Study of Sales Organization Structure and Its Effectiveness in FMCG Sector

Study of Sales organization structure and its effectiveness in FMCG Sector Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements For the award of the degree of

Master of Business Administration In Software Enterprise Management

Under the guidance of Mr. Amit kumar Gupta (ERP Consultant)

Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Noida Affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Kashmere Gate, Delhi - 110006

1

ABSTRACT

Products which have a quick turnover, and relatively low cost are known as Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). Examples of FMCG generally include a wide range of frequently purchased consumer products such as toiletries, soap, cosmetics, tooth cleaning products, shaving products and detergents, as well as other non-durables such as glassware, bulbs, batteries, paper products, and plastic goods. FMCG may also include pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics, packaged food products, soft drinks, tissue paper, and chocolate bars. A subset of FMCGs is Fast Moving Consumer Electronics which include innovative electronic products such as mobile phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, GPS Systems and Laptops.

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company, touching the lives of two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home &Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages. They endow the company with a scale of combined volumes of about 4 million tonnes and sales of Rs.10, 000 crores. HUL is also one of the country's largest exporters; it has been recognized as a Golden Super Star Trading House by the Government of India.

Sales structure provide framework for sales organization operation by indicating what specific activities are performed by whom in the sales organization. Designing a sales organization is difficult many different type of structure might be used, and many variations are possible within each basic type. Often the resultant structure is complex, with many boxes and arrows. The basic concept involved specialization, centralization, 2

span of control versus management levels, and line versus staff position. An effective sales organization structure shall facilitate working relationships between various entities in the organization and may improve the working efficiency within the organizational units.

Purposes of sales organization 

To permit the development of specialist.



To assure that all necessary activities are performed.



To achieve coordination or balance.



To define authority.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS PARTICULARS I

CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION

1-6

1.1

OBJECTIVE

2

1.2

SCOPE

2

1.3

INTRODUCTION TO FMCG

3

1.3.1 SEGMENTS OF FMCG

4

1.3.2 TOP COMPNIES IN FMCG SECTOR

4

INTRODUCTION TO HUL

5

1.4.1 BRANDS

6

1.4

II

III

PAGE NUMBER

CHAPTER-2 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

9-11

2.1

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

10

2.1.1 EXECUTION OF THE PROJECT

11

2.1.2 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS

11

2.1.3 PRESENTATION OF DATA

11

2.1.4 TOOLS AND TECHNIQUE FOR ANALYSIS

11

CHAPTER-3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

12-32

3.1

SALES ORGANIZATION DESIGN

13

3.2

TYPES OF SALES ORGANIZATION

14

3.2.1 LINE ORGANIZATION

14

3.2.2 ORGANIZATION DESIGN BY TERRITORY

15

3.2.3 ORGANIZATION DESIGN BY MANAGEMENT

17

FUNCTION

3.3

3.2.4 ORGANIZATION DESIGN BY PRODUCT

20

3.2.5 ORGANIZATION DESIGN BY CUSTOMER

21

3.2.6 COMBINED ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN

23

ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

24

3.3.1 SALES ANALYSIS

26 4

3.3.1.1 ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS

27

3.3.1.2 TYPE OF SALES

28

3.3.1.3 TYPES OF ANALYSIS

28

3.3.2 COST ANALYSIS

29

3.3.2.1 PERCETAGE OF SALES METHOD

30

3.3.2.2 OBJECTIVE AND TASK METHOD

31

3.3.3 PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS 3.3.3.1 INCOME STATEMENT ANALYSIS 3.3.4 PRODUCTIVE ANALYSIS

IV

CHAPTER-4 ANALYSIS AND TOOLS

31 31 31

34-42

4.1 HUL SALES ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

35

4.2 SALES ORGANIZATION EFFECTIVENESS OF HUL

38

4.2.1 SALES ANALYSIS

38

4.2.1.1 ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS

38

4.2.1.2 TYPE OF SALES

39

4.2.1.3 TYPES OF ANALYSIS

40

4.2.2 COST ANALYSIS

41

4.2.2.1 PERCETAGE OF SALES METHOD

41

4.2.2.2 OBJECTIVE AND TASK METHOD

41

4.2.3 PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS

42

4.2.4 PRODUCTIVE ANALYSIS

43

V

CHAPTER-5

CONCLUSION

VI

BIBLOIGRAPHY

44-47

47

5

LIST OF TABLES TABLE

PAGE NUMBERS

4.1

Types of analysis

40

4.2

Objective and task method

41

4.3

Percentage of sales method

41

4.4

Profitability analysis

42

4.3

Productivity analysis

43

LIST OF FIGURES FIGURES

PAGE NUMBERS

3.1

Line Organization

15

3.2

Organizational design by territory

17

3.3

Organizational design by management function

19

3.4

Organizational design by product

21

3.5

Organizational design by customer

22

3.6

Combined organization design

23

3.7

Sales organization effectiveness

25

3.8

Types of sales analysis

27

4.1

HUL sales organization structure

37

4.2

Organizational level of analysis

38

4.3

Types of sales

39

6

Chapter – 1 INTRODUCTION

7

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 OBJECTIVE: To study the sales organization structure and its effectiveness in Hindustan Unilever Limited.

1.2 SCOPE: 

Study about FMCG sector



Study about HUL



Study the concept of sales organization structure



Study the sales organization structure of HUL



Explain the determinants of organizational effectiveness



Analyze the effectiveness of HUL sales organization

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1.3 INTRODUCTION TO FMCG: Products which have a quick turnover, and relatively low cost are known as Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). FMCG products are those that get replaced within a year. Examples of FMCG generally include a wide range of frequently purchased consumer products such as toiletries, soap, cosmetics, tooth cleaning products, shaving products and detergents, as well as other non-durables such as glassware, bulbs, batteries, paper products, and plastic goods. FMCG may also include pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics, packaged food products, soft drinks, tissue paper, and chocolate bars.

The Indian FMCG sector is the fourth largest sector in the economy with a total market size in excess of US$ 13.1 billion. It has a strong MNC presence and is characterized by a well established distribution network, intense competition between the organized and unorganized segments and low operational cost. Availability of key raw materials, cheaper labor costs and presence across the entire value chain gives India a competitive advantage. The FMCG market is set to treble from US$ 11.6 billion in 2003 to US$ 33.4 billion in 2015. Penetration level as well as per capita consumption in most product categories like jams, toothpaste, skin care, hair wash etc in India is low indicating the untapped market potential. Burgeoning Indian population, particularly the middle class and the rural segments, presents an opportunity to makers of branded products to convert consumers to branded products. Growth is also likely to come from consumer 'upgrading' in the matured product categories. With 200 million people expected to shift to processed and packaged food by 2010, India needs around US$ 28 billion of investment in the food-processing industry.

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1.3.1 SEGMENTS OF FMCG •

Personal care – Skin care – Hair care – Shampoos

•

Household care – Personal wash – Detergents

•

Branded and Packaged foods and beverages – Food segment – Tea

•

Coffee

•

Spirits and tobacco

1.3.2 THE TOP 10 COMPANIES IN FMCG SECTOR S. NO.

Companies

1.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

2.

ITC (Indian Tobacco Company)

3.

Nestlé India

4.

GCMMF (AMUL)

5.

Dabur India

6.

Asian Paints (India)

7.

Cadbury India

8.

Britannia Industries

9.

Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care

10.

Marico Industries

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1.4 INTRODUCTION TO HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED 

Hindustan Unilever Limited also called Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) was established in 1933 as Lever Brothers India Limited and came into being in 1956 as Hindustan Lever Limited through a merger of Lever Brothers, Hindustan Vanaspati Mfg. Co. Ltd. and United Traders Ltd. The company was renamed in late June 2007 to “Hindustan Unilever Limited”



Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company, with a customer base of 2 out of every 3 Indian in the category of Home & Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages.



The company has combined volumes of about 4 million tones and sales of Rs. 13,718 crores. HLL is also one of the country's largest exporters.



Head quartered in Mumbai, India has employee strength of over 15,000 employees and contributes for indirect employment of over 52,000 people.



The Anglo-Dutch company Unilever owns a majority stake (52%) in Hindustan Unilever Limited. HUL was one of the eight Indian companies to be featured on the Forbes list of World’s Most Reputed companies in 2007.



The Government of India has recognized HLL as a Golden Super Star Trading House



It is a mission HUL shares with its parent company, Unilever, which holds 52.10% of the equity. A Fortune 500 transnational, Unilever sells Foods and Home and Personal Care brands in about 100 countries worldwide.

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1.4.1 BRANDS The company has a distribution channel of 6.3 million outlets and owns 35 major Indian brands.  HOME CARE  FOODS  NUTRITION  PERSONAL CARE BRAND  WATER

A. HOME CARE 

Active wheel



Cif



Comfort



Domex



Rin



Sunlight



Surf Excel



Vim

B. PERSONAL CARE 

Aviance



Axe



Lever ayush therapy 12



Breeze



Clear



Clinic Plus



Close Up



Dove



Faire & Lovely



Humam



Lakeme



Lifeboy



Liril



Lux



Pears



Pepsodent



Pond’s



Rexona



Sunsilk



vaseline

C. FOOD 

Brooke bond 3 roses



Red label



Taj mahel



Kissan



Knorr



Lipton 13



Annapurna



Brooke bond taza



Bru



Kissan amaze brain food



Kwality’s walls

D. WATER 

Purit

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Chapter – 2 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

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2.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research can be defined as systemized effort to gain new knowledge. A research is carried out by different methodologies which have their own pros and cons. Research methodology is a way to solve research in studying and solving research problem along with logic behind them are defined through research methodology. Thus while talking about research methodology we are not only talking of research methods but also considered the logic behind the methods. We are in context of our research studies and explain why it is being used a particular method or technique and why the others are not used. So that research result is capable of being evaluated either by researcher himself or by others Research has its special significance in solving various operational and planning problems of business and industry. Research methodology is the way to systematically solve the research problem.

2.1.1 Execution of the project: It is the very important step in the research process accuracy findings depends on how systematically the study has been carried out in time so that it can make some sense when required. I have executed the project after prior discussion with the guide and structured in following steps: a. Study about the Indian FMCG sector and Hindustan Unilever limited. b. Study about the various sale organization structure. c. Study about the sales organization structure in Hindustan Unilever limited. d. Study about the effectiveness of sales organization.

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e. Analyse the effectiveness of HUL sales organization by doing cost analysis, profitability analysis, productive analysis, sales analysis.

2.1.2 Data Collection Instruments:1. Internet 2. Books 3. Research paper

2.1.3 Presentation of Data The data are presented through tables and figures.

2.1.4 Tools and Techniques for Analysis The various technique used for analyze the effectiveness of sales organization was 1. Sales analysis 2. Cost analysis 3. Profitability analysis 4. Productivity analysis

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Chapter – 3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

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3.1 SALES ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN Sales organizational design refers to the formal and coordinated task of assigning territories and establishing flows of communication and responsibilities of sales groups and individuals to serve customers effectively. The developed structure helps the sales people in the organization to identify their roles, responsibilities and command in the organization. A proper organizational design helps in enhancing productivity, reduces conflicts, and improves an individual’s quality of work by identifying the contents of the job, the qualifications and experience required to undertake the job, and rewards associated with the performance of the job. The organization of the sales department is based on the nature and size of the organization, market coverage strategy, complexity of the product offered, and the external condition of the market and the level of competition. The sales manager in the organization is the head of sales department and is the representative of the top management in the chain of command. Divisional, district, and branch heads are appointed to assist the sales manager in the large organizations. They report to the sales manager and are accountable to the sales manager for their responsibilities. So, organizational structure is relatively fixed, formally defined set of relationships among jobs and within the organization. Though organization structures look rigid, they should respond to the changes in the competitive environment and should be adaptable to the changing situations.

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3.2 TYPES OF SALES ORGANIZATION Sales organizations adopt different kinds of structures starting from the simple line organization to special designs based on functions, geographic markets, products, customers, or combination of all these forms. The various sales organization structures are 1. Line organization 2. Organization Design by Territory 3. Organization Design by Management Function 4. Organizational design by product 5. Organizational Design by Customer 6. Combined Organizational Design

3.2.1 LINE ORGANIZATION In a pure line organization, the chief executive does the decision making and decisions flow down the line for execution. The chief executive has all the authority over the sales function. Many small sales firms have such a structure. In these organizations, decisions are made faster, overhead costs are lower, and sales people need to follow the command. These kinds of organizations are called one-man show organizations or a typical line organization. But, this kind of person-centric organization suffers from the daily fire fighting operations of the executives, as they have no time to do sales planning and are busy in achieving sales targets set at the top. As organization grow in size, some degree of specialization occurs in most of the organizations. Organizations are designed around geographic areas or territories,

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functions, products, customers, and a combination design. The basic objective is to increase the sales force effectiveness and enhance productivity and allow sales people to grow as customers experts. Specialization brings challenges of coordination, integration, and higher expenses of sales realizations.

Fig3.1 Line Organization

3.2.2 ORGANIZATION DESIGN BY TERRITORY The simplest method of designing an organization is on the basis of a geographic territory, where every sales person is assigned a specific area for making sales. Several areas are combined together has a territory for assigning a supervisor and then a number of territories are combined for sales manager. 21

This is a very distinct form of design. In this kind of design, the travel times are limited and the sales force remains close to the customer. The quality of customer service is better because the number of customers to be served is limited and geographically concentrated. The conflict is minimised among sales staff as the responsibility of serving customer is clearly identified in each area. The new product demand for each area can also be identified and the necessary product modifications can be done to suit this need of each customer in the specific territory. The varied marketing strategy can be developed for each market as a response to the level of competition and a comparative sales analysis is possible between territories, while sales recruitment can be conducted as per the requirements of the job, area, demand, and the skills and the experience of the sales person. But these kinds of designs are not free from problems. The sales people, for example have to sell the entire line of the product in a specific area to all types of customers. There is a tendency to become mere order takers, when sales people have to sell entire range of products in a specific area over the same period, and in the process, brands too turn into commodities. The sales people spend too much time with the customers for products that are easy to sell but may not be profitable or provide high growth opportunity.

22

Fig 3.2 Organization Design by Territory

23

3.2.3 ORGANIZATION DESIGN BY MANAGEMENT FUNCTION An organization based on the management function is also called a line and staff function design. It is grouping of a sales task according to their characteristics. Line authority means that people in the management positions have formal authority to direct and control immediate subordinates. Here, staff authority is narrower and includes the right to advice, recommend, and counsel the staff. Firms need special expertise for which the divide the selling activities according to the functions to be performed like sales planning, recruitment, training of sales personnel, supervision of sales personnel, advertising function, sales promotion, and other functions like sales analysis and marketing research. This type of organizational design is used for organizations having single product lines. It is very difficult for any single executive in charge of sales to handle all the sales activities in large and complex organizations. The line function runs from the head of sales force to the company sales people, where the same sales staff report directly to the HR head or the regional sales manager. The staff authority adds the line managers in the planning and operation function. This kind of organizational design helps in achieving specializations at different levels in the organizational hierarchy. The number of departments can be increased or decreased depending upon the organizational requirements and business success. The line and staff design is less expensive in comparison to other designs but the attention needed on specific product lines is affective by this design. The Functions across the departments slow down due to their dependence on each other for the final delivery of

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customer service. The integration of the function happens at higher level, making the job of the higher authority more complex and rigid in nature. Interdepartmental rivalry and non cooperation are issues that immerged in such organizations and the inefficiency in one department effects the functions of other department. However, such organizations are suitable when the size of the organization is small, there are limited products, and there is a single line of operation in the organizational production process.

Fig 3.3 Organization Design by Management Function

25

3.2.4 ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN BY PRODUCT Many organizations with a diversified product portfolio prefer a design on the basis of the type of product. So, organizations are designed on the basis of products so that one can recruit sales people specializing on each product line. These types of organizations are expensive because separate sales staffs are required for each product line. Product specialization is necessary when the product are technical and complex, more-or-less commodities, and relatively simple but completely different from one another, when the product lines are distributed through the entire trade channel, and when different products are sold to similar markets. When any combination of such factors exists for the firm, the companies follow a product design. A General Manager (Sales) is appointed for the overall supervision, control, and coordination of the product line. There are advantages of such a design, which include close attention to each product in the product portfolio. The sales person can master all the relevant product information and gather the required product knowledge to market complex products. The interference by other functions is avoided but this design and it is easier to assign responsibilities to each member in the sales department thus making it easier to do a comparative evaluation of sale personnel. The satisfaction level of customers in this kind of organizational design is the highest as the customer receives maximum attention. There are disadvantages of such a design as there is a difficulty in coordinating the sales function across product category. Sales people from the same organization often make calls to the same customer for a sale leading to the duplication of efforts and

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an increase cost in surveying customers. The operational costs are higher because of the large number of employees in the organization with product specialization.

Fig 3.4 Organization Design by Product

3.2.5 ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN BY CUSTOMER Organizations with several and distinct markets are designed on the basis of customer profile. Modern sales firms are shifting from a product-based structure to a customer-based structure because of customer profitability analysis and varied service delivery product mix for each customer. This is also referred to as vertical marketing. Each sales person sells the entire product line to the same customer. This design is more customers driven and is successful when the customers are geographically concentrated.

27

This kind of design helps in building successful customer relationships where trust and corporation are the fundamental values of business. Sales and market planning can be developed depending upon the customer requirements and behaviour. These kinds of organizations are also expensive and there is also a duplication of efforts, as controlling and coordinating sales activity across the customers is difficult to undertake in large firms. Sales organizations design on the basis of the customer help in buyer and supplier integration and in co-creating products and services for end users in a business-tobusiness market. This develops increased buyer loyalty. Sales managers create multiple linkages with customers through cross-selling, up-selling, and training the customers to use the products or services for a longer period of time.

Fig 3.5 Organization Design by Customer 28

3.2.6 COMBINED ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN Many organizations those are large in size and complex in product offering prefer a complex design that is a combination of different levels of hierarchy in the organization. The combination can be made on the basis of the product, function, geography, or the customer, depending on the market coverage and scope of business. Such a setup is essential for the organization to get a specialization at every stage of marketing

Fig 3.6 Combined organizational design

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3.3 ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS The study of organizational structure is necessary to understand organizational effectiveness. In simple terms better the structure of an organization more effective would be the organization and vice versa. You must be aware that some organizations perform better and grow more rapidly than other. On the extreme side some organizations perform badly and within a short period of time go out of business. There is no one more summary measure of sales organization effectiveness sale organization has multiple goals and objectives and thus multiple factor must be assessed.

There is four type of analysis are typically necessary to develop a comprehensive evaluation of any sales organization

1. Sales analysis 2. Cost analysis 3. Profitability analysis 4. Productive analysis

Conducting analyses in each of this area is a complex task for two reasons

1. Many types of analyses can be performed to evaluate sales, cost profitability, and productive result for example a sales analysis might focus on total sales, sales of specific product sales to specific customer or other type of sales and might include sales

30

comparisons to sales quotas, to previous periods, to sales of competitor ,or other type of analyses. 2. Separate sales analyses need to be performed for different levels in sales organization. Thus a typical evaluation would include separate sales analyses for sales zone, regions, districts, and territories. Customer satisfaction is also heavily relied upon sales organization effectiveness.

Now we will discuss how sales, cost, profitability and productivity analyses can be conducted to evaluate sale organization effectiveness.

Fig 3.7 Sales organization effectiveness

31

3.3.1 SALES ANALYSIS:Because the basic purpose of a sales organization is to generate sales, sales analysis is an obvious and important element of evaluating sales organization effectiveness. The difficulty however is to determining exactly what should be analyzed. One key consideration is in defining what is by a sale. Definitions include a placed order, a shipped order, and a paid order, defining a sale by when an order is shipped is probably most common. Regardless of the definition used, the sales organization must be consistent and develop an information system to track sales based on whatever sales definition is used. Another consideration is whether to focus on sales dollars or sales unit this can be extremely important during times spanning price increase or when sales people have substantial latitude in negotiating selling prices.

We can sub divide the sales analysis in different categories

1. Organization Level of Analysis 2. Type of sales 3. Type of analysis

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Fig 3.8 Types of sales analysis

3.3.1.1 ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS Sales analysis should be performed for all levels in the organization for two basic reasons First sales managers needs at each level sales analysis at their level and the next level below for evaluation and control purposes. For example, a regional sales manager should have sales analyses for all regions as well as for all districts within his or her region this makes it possible to assess the sales effectiveness of the region and to determine sales contribution of each district. Second, a useful way to identify problem areas in achieving sales effectiveness is to perform a hierarchical sales analysis, which consists of evaluating sales results throughout the sales organization from a top-down perspective essentially the analysis

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begins with total sales for the sales organization and proceeds through each successively lower level in the sales organization .

3.3.1.2 TYPES OF SALES It is usually desirable to evaluate several type of sale such as by the following categories.

1. Product type or specific products. 2. Account type or specific account. 3. Type of distribution method. 4. Order size.

The analysis of different types of sales at different organization levels increases management ability to detect and define problem areas in sales performance. However, incorporating different sales types into the analysis complicates the evaluation process and requires an information system capable of providing sales data concerning the desired breakdowns.

3.3.1.3 TYPE OF ANALYSIS The discussion to this point as focus on the actual sales results for different organizational levels and type of sales however the use of actual sales results limit the analysis to comparison across organizational level or sales type these with in

34

organizational comparison provide some useful information but are insufficient evaluation of sales effectiveness. Comparing actual sales with sales results with sales forecasts and quotas is extremely revealing. A sales forecast represents an expected level of firm sales for defined products, markets, and time periods for a specified strategy. Based on this definition a sales forecast provide a basis for establishing a specific sales quota and the reasonable sales objective for a territory And effectiveness index can be computed by dividing actual sales results by the sales quota and multiplying by hundred. The sales effectiveness makes it easy to compare directly the sales effectiveness of different organizational levels and different type of sales. Another type of useful analysis is the comparison of actual results to previous periods. This type of analysis is used to determine the sales growth rate for different organizational levels and for different sales type. A final type of analysis to be considered is a comparison of actual sales results to those achieved by competitors this type of analysis is used to determine the sales growth rate for different organizational levels and for different sales type.

3.3.2 COST ANALYSIS A second major element in the evaluation of the sales organization of sales organization effectiveness is cost analysis. The emphasis here is on assessing the costs incurred by the sales organization to generate the achieve level of sales the general approach is to compare the cost incurred with planned costs as defined by selling budgets. Corporate resource earmarked for personal selling expenses for a designated period represent the total selling budget. 35

Selling budgets are developed at all level of the sales organization and for all key expenditure categories. Both the total expenditure for each of these categories and sales management budget responsibility must be determined. Sales management budget responsibility depends on the degree of centralization or decentralization in the sales organization. In general, more centralized sales organization will place budget responsibility at higher sales higher sales management levels. For example, if sales force recruitment and selection take place at the regional level, then the regional sales managers will have responsibility for this budget category. The basic objective in budgeting for each category is to determine the lowest expenditure level necessary to achieve the sales quotas. Determining expenditure levels for each selling expense category is extremely difficult. Although there is no perfect way to arrive at these expenditure levels, two approaches warrant attention

1. Percentage of sales method 2. Objective and task method

3.3.2.1 PERCENTAGE OF SALES METHOD: The percentage of sales method calculates an expenditure level for each category by multiplying an expenditure percentage times forecasted sales. The effectiveness of the percentage of sales method depends on the accuracy of sales forecasts and the appropriateness of the expenditure percentage. If the sales forecasts are

36

not accurate, the selling budget will be incorrect, regardless of the expenditure percentages used. If the sales forecasts are accurate, the key is determining the expenditure percentage. This percentage may be derived from historical spending patterns or industry averages. Sales management should adjust the percentage up or down to reflect the unique aspects of their sales organization.

3.3.2.2 OBJECTIVE AND TASK METHOD It is a type of zero based budgeting. In essence, each sales manager prepare a separate budget request that stipulates the objective to be achieved, the task required to achieve these objective, and the costs associated with performing the necessary tasks.

3.3.3 PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS Sales and cost data can be combined in various ways to produce evaluations of sale organization profitability for different organizational levels of different types of sales. The profitability analysis is done by Income statement analysis

3.3.3.1 INCOME STATEMENT ANALYSIS The different levels in a sales organization and different types of sales can be considered as separate business. Consequently income statement can be developed for profitability analysis. One of the major difficulties in income statements analysis is that some costs are shared between organization levels or sales types.

37

Two approaches for dealing with the shared costs are 1.

Full costs approached

2.

Contribution approached

1. Full cost approach: It attempts to allocate the shared costs to individual units based on some type of cost allocation procedure. This result in a net profit figure for each unit.

2. The contribution approach: It is different in that only direct costs are included. The net contribution calculated from this approach represents the profit contribution of the unit being analyzed. This profit contribution must be sufficient must be sufficient to cover indirect costs and other overhead and to provide the net profit for the firm.

3.3.4 PRODUCTIVE ANALYSIS Productivity is typically measured in terms of ratios between output and inputs. A major advantage of productivity ratio is that they can be compared directly across the entire sales organization and with other sales organization. This direct comparison is possible because all the ratios are expressed in terms of the same units. Because the basic job of sales managers is to manage sales people, the most useful input unit for productivity analysis is the sales person. Therefore various types of productivity ratios are calculated on a per sales person basis. The specific ratios depends on the 38

characteristics of a particular selling situation but often include important output such as sales, expenses, calls, demonstrations, and proposals. The productivity analysis provides useful evaluative and diagnostic information that is not directly available from the other type of analyses. Productivity improvements are obtained in one of two basic ways:

1. Increasing output with the same level of input 2. Maintaining the same level

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Chapter – 4 ANALYSES AND TOOLS

40

4.1 HINDUSTAN UNILEVER SALES ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE Hindustan Unilever Limited is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Company. HUL and Group companies have about 15,000 employees, including 1200 managers. The fundamental principle determining the organization structure is to infuse speed and flexibility in decision-making and implementation, with empowered managers across the company’s nationwide operations. For this, HUL is organized into two self-sufficient divisions - Home & Personal Care and Foods & Beverages - supported by certain central functions and resources to leverage economies of scale wherever relevant. Board is headed by the Chairman, and comprising 5 whole time Directors and 5 independent non-executive Directors. The day to day operations are supervised by the National Management comprising the Vice Chairman, Managing Director (HPC), Managing Director (Foods) and the Finance Director. Divisions each division is self-sufficient with dedicated resources and assets in sales, marketing, commercial, and manufacturing. The two divisions are further reorganized into categories. Typically, each category and each function - Sales, Commercial, Manufacturing - is headed by a Vice President. They with their respective Managing Director comprise that Division's Management Committee.

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For managing sales operations, HUL divides the country into four regions, with regional branches in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. Headed by a Regional Manager, they comprise Regional Sales Managers and Area Sales Managers, assisted by dedicated field forces, comprising Sales Officers and Territory Sales Incharges. In Marketing, each category has a Marketing Manager who heads a team of Brand Managers dedicated to each or a group of brands. The commercial team of a Division is responsible for its supply chain management. There are teams dedicated to sourcing, planning and logistics. Each Division has a nationwide manufacturing base, with each factory peopled by teams of Production, Engineering, Quality Assurance, Commercial and Personnel Managers.

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Fig 4.1 Hindustan Unilever sales organization structure

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4.2 SALES ORGANIZATION EFFECTIVENESS OF HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED To measure the sales organization effectiveness of Hindustan Unilever limited we apply the following analysis on HUL sales organization. 1. Sales analysis 2. Cost analysis 3. Profitability analysis 4. Productive analysis

4.2.1 SALES ANALYSIS

4.2.1.1 ORGANIZATION LEVEL OF ANALYSIS

Fig 4.2 organization level of analysis

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Sales for west region appear to be lower than those for other regions, so the analysis proceeds to investigate the sale for all the districts on west region. Low sales are identified for Orissa district, then district Orissa sales are analyzed by territory. The result of this analysis suggest potential sales problem within konark territory.

4.2.1.2 TYPE OF SALES

Fig 4.3 Types of sales

It shows low sales volume for product Lipton tea. Additional analysis within this product is needed to determine why sale are low in these areas and what to be done to improve sales effectiveness.

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4.2.1.3 TYPE OF ANALYSIS

Bihar

Orissa

West Bengal

Sales

1,232 cr

988 cr

1178 cr

Sales quota

1,100 cr

1,000 cr

1,200 cr

Effectiveness index

112

98.8

98.1

Sales last year

1,170 cr

950 cr

1108 cr

Growth

5%

3%

6%

Table 4.1 Type of analysis

An effectiveness index can be computed by dividing actual sales result by sales quota and multiplying by 100. So here sales growth of orissa region is less, additional analysis will be done to identify the problem and what need to be done to improve sales organization effectiveness.

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4.2.2 COST ANALYSIS

4.2.2.1 OBJECTIVE AND TASK METHOD

Compensation cost

Training Cost

Actual Cost

Budgeted Cost

Variance

Actual Cost

Budgeted Cost

Variance

South

3,660,000

3,600,000

+60,000

985,000

1,030,000

-45,000

East

3,500,000

3,700,000

-200,000

2,110,000

2,040,000

+70,000

West

3,150,000

3,400,000

-250,000

830,000

1,060,000

-230,000

3,900,000

+300,000

2,340,000

2,160,000

+180,000

North 4,200,000

Table 4.2 Objective and task method

4.2.2.2 PERCENTAGE OF SALES METHOD

Compensation cost Actual %Sales

Training Cost

Budgeted %Sales

Actual %Sales

Budgeted %Sales

South

6.1

6

2.9

3

East

5.8

6

3.1

3

West

5.4

6

2.6

3

North

6.0

6

3.1

3

Table 4.3 percentage of sales method 47

The first type of analysis calculates the variance between actual costs and budgeted costs for the regions in a sales organization. Regions with the largest variation, especially when actual costs far exceed budgeted costs, should be highlighted for further analysis. Large variations are not necessarily bad, but the reason for variations should be determined.

4.2.3 PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS

Full cost Approach

Contribution Approach

HUL Sales

North

East

West

South

Sales

21,927

7,805

4,448

3,398

6,565

Cost of Goods Sold

13,130

4,683

2,668

2,038

3,945

Gross Margin

8,797

3,122

1,780

1,360

2,630

1,245

956

618

1,038

Regional Selling Expenses Zone Direct Selling Expenses Profit Contribution

3,857

1,985

2,955

1,877

824

742

1,592

Table 4.4 profitability analysis * All figures is in Crore

The full cost approach for accessing sales region profitability and the contribution approaches for evaluating the district within the region. 48

4.2.4 PRODUCTIVITY ANALYSIS

Bihar

Orissa

West Bengal

Sales

1,232 cr

988 cr

1178 cr

Selling Expenses

11.3

10

11.7

Sales calls

9,000

7,500

8,500

Proposals

220

180

260

Number of Sales people

110

50

80

Sales/Sales person

11.2

19.56

14.72

Expenses/Sales Person

0.102

0.2

0.146

Calls/Sales person

81.81

150

106.25

Proposals/sales Person

2

3.6

3.25

Table 4.5 Productivity analysis

Above table shows how productivity analysis provides a different and useful perspective for evaluating sales organization effectiveness. Take information concerning district Bihar. Although sales per person are reasonable and expenses per person is relatively low, both calls per sales person and proposals per sales person are much lower than those for the other districts. This may explain why selling expenses are low, but is also suggest the sales people in this district may not be covering the district adequately. The high sales may be due to a few large customers.

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Chapter – 5 CONCLUSION

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CONCLUSION

 The organization should be based on certain principles like the principles of unity of direction and command.  A sales organization is a structural body through which the functions o sales management are carried out.  A good sales organization always aims at achieving the sales target at the minimum cost and with maximum efficiency.  Careful attention to organizational design and costs in serving the customer helps in designing the customer sales organization.  Each type of sales organization structure has certain advantage and disadvantages and, so HUL use combined structure that combine the feature of several types.  There is no one best way to structure a sales organization. The appropriate way to organize a sales force and sales management depends on certain characteristics of a particular selling situation.  The objective underlying each of the analysis is to be able to evaluate effectiveness, identify problem area and use this information to improve future sales organization effectiveness.

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 Conducting analyses for sales organization effectiveness is complex task for two reasons

1. Many types of analyses can be performed to evaluate sales, cost profitability, and productive result for example a sales analysis might focus on total sales, sales of specific product sales to specific customer or other type of sales and might include sales comparisons to sales quotas, to previous periods, to sales of competitor ,or other type of analyses. 2. Separate sales analyses need to be performed for different levels in sales organization. Thus a typical evaluation would include separate sales analyses for sales zone, regions, districts, and territories.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books 1. Ingram, Lagorge, Aila, Schwepker jr. Williams [2007] “ Sales management analysis and decision making” Thomson corporation , sixth edition page no 7990, 245-278

2. Tapan k. Panda, Sunil sahadev [2005] “Sales and distribution management” Oxford university press, fifth reprint, page no 202-234

3. William l. Crone, Thomas E. Decarlo [2009] “Sales management” Willy India edition, Ninth edition, page no 166 -180

Research paper 1. Elizabeth McMillan “Considering organization structure and design from a complexity paradigm perspective”

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