BA 169: Sales Force Management
Final Exam
December 10, 1999
Don’t forget to put your name on your exam. Remember, I have to be able to read your exam, so please print legibly. Also, please be careful to manage your time.
Short Answer Questions (6 points each):
- Under what circumstances would a firm want to hire salespeople with relatively little experience?
- What is the difference between procedural and distributive justice? How does it relate to salesforce management?
- Are quotas always good? Why or why not?
- Name & describe three characteristics of an effective compensation plan.
- What did you learn about sales force management from your group project?
IMPORTANT: Choose only 2 of the following 3 mini-cases. Students who provide detailed answers tend to do better than students who provide vague answers. Again, please write legibly. Please note the time and use it wisely. Of course, this is your opportunity to show me how much you've learned this semester- feel free to include all relevant issues in your answers.
6. MINI-CASE 1: (35 points)
Would you rather work as a sales rep for DigitalThink.com or Siebel? Why? Which of these firms do you think would be more likely to make you an offer (given that you've learned so much in BA 169 this semester )? (Tell me about the type of reps they're looking for, how much & how you would expect to be compensated, anything else that would be relevant in your choice).
- MINI-CASE 2: (35 points)
You have been promoted to the position of district sales manager and you've received the following information about the six sales people in your district.
Sales Rep / Sales (000s) / Geographic Coverage(sq. miles) / Market Potential (est. 000s)
Addams / $1350 / 6000 / $6757
Brown / 1762 / 8500 / 8819
Cassidy / 2235 / 3500 / 16175
Dillon / 867 / 4300 / 9335
Ensler / 1234 / 5050 / 11170
Fontana / 980 / 7025 / 9900
How should you evaluate them (procedures)? Who do you think is the best? The worst? Why? What other information would you like to have in order to make evaluation decisions (promotion, termination etc)?
8. MINI-CASE 3 (35 points)
Company Overview (directly from ChemConnect.com's website)
ChemConnect is the Internet's largest global chemical and plastics exchange, providing an open neutral market for manufacturers, buyers, and intermediaries to conduct real-time
online transactions for all types of chemicals and plastics products including petrochemicals, polymers, basic industrial chemicals, fine and specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and research chemicals.
Founded in 1995 by John Beasley and Jay Hall, ChemConnect's first offering was an online supplier's directory. In 1997, they expanded the services to include online transactions between buyers and sellers. In 1997, John and Jay joined forces with Patrick van der Valk, founder of BetaCyte, to expand the company's services. Key to this expansion was the ChemConnect Classifieds, an online bulletin board where users placed ads to buy and sell chemicals. Billions of dollars of chemical transactions were hosted through the Classifieds. Its success spurred the development of the World Chemical Exchange, which debuted in August 1999. Their website has the following announcement from late November:
SAN FRANCISCO, November 29, 1999 — ChemConnect
Inc., the world's largest global Internet exchange for all types of
chemicals and plastics, today announced the appointment of a
number of seasoned industry executives. The management
additions in Houston and San Francisco reflect
ChemConnect's commitment to achieving critical mass
representation in all major chemical and plastics categories,
as it continues the technical and international expansion of the
World Chemical Exchange.
Joining ChemConnect's growing Houston office are David T.
Ouren, George Avdey, Ismael Medeles, and Dennis Pfeiffer.
Ouren, former National Accounts Manager for Chevron
Chemical Company, has accepted the position of Vice
President of Aromatic Sales.
Avdey, ChemConnect's new Vice President of Plastics
Sales, was formerly Chevron's General Sales Manager
for polyethylene and styrenic polymers.
Medeles, the new Vice President of Latin American
Sales, also comes to ChemConnect from Chevron,
where he was International Crude Oiler Trader.
Pfeiffer, Vice President, Agricultural Chemicals, comes
to ChemConnect from BASF where he was Business
Director.
Joining ChemConnect at its San Francisco headquarters are
Cesar Castro, Industry Marketing Manager, Plastics and
Shawna Warren, Field Marketing Manager.
If ChemConnect is primarily an Internet marketplace for buying and selling chemicals why does it need such high-powered salespeople/managers? Who do you think they call on? What are they selling? If ChemConnect charges their members an annual membership fee and takes a percentage of the sales from the chemical seller- how do you think the sales representatives should be compensated?