Course Instructor: Leo Leung Tel: Credit Hours: Three hours per week, one term/14 weeks. Brief Course Description:

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LINGNAN UNIVERSITY

Department of Marketing and International Business MScMIB Programme

MIB604 Sales and Retail Management Course Description and Schedule

Second Term, 2015-16

Course Instructor: Leo Leung Tel: 2616-8244

Office: SEK101/5 E-mail: leungleo@ln.edu.hk

Credit Hours: Three hours per week, one term/14 weeks Brief Course Description:

Organizations get in touch with customers through mainly the direct contacts by salespeople or the indirect contacts by marketing intermediaries such as retailers, during which there is something in common: developing long term sustainable customer relationships. This course is to acquaint students with the knowledge of two important managerial areas in order to tackle the challenges of developing sustainable customer relationships. Sales management, the first component of this course, is to introduce to the students the principles, concepts and challenges in managing a team of salespeople. Key topics include the role of personal selling in managing buyer-seller relationship, types of sales organization, and issues in recruitment, training, compensation, motivation and performance evaluation of salespeople. Retail management, the second component of this course, is to explore how retailers respond to the threats and opportunities in the fast changing retail environment. The topics to be examined include the nature and importance of retailing and the various retail institutions emerged today, developing a retail strategy through strategic planning, shopping attitudes and behavior, retail operations management and merchandise management. On completion of the course, students are expected to apply what they have learnt in the class to handle the business situations and problems encountered after graduation.

Learning Goals:

The learning goals of this course are to prepare students:

1. To understand the foundation for formulating a sales program and the framework for developing a retail strategy;

2. To comprehend the knowledge, skills and issues in sales and retail management; 3. To apply the concepts and principles learnt to analyze the managerial problems

encountered in various business situations, to evaluate the alternatives identified and to make decisions; and

4. To integrate the various concepts and principles, and the available market information in preparing a business plan.

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2 Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. Identify and comprehend the concepts, principles and issues in sales and retail management (LO1);

2. Apply what they have learnt in the class to analyze problems and issues in business settings and in international operations (LO2);

3. Evaluate critically the problems and issues in various business situations and make recommendations accordingly (LO3);

4. Integrate the various concepts and principles learnt by developing a business plan for a given retail marketing project (LO4); and

5. Communicate and convey effectively the findings and recommendations of class assignments, case studies or projects in the class in a professional manner (LO5)

Teaching Methods:

The classes are mainly conducted by lectures, supplemented with interactive seminars that include class discussions, debates, class assignments, case studies, experiential exercises, presentations and group works to reinforce the lecture materials. Active participation is expected and students are encouraged to apply what they have learnt in the classes to analyze, evaluate and solve the problems and challenges identified in the class works assigned. Students are encouraged to make use of the resources available in the library and in the community, and to share their experiential learning with other classmates.

Measurement of Learning Outcomes: 1. Case Studies (LO2, LO3 and LO5)

A number of cases for class discussions are selected as examples with decision situations that a manager may encounter in the daily activities. These case studies serve as a platform to encourage students to apply what they have learnt in the class to handle the problems and issues depicted in the cases given. In particular, the platform attempts to train students’ analytical ability, critical thinking and presentation skills. The assessment rubric for case presentation is shown in Appendix 2.

2. Two Take-Home Assignments (LO2 and LO3)

Two take-home assignments are designed to integrate and apply the concepts learnt. The students will be asked to write two to three pages their analysis of a business scenario in sales or retail management and make recommendations how the issues identified in the scenario should be handled. These assignments serve to integrate and apply the concepts learnt to handle the problems in business practice and the difficulties to a balance between customer interests and company interests.

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3 3. Retail Marketing Project (LO4 and LO5)

Starting a retail business requires a viable business concept and a carefully though business plan. Students will be instructed to spot a retail opportunity in Hong Kong and develop a business plan to capture this opportunity. The purpose of this experiential exercise is to integrate the various concepts and principles learnt in the class and to provide a warm-up opportunity for the students to determine their future career choice. Please refer to the assessment rubric shown in Appendix 1. 4. Examination (LO1)

One two-hour examination will be given at the end of the term to test students’ understanding of the knowledge learnt in the course. The exam may consist of case studies or/and essay questions that cover all materials discussed in the class. The following table summarizes how the measurement of learning outcomes aligns with the learning outcomes previously described.

Measurement of Learning

Outcomes Weights

Learning Outcomes

LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5

Case Presentation 15%   

Tale-Home Assignments 25%   

Retail Marketing Project 20%  

Examination 40%   

Assessment

Case Presentation 15%

Two Take-Home Assignments 25%

Retail Marketing Project 20%

Examination (Sales and Retail Management) 40% 100%

To evaluate individual contribution to group assignments, each student is asked to fill in a team evaluation form (as shown in Appendix 3) at the end of the term.

Note: Students shall be aware of the University regulations about dishonest practice in course work and the possible consequences as stipulated in the Regulations Governing University Examinations.

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4 Textbooks

Berman, B. and Evans, J. R. (2013), Retail Management: A Strategic Approach, 12th edition, Pearson Education.

Johnston, M. W. and Marshall, G. W. (2013), Sales Force Management: Leadership, Innovation, Technology, 11th_{edition, Routledge.}

Supplementary Readings

Ingram, Thomas N., Raymond W. LaForge, Ramon A. Avila, Charles H. Schewpker, Jr. and Michael R. Williams (2012), Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making, 8th_{edition, M. E. Sharpe.}

Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Mehta, R. and Babin, B. J. (2010), Sales Management: Building Customer Relationships and Partnerships, South-Western: Cengage Learning. Tanner, J., Honeycutt, E. D. and Erffmeyer, R. C. (2009), Sales Management: Shaping Future Sales Leaders, Pearson Education.

Spiro, R. L., Rich, G. A. and Stanton, W. J. (2008), Management of a Sales Force, 12th edition, McGraw-Hill.

Levy, M. and Weitz, B. A. (2012), Retailing Management, 8th edition, McGraw-Hill. Virginia, G. (2012), Fashion Merchandising, AVA Publishing.

Fernie, J. and Sparks, L. (2009), Logistics and Retail Management: Emerging Issues and New Challenges in the Retail Supply Chain, Kogan Page.

Rabolt, N. J. and Miler, J. K. (2009), Concepts and Cases in Retail and Merchandise Management, 2nd edition, NewYork: Fairchild Books.

Students should keep themselves updated with the recent developments by reading journal articles and periodicals. The following is a partial list of good choices to read regularly:

Journal of Marketing, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Retailing, International Marketing Review, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Marketing News, Economists, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Business Week, and other relevant journals and periodicals.

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Course Schedule for MIB604 Sales and Retail Management

Week Topics and Assignments Textbooks

1

An Overview of Strategic Retailing Management

Case: Howard Schultz on Starbucks’ Future Plan to Grow (Textbook: p. 114) Supplementary Readings:

 “Planning for the Unique Aspects of Service Retailing,” Textbook, p. 79

 “The Special Dimensions of Strategic Planning in a Global Environment,”

Textbook, p. 104.

Berman and Evans (2013) Ch. 1 – 3

2

Retail Institutions and Retail Strategy Mix

Case: Retailing around the Globe (Textbook: p. 196)

Supplementary Readings:

 “Multi-Channel Retailing,” Textbook, p. 188.

 “Customer Experience Management in Retailing: An Organizing Framework,” Grewal, Levy and Kumar (2009), Journal of Retailing, 85(1), p. 1-14.

 “How Online Product Reviews Affect Retail Sales: A Meta-analysis,” Floyd et. al. (2014), Journal of Retailing, 90(2), p. 217-232.

Berman and Evans (2013) Ch. 4 – 6

3

Store Location Selection

Case: Coach Expands into China’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 Cities (Textbook: p. 303) Introduction to the Retail Marketing Project

 “Literature Review on Selection Criteria of Store Location Based on

Performance Measures,” Turhan, Akalin and Zehir (2013), Proceedings of the

9th_{International Strategic Management Conference}_{, organized by International}

Strategic Management and Managers Association, Riga, Latvia, June 27-29.

Berman and Evans (2013) Ch. 9 & 10

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Retail Operations Management

Case: Predicting Retail Worker Engagement (Textbook: p. 369) Take-Home Assignment 1

 “Predicting Employee Engagement in an Age-Diverse Retail Workforce,” James, McKechnie and Swanberg (2011), Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(Jan). p. 173-196.

 “Customer Experience Creation: Determinants, Dynamics and Management Strategies,” Verhoef et. al. (2009), Journal of Retailing, 85(1), p. 31-41.

 “Key Management Elements to Increase Store Performance,” Laine (2010), White Paper, BearingPoint Management & Technology Consultants.

Berman and Evans (2013) Ch. 11 & 13

5-6 Chinese New Year Holidays -

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Merchandise Management and Pricing

Case: The Merchandising of Private Brands (Textbook: p. 478)

 “Radical Fashion and Radical Fashion Innovation,” Zhang and Benedetto (2010), Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 1(4), p. 195-205.

Berman and Evans (2013) Ch. 14, 15 & 17

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 “Fast Fashion: Response to Changes in the Fashion Industry,” Bhardwaj and Fairhurst (2010), The International Review of Retail, Distribution and

Consumer Research, 20(1), p. 165-173.

 “H&M: Documenting the Story of One of the World’s Largest Fashion Retailers,” Giertz-Martenson (2012), Business History, 54(1), p. 108-115.

 “Retail Value-Based Pricing Strategies: New Times, New Technologies, New Consumers,” Grewal et. al. (2012), Journal of Retailing, 88(1), p. 1-6.

 “Benchmarking Retail Productivity Considering Retail Pricing and Format Strategy,” Gauri (2013), Journal of Retailing, 89(1), p. 1-14

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Retail Image and Promotion Strategy

Case: Evolving Communication Channels and Tools (Textbook: p. 538) Supplementary Readings:

 “Social Media and Luxury Brand Management: The Case of Burberry,” Plan, Thomas and Heine (2011), Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 2(4), p. 213-222.

 “How to Align your Brand Stories with Your Products,” Chiu, Hsieh and Kuo (2012), Journal of Retailing, 88(2), p. 262-275. Berman and Evans (2013) Ch. 18 & 19 9 Project Presentations  10

Sales Management and Personal Selling in the Twenty-First Century Case: Knight Engines/Excalibur Engine Parts (Handout)

 “An Assessment of Needed Sales Management Skills,” Powers, Jennings and DeCarlo (2014), Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 34(3), p. 206-222.

 “Negotiation Fundamentals,” Lewicki, Barry and Saunders (2010),

Negotiation, 6th_{edition, McGraw-Hill, Part 1, p. 1-137.}

 Johnston and Marshall (2013)  Ch. 1 & 2 11 Organization of Salesforce Take-Home Assignment 2 Supplementary Readings:

 “Key Accounts and Team Selling: A Review, Framework, and Research Agenda,” Jones et. al. (2005), Journal of Personal Selling & Sales

Management, 25(2), p. 181-198.

 “The Influences of Ethical Climate and Organization Identity Comparisons on Salespeople and Their Job Performance,” Briggs, Jaramillo and Weeks (2012),

Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 32(4), p. 421-436.

 “Revolution in Sales: The Impact of Social Media and Related Technology on The Selling Environment,” Marshall et. al. (2012), Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 32(3), p. 349-363.

Johnston and Marshall (2013) Ch. 4 & 5

12

Determinants of Salesperson Performance

Case Presentation: Valley Winery (Textbook: p. 194) Supplementary Readings:

 “Role Ambiguity, Role Conflict, and Performance: Empirical Evidence of an Inverted-U Relationship,” Onyemah (2008), 28(3), Journal of Personal Selling

& Sales Management, p. 299-313.

Johnston and Marshall (2013) Ch. 6 & 7

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 “Drivers of Sales Performance: A Contemporary Meta-analysis. Have Salespeople Become Knowledge Brokers?” Verbeke, Dietz and Verwaal (2011), Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39, p. 407-428.

 “Which Influence Tactics Lead to Sales Performance? It is a Matter of Style,” Plouffe, Bolander and Cole (2014), Journal of Personal Selling & Sales

Management, 34(2), p. 141-159.

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Salesforce Recruitment and Selection

Case Presentation: Effective Law Office Solutions, Inc. (Textbook: p. 201) Supplementary Readings:

 “An Empirical Study of Salesperson Stereotypes amongst UK Students and Their Implications for Recruitment,” Lee, Sandfield and Dhaliwal (2007),

Journal of Marketing Management, 23(7/8), p. 723-744.

 “Individual Differences and Sales Performance: A Distal-Proximal Mediation of Model of Self Efficacy, Conscientiousness and Extraversion,” Yang, Kim and McFarland (2011), Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 31(4), p. 371-382. Johnston and Marshall (2013) Ch. 8 & 9 14 Sales Training

Case Presentation: On-Time Package Delivery (Textbook: p. 403)

 “A Three-Stage Model for Assessing and Improving Sales Force Training and Development,”Attia, Honeycutt and Leach (2005), Journal of Personal Selling

& Sales Management, 25(3), p. 253-268.

 “An Update on the Status of Sales Management Training,” Powers, DeCarlo and Gupte (2101), Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 30(4), p. 319-326.

 “The Future of Sales Training: Challenges and Related Research Questions,” Ingram (2012), Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 32(4), p. 141-154.

Johnston and Marshall (2013) Ch. 10

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Salesperson Compensation and Incentives

Case Presentation: Hanover-Bates Chemical Corporation (Textbook: p. 495) Supplementary Readings:

 “Recoupling Compensation-Performance Relationship: A Mediating Role of Performance,” Liang, Wu and Jung (2009), International Journal of Human

Resources Development and Management, 9(4), p. 317-333.

 “The Impact of Negative Compensation Changes on Individual Sales

Performance,” Dustin and Belasen (2013), Journal of Personal Selling & Sales

Management, 33(4), p. 403-417.

Johnston and Marshall (2013) Ch. 11

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Evaluation of Salesperson Performance

Case: West Midlands Restaurant Appliances (Textbook: p. 474)

 “Performance Trends and Salesperson Evaluations: The Moderating Roles of Evaluation Task, Managerial Risk Propensity, and Firm Strategic Orientation,” Barone and Decarlo (2012), Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management,

32(2), p. 207-223. Johnston and Marshall (2013) Ch. 13 17-18 Final Examination 

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Appendix 1

Assessment Rubric for Retail Marketing Project

Retail Business Chosen __________________________________________________

Assessment criteria Weight Mastering

(8 – 10 marks) Developing (5 – 7 marks) Emerging ( 0 – 4 marks) Ability to conduct an in-depth environmental analysis

20%  Able to collect relevant

information to analyse the various environmental forces

 Able to draw relevant conclusions from the analysis

 Able to collect relevant information to do the analysis, but unable to draw relevant conclusions

 Unable to collect relevant information and to draw conclusions

Ability to identify the retail opportunity and the challenges involved

20%  Able to analyse the viability of the retail concept and the market potential

 Able to identify the sources of competitive strengths and the competitive position

 Able to identify the

problems/challenges facing the new start-up

 Can only partly to analyse the concept viability and the market demand, or to identify the sources and position of competition

 Can partly identify the major problems/challenges

 Unable to analyse the market potential and the competition

 Unable to identify the problems/challenges

Ability to develop an appropriate retail strategy and

implementation plan

20%  Able to develop a retail

strategy to cope with the retail opportunity identified

 Able to develop an

implementation plan to capture the retail opportunity

 Able to handle the queries raised in class

 Can only partly develop a retail strategy

 Can only partly develop an implementation plan

 Cannot fully respond to the queries raised

 Unable to develop a retail strategy and an

implementation plan

 Inappropriate handling of queries

Ability to apply the concepts learnt to analyse and develop the term project

10%  Able to apply the relevant

concepts to analyse the market situation faced

 Able to develop a framework to summarize and analyse the findings

 Can cite some relevant concepts, but cannot apply the concepts appropriately

 Unable to develop

framework to summarize the findings

 Cannot apply the relevant concepts to do the analysis  Unable to develop a framework to summarize the findings Effectiveness of presentation skills

30%  Fluent and logical sequence

without reading the script

 Clarity of explanation

 Good eye contact

 Speak clearly and loudly for the audience to hear

 Use appropriate language

 Good visual aids

 Good coordination among team members

 Finish on time

 Presentation flow not smooth and logical for some members

 Unclear explanations

 Some members have no eye

contacts

 Weak voice for some members

 Not speaking in a professional way

 Fair use of visual aids

 Weak coordination among members

 Finish on time at rush in the last part of the presentation

 Overall flow is not smooth and logical

 Most members have

weak voices

 Inappropriate use of language

 Little use of visual aid

 No coordination among members

 Unable to finish on time

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Appendix 2 Assessment Rubric for Case Presentation

Assessment Criteria Weight Mastering (8 – 10 marks) Developing (5 – 7 marks) Emerging ( 0 – 4 marks) Ability to analyse and

present appropriate case information

20%  Able to identify and

analyse case information

 Able to draw

conclusions from the analysis

 Able to identify and analyse the case information, but unable to draw relevant conclusions  Unable to identify relevant case information and unable to draw relevant conclusions Ability to identify the

problem at issue

10%  Able to identify the

problem or key issues involved in the case

 Only partly able to identify the problem or key issues

 Unable to identify the problem or key issues

Ability to develop and present one’s own perspective or position

20%  Able to make

recommendations relevant to the problem or issues identified

 Able to handle the

questions or queries raised  Weak connection between the problem/issue and recommendations  Not fully respond to the

questions or queries raised

 Unable to make

relevant

recommendations

 Not handling the

questions or queries well

Ability to apply the concepts learnt in class

10%  Able to apply relevant

concepts learnt in the course to analyse the case

 Can only partly apply

the concepts

 Unable to apply the

concepts learnt

Effectiveness of presentation skills

40%  Fluent and logical

sequence without reading the script  Clarity of explanation

 Good eye contact

 Speak clearly and loudly

for the audience to hear

 Use appropriate

language

 Good visual aids

 Good coordination

among team members  Finish on time

 Presentation flow not

smooth and logical for some members

 Some members have no

eye contacts

 Weak voice for some

members

 Not speaking in a

professional way  Fair use of visual aids

 Weak coordination

among members  Finish on time at rush in

the last part of the presentation

 Overall flow is not smooth and logical

 Most members have

weak voices

 Inappropriate use of language

 Little use of visual aid

 No coordination

among members

 Unable to finish on

time

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Appendix 3 Team Evaluation Form

Student’s Name: __________________________________

Assume that you have $100 to divide among the members of your team (including yourself) based on each member’s overall contribution to the case study and the role play presentation. The team member whose contribution was the greatest should receive the largest share of the $100. The member whose overall contribution was smallest would receive the smallest amount. In the space below, please write the names of your team members -including yourself- and the dollars you feel they deserve: Name Retail Marketing Project Case Presentation ___________________________ _______________ _______________ ___________________________ _______________ _______________ ___________________________ _______________ _______________ ___________________________ _______________ _______________ ___________________________ _______________ _______________ TOTAL $100 $100

Now, use the following space to write a few sentences explaining the major strengths of the strongest member of your team and the major weaknesses of the weakest member of your team (excluding yourself):

Strongest member’s name: ____________________________________

Comments:___________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

Weakest member’s name: ____________________________________

Comments:___________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________