Publications

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03 Oct 2014
News

The Revival of a Salesman: The Importance of Sales and Strategy to Business

November 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Teaching Note

Paul Thomson: Walker Insurance

By: Jim Sharpe

Keywords: Crisis Management; Acquisitions; Search Funds; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurs; Insurance; Turnarounds; Boards Of Directors; Sales Force Management; Entrepreneurship; Insurance Industry; Florida

August 2022 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Wasabi Technologies (A)

By: N. Louis Shipley and Mel Martin

After launching a successful hot cloud storage company, Founder and CEO David Friend is ready to scale the venture rapidly. Wasabi Technologies had focused primarily on direct sales, but an opportunity to pivot to channel sales was on the horizon. The company’s major... View Details

Keywords: Direct Sales; Channel Sales; Information Management; Sales; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Divisions; Information Technology Industry; United States

November–December 2018
Article

Online Network Revenue Management Using Thompson Sampling

By: Kris J. Ferreira, David Simchi-Levi and He Wang

We consider a network revenue management problem where an online retailer aims to maximize revenue from multiple products with limited inventory constraints. As common in practice, the retailer does not know the consumer's purchase probability at each price and must... View Details

Keywords: Online Marketing; Revenue Management; Revenue; Management; Marketing; Internet and the Web; Price; Mathematical Methods

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12 Sep 2017
News

What’s the Right Kind of Bonus to Motivate Your Sales Force?

April 2019 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Clear Link Technologies, LLC: Driving Sales with Peer Effects

By: Christopher Stanton, Richard Saouma and Olivia Hull

The importance of a good peer or coworker is widely discussed, but understanding the glue that makes coworkers valuable is less understood. This case sheds light on the importance of peers and the practices and environments that make a group greater than the sum of its... View Details

Article

How Real Sales Learning Happens: In the Flow of Work

By: Yuchun Lee, Mark Magnacca and Frank V. Cespedes

Most learning in sales is through peer learning in task-specific contexts, and the effects are cumulative because modeling behavior is a big driver of how salespeople develop. This is very different from the experience in most training seminars, especially if the... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Learning; Training; Performance

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21 Nov 2016
Research & Ideas

It Matters That Your CEO Doesn't Know Much About Sales

Hence, the call criteria used in sales directly impact which projects the firm invests in. Yet, how many in the C-suite understand how compensation, deployment, and other core sales View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

20 Jun 2021
News

Interview with Frank Cespedes of Harvard Business School, on his new book, Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing

04 Dec 2017
News

How a Fast-Growing Startup Built Its Sales Team for Long-Term Success

29 Jun 2021
News

What Does the Future of Work Look Like for America’s Biopharma Sales Force?

May 2011
Teaching Note

Baria Planning Solutions, Inc.: Fixing the Sales Process (Brief Case)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt

Teaching Note for 4568. View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Technology; Operations Management; Product Lines; Manufacturing; Capacity Planning; Production Planning; Information Technology; Production; Mathematical Methods; Performance Capacity; Product Development; Planning; Manufacturing Industry

June 1989 (Revised November 1991)
Supplement

Ingersoll-Rand (B): Managing Multiple Channels--1986

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Peter Baldwin takes over Clabough's job and is charged with the responsibility to improve sales force morale, control expenses, and improve market share. View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Supply and Industry; Management Teams; Industrial Products Industry

11 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Group Loyalty a Force for Good or Evil?

other groups to win at all costs—suddenly those traits don’t matter anymore. Loyalty forces you to focus in on your goal.” That Achilles’ heel of loyalty is one that managers need to be conscious of in... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

November 1986 (Revised June 1987)
Case

Fieldcrest Division of Fieldcrest Mills, Inc.: Compensation System for Field Sales Representatives

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Focuses on the compensation plan for Fieldcrest sales representatives. Management is reviewing the structure of the plan and must decide how to establish compensation goals and guidelines for the following year so that sales efforts are allocated among products and/or... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Competitive Strategy; Compensation and Benefits

December 2003
Case

Sale of Hephaestus, Inc. to Vulcan Ventures, Inc.

Henry Hephaestus founded Hephaestus, Inc. in 1895. Its first product was a tapered roller bearing for use with horse-drawn wagons and carriages. It reduced friction on the axle and reduced the force necessary to move a heavy load, thereby enabling one horse to do the... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Entrepreneurship; Family Ownership; Manufacturing Industry