The Case of the Unequal Opportunity

Laura Wollen, group marketing director for ARPCO, Inc., a manufacturer of small electrical tools and appliances, telephoned London from her Columbus, Ohio office. She was getting ready to recommend her best product manager, Charles Lewis, for a position in the London office, a job that would give Lewis the international exposure he would need to progress toward senior management. She and David Abbott, her counterpart in the United Kingdom, had had several conversations about Lewis’s candidacy, and Abbott had seemed impressed. Wollen simply wanted to touch base with him before making her recommendation formal.