) Mark Caffrey, vice president of sales at Samson ...

[big1devin]

) Mark Caffrey, vice president of sales at Samson Pharmaceuticals, manages a sales team of ten employees. Members of Mark's sales force vary in experience level. Four members of the sales team have worked at Samson for less than one year.
 
  The other six salespeople have been with Samson anywhere from three to seven years. Mark recently received the annual sales report and noticed that sales have been dropping steadily over the last year. Mark is considering the idea of providing training to his sales team as a way to boost sales.
 
  All of the following questions are relevant to Mark's decision to implement a training program for his sales team EXCEPT:
  A) What methods are used for recruiting and interviewing individuals for sales positions?
  B) Does every salesperson understand what his or her performance standards are?
  C) What tools are available to sales team members to help them work efficiently?
  D) What were the results of attitude surveys distributed to the sales team?

Question 2

In a short essay, describe the various types of partners an international firm might adopt when expanding internationally. How can a business partner affect a company's sales potential?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[bblaney]

Answer to Question 1

Answer: A

Answer to Question 2

Business partners are critical to success in international business. These partners include distribution-channel intermediaries, facilitators, suppliers, and collaborative venture partners such as joint venture partners, licensees, and franchisees. Once the firm has selected a target market, it must identify the types of partners it needs for its foreign-market venture, negotiate terms with chosen partners, and support and monitor their conduct.

Exporters tend to collaborate with foreign-market intermediaries such as distributors and agents. Firms that choose to sell their intellectual property, such as know-how, trademarks, and copyrights, tend to work through foreign licensees. These licensing partners are independent businesses that apply intellectual property to produce products in their own country. In franchising, the foreign partner is a franchisee, an independent business abroad that acquires rights and skills from the focal firm to conduct operations in its own market (such as in the fast-food or car-rental industries). The focal firm can also internationalize by initiating an international collaborative venture, a business activity undertaken jointly with other firms. These collaborations may be project based or require equity investments. Other types of international partnerships include global sourcing, contract manufacturing, and supplier partnerships.

Once managers have identified several promising country markets, verified industry market potential, and assessed the availability of qualified business partners, the next step is to determine company sales potential in each country. Company sales potential is an estimate of the share of annual industry sales the firm expects to generate in a particular target market.

The competencies and resources of foreign partners, including channel intermediaries and facilitators, influence how quickly the firm can enter and generate sales in the target market.

[big1devin]

Excellent

[tandmlomax84]

TYSM