which might not be supportive to the job. Just because a person has a clear online profile does not mean that the person is a perfect candidate, it might just be because the person had played the entire thing safe.

2. However, online profile information cannot be blindfolded as well .Even though that information might not have any significant impacts on the business, when it is noticed by people they go on digging up the information so vigorously that it ends up into a big issue putting the business at stake.

3. Internet has been a platform on which anyone can put information of any sort and the major issue associated with it is that even if true information is placed on the internet ,it can easily be falsified and false information can be made seemingly true.

Rushma Shakya

Considering the fact that China is a communist state, I wouldn’t hire Mimi after finding such questionable online background and would play it safe by hiring a better candidate because sooner or later in time they would definitely Google about Mimi. Knowing the fact that the online articles are difficult to remove from the internet I would not take any risk because it is an extremely important investment for Hathway Jones. But assuming her talent and creativity she can be hired for Hathway Jones international operation, as the company would not want to lose someone like her.

Khusbu Shrestha

Fred Weston should hire Mimi Brewster because she already has broad business experience. Also she has worked in Eleanor Gaston and has re-launced two brands which were successes. With her experience and knowledge about brand re-launches and the emerging fashion trends she should definitely be hired. As she was raised in China and knows Mandarin and local Dialect this acts as an advantage for hiring her for working at the China branches as she knows the country and its culture well.Regarding her internet posting it is good that her protest activities were known by the HR manager before hiring her. Fred Weston and HR Manager Virginia Flanders must schedule second interview with Mimi so that she can clarify the reasons behind her protest activities. If she can clarify her behavior and convince both of them that her activities will not be repeated they should hire her.With such skills and experience Hathaway Jones cannot take a risk by not hiring Mimi by just depending upon the information found in the internet.

Nikesh Dwa

If I were Fred, I would try to get hold of a better candidate than Mimi and play it safe as far as possible. The information on the internet regarding Mimi is bound to be discovered by others sooner or later. The Chinese market that is growing at a rate of 70% per year will also attract Hathway Jones' competitors. Once they find out that a key employee of Hathway Jones' has such online records, they will surely use it against the company.

Though Mimi has impressive credentials, I donot think it is enough for someone to be considered to lead a multi-billion dollar company into a foreign market. Some experience in the international arena would have made Mimi a far more suitable candidate.

So Fred should try to get hold of someone better with a safer track record and more experience because the foray into China is an extremely important investment for Hathway Jones, considering that it is loosing hold of its grip in the US market and millions of dollars are at stake.

The Final Verdict

After bringing all our differing views to table, we concluded that Fred should set up a second meeting with Mimi. After hearing her side of the story, they should devise a plan of action that would help to create an online trail that overshadows her existing negativity about China. Like Mr Michael Fertik recommended, Mimi could consider publishing stories about globalization on a home page that she creates, or joining an online discussion forum about China and the World Trade Organization. In these public forums, she can explain that she had many political and social interests when she was younger and how her opinions have differed now.

Apart from the unfavorable online trail, it is reasonable to assume that Mimi is one of the best candidates that could have applied for the job. One can argue that Mimi is not very experienced in the international arena, but we cannot foresee these facts that make her an ideal candidate:

1. She grew up in China.2. She speaks both Mandarin and a local Chinese dialect.3. She majored in modern Chinese history.4. She had a broad business exposure and had completed her MBA from one of the best business schools

in the world5. She had four years of experience in the largest clothing, shoes and accessories company in the United

States. Furthermore, she has also been a part of two successful brand launches there and was aware of the emerging fashion trends.

6. From her brief conversation with Fred, we can infer that she had a good understanding of the Chinese culture.

So, rather than focusing on the negative aspects, Fred should focus on how he can help Mimi improve her online track record and let her develop as an individual to her true potential. Hiring and retaining dynamic individuals such as Mimi will not only benefit Hathaway Jones in the short term expansion into China, but also ensure that the company will never be short of capable leaders in the long run.

"Value people on their potential, not on their history.”- Bo Bennett (businessman, author, programmer, philanthropist, martial artist and motivational speaker)