Conflict of Interest

‘Starwear III. I’ve actually done some work on it.’ Chris tapped a folder of papers he’d brought up with him.

Chris caught North glancing in surprise at Cullen.

Cullen noted the folder, clearly impressed. ‘Quite a lot of work, by the look of it.’

Chris acknowledged the compliment with a nod. ‘Just some positioning papers and a draft contents outline.’

‘Great initiative. I’m sure it’ll be useful.’ Cullen looked over at North. ‘Hasn’t been with us a day and he’s already drafting major policy statements.’

Across the desk, North chuckled.

‘Starwear III still has a high priority,’ Cullen continued. ‘We’ll want to put ideas together in a month, maybe two. But the tragedy has forced us to reassess our priorities. There’s a planning project we need to get under way before then which is both important and extremely urgent.’

North was nodding, seriously.

‘As we discussed last time,’ Cullen went on, ‘Starwear has always been at the forefront of defining what constitutes good corporate citizenship. “Doing the right thing is the right thing to do” – all of that. But recently we’ve been running into problems.’ He gestured to Elliott North to continue.

‘Some of Starwear’s rivals are not playing fair,’ announced North.

Chris raised his eyebrows.

‘They’re taking advantage of the transition time, as Jay finds his feet, and are hell-bent on inflicting maximum damage.’

‘What kind of damage?’ Chris had opened a briefing pad and was taking notes.

‘Mud-slinging. Rumour-mongering. People out there are trying to make out Jay is incompetent, weak – there are some very nasty allegations circulating. And they’re using dirty tricks on the marketing side, to seize market share. We’re still waiting for details on that from the client. But it all adds up to a pretty worrying situation.’

Chris met his eyes with a look of surprise; mud-slinging and dirty tricks was the last thing he’d expected to be briefed on when he’d been summoned to Cullen’s office. North was clearly disturbed by it all. Chris noticed his temples darkening to a deep shade of red.

‘Sounds desperate.’

Beside him, Cullen agreed, ‘It is.’

‘Who’s behind it?’

‘Bob Reid and Ed Snyder.’ North’s glasses flashed across the table.

Chris raised his eyebrows. The CEOs of Starwear’s two biggest competitors had never struck him as that kind.

‘Reid’s a desperate man. Profit forecasts are looking sick for Sportex right now. But Snyder’s the real worry. Used to be a director of Starwear and still owns substantial Starwear stock. He’s a real wild card that one.’

Cullen glanced over at the Starwear share price on his office terminal.

‘The point is, these guys are inflicting damage. But we hardly know anything about their operations. The only market intelligence we have about Sportex and Active Red is anecdotal. We need to be a lot more systematic’

‘Competitor analysis?’ queried Chris.

‘Exactly,’ both men chimed, before Cullen continued, ‘We want you to find out everything there is to know about these companies – shareholders, chains of command, marketing activities. How we can use the Starwear brand to maximum effect.’

‘In particular,’ added North, ‘we want to know a lot more about what Reid and Snyder are up to.’

Chris glanced up, hesitant. ‘This goes beyond the usual territory of market analysis.’

They both nodded.

‘We could get a certain amount of information through desk research, but we’ll probably need to do some other stuff,’ he mused. ‘Is there a budget on this?’

North shrugged. ‘It’s open. Tell us what you need.’ Then, fixing Chris with a significant expression, ‘Be imaginative in getting the information. Don’t leave any stones unturned.’