Company's Sales Representatives example essay topic

Dear Sir or Madam: Our Company, the Spire Corporation ("Spire" or the "Company" hereafter), a Massachusetts corporation incorporated in 1969, is organized into two separate businesses: solar energy and biotechnology surface engineering. The Company's revenues of the past three years have been between $12 million and $14 million, but the sources of those revenues have varied among the Company's business areas. By strategically assessing our business areas as well as the concerns of our consumers, we can create a competitive advantage that no other solar business has been able to present. In this memo, I will address issues that the 10 most important strategic problems that our company is facing and hope that you, as the Vice President of Strategic Planning, will demonstrate solutions that will effectively fix these problems. The company advocates small-scale distributed manufacturing of solar electric modules and systems, believing that local production helps stimulate local demand. Spire Solar Chicago is a model for development of additional solar systems manufacturing and installation units in other regions.

The company's utility-oriented management must address the growing need for reliable distributed power generation, clean energy and the revitalization of industrial brown fields within local markets. A market opportunity such as this can be captured by looking beyond traditional fossil fuels when adding peak load capacity. In doing so, Spire can create more value for their potential users and simultaneously asses the environmental concerns of the general public. The company's other manufacturing efforts are directed to setting up partnerships with other energy service providers to establish businesses that will manufacture PV systems to be deployed in a variety of ways. Some of the systems would be mounted on public and commercial buildings connected to the main grid. Of more significant impact, however, would be construction of large, megawatt-size solar arrays on single sites such as a contaminated land site, and converting it into a Solar Bright field.

The company's financial analysis shows that electricity produced from such a site, when accompanied by appropriate financial incentives, is cost competitive with the price of peak power in many parts of the country. Implementing these grids to provide energy is a large market opportunity for Spire. In the long term, these cost reductions will increase profits and create more financial investments for the company. The company markets its photovoltaic manufacturing equipment through non-exclusive commissioned sales representatives, as well as through its internal staff which are included in the company's value chain. The outside sales representatives are responsible for making initial contacts with potential customers, after which the representatives work in conjunction with the company's internal staff to consummate sales. The company believes that use of outside sales representatives is particularly important in facilitating access into certain foreign countries.

Most of the company's sales representatives have had long-term relationships with the company, and work with the company without written agreements. Sales initiated through the company's internal staff arise from a number of sources, including trade shows, printed advertisements and telephone campaigns. One problem that must be addressed by the company is amount of retained knowledge from knowledge workers such as foreign representatives. These representatives are needed in order to facilitate the aforementioned access into new countries that could use solar energy especially in the dry lands such as the desert regions. Issues such as these are directly related to the social capital of Spire. Utilizing employee's with different backgrounds, not only can Spire reaffirm its' global presence, but they also provide a thoroughly cultural environment among their employees.

This leveraging of human capital, Spire will create a diverse working culture, create positive working relationships with foreigners, and encourage performance. The company assembles its photovoltaic module manufacturing equipment and systems from a combination of components purchased from a variety of suppliers and self-fabricated components. The company has not experienced any major price increases, or lack of availability of its components. For many items, alternate sources are available. The company believes that the loss of any supplier would not be material due to the ability to use alternate suppliers or to substitute other items with minimal re-engineering. These issues are directly tied to their weak inbound logistics of their value chain.

The company must ensure that the relationships that they have with their suppliers stays intact and healthy. The suppliers of the company are key in being able to manufacture and procure all such parts and materials in sufficient quantities to meet Spire's needs. Factors directly involved with competitive advantage for Spire in its various markets include the amount and pace of technological innovation, financial resources, product quality, timely delivery, service and price. The company believes that there are considerable barriers to entry into the markets it serves, including a significant investment in specialized capital equipment and product design and development, and the need for a staff with sophisticated scientific and technological knowledge. As of December 31, 2001, the company employed 91 people, of whom 68 work full-time. In addition to the 68 full-time employees, Spire regards an additional 23 corporate employees as full-time.

However, since July 1, 2001, the company decreased costs by temporarily reducing the time and compensation of many corporate employees by 20%. They intend to review all 23 employees at the end of the first quarter of 2002. Reducing the time and compensation of employees can lead to many internal conflicts between senior management and these employees. Employees will begin to feel uneasy about their job security and will look elsewhere for it. Additionally, this will cause lack of motivation within the employees because there are no external motivators i.e. pay, decreasing employee productivity and turnover rates.

The firm's infrastructure in terms of human resource management is a clearly demonstrated as a weakness. These actions must be reevaluated. START HERE The Company's government contracts are subject to a large number of federal regulations and oversight requirements. Compliance with the array of government regulations requires extensive record keeping and the maintenance of complex policies and procedures relating to all aspects of the Company's business, as well as to work performed for the Company by any subcontractors. The Company must put in place systems and personnel to ensure compliance with all U.S. government regulations relating to contracting. The Company also is subject to export control regulations that govern the export of Company products to designated countries, as well as the release of technical information to non-United States individuals and entities.

Further, the Company is subject to federal, state and local governmental environmental regulations and to federal OSHA regulations. Due to these regulations, the Company's employees must believe that it has complied in all material respects with all applicable environmental and safety regulations and has all permits necessary to conduct its business. The Company should employ part-time Environmental and Safety Engineers to manage its compliance efforts. In lieu of these problems, I hope that you, Vice President of Strategic Planning, can come up with effective solutions.

I believe that by addressing these issues head on, we can create a more pleasant working environment, run smoother business processes, and most importantly, serve our solar users more effectively. Thank you for your consideration.