Cabot

pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Case Analysis

Position Statement:
To analyze the termination case of a detailer who built good rapport with all the clients. All the
clients like physicians and pharmacists are worried about the uneventful termination of an
employee who was seemingly doing great.
Problem analysis:
Mr. Bob Marsh a veteran navy pilot and the manager of prescription department in a major drug
store joined Cabot Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CPI) in the role of ad detailer. As per his job
description, Marsh was responsible for calling hospital personnel, doctors, and dentists to
describe the CPIs product line and persuade these medical personnel to use and prescribe CPI
drugs. All his clean previous record in the navy and drugstore plus his amazing skills in the job
interview caught the attention of John Meredith, a CPIs district manager. They recruited him for
the post. Marsh quickly understood the workplace and his responsibilities. Even Marsh was very
excited about the job as it was his college time dream to be associate with CPI.
Marsh was doing great job in building good contacts with the clientele. But, Meredith was
disturbed after his two-day field trip with Marsh. Meredith observed that Marsh was seemingly
lacking attention to organization, planning, and follow-up and his tendency to question the logic
of some of the companys major promotion programs. It was almost the same even after several
in-house training sessions. During Marshs first year review Meredith explained all his qualms.
Marsh accepted those suggestions and looked like he determined to change his demerits. Later,
every year by year Marsh showed high levels of improvement and finally Meredith gave
Completely Satisfactory rating for him in the review of 1996.
In 1997, Bill Couch replaced Meredith as the district manager of Toledo. Couch was satisfied
with Marshs work and he was given more responsibilities like overseeing a distributor. Marsh
was also rewarded with a salary hike and by 2000 he was earning $90,000. Later in late 2000,
Jim Rathburn replaced Couch. He was quick to observe some issues in Marshs style of work.
Rathburn observed Marsh was not good at establishing new products with physicians and he had
very poor attention towards dentists. So, Rathburn assigned him some sales goals for next four
months. The situation was not improved, Rathburn came to observer more issues with Marsh.
Marsh was very unorganized in terms of his detail bag and his automobile. For a successful sales
person, these are the implied requirements to flourish in the market. Also, Marsh would never
prepare for his client interactions, he was very good in building rapport but very poor in
determining what to present to the clients. In one scenario, Rathburn caught Marsh falsifying the
call data to meet the sales targets. Rathburn was very furious after summing up all the faults
committed by Marsh. He ordered Marsh to sign a probation contract that he will be terminated
after 90 days, if theres no improvement in his status of work.
Surprisingly, Marsh quietly accepted all his allegations and worked seriously on improving
himself. It was evident from his well-organized detail bag and automobile. He continuously
maintained his presentations schedules and prepared in advance for all such interactions. After
looking at his improvements, Rathburn cancelled the probation contract and was given a good
salary hike. After Vince Reed took over the district manager job, Marsh seemed to behave well

as expected by Reed. But, his overall performance seemed to slip by 2003. Vince Reed allotted a
90days probation period and asked Marsh to come up with a detailed plan that how he will
improve his performance. Reed helped him by mentioning how Marsh was supposed to work to
improve his performance. Later, Vince Reed was transferred to another district. Antonia Wilkens
was the next manager to lead Marsh. Her tenure was very short in time but she observed the
same issues as Mr. Reed. She cancelled the probation period but gave no salary hike.
Ted Franklin took over the reins in 2004 as the Toledo district manager. After reading all his
personal files, Franklin asked Marsh to work seriously on improving his status in sincerity,
company loyalty, job interest, enthusiasm, cooperation, deference to supervision, and his work
habits. He asked Marsh to give a weekly update on his improvements. Multiples avenues and
resources was allocated for Marsh to help him in improving himself. By this time, zone manager
was transferred. After looking at the abysmal performance levels, both the district manager
Franklin and new zone manager Pete Mallick agreed to terminate Marsh. Marsh easily accepted
his termination and accepted to resign and go back to the same drug store work.
But, a week later Marsh called the CPI zone office for an appointment to meet Mallick. He
wanted to discuss the matter in person saying that he was treated unfairly. Mallick denied his
request saying, Marshs termination was a fair process and enough time has been invested in the
same. After some days, a doctor wrote a letter to the president of Cabot regarding his concerns
related to the termination of Marsh. According to doctor, Marsh was very good detailer across all
firms in the region and was very good at doing his work. The president quickly started an
investigation into this matter. As part of the process, zone manager Mallick met the concerned
doctor and explained him the whole scenario at a macro level. But the doctor was not happy with
the answer. Later a lot of doctors sent similar mails.
Decision Analysis and Conclusion:
Though Marsh was very good at building rapport with the clients, he was lagging in important
factors like planning and organization, treating all clients equally, maintain integrity in day to
day work and the records of the same. Moreover, he was given multiple chances to improve his
work style. But, still there was a very little improvement observed and as a 12-year experienced
detailer he will be leading up the ladder. He cant lead the company with such demerits. So, the
decision of terminating Bob Marsh is a well thought of decision. But, because of his long and
close contact with clientele, they are furious about the decision. The mood of the situation
became emotional in a way that it will cost dearly for CPI. So, Mr. Mallick should clearly pass
on the rational point of views of CPI without hurting the personal emotions of his clientele. On
the flip side, Marsh should be granted an appointment where the CPI can explain the situation
and provide full support for any of his future career plans. As Cabot was known for his highly
revered reputation among physicians, pharmacists and hospitals, they should not damage their
brand value at a cost of ignorance.