Xerox Corp's Turnaround Strategy

Thoman joined Xerox in June 1997 as COO and president. He was an advocate of the digital revolution and supported the then CEO, Allaire, in his efforts to strengthen Xerox's position in the digital segment. They both believed that Xerox should not just sell products but offer customers complete document solutions. In order to do that, Xerox needed to change the way its salesforce operated. From the early 1990s onwards, Allaire took several initiatives to change the way Xerox made sales. One major initiative was the creation of the Xerox Channels Group (Group) in 1997, which was closely monitored by Thoman. Upto this point, Xerox sales teams had been highly successful through their direct sales approach and had focused primarily on large corporate clients, while ignoring the small and midsize networked office market...

They held meetings, teleconferences and even large town meetings to help employees understand the situation Xerox was in, what the leadership planned to do and how that would affect them. According to Mulcahy, keeping the communication lines open with employees and maintaining high visibility built employee confidence in her leadership and ability to execute the turnaround strategy. Mulcahy said, "It was pretty wearing, but if people understand your leadership style and you earn credibility, you get permission to take a lot of actions. When you're in a situation like ours, that confidence dramatically affects your ability to pull off change". Mulcahy started sending out a regular memo called 'Turnaround Talk' to keep employees informed about the changes taking place in the company...