Should I Listen to the Customer

The main issue in this case is the two opposite views of the direction that the company should move on. On one hand we have Natalie who has a mandate from Delacroix board members to take the company in new directions, and company new employee Elisabeth and her new innovative ideas, and on the other hand Henry Delacroix, company’s founder and artistic director. Both of the sides have good arguments to prove their point and both can be also right. Elisabeth on one hand is a Marketing specialist, proven worker in this field with more than a decade of experience, and logically she is coming up with ideas that are proven to be successful in business, especially with her former job at Violet. On the other hand Henry Delacroix is an artist, founder of the company and artist director which by default means big ego and “do not touch my creativity” attitude. Elisabeth ideas are customer oriented. She thinks that the best way for company to promote itself and to enhance the quality of the product is to ask the customers what they like best about their shows. However, Delacroix is very resistant to this idea by claiming that the company needs to rely on the creativity of the actors not on what customers want.

If I were the marketing director of Delacroix company first thing that I would do is clear up my priorities. According to Henry Delacroix top priority is to stay original and “push the boundaries of modern dance”, but on the other hand company wants to bring modern ballet to as many people as possible. In my view those two things oppose each other. If the priority of the company is to promote originality than I would definitely be more careful in costumer orientation strategies. However, if the company wants to distance itself from the originality and unique experience that they give to the audience, and follow the trends than I would definitely be advocate of Elisabeth ideas. Clearing up priorities must be done as fast as possible. However, in both cases you need to...