ESSEC-IRENE-N-12-1

Institute for Research and Education on Negotiation (IRENE)

FABIESSI AND CAM'S DESIGN

Bilateral negotiation during a job interview

Case created by Fabienne Reymondet, under the supervision of Aurélien Colson, Associate Professor
of Political Science, ESSEC and Director, Institute for Research and Education on Negotiation (IRENE
Paris, Singapore & Brussels).

2014 ESSEC, France & Aurélien COLSON and Fabienne REYMONDET.

This document is intended for training use. It contains:

1. - General information on the case to be handed out to all learners;

2. - Confidential information for the different roles to be handed out to learners according to the
distribution of roles prepared by the instructor.

This case is accompanied by a Teaching Note to be purchased separately

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Confidential information

FABIESSI AND CAM'S DESIGN

Bilateral negotiation during a job interview
 FABIESSI AND CAM'S DESIGN

Confidential Instruction for Fabiessi’s Human Ressources

Director

You are the Human Resources Director (HRD) of Fabiessi, an Italian manufacturer of kitchen electrical
appliances and articles. Located in Milan, Fabiessi was set up half a century ago and has been listed
on the stock market for ten years. The firm employs approximately 800 people and generates a € 150
million turnover. The managing team includes the CEO, the production director, the sales director,
the administrative and finance director and yourself.

Fabiessi’s catalogue includes a hundred references: approximately thirty for electrical appliances
(kitchen robots, hotplates, electric coffee-makers, toasters, etc.) that generate two thirds of your
turnover, and around sixty references for kitchen articles (cutlery, plates, etc.) that account for the
last third. Fabiessi is in charge of designing and assembling the most complex products (most of the
production being subcontracted to Italian or Swiss small enterprises) and of marketing and
promoting all of its references.

Since a decade, Fabiessi has implemented a quality upgrading strategy, which is essential for facing
the competition of Asian countries on low quality. Large investments were granted and now, the very
high quality of your products is known worldwide. Particularly, within ten years, Fabiessi achieved
the renewing and the modernization of its products design. Nowadays, design alone makes it in
terms of attracting and seducing consumers as well as making room in the shelf spaces of specialized
stores. In return, a part of the product line must be renewed every year, so that the design remains
trendy and up to date. The specialized stores would immediately downgrade the products if their
design happened to go wrong: the turnover could drop by 15% and the net income could be cut back
by a third. Catastrophic.

At Fabiessi’s, a “head of design office” (HDO) is responsible for the design activity under the authority
of the production director. This unit is composed by a team of approximately ten draftsmen and
technicians, who realize the plan of the pieces to be produced following the HDO’s drawings. Every
year, the HDO creates with his team several new models and updates the rest of the catalogue
design, except from the “classics.” But, this year, at the very moment your annual campaign starts,
the HDO left the firm. At 56, he suddenly decided to leave for early retirement in order to make the
most of his grandchildren. His decision is irrevocable and he will leave at the end of this very month.
Luckily, his departure has not been noticed externally yet and did not hurt the firm’s image. In fact,
long ago, the sales director imposed the principle that all communication and promotion policies
must focus on the brand Fabiessi and on the product, not on the HDO’s name.

Without any replacement of the HDO, the firm is getting more and more in trouble every week. You
cannot afford to wait for next year with the current product line. You discussed it with the sales
director: your catalogue presents several “classics” but part of your references risk to collapse if their
design is not reviewed

Conscious of the risk, the CEO assigned you a very clear mission: you have to find a way to replace
the HDO within a month and for a maximum salary of €15,000 per month (which you personally
consider excessive). You talked about it discreetly with the administrative and finance director, who
earns more than you do, but reckons that “paying € 15,000 for a star of design who will behave like a
diva is just trying to be pleased for the sake of it”). The leaving HDO was getting €10,000, and his

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hiring salary was €6,000 ten years ago (in current euros). Everything else can be envisaged, provided
that the CEO gives his agreement.

An internal solution exists, although it does not satisfy you fully. The HDO had an assistant who has
been working in the company for 13 years. He knows the catalog and the technical characteristics of
the products by heart. Although design-wise, you doubt his ability to innovate and to meet your
customers’ expectations. The sales director agrees on this point. The HDO assistant gets paid €5,000.

Another solution could be to look for an external experienced designer who knows your sector, who
is fluent in English and if possible in Italian, and above all, who could take on the vacancy
immediately. To put it in another way: to find the man in a million. You have already contacted a
head-hunter who concludes: “given the market situation, you won’t find anybody who is worth it
before three months and not for less than € 12,000”. You know you have to take this advice for what
it is but it depresses you a bit and prompts you to find another way around.

Maybe you got an idea it: you suddenly remembered you met a French designer, Camille Drouel, last
year during a specialized forum. He was starting to make a name for his own agency, Cam’s Design.
You got along well with him and exchanged contact addresses. You just sent him an email, hoping
this talented person could give you the names of potential candidates. Surprisingly enough, Camille
Drouel answered that he was personally interested in the position.

You neither understand how come Camille Drouel is interested in an HDO position, nor how he could
take the job in Milan while managing his own agency, Cam’s Design in Paris. Camille Drouel might be
betting on Fabiessi’s sound financial situation to negotiate a high salary. Of course, having a rather
“young man” in charge of Fabiessi’s design is risky. But, if Camille Drouel could take the job right
away, he would get you out of the spot. On the other hand, the production director informed you
about an additional problem: the ex- HDO’s assistant aims at the HDO position and if it was to be
given to somebody else, the atmosphere could become electric.

You will take advantage of your trip to Paris this week to meet Camille Drouel. Prepare your
interview. When you get back to Milan, you will be immediately asked by the CEO to give some
feedback on your interview and suggest an operation plan.