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Desperate Times Call for Effective Turnarounds

BCG

We refer to these as turnaround and restructuring efforts. Sales numbers may be stable, or even growing, yet profitability has begun to decline. Sales are now stagnating or declining, while profit margins turn markedly negative. At this point, the company starts burning through cash reserves and needs to launch a turnaround. .

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In the Best Sales Teams, About Half of the People Are in Support Roles

Harvard Business

Sales reps are most effective when they have the right amount of support staff, but exactly how much support staff does a company need, and how should it be structured? Call it a Goldilocks quandary: Too little support, and your sales people can’t do their jobs well; too much, and you’re wasting money.

Sales 130
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How to Downsize Your Sales Force

Harvard Business

Many industries have had to downsize sales forces. There are several reasons for recent sales force job cuts: Shifting market dynamics are one cause, including changing customer needs, customer consolidation, new buying channels, and slowing market growth. sales reps following an industry-wide downsizing trend.

Sales 99
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The Perils of Internal Disruption (Part 2)

Markovitz Consulting

This week I’d like to address sales incentives and volume discounts. Sales incentives—for example, bonuses to meet monthly or quarterly revenue goals—cause salespeople to stuff the company’s distribution channels with inventory far in excess of consumer demand. Next week: Batch Processing. Permalink

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Management Consulting versus Investment Banking

Management Consulted

I seriously considered sales & trading (in fact, I spent a summer at Credit Suisse First Boston in NY), and was tempted to continue in that line of work post-graduation. This expertise may be as broad as “operations turnaround” and as specific as “benchmarking for insurance companies.”

Banking 272
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Saving RadioShack

Tom Spencer

When the business landscape changes, how can you turnaround a failing company? Assuming this leads to successful refinancing, what should the strategy be to turnaround and save this iconic company? When faced with a broad turnaround question, it is important to ask a variety of questions to determine the source of the problem.

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The Key to Campbell Soup’s Turnaround? Civility.

Harvard Business

When Doug took over as CEO of Campbell Soup Company in 2001, the company had just lost half its market value, sales were declining, and the organization was reeling from a series of layoffs. You’ll need to set expectations, identify practices to bring those expectations to life, and then measure and reinforce your civility initiative.