The case depicts the situation at the Arapahoe Pharmaceutical Company and its sales management structure. In this case, the company has undergone significant changes in the management structure of the sales division which has affected the operations of the company. The change was initiated in order to overcome the sales challenges that the company had been facing pertaining to the low volume of sales and retiring sales management.
John Ziegler was the person who took over the management of the sales operations for the Arapahoe Pharmaceutical Company. His appointment was made to use his expertise in the field, invest in new talent in the business as well as bring about a new and different viewpoint into the management of sales at Arapahoe Pharmaceutical Company. The company however faced significant problems after the appointment of John.
The problems that already existed in the company before John’s promotion to manager of sales division pertained to the slow and low volume of incremental growth of the company in the pharmaceutical industry, the decrease in the volume of sales in a competitive market, and aging management. A proper succession plan was not drawn up, and when the senior management decided to retire, the company was forced to come up with new talent and managers how could handle the sales division of the business while trying to save the reputation and the position of the Arapahoe Pharmaceutical Company in the industry.
The main problems that were faced by the company after the appointment of the new sales head pertained to a hasty decision made by the sales manager which decreased the productivity of the sales force while compromising the productivity in terms of its target. John hired Larry on the basis of his personality and not on the basis of his past performance which resulted in significant wastage of the time and source of the company. Peggy Doyle did replace him, but her presence in the short period with the company did not manage to increase the productivity of the company or bring it up to the mark. The decision to hire Peggy was also a hasty decision by John, however, he lucked out on it with Peggy being an arduous and enthusiastic worker. Other problems pertained to lack of planning in the sales division and the lack of management in terms of forecasting for the business operations and controlling the sales division with standardized policies and procedures.
The recommendations that can be made to save the company from its problems is for them to properly plan out their operations. The head of the company should. Provide the sales manager a briefing and orientation of the job at hand along with the various new responsibilities, schedules, deadlines, and targets that the person has to meet. The sales head on the other hand should properly plan for the operations for the current as well as the following two years with specific targets on how and where the company will be positioned in the future. The goals and objective-based targets need to be set by him for productivity, ales levels to be achieved and the development of the sales staff and team to provoke the development and growth of the company through the operations of the sales division.