Pharma First International is expanding its operations in Europe. Mike Harrisson was hired as an assistant to oversee integration of subsidiaries, but struggled due to cultural differences. In a meeting, Jason Walter decides to keep Mike and implement changes to improve the situation. He recommends cultural training, ensuring Mike's family is settled, and assigning Anja and others to support Mike's understanding of European culture. This aims to help Mike build trust and succeed in his role overseeing integration. Jason also should have provided better support to prevent issues by educating Mike on cultural differences beforehand. Moving forward, recommendations include strategic planning, cultural training for all, and change management support during implementation.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction to Pharma First International ........................................................................................2
2. Causes of Mike Harrisson’s Failure in Europe ..................................................................................2
3. Jason Walter Actions and Decisions to send back Mike Harrisson to USA or keep him as
Assistant in Europe & reasoning behind..................................................................................................3
4. Jason Walter’s Role in avoiding/preventing the Current issue........................................................4
5. Recommendations to Pharma First in making Long Term Strategy for managing its European
Subsidiaries................................................................................................................................................5
6. Cross-Cultural Management Training Module...................................................................................8
1. Introduction to Cross-Cultural Management Training Module.............................................................8
2. Training Content ................................................................................................................................8
3. Learning Goals ..................................................................................................................................8
4. Length................................................................................................................................................9
5. Number of Participants.......................................................................................................................9
6. Training Methods ...............................................................................................................................9
7. Assessment .......................................................................................................................................9
8. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.....................................................................................................10
9. Additional Comments.......................................................................................................................10
Prepared by: Team 3
Samantha ANDERSON
David ASSOU
Deepak Shivdutt KANDPAL
Muhanned ALDHALAAN
Stephanny RIJALBA

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1. Introduction to Pharma First International
This case study is about one of the famous companies that deals with the business of the pharmacy named
as the Pharma First international (PFI). The company was established in 1962 at the Richmond, Virginia.
Later on in the 1980 the company introduced different kind of diversified products in the form of cosmetics,
medicines and vaccinations. Pharma First international (PFI) achieve the status of the group in the period
of the 1982 to 1993 when this company acquired many companies in the western region and central
Europe.
Extension of Operations:
The first ever acquired company of that period was named as the Munich subsidiary while the latest
company acquired by the Pharma First international (PFI) is named as the Danish subsidiary. Jason Walter
is the CEO of Pharma First Europe (PFE) and the CEO of Pharma First international (PFI) is Barry
Gumpert. The company is going to expand its business in Europe specifically in CSIR countries so that is
the reason the company is going to recruit many professionals as the officials of the company.
Mike Harrisson:
In 2002, when Jason approved the extension of the company’s operations in the European region, he send
the request to the headquarters that he needs an assistant that can assist him in the operation of the
business. The primary responsibility of the assistance hired by the company was the overseeing and
monitoring of the integration of different subsidiaries of the Pharma First company in the European region.
Mike Harrison was one of the talented managers of the Pharma First company who was nominated as the
assistant for Jason to monitor the Integration and networking of the company in the Europe. He was
recruited for this responsibility for 2 years.
2. Causes of Mike Harrisson’s Failure in Europe
Mike was having splendid career along with the professional capabilities so that was the reason; the
company was expecting positive results from Mike. Even though the recruitment of the Mike was a good
sign but still in the first 8 months of the appointment of the Mike, the Mike was not able to obtain the
productive results from the network of the subsidiaries. The first reason of failure of Mike in the Europe was
assumed by Jason that it is the temporary failure because the Mike was not use to the European
environment so he is unaware how to deal the engagements in that region so this problem will be rectified
very soon as the Mike will pass some time in that region.
Mike organized many seminars, which were having the primary objective as the discussion about the
strategy of the company, but the seminars were also not able to produce the desired results for the
company. The basic reason of the failure of the Mike was the cultural difference because he was unable to
get the trust of the management of the subsidiaries. He was unable to know that either he should be a
formal or informal with the local managers so it result in the suspicious character of the Mike in front of the
managers of subsidiaries companies.

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3. Jason Walter Actions and Decisions to send back Mike Harrisson to USA
or keep him as Assistant in Europe & reasoning behind
It would be very easy if Jason Walter decides to send Mike Harrisson back to United States of America but
he decides otherwise by taking following actions and decisions as described below. Jason conveys his
actions and decisions to Mike in the meeting with him at 10 am.
Firstly, Jason clarifies to Mike that he has been busy and did not find time to discuss his goals properly.
Despite Mike’s undeniable potential, 8 months after his arrival in Munich, there was still no sign of any
progress in the network of subsidiaries. Mike did not seem to be effective in his role abroad. He was no
longer the charismatic, lively spirited man that Jason had met in the USA and his expatriation had proved to
be a total failure up to now.
Jason informs Mike to resolve this problem they need to modify his goals to be directed more towards
socializing together with the directors and managers but to do that they need to set his personal life in place
by ensuring Mike’s son goes to a good English school in Munich which could be ensured by Heidi and that
his wife & son should start learning German language which should be funded by the HR Director and his
team. There could also be a possibility that Mike’s wife could be interviewed for a position in PFE as this
would be both beneficial to the company as well as she would be busy and involved.
Secondly, Jason offers Mike to undergo Self-Management and Intercultural Management trainings.
The integration of the European teams was strategic objective for PFI and Jason was put in charge of its
implementation. His period of expatriation was therefore extended for another 2 years until 2005. Jason
had readily accepted this proposition to implement the integration of European subsidiaries for the
production and sales of PFE’s main products.
Barry had told Jason that if the European integration project was successful, he would be promoted to a top
management post back at the US headquarters. For all the above reasons, Mike had been chosen by Barry
Gumpert, the American CEO, to unify PFE. Jason, therefore believed that Mike would help him to advance
his career prospects. Thus, for Mike to be successful he need to understand the culture of Europe by doing
Intercultural as well as self-management trainings which would make him understand what gaps he has as
compared to the individualistic approach followed by him in USA. Jason makes him aware that by building
trust with the directors as well as managers of the European subsidiaries which is the key to any integration
be it a small team or as large as the different subsidiaries.
Thirdly, Jason assigns Anja together with Mike to support him to understand where he is going wrong.
Anja has very good relations with the directors and the managers of the European subsidiaries who confide
in her with their issues faced. So, it would be really good for Mike to understand how each director as well
as senior managers interact culturally as well as build trust with them before really starting the integration
workshop. In this direction, also the HR Director Franz can support Mike by having individual meetings with
each director and Mike to know their requirements of integrating the subsidiaries into one unit.
By informing Mike of these steps, Jason informs Anja, Franz, Heidi and other Directors as well as Senior
Managers to support Mike as he is culturally new to Europe and would require their support in
understanding their culture as well as the organization culture better through socializing as well as sharing
their ideas on how the integration can be made successful.

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4. Jason Walter’s Role in avoiding/preventing the Current issue
Jason could have avoided this issue in several ways. First, Jason was introduced as the CEO of Pharma
First Europe, the European Headquarters of the company PFI. The company, PFI, wanted to open a
subsidiary in Moscow to gain entry into the Russian market and expand into other countries which share
historical and cultural links.
Mike was selected as Jason’s assistant who would be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the
European subsidiaries. As we reviewed Mike Harrisson’s background he did not have a vast amount of
experience internationally. He mainly worked in the US except for his 3 year stint with the US embassy in
New Delhi. Under Mike Harrisson’s background it mentions that Jason had found Mike to be frank and
direct but sometimes in other cultures this could be seen as rude as the United States is a low context
country while other countries are high context. Being a CEO, Jason should have provided Mike this
information so the company and themselves could both be successful.
Another large problem is that Jason was not an agent of socialization for Mike. The case did not mention
Jason providing information in respect to the local culture, values, traditions, legislation. According to
http://geert-hofstede.com/geert-hofstede.html website comparing the United States and Germany, we find
there are some similarities but also some key differences that Jason should have informed Mike to make
this a successful venture. First, power distance and masculinity are similar but individualism and
indulgence are much higher in the United States than in Germany. However, in Germany pragmatism is
much higher compared to the United States. So, what does this mean? Jason should have used this
information as a resource to share with Mike then this issue would have likely been avoided. For instance,
running late to a meeting might be more tolerated in the United States rather than in Europe as well as
calling someone by their first name is an accepted practice in the United States but may not be accepted in
Europe. Jason could have provided this information to Mike through education.
In regards to education, Jason could have avoided this issue was to develop a formal policy concerning
international assignments including:
● cultural awareness training
● sensitivity training
● language courses
● local etiquette classes and customs
● a preliminary visit so Mike could get “localized” and can get introduced to the other managers by
Jason
The formal policy would have assisted Mike in his transition from the United States to Europe and give Mike
a better understanding of the expectations within that culture. Jason not providing this policy along with
training can cause a significant cost to the company as this case discusses.
Jason was not a good mentor to Mike in this situation. Mike had been successful in the United States but
without the proper training, etiquette classes, sensitivity training Mike was not successful in Europe. Jason
in this situation let Mike struggle and did not notice what was occurring before a lot of damage had
occurred. Jason needs to develop a plan for Mike immediately which incorporates the above ideas and
present that at the 10 am meeting.

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5. Recommendations to Pharma First in making Long Term Strategy for
managing its European Subsidiaries
Firstly, for Pharma First to develop successfully a consolidated restructuring they might re-evaluate the
objectives and strategies to do it in an efficient way. Then, it is important to understand how to
communicate this change in order to involve all the managers and they stay committed with the change and
in that way they can be more support it and collaborative.
It is necessary to have a strategic planning, that is a systematic process of developing and implementing
plans to achieve purposes or objectives. Strategic Planning is vital, since in its aims, objectives,
mechanisms, etc. the course summarizes the guideline that the entire organization should follow, with the
final goal, reaching the goals, same result in economic, human and technological growth. A good strategy
should:
• Be able to achieve the desired objective.
• Making a good connection between the environment and resources of an organization and competition;
must be feasible and appropriate
• Be able to provide the organization with a competitive advantage; should be unique and sustainable over
time.
• Dynamic, flexible and able to adapt to changing situations.
• Must be measurable in terms of their effectiveness

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The most important techniques to develop strategies can be integrated into a framework of three stages to
make decisions, as shown in the following illustration. The tools presented in this framework can be applied
to organizations of all types and sizes and you can serve strategists to enhance, evaluate and select
strategies
The analytical framework for formulating strategies:
Phase 1: This first phase is to recognize the internal factors of the company in order to have more clearly
the objectives, for that evaluation it is important to use different tools as the following:
● External Factor Evaluation Matrix (EFE).
● Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix (EFI).
● Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM).
Phase 2: In this phase, it is important to analyse more detailed the strategies and to go deeper in each
one, there are different tools used to help this process be more easily, for example:
● SWOT Analysis.
● The Strategic Position and Action Evaluation Matrix (SPACE).
● Boston Consulting Group Matrix (BCG)
● Grand Strategy matrix.
Phase 3: This is the phase when it is need to make a decision for that could be use the Quantitative
Strategic Planning Matrix is a high-level strategic management approach for evaluating possible strategies,
provides an analytical method for comparing feasible alternative actions. The QSPM method falls within so-
called stage 3 of the strategy formulation analytical framework. When company executives think about what
to do, and which way to go, they usually have a prioritized list of strategies. If they like one strategy over
another one, they move it up on the list. This process is very much intuitive and subjective. The QSPM
method introduces some numbers into this approach making it a little more "expert" technique.

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Implementation of the strategy
Recommendations in how to manage the change
1. Properly planning stages of the process. It is important to develop communication strategies of the
situation. To do this, think and convey well the overall message that will give to all employees, at
what stage will come up.
2. Observe the skills and abilities of employees.
3. Using instruments of direct and frequent communication. Openness and clarity in communications
that take place on the situation of the company and the sector is often the best tool in these
situations. Messages that internal employees should be clear, transparent and have credibility
4. Communicate the reason and whys of the need and desirability of restructuring the workforce.
Inform its employees that the process will lead to an improvement in corporate health and will
ensure the survival of the company in the future. This will increase confidence and motivation.
5. Manage coherent external communication and internal communication.
6. Prepare and train managers and the whole structure. They should provide tools that help them
anticipate the reactions of their employees and know how to align them with the new strategy and
be convincing in the messages they give to their subordinates.
7. Assist and support the controls message transmission.
8. Support the adaptation to change.
9. Manage the process consistent with the organizational culture. In times of change, it is important
that the organization shows that its culture has not changed, and the actions being undertaken are
the result of an unfavourable environment or a loss of competitiveness that has nothing to do with
his philosophy regarding employees.
10. Redefine and re-design continuity.

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6. Cross-Cultural Management Training Module
1. Introduction to Cross-Cultural Management Training Module
It is very clear that Mike Harrisson as well as the Directors and the Senior Managers at
Pharma First Europe (PFE) required Cross-Cultural Management training to ensure success
of the Integration Project. Jason Walter should have understood this as a key requirement
and should have prepared the Job Description for Mike Harrisson and his goal settings to
include Cross-Cultural trainings for the entire team.
2. Training Content
The Cross-Cultural Management training module should have the following agenda as
topics:
a) Respecting Others
b) Efficient Communication & Listening
c) Emotional Intelligence
d) Self-Efficacy
e) Macro Management vs Micro Management
f) Team Management
g) Leadership Management
h) Trust
i) Conflict Management
j) Commitment
k) Accountability
l) Result Management
Mike should have send this agenda before starting the training to Jason so as to have his
experience and feedback before starting the Cross-Cultural Management training module as
he has been in Europe for a long time. This would have avoided the discomfort Mike
received from directly communicating with the Directors and the Senior Managers which was
the protocol followed by them. Jason should have established good communication between
Mike and the European Managers before actually starting the Integration Project.
3. Learning Goals
The main learning goal of this cross-cultural training should be creating an efficient team and
“win-win” work environment which nurtures growth, motivation and development of
individuals as well as team. There are also five important goals which are listed below:
a) Building Trust
b) Conflict Management
c) Team Commitment
d) Accountability vs. Responsibility
e) Results Management

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This has been explained in Section 8 below under the heading “The Five Dysfunctions of a
Team” describing how Absence of Trust, Fear of Conflict, Lack of Commitment, Avoidance
of Accountability and Inattention to Results lead to Dysfunctional teams and how by learning
these skills and making them as personal goals the team could become Functional and
Trustworthy.
4. Length
The training module will be divided into 5 phases covering Building Trust, Conflict
Management, Team Commitment, Accountability vs Responsibility and Results Management
having in total of 40 hours of training (5 working days) for each module for the entire year.
5. Number of Participants
One batch of 20 Directors and Senior Managers or two batches of 10 each who will meet
each only during the 3rd module of Team Management.
6. Training Methods
The following training methods will be followed:
a) Interactive Classroom Sessions which will require strict rules to be followed like no
mobiles, no internet and no laptops.
b) Online Training Sessions using Videos and Presentations.
c) On-the-Job Training Sessions like forming Teams to demonstrate Trust, Team,
Conflict, Commitment & Results.
d) Video Conferencing Sessions to understand the difficulties of Formal and Informal
Communication in Virtual Teams as well as Cross-Cultural Diversity.
7. Assessment
Each participant to demonstrate the 5 Skills in their day-to-day work during the entire
performance appraisal period of a year and Jason as well as Mike will receive this
assessment report from the respective Human Resources Manager every month.

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8. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
This model as described by Patrick Lencioni in form of a textbook to be provided free to each
participant signed by Jason Walter with a personal message as a motivation.
It is very important for the CEO to motivate his team members in a very simple way so that
they build trust and respect.
9. Additional Comments
Without a very solid support from the Human Resources Director Frans Klepzeiker, this
Cross-Cultural training module will not be successful as this would require soft skills as well
as other departments support like Knowledge Management, Online University and
Administration (not to forget Heidi). Many times during technical trainings as well as other
trainings we forget to involve the Human Resources and the Administration departments as
well as the Online University departments which form the key factors in ensuring the training
provided was a success.