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01 May 2006
Research & Ideas

What Companies Lose from Forced Disclosure

Increased financial disclosure standards on such issues as executive compensation should provide more useful information for investors, policy makers, and regulators. But do the companies themselves benefit? What researchers are now... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

Research Summary

Overview

Dr. Burch’s research focuses on capitalism, work, and gender in the twentieth-century United States. Her work reinterprets the history of direct selling by placing it at the center, rather than on the margins, of narratives about advanced capitalism. Examining the... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Political Economy; Labor History; Gender; Marketing; Sales Force Management; Direct Sales; United States

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

Companies typically compensate their sales force by using some combination of salary, commission, and bonuses, but executives are often unsure which incentives provide the best motivation. Should bonuses be tied to quotas or should they be given unconditionally? Is... View Details

22 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

Use Artificial Intelligence to Set Sales Targets That Motivate

is a writer based in the Boston area. [Image: stock_colors] Related Reading What's the Ideal Frequency for a Sales Quota? Money and Quotas Motivate the Sales Force Best Why... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

December 15, 2015
Article

Don't Turn Your Sales Team Loose Without a Strategy

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Steve Thompson

When formulating a strategy, markets and segments are typically important categories. But only customers buy. Hence, for most firms, de facto strategy and much resource allocation are the aggregate result of the deals their salespeople close. However, few firms clarify... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Salesforce Management

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fall 1985
Article

A Theory of Salesforce Compensation Plans

By: R. Lal, A. K. Basu, V. Srinivasan and Richard Staelin

Keywords: Theory; Sales; Employees; Competition

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Web

Entrepreneurial Sales 102: Building the First Sales Team - Course Catalog

sell.” -Dean Nohria This course explores the complex subject of how to build, manage, and scale the first sales force including how to: Hire your first salesperson and sales... View Details

October 2011
Case

Raleigh & Rosse: Measures to Motivate Exceptional Service

By: Robert Simons and Michael Mahoney

In January 2010, U.S. luxury goods retailer Raleigh & Rosse is being sued by its employees for encouraging "off the clock" hours. At the center of the class action lawsuit is the famous Raleigh & Rosse performance measurement system previously thought to be the core of... View Details

Keywords: Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Goal Setting; Compensation; Incentives; Motivation; Sales Compensation; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Growth Management; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Retail Industry; United States

January 1993 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Sally Jameson: Valuing Stock Options in a Compensation Package

By: Peter Tufano

Details a thinly disguised situation faced by a recent Harvard MBA graduate who was forced by a prospective employer to place a dollar value on a grant of stock options. There are two objectives: 1) Serves as an introduction to option valuation, in which students have... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Stock Options; Compensation and Benefits

November 2014 (Revised February 2016)
Case

DoubleDutch

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Matthew G. Preble

Lawrence Coburn and Pankaj Prasad, co-founders of the event solution startup DoubleDutch, have to make a significant decision about their young company's sales function. DoubleDutch's key product was a mobile application (app) and event management platform that... View Details

Keywords: Sales Management; Selling; Marketing Management; Strategy Implementation; Business Marketing; Sales Force Management; Salesforce Management; Marketing; Sales; Marketing Strategy; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Technology Industry; United States; Europe; Asia

27 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

Want a Happy Customer? Coordinate Sales and Marketing

Pricing, product customization, and service customization cannot be entrusted to either group alone. The impact on economics, the whole account base, and corporate strategy require an integrated approach. At the small account end, the View Details

Keywords: by Benson Shapiro

22 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

What's the Ideal Frequency for a Sales Quota?

from a Field Experiment, authored by Harvard Business School marketing professors Doug J. Chung and Das Narayandas. “With so many people and resources at stake, the design of the sales force View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

October 1989 (Revised June 1993)
Case

RKO Warner Video, Inc.: Incentive Compensation Plan

By: George P. Baker III

Details the design and implementation of an incentive bonus plan for video store managers. The problem for top management of the chain is to induce the store managers to "sweat the details," to keep the stores neat and well organized, and to deal courteously and... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Change; Strategic Planning; Performance Improvement; Sales; Management; Employee Relationship Management; Situation or Environment; Success; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Personal selling represents one of the most important elements in the marketing mix, and appropriate management of the sales force is vital to achieving the organization’s objectives. Among the various instruments of sales management, compensation plays a pivotal... View Details

April 2011
Supplement

Designs by Kate: The Power of Direct Sales, Faculty Spreadsheet (Brief Case)

By: John A. Deighton and Sarah Abbott

Keywords: Direct Sales; Consumer Marketing; Marketing Management; Personal Selling; Sales Compensation; Sales Organization; Marketing Strategy; Sales

summer 1986
Article

Salesforce Compensation Plans in Environments with Asymmetric Information

By: R. Lal and Richard Staelin

Keywords: Employees; Sales; Compensation and Benefits; Information

Find at Harvard

14 Aug 2017
News

Study: More Frequent Sales Quotas Help Volume but Hurt Profits

Article

How to Really Motivate Salespeople

By: Doug J. Chung

Much of what we believe about the best ways to compensate and motivate the sales force is based on theory and lab experiments. But in the past decade, researchers have been moving out of the lab and into the field, analyzing companies' sales and pay data, and... View Details

Keywords: Compensation; Motivating People; Motivation and Incentives; Compensation and Benefits; Sales