A Case for Change “ Who Moved my Cheese? ” (1) In the story, “ Who Moved My Cheese? ” by Spencer Johnson, the characters Sniff and Scurry represent Novo. Novo is the competitor of Eli Lilly in the development of the insulin pen for diabetics. Novo sees the insulin market as a New Cheese World- full of opportunity. Novo’s development scientists had been working on substitute delivery systems for a long time. They were looking ahead, expecting new competition to come along, and that is why they purchased a medical device company.
The medical device Company specialized in liquid delivery systems, which helped them to introduce the first alternate insulin delivery device; a device which was more convenient to the patients than using a syringe. Novo (Sniff and Scurry) see the market as a competition, and it was striving to expend and take over the United States diabetes market. (2) Hem and Haw represent Eli Lilly. William Myers represents the character Ham. On the other hand, Hem represents the product team and the executive team. Myers sniffs out that there needs to be a change in the insulin market, a change that would make things more convenient to deliver insulin.
Just as Ham was getting tired of waiting for their situation to improve and took an action, Myers saw an opportunity with Mike Epstein. Myers (Ham) believed that Epstein has a vast knowledge in the insulin business and would be able to help them to reach A New Cheese Land. Eli Lilly (Haw) saw the market form a different perspective. Eli Lilly’s team and the executive committee (Hem) had a discussion about introducing a pen in Europe the following year, instead of taking an action immediately. Eli Lilly was more focused on the attributes of the company than of putting patients’ convenience ahead.
Eli Lilly was in the comfort zone just like Hem and Haw were. Not in a hurry to change things right away and not looking out for the competitors. In the story, “ Who Moved My Cheese? ” unlike opposite of Hem, Eli Lilly’s team and the executive committee were able to set up and in the end pull the company to the top. (3) Eli Lilly had a better sense of the global insulin market. Even though Eli Lilly (Ham- Myers) faced competition from Novo (Sniff and Scurry), they were able to step their game up by redefining the insulin business with the world’s first recombinant DNA product, human insulin.
In the story, “ Who Moved My Cheese? ” Sniff and Scurry kept life simple by not overanalyzing things, but Haw learned something more superior. Haw envisioned himself in realistic detail, succeeding and achieving his goal. In addition, he was able to reflect on his past mistakes to make his next step more productive and more competitive to set him apart like Eli Lilly. Eli Lilly ran this competitive race with Novo and was able to finish as the leader in insulin product purity. Ham (Eli Lilly) represents as a leader in his competition.
After finding an abundance of cheese Ham did not wait until he notices the reduction of cheese; he continued to explore new areas of cheese to be cautious, than to isolate himself in his comfort zone like Sniff and Scurry. (4) “ Eli Lilly claimed the number one based on dollar sales and Novo Nordisk claimed the number one based on unit sales” (p. 4) Novo saw this as the impediment to their business and wanted to take leadership of the United States diabetes market by launching the pen into their product repertoire.
However, Lilly became the leading company in the international insulin market, resulting in 80% of the $500 million U. S. business and 50% of $1. 3 billion worldwide (p. 3). (5) If I were the Lilly executive committee, I would have, without a doubt done what Myers did. I would have partnered up with someone like Mike Epstein to step my game up, especially in this competitive world. Additionally, to reduce stress on the company I would have started planning ahead of time.
I would have tried to anticipate the worst case scenario of challenges from my competitors from all perspectives, so that when a difficult time comes around the corner I would already be on the starting line of the race. (6) I can relate my obstacles to the story “ Who Moved My Cheese? ” on the individual level verves the Corporate level by applying my personal experience. The biggest change that has happened in my life would be moving to United States. Being adopted at an age of 14 from Russia and the fact that I was 14, already explains enough … I was a teenager.
Moving to United States without any English language skills in my teen years was the most difficult change that has happened. In addition, school work was another one of my obstacles that I had to overcome. AP courses and studying a third language, Spanish, even thinking about the process made things stressful. I was told that I must get good grades in order to get into a good college and I had to give nothing but my 100% in everything. That included: school work, working two jobs, running Track and Cross Country, speech competitions and volunteering at the nursing home.
After giving my 100 %, the results were: 3. 7 GPA, excellent work ethics, All-Conference in Track and Cross Country, local and district speech winner for three consecutive years and advancement to the Speech Championship to Ball State University, and personal contentment from volunteering at the nursing home. In the end, the change is not a horrible thing after all. I could not be happier with my accomplishments and achievements. (7) First of all, to be more successful not only in my career but also in my relationships I must recognize and adapt to the fact that changes do happen.
In addition, I must also be aware of my surroundings. For example: Recognizing that change happens is necessary. However, it is even more beneficial to recognize when change might be occurring. In my future business career such clues like: Am I being excluded from important meetings? Does my boss seems more distant and does not trust me as much? Such clues would tell me…Anastasia step your game up!! In addition, communication and being positive in actions and attitude is very crucial in a business world when faced with changes.
