Quite frankly, a major problem that has developed at Shaw is one that I'm sure is not uncommon to that of most large corporations--- it matters little what type of relationship you have with your customer; what matters most is the relationship between you and your supervisor. Company politics and cronyism is rampant at Shaw and whose back you slap and elbow you rub determines your future. No one is promoted meritoriously. Promotions are determined by whose playpen you play in and there is little parity between territories. Another item of concern is apathy by the parent company to sales needs in the field, by support staff. Senior management feigns interest and are slow to react to competitive products and conditions in the field. Shaw has made some fundamental blunders in the past, including entering into the retail business a few years back, but the most certain blunder that will be recognized in years to come is their recent mass opting-out of as many as 70 experienced territory managers in December of 2009 and reorganizing (call it downsizing) by dissolving territories and regions, when the culling should have begun at the senior level and worked its way down. This has been propagated and signed off on by the management cadre mentioned above. This will prove to be an intrinsic error ---removing the faces that have worked hard to establish daily relationships with customers.
