個案總覽

Advantage Food & Beverage (AF&B), a sales and service vending machine company, has added an Avanti kiosk division and hired a sales representative to devote all their time to selling the kiosk service to businesses within a specific geographic market. In the first year of the kiosk operation, AF&B hired and fired three sales representatives while acquiring seven Avanti customers. A management review uncovered issues with the selling process and the lack of presentations to prospective customers. AF&B’s owner pondered the relationship between the personal selling process and AF&B’s current compensation approach for sales representatives. How could AF&B’s compensation approach be changed to meet senior management’s new emphasis on presentations, and how would the various options impact AF&B’s profit and loss statement?

Instructor spreadsheet for product 8B12A017.

Advantage Food & Beverage Vending is a decision-based case that highlights four options for the owner and president of the Advantage Food & Beverage (AF&B) snack vending operation. He had been running his business for 16 years and possessed a great deal of knowledge about his company and the vending industry. His dilemma was whether or not to invest in his existing operation and, if so, how to determine the best use of his resources. The vending industry was stagnant and considered to be declining, which complicated his decision. However, newer technologies had become available that could improve AF&B’s competitive advantage in the marketplace.<br><br><br><br>Technology options included a system that (a) accepted electronic payments and (b) tracked inventory and transactions. The electronic payment method came in the form of the swiping of a credit card, or in the newer form of Touch-and-Go card readers. These features could be retrofitted to existing machines or built into new machines. The decision involved which option(s) would likely provide the president with the best return on his investment.