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Hausser Food Products

Brenda Cooper, a regional sales manager at Hausser Food Products, believes the company's current sales methods are inadequate. She is concerned that the marketing team is not coming up with new ideas from the field to improve sales. The Florida district consistently exceeds its sales targets while other districts fall short. Brenda thinks the Florida team may be withholding information that could help other districts.

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Humphrey Osaigbe
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1K views4 pages

Hausser Food Products

Brenda Cooper, a regional sales manager at Hausser Food Products, believes the company's current sales methods are inadequate. She is concerned that the marketing team is not coming up with new ideas from the field to improve sales. The Florida district consistently exceeds its sales targets while other districts fall short. Brenda thinks the Florida team may be withholding information that could help other districts.

Uploaded by

Humphrey Osaigbe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CASE: HAUSSER FOOD PRODUCTS

Brenda Cooper said “Our current methods of selling products just are not adequate and the
people in the field don’t seem interested in coming up with new ideas or approaches to selling”.

Background.

Hausser Food Product Company (HFP), a producer and marketer of baby foods in the United
States (USA) is the market leader in the industry. The company presently maintains a market
share of approximately 60%. The company is presently facing changes in the market for infant
foods. Decreasing birth rate in the country coupled with concerns about food additives used in
food production has led to slow sales growth in the industry. Also, increasing competition in the
industry is a major source of worry for the company. Previous year company sales dropped to
3% while there was even a greater dropped in earnings of the company due to unused plant and
warehouse capacity. The Top Management of Hausser Food Product Company (HFP) is worried
about the situation and is finding ways to stimulate growth in the short-run. Brenda Cooper, a
Regional Sales Manager at the company is worried about the current methods of selling the
company product and even more worried about the marketing teams not coming up with new
ideas from the field on how to improve sales.

Question 1: Why do you think this is the case?

Reason

This is so because the Hausser Food Company is a mono product company whose product has
reached maturity and sales growth are now slowing down. Brenda Cooper believes that the
company needs to do something different in other to push sales of its products. Brenda was
expecting the sales team to come up with ideas that could further propel growth in sales of the
company products, but seems not to be getting feedback from the field. After careful analysis of
sales information of the various districts from her region, Brenda Cooper observed that the
Florida district team has consistently exceeded their target with 10% while other districts have
been fallen short in target. Brenda believes that the Florida team is hoarding information that

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could be vital to other districts of the company since those districts are often behind in sales
projections.

I believe that the following are the reasons behind the actions of the Florida District Team;

i. Poor Reward System


The base salary for district managers and sales representative at Hausser Food
Product Company is relatively low and therefore could only complement this through
performance bonus. The Florida team is unwilling to divulge information to
Management because they believe that if they give such information out, if might
threaten their bonus that keeps them on the job and they will only be left with the
base salary which is relatively small.
ii. Poor Promotion System
From the passage, it seems many of the folks that have spent long years in the service
of the company don’t feel like part of the company. Many of them are still in the
same position for so long without recognition from the Company. This has made the
loyalty of these set of people be to each other rather than the company. Therefore, the
loyalty of the sales reps in Florida district is to Boyar, their district manager because
they believe he has their back.
iii. Poor Performance Setting Process
The top-down approach to standard setting at Hausser Foods Product Company does
not allow for the involvement of lower level managers and sales reps in decision
making. Thus, this limits their creativity and commitments to the organization.
iv. Continuous Increase in Performance Target
The continuous increase in performance target by Top Management for sales reps and
district managers tend to threaten their bonuses.
v. Administrative Bottlenecks
Top Management should also reduce the paper work requirements from sales reps.
The sales reps feel overburdened with meeting Management requests in areas of
report filling. The sales reps believe they should be preoccupied with achieving sales
rather than sending multiple reports to the headquarters.
vi. Poor Reward Incentive for Ideas from Employees

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The sales reps believe that the reward/incentive offered by Management for providing
vital idea that could help the company achieve its objectives is a meager.
vii. Micro-Managing
From the narratives of the case, the Florida sales reps does not like to be micro-
managed. They want autonomy or freedom, using their initiative to achieve their
results.

Question 2. How would you go about addressing this, if you were in her position?

If I were in Brenda’s position, I would first ensure I gain the trust of Boyar. It might not be easy
to achieve, but it is important that I do so. I would travel down to Florida for vacation most likely
and ensure I spend much time with the team over there, identifying with the team.

After gaining their trust and understanding, I would ensure I address their issues with the
company management as follows;

i. Improved Systems of Compensation and Promotion


I would recommend a better compensation system to the Top Management. Such
compensation should not be disincentive to information and idea sharing, it should also
not lead to sub-optimality. He must also recommend promotion and recognition process
to the Top Management to ensure that all employees of the organization are pulling
towards the same direction.
ii. Convey strategic Intent that is devoid of micro managing
I would allow the sales rep to workout execution of tasks without necessarily breeding
down their neck. This would allow them to perform optimally without fear of making
mistakes.
iii. Design the organizational architecture to motivate and align people
I would recommend to management a better organizational architecture that allows for
better reward system, better promotion through the ranks, alignment of employees and
teams in order to ensure everyone is working inline and towards the overall
organizational objective.
iv. Ensure frequent meetings between Management and teams within the organization

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I would recommend frequent meetings between Management and sales reps. This could
be quarterly or bi-annually. This is important to ensure that ideas are shared and
synchronized, every employee in working for the achievement of the organization.
v. Adequate Compensation for Idea Sharing
I would ensure that employees are adequately compensated for sharing knowledge that
could ensure the progress of the organization.
vi. I would recommend to management for the inclusion of a representative of sales reps in
performance setting. This would motivate the employees as they would feel that they are
also part of the decision-making process of the organization.
vii. I would also ensure a reduction in clerical activities performed by sales reps. This would
ensure that sales reps focus on their primary activities, that is pushing for sales.

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