Xerox

Managing Xerox's Multinational

Development Center

Those who worked with John Clendenin in Xerox's building 214 in Rochester, NY and saw

rum walking down the hall after lunch on March 16, 1989, would not have noticed anything unusual.

A 6-foot 2-inch, 2SD-pound black man with a shaved head and an athletic build, Clendenin was

impressive enough in appearance. He also dressed somewhat outside the Xerox norm: that day he

wore a perfectly pressed ptnk shirt; a brown suit, a paisley tie, and suspenders. But that was

Clendenin's style. Clendenin had a slight smile on his face, as he paused occasionally to chat with

colleagues, asking after their families in a soft, almost musical voice that contrasted with his large

frame.

Nevertheless, Clendenin was in a state of inner turmoil. His boss, fred HeWitt, had just

proposed to Clendenin a lateral move from head of Xerox's Multinational Development Center

(MDC) to a staff support position on Hewitt's staff. Hewitt had also given Clendenin the option of

remaining inhis cunent job if he would make an additional two-year commitment to the MDe.

Since taking over as head of the MDC in 1986 Clendenin and his staff had worked to improve

the efficiency of Xerox's worldwide logistics and inventory management systems. Clendenin was

proud of the MDe's accomplishments. He.b;!lieved the group had discovered and exploited business

opportul)ities that saved Xerox millions of dollars a year. Their "customers," the Xerox operating

units that provided the MDC's funding, seemed to agree; the MDC annual budget had grown from

$400,000 to $4 million, its staff from 4 employees to 42. And the MDC achieved these increases while

virtually every other staff group within Xerox had to cut back on funding and staff.

Personally, Clendenin had been rewarded with four promotions since joining Xerox in 1984.

Until that very morning he thought he was well on his way...