Management, 13th Edition by S. Robbins and M. Coulter, published by PearsonEducation.
Chapter 8
A.
At what phase of the management process do you set goals?What are the differences between good goals and poor goals? What are the components of a good goal? Can you alter a goal? Why or why not? If yes, when should you alter a goal?
B
You are the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Nerd Heard, a company with 20 outlet stores across the United States that sells gizmos and gadgets to “tech geeks.” Last year, your best seller was a flexible tablet device called the Flex Face. You sold 100,000 units at $400 per unit for total sales of $40,000,000. Nerd Heard will launch a new product on January 1, 2023. The product is called the Talking Flex Face. It is a flexible tablet device that speaks anything typed into it.
The Board of Directors has high hopes for the Talking Flex Face tablet device and expects that sales of the device will reach $100,000,000 by 12/31/2023. The unit price for a Talking Flex Face tablet is $800.
As the Vice President of Sales and Marketing, you have been directed to create a sales plan for the Talking Flex Face tablet device, including developing a sales strategy and writing a S.M.A.R.T. goal that all Nerd Heard outlet stores will follow.
To complete this role-play you must do the following:
- Given your knowledge of the various types of plans, describe the type of plan that you would create to achieve the sales goals of the Talking Flex Face tablet. Address each of the following: breadth, time frame, specificity and frequency of use.
- Tell us why you created this specific type of plan.
- Write a S.M.A.R.T. goal that outlet store managers will follow to achieve $100,000,000 in sales of the Talking Flex Face tablet.
Chapter 9
A.
How does using a strategic management process help organizations achieve their overall goals?
Why should strategies be flexible?
How does effective strategic management and leadership facilitate teamwork?
B
You work for Plush Carpets, a major carpet brand, as the Director of Recruitment. Your company has 20 showrooms around the country and your major customers include interior designers who resell the carpet they purchase to their high-wealth clients.
Your sales people, on average, have been with the company for 30 years and many will be retiring over the next 2 years.
The Vice President of Human Resources (VP of HR) has asked you to develop a recruitment strategy that results in adding 2 new account managers (sales professionals) for each showroom over the next 6 months so there is overlap and the existing account managers can train the new account managers on the products, information technology (IT) systems and standard operating procedures before members of the sales team begin to retire.
Plush Carpets’ current Mission is as follows:
To provide a customer experience that can’t be duplicated by the competition. This is achieved through superior customer service and quality production of any type of carpet design and size that our customers require.
Plush Carpets’ Strategy is as follows:
To remain the market leader in the high-end niche market indefinitely by continuously investing in technologies that improve the carpet manufacturing process and quality; to train our employees to always work as a team; and to always innovate to ensure customer satisfaction, which in turn leads to continued sales revenue and profit.
Plush Carpets’ main financial goal is as follows:
Grow the company from a $250 million to a $1 billion company over the next five years.
(The VP of HR wants to meet with you in a week to hear your recruitment strategy outline and the results of a general Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis related to the company)
For this role-play answer the following questions.
- What are some potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to Plus Carpets that you might uncover as a result of your SWOT analysis?
- What do you think are some of Plush Carpets’ core competencies and why?
- How can you use Plush Carpets’ core competencies to ensure your recruitment strategy will be successful?
