China's wheat import programme

China is the world's largest foodgrain producer. It is also the world's major grain trader. China's participation in the world's grain market is unique because of its importance as both a grain importer and exporter, unlike other grain trading nations. This article considers the reasons for China's wheat import programme by following the controversy among Chinese academics, and attempts a more systematic appraisal by the application of regression analysis.     

Buying behavior in Ireland's public sector

While conceptually somewhat similar to consumer buying behavior, public sector industrial buying is concerned with a number of additional dimensions which are discussed below. In this study, industrial buying is examined from the perspective of the government or public sector buying departments in Ireland.     

Industrial salespeople's views on motivation

Much has been written on the subject of motivation but, until now, no one has conducted a survey of industrial salespeople to ask them what motivates them. This article reports the results of such a survey and offers recommendations.     

Measuring the industrial firm's image

This article addresses the auditing of the firm's current marketing position. The corporate image of a medium-sized industrial manufacturing company is analyzed to determine how the company is perceived in the market by its own management and by its existing and potential customers relative to competition.     

Evaluating and comparing salesmen's performance

The measurement and evaluation of the performance of salesmen is complicated in most firms by the situational, environmental, and personal variables involved. This complexity is further increased when management attempts performance comparisons among several salesmen or among an entire sales force. Territorial differences, multiplicity of products, and differences in backgrounds among salesmen are just a few of the factors of variability that compound management's performance measurement and evaluation tasks.In spite of these difficulties, the management process requires that the performance of salesmen be measured and compared to predetermined standards. Subjective judgements have frequently taken the place of objective analysis, particularly as to the overall or composite performance of salesmen, because of the difficulties sales managers encounter in the determination of composite measures of performance. Many have discussed the determination and use of objectives or quotas for salesmen, and some have been concerned with the development of composite measures of salesmen performance. However, most have suggested methods that require quantitative skills not possessed by many sales managers and salesmen. The application of computers to the quantitative methods that have been suggested does alleviate the computational problem but not the equally important understanding requirement. Sales personnel, particularly field managers and their salesmen, should thoroughly understand and accept the methods by which standards of sales performance are determined, in addition to the standards or quotas themselves if they are to accept evaluation against these standards [1].The purpose of this article is to discuss the various determinants of salesmen's performance and to present a practical analytical method for calculating and evaluating the overall performance of salesmen that will permit cross-comparison among all members of the sales force irrespective of differences in assignments and objectives. A hypothetical example is then presented utilizing a tabular analysis format equally appropriate for use by home office analysts or by field sales managers and their salesmen.     

Purchasing agent's influence in the buying process

As in previous studies the role of the purchasing agent can here been seen to vary throughout the buying process. The results both support and reject previous findings. This study finds that while purchasing agents are heavily involved in some buying stages, such as the selection of an order routine as suggested by previous studies, they may not be heavily involved in such other buying stages as post-sale performance feedback. This is contrary to previous findings. This study was conducted in the commercial construction industry.     

Industrial marketing education: Practitioner's views

A study of industrial marketing practitioner perspectives on industrial marketing education was conducted. Attitudes toward the educational process, definition of skills, continuing education, practitioner assistance in education and topic importance were queried. In general it was found that practitioners are favorably disposed toward industrial marketing education, are willing to assist in the educational process and have distinct perceptions on the nature of the educational process and how it should be carried out.     

Japan's policy on monopoly and competition in telecommunications

Telecommunications policy in Japan is about to undergo a significant change in the field of domestic telecommunications services. A monopolistic policy has long been maintained - monopoly by the government for the first 80 years and monopoly by the NTT, a domestic common carrier, for the past 30 years. Now, however, a policy of competition is required to meet the needs of citizens and companies when confronted with the age of the information society. This article analyses the trend of past, present and future telecommunications policy in Japan in relation to monopoly and competition.     

Increase salespeople's prestige with a new title

The public tends to view sales occupations as relatively low in prestige. The authors present the findings of their study that alternative job titles enhance the prestige awarded sales occupations and suggest how sales titles should be changed.     

Managing a capital equipment business's market share

Several factors are investigated as possible contributors to market share for capital equipment business: product quality, service quality, a business's image for quality, and marketing communications. Cross-lagged correlations with PIMS data imply that product quality and image for quality influence market share, marketing communication influences image, and service quality results from all of these sources of influence.     

Purchasing's role in computer buying: A comparative study

The sale of Electronic Data Processing (EDP) equipment represents a large and growing market both in number of dollars and products. This article analyzes the purchaser's perceived role in the EDP acquisition process from both public and private sector perspectives. Major public and private sector purchasing differences are discussed in terms of their implications for improving EDP marketing success. Differences discussed include: purchaser influence in the EDP decision process, necessity of seller-buyer interface, method of purchase, and purchasing's organization structure for buying EDP equipment.     

Compensation plans that link management and salesman's objectives

In many companies, sales management pursues several objectives through the sales force compensation scheme, some of them qualitative and long-run. On the other hand, salesmen within the same sales force are likely to display heterogeneous preference patterns for compensation formulae. In this frequent occurrence, a jointly optimal compensation plan is not likely to be found (or even to exist), and a sales manager can only hope to find one of the best possible compromises between management's and salesmen's objectives. This paper proposes a seven-step procedure for finding such a compromise. An actual application is reported, and operational procedures are discussed.     

Industrial salesforce satisfaction and performance with Herzberg's theory

Sales managers are seeking answers to facilitate the salesforce motivational process. This study empirically tested one of the most prominant motivational theories, which, some authorities consider the leading work formulated on the idea that satisfaction leads to performance. This study found no support for Herzberg's dichotomy or the correlation between satisfaction and performance.     

The U.S. industrial marketer's position in international trade

The purpose of this article is to examine some of the interests served by international trade and several of the factors that will affect the environment in which the marketing manager will operate in the next decade. The diverse forces that influence foreign trade are of increasing importance to marketing strategy. Although salesmen are still counseled to “sell-like-hell”, senior marketing people need to have a perspective that permits them to anticipate the threats and oppurtunities these forces create. We will suggest some of the trends and issues to which the marketer must be alert. While our analysis will be most appropriate for American companies, this approach is also applicable for firms based in other countries.The article is divided into five parts. In the first part we examine the importance and motives for U.S. international trade. We then explore U.S. patterns of imports and exports. In the third section we consider the role of technology in trade. Next we consider some of the trends that seem to apply for the next decade. Finally we raise some issues that will probably demand the marketer's attention in the future.