Health care is sales

Health care is all about sales--everyone today in the competitive arena of health care is a salesperson. Your selling days began when you applied to medical school. Your product was yourself, and you worked hard to sell it. That was only the beginning. In your daily work as physician executives, you are selling yourself and your ideas-your ideas about relationships, management structures, partnership issues, merger questions, etc. It's a complicated world, and the concepts are often abstract and difficult. But it is your job to communicate with others to get things done. It is the most important part of your job. It is selling, in fact, at a sophisticated level. How do you communicate and sell yourself and your ideas effectively? Here, some ideas on how to listen and communicate.     

考虑行为外部性的多零售商销售努力激励

构建了制造商通过销售回馈与惩罚契约来对具有公平偏好的零售商群体的销售努力进行激励的计算实验模型。研究了零售商之间的行为外部性对激励效果产生的影响,并将EWA算法引入到制造商动态调整奖励与惩罚力度过程中以改善自身收益,为制造商在多周期激励过程中合理利用零售商间的行为外部性、合理制定奖惩力度提供理论依据。实验结果表明：制造商应采取措施尽量使零售商之间销售行为的外部性保持较低程度;在多周期激励过程中,制造商采用动态激励方式会优于保持奖惩力度不变的静态激励方式;动态调整奖惩力度会极大程度影响被奖励零售商群体的销售努力水平,但并不会影响被惩罚零售商销售努力水平的演化趋势。     

Intra-regional sales,product diversity,and the performance of merchandising multinationals

This study examines the relationship between intra-regional sales, product diversity, and performance of 45 merchandising firms using data from 1997 to 2003. The interaction effects between product diversity and intra-regional sales on performance are explored, using a curvilinear relationship. The analysis integrates three main theories, namely the resource-based view, transaction costs, and organization learning theory. The models measuring a firm's performance by return on assets (ROA) and return on sales (ROS) show that at high levels of intra-regional sales, small levels of product diversity can generate greater return to a firm but high levels of product diversity may hurt a firm's performance. Higher levels of intra-regional sales tend to improve a firm's performance and enhance the impact of product diversity on performance.     

一类CRM模型的构建及其销售策略分析

从分析现有CRM(客户关系管理)系统的缺失入手,强调了销售以客户“人”为分析基点的重要性,在此基础上给出了一类销售过程的简化状态指标.应用该思路、指标、借助于Pfeifer和Carraway的思路、利用Markov链建立商家与客户关系模型,就有限次销售的一次交易、多次交易及无限次销售的情况分别给出相应分析结果.并考虑企业实际运作,进一步讨论了该模型下不同销售策略模型的响应.结果表明,减少成功率小的销售活动,企业期望获利会更大些.     

Investigating a long tail in retail vehicle sales

The concept of the long tail in demand distributions has generated significant research interest because of its potential importance for producers, distributors and retailers. Studies to date have focused on information goods sold through internet channels. Here we study long tail effects in vehicle sales sold through conventional car dealerships. The willingness of customers to compromise on, and/or wait for their requested vehicle specifications are identified as critical factors in vehicle purchases. An extensive empirically based simulation study is conducted to investigate these demand-side factors. The results show how the characteristics of the customer population affect the observed pattern in vehicle sales. The interaction effects of supply-side factors are also highlighted, in particular the effect of the replenishment policy used in the fulfillment system. The study also analyzes the distortion of the underlying demand signal in the sales distribution and the lead time and degree of compromise experienced by different customer populations. Significant managerial implications are highlighted, including the dangers of using the sales distribution as a definitive indicator of demand, the need for the order fulfillment process to align with the characteristics of the market, and the negative effects of focusing replenishment on a small subset of the most popular variants.     

基于交叉销售的竞争供应链纵向契约研究

考虑市场上存在两个竞争性制造商和两个竞争性零售商,且每个制造商都由两个共同的零售商来分销产品,进而形成交叉销售的竞争供应链模型.研究该模型下制造商契约选择的动态演化过程.分析收益分享契约同时实现制造商与零售商利润改进的条件.结果显示:制造商的契约选择严重依赖于产品间的竞争强度,零售商间竞争强度只起到催化剂的作用.当产品间的竞争较弱,收益分享比例设置在合适范围内时,制造商由最初的批发价契约转化为收益分享契约,且此时收益分享契约为占优策略.否则,两者将因为收益分享比例无法达成一致,被迫以批发价契约进行交易.     

Inventory management maximization based on sales forecast: case study

The major purpose of this paper is to present a concept for reliable planning of the sales of small firms, where the large number of product variants complicates the implementation of this kind of system considerably. First, a methodology is presented to set up sales forecasting so that it can be integrated into the inventory management process. This inventory management software interprets forecasting information and provides users with a decision support system to minimize stocks in stores while at the same time avoiding missed sales. It is best applied in company types requiring high precision inventories, notably those in the textile industry; a large range of patterns are produced with many small variations (colors, size, customizations, etc.) and these products have a limited lifetime. Inventory management is difficult due to the multitude of products to account for and the necessity to sell them quickly. The methodology is intended for inventory management at the end of the supply chain. In store, the number of references, their similarities and the necessity to minimize unsold stock greatly complicates the reordering and restocking process. These types of companies do not easily lend themselves to classic techniques of sales forecasting and require specialized methods to estimate their needs precisely.     

不同市场能力下的“电商—平台—物流”在线销售系统的决策研究

近年来,随着互联网的快速发展,市场上衍生出了一些在线销售网站。考虑了一个包含电商卖家、电商平台和物流公司的在线销售系统模型,其中需求依赖于产品价格、平台和物流服务水平。研究了当物流、平台同时决策时,在线销售系统中电商卖家和平台、物流之间的不同市场能力结构问题。考虑了3种不同市场能力的分散决策模型:(1)物流-平台Stackelberg模型;(2)电商Stackelberg模型;(3)Nash模型。相关的均衡解和最优利润被得到。研究结果表明,在不同的市场能力结构下,当物流公司和平台同时决策时,即使他们的服务投入不相同,但最优收费相同。市场能力结构对在线销售成员和消费者有重要的影响。对电商而言,当市场能力较高时,会制定较低的零售价格,并获得最多的利润,同时能够提升消费者购买的积极性;当市场能力较低时,电商会制定较高的零售价格,并获得最少的利润。对平台和物流公司而言,当市场能力较高时,会制定比较高的收费,同时付出较少的努力,但并不能获得最高利润,同时会打击消费者的积极性;但是,当市场能力较低时,他们一定获得最少的利润。在Nash模型中,平台和物流公司会付出最大的努力,同时获得最大的利润,而整个在线销售系统的总利润也是最多。在物流-平台Stackelberg模型中,平台和物流公司付出的努力最少,而整个在线销售系统的总利润也最少。     

Cooperative sales promotion with a point-sharing policy: Advantages and limitations

Consumption-point programs have been commonly implemented in retail industries in efforts to promote sales and improve customer loyalty. In Korea, many retailers from different industries use a point-sharing policy to augment the conventional consumption-point program of each retailer. In a multi-retailer coalition under such a cooperative sales promotion policy, by purchasing from one coalition retailer, customers earn points that they can redeem points at other retailers in the coalition. On one hand, the introduction of this policy gives customers great flexibility for redeeming earned points, which can increase the demand at all retailers who promote the policy. On the other hand, the additional product costs associated with the points created by one retailer may spill over and be partly borne by other retailers, possibly distorting the coalition members’ equilibrium decisions under decentralized control. Under the general assumptions about the demand functions, we developed a model consisting of two retailers with fixed retail prices and addressed the retailers’ equilibrium decisions under a pure point-sharing policy. The findings suggest that the policy resulted in a cost spillover phenomenon. Then, we revealed that a pure point-sharing policy may fail to maximize the total profit of the coalition. Moreover, we showed that a pure point-sharing policy does not dominate the individual point scheme, which may explain the reason that point sharing is useful but not ubiquitously used in the real world. Our numerical examples also illustrate the way a pure point-sharing policy influences retailers’ profits when retail prices are decision variables. To improve the overall profit under the point-sharing policy further, we propose a target rebate contract to coordinate a pair of retailers. This contract can maximize the total profit and arbitrarily split the profit between retailers.     

Extending the pursuit of flow (lean) management to encompass sales,general and administrative functions

Abstract

Operations management tends to be treated independent of other business functions—the silo syndrome. In this article, we call for operations management (OM) to broaden its perspective by strengthening linkages with other functions of the business, thereby to realize competitive advantages and strategic integration, as well as to avoid resource misallocation. The issues involved are presented and tested by examining the effects of intermeshing sales, general and administrative (SG&A) expenditures with customer-centred flow manufacturing, the latter being measured by system inventory as surrogate for customer lead time. In doing so, we designate trends in total inventory as the independent variable—representative of a dominant target of flow/lean management—and trends in SG&A expenditures as the output variable. The research tasks are enabled by inventory and SG&A data being widely available in companies’ audited financial statements. Such hard data offers methodological and validation advantages over, say, opinion-based survey research. The research adds bulk to existing flow/lean management theory and can be helpful in inducing primary business functions (e.g. OM, finance, sales and marketing) and sub-functions (such as SG&A and management accounting) to engage in cross-functional efforts in the cause of flow-oriented process improvement and company competitiveness.     

Non-convex value efficiency analysis and its application to bank branch sales evaluation

We have observed when applying Value Efficiency Analysis [21] that decision makers wish to provide preference information related to existing rather than virtual (efficient) units. This observation motivated us to develop an approach based on the preference comparisons of existing units. The Free Disposal Hull model provides the requisite framework. We assume that a Decision Maker compares units using an implicitly known value function that reaches its maximum at his/her most preferred (efficient) unit. The unknown value function is assumed to be quasi-concave in outputs and quasi-convex in inputs. The main purpose – as in the original Value Efficiency Analysis – is to approximate the distance of each unit from the contour of the value function passing through the most preferred unit. We use examples to illustrate the approach. Finally, we describe a real application in which Value Efficiency Analysis was used to produce information for bank managers wishing to evaluate the performance of bank branches.     

Retailer's response to special sales: price discount vs. trade credit

Given the increasing saliency of special offers as a sales promotion tool, this paper analyses the advantages and disadvantages of the two most common payment reduction schemes, namely a decrease in the purchase price and a delay in the payment of the merchandise. Following some of the latest empirical evidence in the sales promotion field, the model includes a price-dependent demand, where price incorporates the ability of the retailer to pass on some of the savings to the customers. The integration of both the purchasing and the sale implications of the vendor's offer on the retailer's profit forms an integral part of the model. A numerical example highlights the main features of the model.     

3C零售商商业模式研究:促销与贸易方式交互影响

苏宁、国美两大3C零售商商业模式的变迁,是问题的来源.考察一个由生产商和零售商组成的供应链系统,生产商和零售商之间的战略博弈,并分析谈判力对博弈的影响.发现:首先,只有两种模式是有效率的,这两种模式的共同特点是在供应链成员中,一方完全控制市场而另一方作为合同的领导者决定利润的分配.不管是生产商还是零售商当其处于强势地位...     

An appreciation of alternative sales forecasting models: Recent techniques based on historical data

The subject of statistical sales forecasting has recently been brought to prominence as a major area of management decision-making by the growth of a substantive literature and the establishment of several research groups to investigate the building of forecasting models. Whilst a lot of attention has been focused on the relatively newer disciplines of technological forecasting and multiple-equation model building of macro-economic systems, statistical sales forecasting methods have also been subject to considerable development and a number of radically new techniques have emerged. The authors believe that it is timely to review the current ‘state of the art’ of sales forecasting methodology. This study examines a wide range of models in use although it is not intended as a comprehensive guide.     

Efficiency decomposition in dealers from the perspectives of demand forecasting,sales force,and inventory control: a case study

Efficiency decomposition is being able to know the most effective way to improve a company’s organisational efficiency. This study proposes a network performance evaluation model with non-controllable variables to evaluate dealers with an emphasis on their internal processes, including demand forecasting, sales force and inventory control. The proposed model decomposes the organisational efficiency into a weighted average of internal process efficiencies, where the weights associated with the internal processes are data-driven. This is applied to an empirical case consisting of 27 automobile parts dealers in Taiwan. Based on the analysis results, dealers know the relative contribution of each internal process to the organisational efficiency, and inefficient dealers are assigned targets for enhancing the organisational efficiency as well as the process efficiencies.     

新能源汽车补贴政策与保有量影响研究:单位补贴、销售奖励与产品差异化

以提升新能源汽车市场保有量和整体质量的补贴政策为背景,建立包括政府、制造商、零售商和消费者在内的动态博弈模型,将产业数量目标、高质量发展目标及补贴预算约束等政策特征纳入模型,对单位补贴、销售奖励以及差异化单位补贴政策的影响进行理论研究发现：在确保政府补贴绩效为正的条件下,政府对制造商和消费者的单位补贴可增加新能源汽车的 市场需求量,并提高制造商和零售商的利润水平;叠加的销售奖励不仅可改善单位补贴的市场结果,还可提高政府补贴绩效.考虑汽车质量的差异化单位补贴在不降低市场需求总量的同时,可减少低质量车的需求量并增加高质量车的需求量.单位补贴的最优值主要由政府设定的数量目标和制造商单位成本决定,数量目标和单位成本越高,则单位补贴越高,但政府补贴绩效越低.