LEVENDARY CAFE ANALYSIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

LEVENDARY CAFE ANALYSIS - Essay Example Thus, she still cannot be considered as a seasoned CEO and still needs to prove her capability and efficacy for the responsibility. She still does not have any experience in establishing international or multinational brand either and while she had worked in a global accounting firm, the industry is way different from Lavendery Cafà © and thereby did not provide her the necessary learning curve for her new job. The rest of the management issues that Lavendery CEO MIA Foster is facing sprouted on this relative inexperience of hers. The most obvious difficulty that Foster is facing is how to manage their China point person, Louis Chen. Chen made a remarkable progress in establishing Lavendery presence in China with only a short period of time. Even Foster admitted that Chen is an asset to the company only that he is difficult to manage. Chen seems non-cooperative with Foster in standardizing its operation according to its parent company in the USA as well as to conform to the company’s format in financial reporting. Chen’s adamant to respect Foster’s authority may have been attributed by the fact that he was hired by Lavendery’s founder Howard Leventhal and not Foster herself. They have several clashes with regard to their business strategy as well as their formats in their financial report. Chen seemed to have â€Å"redesigned† the concept of Lavendery Cafe in China that infuriated its Chief Concept Officer Lucian Lelerc to the point of asking Mia Foster to stop Chen now. Unlike in the United States where the concept of Lavendery Cafe is uniform and standardized with slight variations to accommodate a specific peculiarity of a regional market (i.e. offering few soup items and more drink options in the South and allowing one or two regional specialties to be added to its core menu where it is listed in its menu items in order of local popularity) Chen seemed to have taken the variation to the extreme with only Pudong and Beijing embassy row that has semblance to its counterpart in the US. Chen’s seeming non-cooperation to make his financial reporting conform with company format that is consistent with the Generally Accepted Accounting Practic e (GAAP) is also a special concern for Foster because this can have implication not only in the operation of their business but will also have legal consequences. The Chinese operation is reflected in the financial statement of Lavendery Cafe which will also be reported in turn to the Securities and Exchange Commission according to GAAP standards. Any deviation from good accounting practices may be penalized by SEC especially in this time of heightened awareness in accounting (Enron aftermath) and this could affect the image and the brand of the company whose repercussions are long-term. This will also incur unnecessary cost and manpower in reconciling the format of financial reports in hiring an external financial analyst. In short, Mia Foster’s relationship with Louis Chen is problematic to say the least as Chen seemed antagonistic in listening to the directives of the CEO. Their conflict however in this kind of venture that involves multinational entity is not uncommon Chi na due to their clashing culture and values (Tjosvold et al 168). With regard to whose perspective will works in China, it would also debatable to use Foster and Lelerc perspective as a yardstick in determining what is the best approach in gaining foothold in a foreign market considering that both do not have experience in establishing a brand in foreign market. Moreso when Lavendery Cafe’s foreign market presence is only limited to Dubai and China. 2.