Case study

 

I need 2 for 2 different students, you have the choice to do one of them twice or chose to do both, it’s up to you.

Please pay attention to Case study Grading criteria. Read and answer the questions I need 500 word and there is case study template PLEASE USE IT.

• Answer only the assigned question(s)
• A well developed answer is required
• Thoughtful and thorough answers are expected.
• Avoid rehashing case facts
• Make reasonable assumptions
• Don’t confuse symptoms with problems
• Make effective use of financial and other quantitative developed in the case.
• Make good use of evidence developed in the case

Please note the following items that are important to me as you prepare your next papers.

• Put a page break in before starting your reference page
• Use the title ‘References’ – I do not want a bibliography – that is something different.  Everything listed in the reference page MUST be referenced / cited within your paper OR it cannot appear there.
• Most of your writing needs to be in your own words – use short quotes or citations – do not include lengthy quotations.  There is an 85/15 rule that is 85% of the paper must be your own words (evaluations, analysis, and recommendations) based on your research.
• Indent the second & subsequent lines of your references on your reference page five spaces
• Each paragraph within your paper should have the first sentence of that paragraph indented five spaces for clearer reading
• Use subject headers – in this case, Question # 1, Question # 2, etc. are sufficient.  Do not write out the questions please. 
• Remember, APA does not allow first person (‘I believe, I think’, etc. is not in compliance with APA writing).
• Never manually type in page numbers – the header function within Microsoft Word should be used to include your page numbers
• For your citation of your textbook, always include the page number reference liked this (Keegan & Green, 2011, p. xx).
• If you select the Mayo Clinic case – do not submit in a Memo Format – deliver your responses using the case template in APA format. 
• Use authored references for credit – minus 5 points each if you do not use authored sources – however, you may use your textbook as one of the sources and the other source should be from a peer-reviewed journal. 
• An optional offer for you to have your papers pre-reviewed is available to you if you email your instructor with a request – subject line should be ‘PRE-REVIEW REQUEST’ and you must ask for the pre-review by WEDNESDAY MIDNIGHT of the week that your paper is due.

CASE STUDY GRADING CRITERIA

POINTS POSSIBLE

POINTS EARNED

Substance of Paper – Minimum 500-words – solid MARKETING   content. Template must be used & submitted   in MICROSOFT WORD document.  Minus 5 points if template is not   used. Subject headers required   – Introduction, Question # 1, etc. & Conclusion – minus 5 points if not   used for organization. Writing caliber   includes spelling, grammar, etc. (SEE announcement in classroom –   non-adherence to those items will be deducted here). Do not write out questions – minus 3 points   if you do.

No Abstract is desired.

35

Two AUTHORED Outside Reference cited in APA format and   credited within your reference page at the end of your paper. One   source MUST be a peer reviewed Marketing reference – specifically from the   Journal of Marketing (if you deviate from this peer-reviewed source, gain   pre-approval 48-hours before the paper is due by sending the actual article   to your instructor to gain approval). Citations must be appropriately done within   paper in APA FORMAT. Always provide the exact web site address for this course in   your recap of references for full credit.

If reference   page and citations do not match 100% – minus 10 points. Verify BEFORE you   submit your paper. 

10

APA formatted paper with cover page and reference page, Times   New Roman 12 font, 1″ margins, double-spacing, etc.

5

Total Points Earned

50

Shortened Title Goes Here 4

Running head: TITLE IN LESS THAN 51 CHARACTERS CAPITALIZED

Assignment #

Your Name Here

Central Michigan University – MKT560

Date (optional)

Example Paper

Start your paper here. An introduction paragraph is a good idea. It should state the purpose of the paper and provide a roadmap for the reader.

Please run the spelling and grammar checker before you submit your paper. It will catch mistakes like more than one space between sentences, spelling errors, punctuation mistakes, and split infinitives. Specific errors common in student papers that are not standard APA format include not having 1 inch margins on all sides of your paper and use two spaces between sentences. Note that in this example, there are no blank lines between paragraphs. This is correct in APA format.

Question # 1

Paragraphs start with an indentation using the ruler setting. Do not use spaces or the tab key. Do not use the “enter” key to get to the next line, just keep typing, and let the computer do the work. Please note that the references at the end of this paper are not cited in the text. This is not okay. They are there to give you examples of correct APA format for references. You must use APA citation format for all sources you use to write your paper.

Question # 2

Paragraphs start with an indentation using the ruler setting. Do not use spaces or the tab key. Do not use the “enter” key to get to the next line, just keep typing, and let the computer do the work. Please note that the references at the end of this paper are not cited in the text. This is not okay. They are there to give you examples of correct APA format for references. You must use APA citation format for all sources you use to write your paper.

You might not use this level of heading in your papers. However, consider it is to your advantage to ensure the reader, i.e., the instructor, sees the organization of your content fits the assignment criteria. Every paragraph should have at least three sentences and contain only one idea (this is not a good example of that!)

Question # 3 (if there is one – if not, delete)

Paragraphs start with an indentation using the ruler setting. Do not use spaces or the tab key. Do not use the “enter” key to get to the next line, just keep typing, and let the computer do the work. Please note that the references at the end of this paper are not cited in the text. This is not okay. They are there to give you examples of correct APA format for references. You must use APA citation format for all sources you use to write your paper.

Conclusion

Your final paragraph should provide a summary of your paper. This reminds the reader of where you took them on your road trip. It is similar to reviewing your photographs after a vacation. There should be no new information included in the conclusion.

References

Do you need help with your APA format of references? Check out http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/index.php

virginity if they use a tampon. When they go to the beach in tiny
bikinis, tampons aren’t their choice. Instead, hordes of women use
pads and gingerly wrap a sweater around their waist. Now, the num-
ber 1 tampon maker hopes a bold new ad campaign will help change
the mindset of Brazilian women. “Of course, you’re not going to
lose your virginity,” reassures one cheerful Brazilian woman in a
new television ad. Tambrands’s risky new ads are just part of a high-
stakes campaign to expand into overseas markets where it has long
faced cultural and religious sensitivities. The new ads feature local
women being surprisingly blunt about such a personal product. In
China, another challenging market for Tambrands, a new ad shows
a Chinese woman inserting a tampon into a test tube fi lled with blue
water. “No worries about leakage,” declares another.
“In any country, there are boundaries of acceptable talk. We
want to go just to the left of that,” says the creative director of
the New York advertising agency that is creating Tambrands’s $65
million ad campaign worldwide. “We want them to think they
have not heard frankness like this before.” The agency planned
to launch new Tampax ads in 26 foreign countries and the United
States. However, being a single-product company, it is a risky
proposition for Tambrands to engage in a global campaign and to
build a global distribution network all at the same time. Tambrands
concluded that the company could not continue to be profi table if
its major market was the United States and that to launch a global
marketing program was too risky to do alone.

PROCTER & GAMBLE ACQUIRES
TAMBRANDS
The company approached Procter & Gamble about a buyout, and
the two announced a $1.85 billion deal. The move puts P&G back
in the tampon business for the fi rst time since its Rely brand was
pulled in 1980 after two dozen women who used tampons died from
toxic shock syndrome. Procter & Gamble plans to sell Tampax as
a complement to its existing feminine-hygiene products, particu-
larly in Asia and Latin America. Known for its innovation in such
mundane daily goods as disposable diapers and detergent, P&G has
grown in recent years by acquiring products and marketing them
internationally. “Becoming part of P&G—a world-class company
with global marketing and distribution capabilities—will acceler-
ate the global growth of Tampax and enable the brand to achieve its
full potential. This will allow us to take the expertise we’ve gained
in the feminine protection business and apply it to a new market
with Tampax.” Market analysts applauded the deal. “P&G has the
worldwide distribution that Tampax so desperately needs,” said a
stock market analyst. “Tambrands didn’t have the infrastructure to
tap into growth in the developing countries and P&G does.”

P&G CREATES A GLOBAL MODEL
Despite the early promise that Brazil seemed to offer with its beach
culture and mostly urban population, P&G abandoned Tambrands’s
marketing efforts there as too expensive and slow-growing. In-
stead, it set out to build a marketing model that it could export to

Tampax, Tambrands’s only product, is the best-selling tampon in
the world, with 44 percent of the global market. North America and
E urope account for 90 percent of those sales. Company earnings
dropped 12 percent to $82.8 million on revenues of $662 million.
Stakes are high for Tambrands because tampons are basically all it
sells, and in the United States, which currently generates 45 percent of
Tanbrands’s sales, the company is mired in competition with such ri-
vals as Playtex Products and Kimberly-Clark. What’s more, new users
are hard to get because 70 percent of women already use tampons.
In the overseas market, Tambrands offi cials talk glowingly of a
huge opportunity. Only 100 million of the 1.7 billion eligible women
in the world currently use tampons. In planning for expansion into
a global market, Tambrands divided the world into three clusters,
based not on geography but on how resistant women are to using
tampons. The goal is to market to each cluster in a similar way.
Most women in Cluster 1, including the United States, the
United Kingdom, and Australia, already use tampons and may feel
they know all they need to know about the product. In Cluster 2,
which includes countries such as France, Israel, and South Africa,
about 50 percent of women use tampons. Some concerns about vir-
ginity remain, and tampons are often considered unnatural products
that block the fl ow. Tambrands enlists gynecologists’ endorsements
to stress scientifi c research on tampons. Potentially the most lucra-
tive group—but infi nitely more challenging—is Cluster 3, which
includes countries like Brazil, China, and Russia. There, along with
tackling the virginity issue, Tambrands must also tell women how
to use a tampon without making them feel uneasy. While the adver-
tising messages differ widely from country to country, Tambrands
is also trying to create a more consistent image for its Tampax tam-
pons. The ads in each country show consecutive shots of women
standing outside declaring the tampon message, some clutching a
blue box of Tampax. They end with the same tagline, “Tampax.
Women Know.” While marketing consultants say Tambrands’ strat-
egy is a step in the right direction, some caution that tampons are
one of the most diffi cult products to market worldwide.

GLOBAL EXPANSION
“The greatest challenge in the global expansion of tampons is to
address the religious and cultural mores that suggest that insertion
is fundamentally prohibited by culture,” says the managing direc-
tor of a consulting company. “The third market [Cluster 3] looks
like the great frontier of tampons, but it could be the seductive
noose of the global expansion objective.”
The company’s new global campaign for Tambrands is a big
shift from most feminine protection product ads, which often show
frisky women dressed in white pants biking or turning cartwheels,
while discreetly pushing messages of comfort. The new campaign
features local women talking frankly about what had been a taboo
subject in many countries. A recent Brazilian ad shows a close-up
of a tampon while the narrator chirps, “It’s sleek, smooth, and re-
ally comfortable to use.”
For years Tambrands has faced a delicate hurdle selling Tampax
tampons in Brazil because many young women fear they’ll lose their

Tambrands—Overcoming Cultural
Resistance

CASE 41

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Cases 4 Developing Global Marketing Strategies

differences too. There’s a party culture where women seem com-
fortable with their bodies in skimpy skirts and clingy pants.
This attitude led P&G marketers to conclude that Tampax ad-
vertising could be racier in Venezuela. One slogan, though, mis-
fi red. On a list of common misconceptions, headed by “will I lose
my virginity?” P&G wrote, “La ignorancia es la madre de todo los
mitos,” which translates as “ignorance is the mother of all myths.”
Focus groups were offended: “In a Latin culture, ignorance and
mother don’t go together.” The title was scrapped.
In the end, they unveiled ads like “Es Tiempo De Cambiar
Las Reglas,” for billboards, buses, and magazines. The company
knows that Venezuelan women will catch the pun: “reglas” is the
slang they use for their period, but the ad also translates as “It’s
time to change the rules.”

GETTING THE MESSAGE ONLINE
P&G has always been an early and aggressive adopter of new
media, dating back to radio and television. Continuing in this vein,
Procter & Gamble is stepping up its Internet activity to use the Web
as a marketing medium. P&G’s idea is to attract consumers to inter-
active sites that will be of interest to particular target groups, with
the hope of developing deeper relationships with consumers. Its
fi rst step was to launch a Web site for teenage girls with information
on puberty and relationships, promoting products such as Cleara-
sil, Sunny Delight, and Tampax. The Web site, www.beinggirl.com,
was designed with the help of an advisory board of teenage girls.
This site has been expanded to include an online interactive com-
munity for teen girls between 14 and 19 years of age, which urges
teenage girls to get the most out of life. The site includes a variety
of subjects that interest teen girls, as well as an interactive game that
lets girls pick from fi ve available “effortless” boyfriends. Characters
range from Mysterious and Arty to Sporty. The chosen boyfriend
will send confi dence-boosting messages and provide girls with a
series of “Effortless Guides” to things like football. If the girl gets
bored of her boyfriend, she can dump him using a variety of excuses,
such as “It’s not you, its me,” and choose another. As one company
source stated, “interactive Web sites have become the number one
medium, and boys are the number one topic for teenage girls.”
A feature of the site, “urban myths,” discusses many of the con-
cerns about the use of tampons and related products. Visit www
.beinggirl.co.uk for the British market and www.beinggirl.co.in
for a comparable site for India. Hindustan Lever has a similar
campaign built around the Sunsilkgangofgirls community portal
(www.sunsilkgangofgirls.com) for its products.

PUBLIC HEALTH FOR YOUNG GIRLS
In those markets where the Web is not readily available to the tar-
get market, a more direct and personal approach entails a health
and education emphasis. The P&G brands Always and Tampax
have joined forces with HERO, an awareness building and fund-
raising initiative of the United Nations Association, to launch the
“Protecting Futures” program (www.protectingfutures.com), de-
signed to help give girls in Africa a better chance at an education.
Girls living in sub-Saharan Africa often miss up to four days
of school each month because they lack the basic necessities of
sanitary protection and other resources to manage their periods.
According to research, 1 in 10 school-age African girls do not at-
tend school during menstruation or drop out at puberty because of
the lack of clean and private sanitation facilities in schools. If a girl

the rest of the globe. P&G began studying cities in Mexico and
chose Monterrey, an industrial hub of 4 million people—with
1.2 million women as its target customers—as a prime test spot.
Research and focus groups of Mexican women in Monterrey
resulted in a new marketing approach based on education.
“Everywhere we go, women say ‘this is not for senoritas,’ ”
says Silvia Davila, P&G’s marketing director for Tampax Latin
America. They’re using the Spanish word for unmarried women as
a modest expression for young virgins. This concern crops up in
countries that are predominantly Catholic, executives say. In Italy,
for instance, just 4 percent of women use tampons. P&G is fi nding
that in countries where school health education is limited, that con-
cept is diffi cult to overcome. P&G marketers say they often fi nd
open boxes of tampons in stores—a sign, P&G says, that women
were curious about the product but unsure as to how it worked.
Hanging out in blue jeans and tank tops and sipping Diet Pepsi
on a recent afternoon, Sandra Trevino and her friends seem very
much in tune with American culture. But the young women are get-
ting a lesson in Trevino’s living room on how to use a product that
is commonplace in the United States—and is a mystery to them.
“We’re giving you the opportunity to live differently ‘those
days’ of the month,” Karla Romero tells the group. She holds up a
chart of the female body, then passes out samples to the 10 women.
Tampons will bring freedom and discretion, Romero says. “For
me, it’s the best thing that ever happened.” A few of the women
giggle. Romero is on the front lines of a marketing campaign for
one of the world’s most in-the-closet products. Procter & Gamble
Co. pays Romero to give a primer on tampons in gatherings that
resemble Tupperware parties.
Romero and other counselors run through a slide show about
the stages of puberty. She pours blue liquid through a stand-up
model of a woman’s reproductive tract so the girls can see what
happens inside their bodies when they have their periods. They
see the tampon absorb the blue fl uid. Romero points to the hymen
on the model and explains they won’t lose their virginity with a
tampon. Still, when Maria brought home a sample from another
session a few months ago, “my mother said don’t use them,” she
reported. While the 18-year-old can be rebellious—she wears a
tiny tank top, heavy blue eye shadow, and three gold studs in each
ear—she shares her mother’s doubts. “You can lose your virginity.
The norm here is to marry as a virgin,” she says.
In addition to in-home demonstrations, counselors in navy
pantsuits or doctor’s white coats embroidered with the Tampax
logo speak in stores, schools, and gyms—anywhere women gather.
One counselor met with 40 late-shift women workers in a cookie
factory at midnight.
Counselors are taught to approach the subject in a dignifi ed
and sensitive manner. For example, they avoid using the word
“tampon,” which is too close to the Spanish word tampone, mean-
ing plug. P&G calls its product an “internal absorbent” or simply
Tampax.
Although tampons currently account for just 4 percent of the
total Mexican market for feminine-protection products, early results
indicate P&G’s investment is paying off. Sales for Tampax tripled in
the fi rst 12 months after the new program was launched.
Based on the success in Mexico, P&G picked Venezuela to be
its next market because it is relatively small—23 million people—
and its population are mostly urban. P&G gathered women in
Caracas for focus groups where they expressed some cultural sim-
ilarities with their Mexican counterparts, emphasizing the sanc-
tity of virginity. But the tropical weather fostered some promising

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http://www.beinggirl.co.uk/

http://www.beinggirl.co.uk/

Part 6 Supplementary Material

3. For each of the three clusters identifi ed by Tambrands, iden-
tify the cultural resistance that must be overcome. Suggest
possible approaches to overcoming the resistance you identify.

4. In reference to the approaches you identifi ed in Question 3, is
there an approach that can be used to reach the goal of “mar-
keting to each cluster in a similar way”?

5. P&G is marketing in Venezuela with its “Mexican” model.
Should the company reopen the Brazilian market with the
same model? Discuss.

6. A critic of the “Protecting Futures” program comments, “If
you believe the makers of Tampax tampons, there’s a direct
link between using Western feminine protection and achiev-
ing higher education, good health, clean water and longer
life.” Comment.

has no access to protective materials or if the materials she has are
unreliable and cause embarrassment, she may be forced to stay at
home. This absence of approximately 4 days every four weeks may
result in the girl missing 10 to 20 percent of her school days.
“Working with HERO, the Protecting Futures is a comprehen-
sive care program which brings puberty education, a traveling
healthcare provider for all the children at these schools, nutritious
feeding programs, educational support services, a pad distribution
program, and signifi cant construction projects to add restrooms
and upgrade the school buildings. Support for this program is part
of the P&G corporate cause, Live, Learn, and Thrive which has
helped over 50 million children in need.”
In addition, Tampax and Always brands help sponsor the HERO
Youth Ambassador program (www.beinggirl.com/hero) through
their teen-focused Web site. Twenty-four teens from across the
United States were selected to become Youth Ambassadors and
travel to Namibia and South Africa to work on the Protecting Fu-
tures program. Their personal experiences were documented in a
series of webisodes airing on beinggirl.com/hero to help encour-
age and empower all teens to become global citizens. All of this
effort is done with the idea that better health education and the use
of the company’s products will result in fewer days absent from
school and, thus, better education for female students.

QUESTIONS
1. Evaluate the wisdom of Tambrands becoming part of Procter &

Gamble.

2. Tambrands indicated that the goal of its global advertising
plan was to “market to each cluster in a similar way.” Discuss
this goal. Should P&G continue with Tambrands’s original
goal adapted to the new educational program? Why? Why
not?

Sources: Yumiko Ono, “Tambrands Ads Aim to Overcome Cultural and Religious
Obstacles,” The Wall Street Journal, March 17, 1997, p. B8; Sharon Walsh, “Procter &
Gamble Bids to Acquire Tambrands; Deal Could Expand Global Sales of Tam-
pax,” The Washington Post, April 10, 1997, p. C01; Ed Shelton, “P&G to Seek Web
Friends,” The European, November 16, 1998, p. 18; Emily Nelson and Miriam
Jordan, “Sensitive Export: Seeking New Markets for Tampons, P&G Faces Cultural
Barriers,” The Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2000, p. A1; Weekend Edition
Sunday (NPR), March 12, 2000; “It’s Hard to Market the Unmentionable,” Market-
ing Week, March 13, 2002, p. 19; Richard Weiner, “A Candid Look at Menstrual
Products— Advertising and Public Relations,” Public Relations Quarterly, Summer
2004; “Procter & Gamble and Warner Bros. Pictures Announce ‘Sisterhood’ between
New Movie and Popular Teen Web Site,” PR Newswire, June 1, 2005; “Tampax Aims
to Attract Teens With New ‘Effortless’ Message,” Revolution (London), May 2006;
“It’s Back; Dotcom Funding Has Jumped 10 Times to $166 Million,” Business Today,
May 2006; “Emerging Markets Force San Pro Makers to Re-examine Priorities,”
Euromonitor International, November 2007; “Tampax and Always Launch Protecting
Futures Program Dedicated to Helping African Girls Stay in School,” USA, Discus-
sion Lounge, Africa, December 4, 2007; “Can Tampons Be Cool?” Slate, http://www.
Slate.com, January 15; 2007; “Where Food, Water Is a Luxury, Tampons Are Low on
Priorities,” Winnipeg Free Press, February 10, 2008.

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http://www.Slate.com

http://www.Slate.com

National Offi ce Machines—Motivating
Japanese Salespeople: Straight Salary
or Commission?

CASE 44

a bomb. Unfortunately, the problem is considerably more complex
than it appears on the surface.
One of the facts to be faced by NOM management is the tra-
ditional labor–management relations and employment systems in
Japan. The roots of the system go back to Japan’s feudal era, when
a serf promised a lifetime of service to his lord in exchange for a
lifetime of protection. By the start of Japan’s industrial revolution in
the 1880s, an unskilled worker pledged to remain with a company
all his useful life if the employer would teach him the new mechani-
cal arts. The tradition of spending a lifetime with a single employer
survives today mainly because most workers like it that way. The
very foundations of Japan’s management system are based on life-
time employment, promotion through seniority, and single-company
unions. There is little chance of being fi red, pay raises are regular,
and there is a strict order of job-protecting seniority.
Japanese workers at larger companies still are protected from
outright dismissal by union contracts and an industrial tradition
that some personnel specialists believe has the force of law. Under
this tradition, a worker can be dismissed after an initial trial period
only for gross cause, such as theft or some other major infraction.
As long as the company remains in business, the worker isn’t dis-
charged, or even furloughed, simply because there isn’t enough
work to be done.
Besides the guarantee of employment for life, the typical Japa-
nese worker receives many fringe benefi ts from the company.
Bank loans and mortgages are granted to lifetime employees on
the assumption that they will never lose their jobs and therefore
the ability to repay. Just how paternalistic the typical Japanese fi rm
can be is illustrated by a statement from the Japanese Ministry of
Foreign Affairs that gives the example of A, a male worker who is
employed in a fairly representative company in Tokyo.

To begin with, A lives in a house provided by his company,
and the rent he pays is amazingly low when compared with
average city rents. The company pays his daily trips between
home and factory. A’s working hours are from 9:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m. with a break for lunch, which he usually takes in
the company restaurant at a very cheap price. He often brings
home food, clothing, and other miscellaneous articles he
has bought at the company store at a discount ranging from
10 percent to 30 percent below city prices. The company
store even supplies furniture, refrigerators, and television sets
on an installment basis, for which, if necessary, A can obtain
a loan from the company almost free of interest.
In case of illness, A is given free medical treatment in
the company hospital, and if his indisposition extends over
a number of years, the company will continue paying almost
his full salary. The company maintains lodges at seaside
or mountain resorts where A can spend the holidays or an
occasional weekend with the family at moderate prices. . . .
It must also be remembered that when A reaches retirement
age (usually 55) he will receive a lump-sum retirement
allowance or a pension, either of which will assure him a
relatively stable living for the rest of his life.

National Offi ce Machines of Dayton, Ohio, manufacturer of cash
registers, electronic data processing equipment, adding machines,
and other small offi ce equipment, recently entered into a joint
venture with Nippon Cash Machines of Tokyo, Japan. Last year,
National Offi ce Machines (NOM) had domestic sales of over $1.4
billion and foreign sales of nearly $700 million. In addition to the
United States, it operates in most of western Europe, the Mideast,
and some parts of the Far East. In the past, it had no signifi cant
sales or sales force in Japan, though the company was represented
there by a small trading company until a few years ago. In the
United States, NOM is one of the leaders in the fi eld and is consid-
ered to have one of the most successful and aggressive sales forces
found in this highly competitive industry.
Nippon Cash Machines (NCM) is an old-line cash register
manufacturing company organized in 1882. At one time, Nippon
was the major manufacturer of cash register equipment in Japan,
but it has been losing ground since 1970 even though it produces
perhaps the best cash register in Japan. Last year’s sales were 9 bil-
lion yen, a 15 percent decrease from sales the prior year. The fact
that it produces only cash registers is one of the major problems;
the merger with NOM will give it much-needed breadth in product
offerings. Another hoped-for strength to be gained from the joint
venture is managerial leadership, which is sorely needed.
Fourteen Japanese companies have products that compete with
Nippon; other competitors include several foreign giants such as
IBM, National Cash Register, and Unisys of the United States,
and Sweda Machines of Sweden. Nippon has a small sales force of
21 people, most of whom have been with the company their entire
adult careers. These salespeople have been responsible for selling
to Japanese trading companies and to a few larger purchasers of
equipment.
Part of the joint venture agreement included doubling the sales
force within a year, with NOM responsible for hiring and training
the new salespeople, who must all be young, college-trained Japa-
nese nationals. The agreement also allowed for U.S. personnel in
supervisory positions for an indeterminate period of time and for
retaining the current Nippon sales force.
One of the many sales management problems facing the
Nippon/American Business Machines Corporation (NABMC, the
name of the new joint venture) was which sales compensation plan
to use. That is, should it follow the Japanese tradition of straight
salary and guaranteed employment with no individual incentive
program, or the U.S. method (very successful for NOM in the
United States) of commissions and various incentives based on
sales performance, with the ultimate threat of being fi red if sales
quotas go continuously unfi lled?
The immediate response to the problem might well be one of
using the tried-and-true U.S. compensation methods, since they
have worked so well in the United States and are perhaps the kind
of changes needed and expected from U.S. management. NOM
management is convinced that salespeople selling its kinds of
products in a competitive market must have strong incentives to
produce. In fact, NOM had experimented on a limited basis in the
United States with straight salary about ten years ago, and it was

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Part 6 Supplementary Material

More Japanese are seeking jobs with foreign fi rms as the
lifetime-employment ethic slowly changes. The head of student
placement at Aoyama Gakuin University reports that each year the
number of students seeking jobs with foreign companies increases.
Bank of America, Japan Motorola, Imperial Chemical Industries,
and American Hospital Supply are just a few of the companies that
have been successful in attracting Japanese students. Just a few
years ago, all Western companies were places to avoid.
Even those companies that are successful work with a multitude
of handicaps. American companies often lack the intricate web of
personal connections that their Japanese counterparts rely on when
recruiting. Furthermore, American companies have the reputation
for being quick to hire and even quicker to fi re, whereas Japanese
companies still preach the virtues of lifelong job security. Those U.S.
companies that are successful are offering big salaries and prom-
ises of Western-style autonomy. According to a recent study, 20- to
29-year-old Japanese prefer an employer-changing environment to a
single lifetime employer. They complain that the Japanese system is
unfair because promotions are based on age and seniority. A young
recruit, no matter how able, has to wait for those above him to be
promoted before he too can move up. Some feel that if you are really
capable, you are better off working with an American company.
Some foreign fi rms entering Japan have found that their merit-
based promotion systems have helped them attract bright young
recruits. In fact, a survey done by Nihon Keizai Shimbun , Japan’s
leading business newspaper, found that 80 percent of top managers
at 450 major Japanese corporations wanted the seniority promo-
tion system abolished. But, as one Japanese manager commented,
“We see more people changing their jobs now, and we read many
articles about companies restructuring, but despite this, we won’t
see major changes coming quickly.”
A few U.S. companies operating in Japan are experimenting
with incentive plans. Marco and Company, a belting manufacturer
and Japanese distributor for Power Packing and Seal Company, was
persuaded by Power to set up a travel plan incentive for salespeople
who topped their regular sales quotas. Unorthodox as the idea was
for Japan, Marco went along. The fi rst year, special one-week trips
to Far East holiday spots like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Manila, and
Macao were inaugurated. Marco’s sales of products jumped 212
percent, and the next year, sales were up an additional 60 percent.
IBM also has made a move toward chucking the traditional
Japanese sales system (salary plus a bonus but no incentives). For
about a year, it has been working with a combination that retains
the semiannual bonus while adding commission payments on sales
over preset quotas. “It’s diffi cult to apply a straight commission
system in selling computers because of the complexities of the
product,” an IBM Japan offi cial said. “Our salesmen don’t get big
commissions because other employees would be jealous.” To head
off possible ill feeling, therefore, some nonselling IBM employees
receive monetary incentives.
Most Japanese companies seem reluctant to follow IBM’s ex-
ample because they have doubts about directing older salespeople
to go beyond their usual order-taking role. High-pressure tactics
are not well accepted here, and sales channels are often pretty well
set by custom and long practice (e.g., a manufacturer normally
deals with one trading company, which in turn sells only to cus-
tomers A, B, C, and D). A salesperson or trading company, for that
matter, is not often encouraged to go after customer Z and get it
away from a rival supplier.
The Japanese market is becoming more competitive and there is
real fear on the part of NOM executives that the traditional system

Even though A is only an example of a typical employee, a
salesperson can expect the same treatment. Job security is such
an expected part of everyday life that no attempt is made to moti-
vate the Japanese salesperson in the same manner as in the United
States; as a consequence, selling traditionally has been primarily
an order-taking job. Except for the fact that sales work offers some
travel, entry to outside executive offi ces, the opportunity to enter-
tain, and similar side benefi ts, it provides a young person with little
other incentive to surpass basic quotas and drum up new business.
The traditional Japanese bonuses are given twice yearly, can be up
to 40 percent of base pay, and are no larger for salespeople than
any other functional job in the company.
As a key executive in a Mitsui-affi liated engineering fi rm put it
recently, “The typical salesman in Japan isn’t required to have any
particular talent.” In return for meeting sales quotas, most Japanese
salespeople draw a modest monthly salary, sweetened about twice
a year by bonuses. Manufacturers of industrial products generally
pay no commission or other incentives to boost their businesses.
Besides the problem of motivation, a foreign company faces
other different customs when trying to put together and manage
a sales force. Class systems and the Japanese distribution system,
with its penchant for reciprocity, put a strain on the creative talents
of the best sales managers, as Simmons, the U.S. bedding manu-
facturer, was quick to learn.
In the fi eld, Simmons found itself stymied by the bewildering
realities of Japanese marketing, especially the traditional distribu-
tion system that operates on a philosophy of reciprocity that goes
beyond mere business to the core of the Japanese character: A favor
of any kind is a debt that must be repaid. To lead another person on
in business and then turn against that person is to lose face, abhor-
rent to most Japanese. Thus, the owner of large Western-style apart-
ments, hotels, or developments buys his beds from the supplier to
whom he owes a favor, no matter what the competition offers.
In small department and other retail stores, where most items
are handled on consignment, the bond with the supplier is even
stronger. Consequently, all sales outlets are connected in a compli-
cated web that runs from the largest supplier, with a huge national
sales force, to the smallest local distributor, with a handful of door-
to-door salespeople. The system is self-perpetuating and all but
impossible to crack from the outside.
However, there is some change in attitude taking place as both
workers and companies start discarding traditions for the job mo-
bility common in the United States. Skilled workers are willing to
bargain on the strength of their experience in an open labor market
in an effort to get higher wages or better job opportunities; in the
United States, it’s called shopping around. And a few companies
are showing a willingness to lure workers away from other con-
cerns. A number of companies are also plotting how to rid them-
selves of deadwood workers accumulated as a result of promotions
by strict seniority.
Toyo Rayon company, Japan’s largest producer of synthetic fi –
bers, started reevaluating all its senior employees every fi ve years
with the implied threat that those who don’t measure up to the com-
pany’s expectations have to accept reassignment and possibly de-
motion; some may even be asked to resign. A chemical engineering
and construction fi rm asked all its employees over 42 to negotiate
a new contract with the company every two years. Pay raises and
promotions go to those the company wants to keep. For those who
think they are worth more than the company is willing to pay, the
company offers retirement with something less than the $30,000
lump-sum payment the average Japanese worker receives at age 55.

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Cases 4 Developing Global Marketing Strategies

authority or an easy job without responsibility and authority, 64
percent of the Japanese picked the former, somewhat less than the
70 to 80 percent average in other countries.
Another critical problem lies with the nonsales employees;
traditionally, all employees on the same level are treated equally,
whether sales, production, or staff. How do you encourage com-
petitive, aggressive salesmanship in a market unfamiliar with such
tactics, and how do you compensate salespeople to promote more
aggressive selling in the face of tradition-bound practices of pater-
nalistic company behavior?

QUESTIONS
1. What should NABMC offer—incentives or straight salary?

Support your answer.

2. If incentives are out, how do you motivate salespeople and
get them to compete aggressively?

3. Design a U.S.-type program for motivation and compensation
of salespeople. Point out where diffi culties may be encoun-
tered with your plan and how the problems are to be overcome.

4. Design a pay system you think would work, satisfying old
salespeople, new salespeople, and other employees.

5. Discuss the idea that perhaps the kind of motivation and
aggressiveness found in the United States is not necessary in
the Japanese market.

6. Develop some principles of motivation that could be applied
by an international marketer in other countries.

just won’t work in a competitive market. However, the proponents
of the incentive system concede that the system really has not been
tested over long periods or even adequately in the short term be-
cause it has been applied only in a growing market. In other words,
was it the incentive system that caused the successes achieved by
the companies, or was it market growth? Other companies follow-
ing the traditional method of compensation and employee relations
also have had sales increases during the same period.
The problem is further complicated for NABMC because it
will have both new and old salespeople. The young Japanese seem
eager to accept the incentive method, but older ones are hesitant.
How do you satisfy both since you must, by agreement, retain all
the sales staff?
A study done by the Japanese government on attitudes of
youth around the world suggests that younger Japanese may be
more receptive to U.S. incentive methods than one would antici-
pate. In a study done by the Japanese prime minister’s offi ce, there
were some surprising results when Japanese responses were com-
pared with responses of similar-aged youths from other countries.
Exhibit 1 summarizes some of the information gathered on life
goals. One point that may be of importance in shedding light on
the decision NOM has to make is a comparison of Japanese at-
titudes with young people in 11 other countries—the Japanese
young people are less satisfi ed with their home life, school, and
working situations and are more passive in their attitudes toward
social and political problems. Furthermore, almost one-third of
those employed said they were dissatisfi ed with their present jobs
primarily because of low income and short vacations. Asked if
they had to choose between a diffi cult job with responsibility and

Exhibit 1
Life Goals

Japan

U.S.

U.K.

Germany

France

Switzerland

Sweden

Australia

India

Philippines

Brazil

35.4

6.2

11.2

9.0 17.8 60.6 5.5 7.5

7.1 16.4 62.2 10.9 3.4

3.7 9.2 72.3 11.9 3.0

2.51.7 84.8 7.5 3.4

6.7 5.1 76.0 10.5 1.6

22.3

Key: To get rich
To acquire
social
position

To work
on behalf
of society

To live as I
choose

No
answer

33.3 16.2 26.3

21.7 9.6 46.2 22.0 0.5

7.7 16.7 63.2 11.9 0.5

13.9 63.4 8.6 2.9

5.1 77.3 9.5

1.8

5.8 41.2

(Unit: %)

6.8 10.8

1.8

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