Thesis (MBus)--AUT University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (x, 128 leaves ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 658.81 HER)

The purpose of this thesis was to develop a profile of the typical British Columbia sales executive; his background, his present personal and business status, his duties and responsibilities, and his aspirations. The thesis also examines characteristics of the companies for which the sales managers worked. These characteristics include: the type of goods sold, size in terms of gross sales, growth prospects, and the standardization of certain procedures such as salesmen evaluation and job descriptions. Certain areas were developed to compare individual sales executive statistics and company statistics with a similar study undertaken in 1960. This identified changes which took place and trends which are developing. The investigation was essentially statistical and the data gathered was obtained through the use of an involved questionnaire. The questionnaire was mailed to sales executives of public companies which had sales offices in British Columbia. The cooperation of the respondents was most satisfactory and resulted in a questionnaire return of over 68 percent. The average sales executive of the study was 45 years old, and employed in a branch office of a consumer goods company whose aggregate sales were over $15,000,000. He was born in an urban area of well educated white collar parents. He is much better educated than the average Canadian. Although this thesis concludes that the level of formal education has very little bearing on level of income, it does establish that education is becoming a more important factor in the selection and promotion of sales executives. Average incomes were relatively high, averaging about $15,000 including bonuses and commissions. The vast majority of sales managers were married and had somewhat larger families than the Canadian average. They owned their homes and valued them well in excess of the British Columbia average. The study indicated a disproportionate increase in incomes of these sales managers as compared to the 1960 study. There are indications that there has been an upgrading of personnel which has consequently led to the higher income levels. The companies involved in this study posted a rapid rate of growth over the six year period. Sales volume expanded dramatically. The proportion of branch offices increased and over 20 percent of the branch office respondents were in positions created within the previous five years. Almost one half of the respondents were involved with the training of new salesmen. Less than one third of the companies maintained a formal programme for this function. Formal salesmen evaluation systems were standard procedure in slightly over one half of the companies, and job descriptions for sales managers and salesmen were the rule rather than the exception. The typical sales executive was involved in a wide range of activities but found directing the sales force, training salesmen, and personal selling the most time consuming as well as the most important of his responsibilities. He has a wider direct span of control than his 1960 counterpart but conversely has responsibility for fewer indirect and non-sales staff. Despite the higher than average educational level for the group as a whole, the average sales manager did not have a university education and began his career in his late teens. He has been quite stable in terms of inter-company changes as his experience has been largely gained with his present employer. All indications are that the typical sales manager has achieved his present position through promotions in the sales end of the business. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Marketing analytical studies of optimal salesforce compensation policies typically rely on a set of restrictive assumptions. In this paper, a model of decentralized salesforce compensation is developed, wherein some of the classical assumptions are challenged. Response Surface Methodology is used to optimize decentralized compensation policies over a set of simulated conditions. The proposed approach is then illustrated with two empirical applications in artificial and real settings. The objective is to provide some preliminary evidence about decentralized structures and to recommend salesforce compensation policies.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [55]-60).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Management, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Co-Chair: Goutam Challagalla; Committee Co-Chair: Sundar Bharadwaj; Committee Member: Ajay Kohli; Committee Member: Alka Citrin; Committee Member: Koert van Ittersum

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Drexel University, 2004. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-139).

The increase in number of banks entering the South African banking sector has caused the big four banks to lose their market share to the new entrants. As a result, the new entrants in this sector have also had negative effects on the existing banks’ sales growth and net profits. Business banking, in particular, has been one of the departments which has become competitive as it is considered to generate the most revenue from all the different bank departments. Business clients have been targeted as their fees are high compared to normal individual clients and also, their investment sizes are big compared to individuals, hence the increased interest in this section. This then prompts the question, what are the factors influencing sales growth in business banking? This question then brings one to the following sub-problems: Is the pricing offered by the various banks to their business bank customers competitive enough to retain them?; How competent and knowledgeable is the staff dealing with business bank customers in ensuring good relationships with business banking clients?; is the technology used by the banks advanced enough to address the banking requirements of business banking customers? Are business banking customers loyal to their respective banks to ensure repetitive sales? In dealing with the above, the author undertook a research study to determine whether factors such as competitive pricing, competent staff, advanced technology and customer loyalty influence sales growth in business banking in Buffalo City Municipality “BCM”. The sample of 90 business banking customers who were given questionnaires to test the above were from a population of business banking customers in BCM. The author underwent a theoretical and an empirical investigation using the survey method through questionnaires. These questionnaires were distributed to the various financing institutions dealing with business banking clients. The findings of the empirical study suggest that through the use of the hypothesis test, it was concluded that of the four factors, advanced technology and customer loyalty influence sales growth in business banking in BCM. While pricing and competent staff do not influence sales revenue growth.

The ‘bottom of the pyramid’ (BoP) refers to the world’s poorest socio-economic group. In South Africa, consumers in this segment are an increasingly attractive target market for multi-national corporations (MNCs), partly because they constitute more than one-third of the population. However, a key managerial challenge remains in distributing goods and services to these consumers. This research sought to identify the alternative channels of distribution that firms develop to reach the BoP. Using a qualitative research methodology, eighteen depth interviews were conducted tracing the channels of seven firms from firm to end-user. The results suggest that many MNCs are indeed developing BoP channels, with varying degrees of success. Further, success seems to be driven by the level of managerial commitment. In addition, the BoP in South Africa is best understood as two distinct sub-segments, the urban BoP is characterised by more competition and crime, while the rural BoP has lower population density which heightens logistical challenges. Community involvement, where locals serve as distributors or salespeople, is a central feature of successful strategies to reach the BoP. Finally, the findings suggest that alternative distribution channels present benefits for MNCs in terms of cost to serve, local knowledge and increased penetration. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

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