個案總覽

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 3 discusses the issue of compensation in regards to direct selling. Compensation is a key motivator for a company's distribution channel partners to perform the work delegated to them in the direct selling (DS) distribution channel. For nonemployee independent contractors to work effectively, they need to be rewarded for brand loyalty, sales generation, and sales management development and expertise. DS distributor compensation should provide various incentives while offering the characteristic freedom of DS distributor participation. Compensation can include many elements, including personal consumption wholesale discounts and bonuses for successful recruiting. Ways distributors can earn real financial benefits are also outlined; some of these methods are measured by the company, while others aren't. Examples are provided throughout. A counterargument to the idea that direct selling companies are pyramid schemes is also offered.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how salespeople interact with customers and with business-to-business (B2B) organizations. Organizations must confront the shifts in how their salespeople operate. Recent research recommends firms develop an adaptive sales force to address disruptions like a pandemic and be prepared to meet such challenges in the future. Based on interviews with marketing and sales executives, we explore how firms have responded to these interconnected changes during the COVID-19 pandemic and offer insight into best practices deployed across industries.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 7 discusses opportunities and challenges in the direct selling marketplace. The direct selling channel has considerable flexibility to sustain income for entrepreneurs. To look at maintaining this flexibility, the PESTEL analysis of macroenvironmental influences and a stakeholder impact analysis are utilized. The PESTEL analysis explores six external forces-political, economic, social, technological, ecological, and legal-that create opportunities and challenges for a direct selling organization. A stakeholder impact analysis identifies stakeholders, the opportunities and threats they represent, the responsibilities the company has to them, and how the company should address their concerns. A discussion among four executives in the direct selling marketplace on issues they view as opportunities and challenges is also provided; they focus on social, technological, and legal issues.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 6 explores the financial and nonfinancial benefits of direct selling. Three female direct sellers share their stories regarding their experience. Two empirical surveys-their design and results-are discussed at length. The first survey looks at why people start working in the gig economy and emphasizes the expected and actual financial rewards of gig workers who are direct sellers. The second survey explores why people become direct sellers specifically and the nonfinancial benefits they gain from their direct selling experience. Typical reasons respondents gave for becoming direct sellers included earning extra money, improving personal lifestyles, and being able to purchase products or services from the company at a discount. Direct sellers' expectations regarding how much money they would make were mostly realistic; the majority of respondents also believed their self-efficacy was improved through their direct selling experience.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 5 explores the global reach of direct selling. Entering new geographic markets offers faster revenue growth for direct selling companies as new people experience the products or services. International expansion comes with various benefits, such as competitive advantage and foreign investment opportunities for the company as well as business opportunities for individuals. But it also comes with its challenges: understanding the customer journey, recruiting and training distributors, and maintaining effective and efficient supply chains are more complex when doing business in multiple countries rather than one. Local regulatory restrictions and political unease can also be obstacles. The process of deciding where and how to expand is outlined, including working with cultural differences and the geographic distance. Demography and technology are two trends that have an impact on business transactions within an emerging economy.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 4 focuses on ethics and compliance of direct selling. Product claims and earnings claims are two of the most prominent issues facing direct selling companies; both of these types of claims are described. The direct selling industry has very strong regulatory systems compared to direct-to-consumer marketplaces. The integrity of direct selling channels is maintained by the ethics and compliance programs' regulatory practices. The importance of having ethics and compliance officers, trainings, and ways to monitor and reinforce compliance is discussed. Several organizations promote self-regulatory, ethical practices through consumer, government, and academic relationships and monitor direct selling firms. With these organizations, direct selling companies can focus on offering high-quality products to consumers and business opportunities to aspiring entrepreneurs.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 2 offers an historical perspective on direct selling. There was a form of direct selling as early as 6,000 years ago when peddlers would travel the Silk Road to sell goods. Five main events brought about how direct selling looks today: the first company who had people go door-to-door to sell products, welcoming women as distributors, the formation of the Direct Selling Association (DSA), a new approach to compensation, and the evolution of the sales method. All five events are discussed. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on direct selling are also explored. Direct selling has long been both a go-to-market strategy and a form a gig work; many businesses and individuals have achieved success in both forms. Direct selling companies have evolved over time and will continue to do so to take advantage of future opportunities.

Direct selling isn't just an industry or a business model-it's people. Direct selling is successful today because of the people who have been able to build successful businesses from the ground up or by representing a company's product. Entrepreneurs who use a direct selling approach utilize independent salespeople to market and sell their products or services directly to the consumer. These direct selling distributors are offered a low-risk, low-cost path to micro-entrepreneurship. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an overview of the long-term sustainability of the direct selling business model, this book dives into three main issues associated with direct selling: compensation, ethics and compliance, and global reach. Written for practitioners, academics, members of the press, policy makers, and students, this text offers research and knowledge about the economic and social benefits of direct selling and provides detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model. Chapter 1 starts off by describing various types of ventures entrepreneurs can create, including survival, lifestyle, managed growth, and aggressive growth ventures. To build these ventures, entrepreneurs can utilize direct selling. Companies that use direct selling as their distribution channel then create individual sales opportunities for those interested in engaging in the gig economy. These workers could then use direct selling to build their own businesses while being back by established brands that have quality products, marketing tools, business training, and technological resources. Examples of companies that use direct selling are provided throughout the chapter, including Mary Kay Inc. and Traci Lynn Jewelry.

The future of shopping in the post-covid world.

More and more companies are relying on pricing algorithms to maximize profits. The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning enables real-time price adjustments based on supply and demand, competitors' activities, delivery schedules, and so forth. But constant price shifts have a downside: They may trigger unfavorable perceptions of a firm's offerings and its brand. It's vital, therefore, to understand and manage the signals being sent by the algorithms. The authors offer real-world examples of companies that have succeeded in this endeavor and others that have not. And they recommend four steps to avoid harm: Determine an appropriate use case for algorithmic pricing and explain its benefits to customers; designate an owner to supervise and be accountable for the system; set and monitor guardrails, both to protect against wild surges and to learn how price changes affect all aspects of the organization; and override the algorithms when necessary.

Describes a marketing director about to launch a new process for demand forecasting. Provides data that allow students to do a multivariable regression analysis. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

In December 2019, Oliver Jay, Asana's Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), was reconsidering his go-to-market (GTM) strategy. Asana was cloud-based work management software that enabled users to break up projects into discrete tasks that could be assigned, scheduled, and tracked on a single, integrated platform. Jay was wondering how to increase annual recurring revenue by year-end 2020. Just three years earlier, when Jay joined Asana as its first CRO, thousands of companies were already using free and paid versions of its software. Since Asana was a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offer, all a new user needed to do was to create an account. This meant individual users and teams could onboard easily and initially for free, using an array of self-service tools, without purchasing approval from their IT departments on conversion to paid subscriptions and without initial sales support from Asana. This mix of free and paid users proved sustainable and profitable for Asana. However, reaching senior directors, vice presidents, and executives of potential client companies to drive larger, enterprise-wide adoptions was a challenge for the Asana sales team. Jay's desire to improve sales performance led him to a novel concept: to structure the sales team based on where customers were in their adoption cycles with Asana-that is, to organize sales by stages of the customer journey rather than by the time-honored approach of organizing by account size (e.g., SMB, mid-market, and enterprise). Was this radical idea the right structure for Asana to reach its revenue growth goals-or was it fraught with too much risk?

Rolex SA was one of the most successful watchmakers in the world. In recent years, the global demand for Rolex watches, especially the stainless-steel sports models, had dramatically increased, resulting in a supply shortage worldwide. The shortage in supply further increased the desirability of Rolex watches, leading to a significant increase in demand. High demand coupled with low supply increased prices in the gray and secondhand markets.

While business sellers frequently enjoy long-term relationships with their buyers, not every extended association is based on a genuine sense of customer loyalty. Many organizations remain in relationships with providers for too long; while the seller has stopped providing value, the buyer sticks to the routine. Building from empirical research and theory on buyer-seller relationships, this research extends our understanding of customer complacency and seller entrenchment and introduces the concept of customer lethargy. Synthesizing theory from multiple domains with exploratory interviews conducted with business customers, this article offers insight into the functioning of organizational buying centers, the evolution of business exchanges over time, and how some exchanges can be undermined by various forms of relational dysfunction. I define customer lethargy, explore its root causes and offer business buyers a strategy which aims to help them self-audit their loyalty, avoid complacency and lethargy, and keep sellers committed, not entrenched.

This study identifies sales managers' perceptions of sales forecasting. We surveyed close to 400 business-to-business sales managers, split about equally by gender, and concluded forecasting-related preferences, beliefs, and desires. Herein, we evaluate gender differences and identify some critical perceptions of women that differ from the perceptions of their male counterparts. We also compare attitudes, behaviors, and demographics of women and men. We conclude with organizational recommendations and implications for firms concerning hiring practices, forecasting tool selection, training and development, and the use of an employee resource group.

Technology is an engine for growth with great potential to transform women's self-efficacy and social capital. This article focuses on women in sales and sheds light on the intersection of technology, self-efficacy, and social capital in developing countries. The use of technology allows women to transform their social and economic lives by changing and reshaping processes that enable opportunities for growth and development-ultimately offering a bridge to close the many gaps in human socioeconomic development in developing countries. To this end, we offer several recommendations for saleswomen and organizations to expand their application of technological capabilities for product orders, market messaging, and training.

In its 2017 annual report, the Dairy Farm Group had reported a decline in sales and profits for its Singapore Supermarket and Hypermarket business, with increasing competition cited as the key reason for the lacklustre performance. Peter Goh, an analyst at Singapore Management University's Institute of Service Excellence (ISE) has been tasked with preparing a business pitch to the Supermarkets and Hypermarkets division of the company's Singapore office to help it address some of the challenges it faces. To help raise the performance of the service sector in Singapore, ISE conducts and releases the results of the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) to both the media and industry, as well as provides research and consulting services. The 2018 CSISG study had revealed "Ease of Getting to Stores" as one of the lowest-rated attributes for the supermarket industry, and Goh believes that rationalising store locations could be a possible answer to the challenges the Dairy Farm Group faced. In his opinion, a geospatial analysis of the company's customers' demographic profile relative to its current store locations would provide some key insights.

Spreadsheet supplement for case SMU857.

Spreadsheet supplement for case SMU857.

Spreadsheet supplement for case SMU857.