Computer Use In An International Marketplace: Developing A Sales Plan For An MNC

The Situation
Most MNCs have an organizational structure based on worldwide functional divisions and they pursue transnational strategies. The firms manufacture subassemblies at centrally located factories and ship the subassemblies to the subsidiaries, where they are assembled into finished products.
A sales plan should be made, aimed specifically to this target market. Aim sales efforts at precisely the point where they will do the most good. This is much more effective than trying to sell everything to everybody. Selling hardware and software, show the MNCs managers how these products will help them better them better coordinate their global resources.

Table 1 Location of Managers in Their Organizations
Manager Location Hours Per Week
Management level
First-line supervisor or manager 14.1
Midlevel manager 7.0
Executive-level manager 7.2
Functional area
Information systems 14.6
Manufacturing 11.3
Accounting and Finance 7.1
Marketing 6.6
Other 10.1

Table 2 Hardware and Software Use by Managers
Information Resource Percent Using
Hardware
Stand-alone personal computer (PC) 56
PC or other terminal connected to a center computer 49
PC or other terminal connected to distributed computer system 13
PC or other terminal connected to a local area network 5
Other 0
Software
Spreadsheet/financial report preparation 62
Word processing 42
Database applications 42
Graphics applications 40
Other packaged or developed programs 34
Writing/debugging/running own programs 16
Electronic mail/communication 9
Other applications 4

Table 1 shows the location of managers in their organizations and te average numbers of hours per week that they use their computers. Table 2 shows the hardware ad software used.


The Sales Plan
Sales Plan for Parent
To have the maximum chance of sale, it is important to approach managers who have the most desire for the organization to succeed. It is them that mostly understand how important are efforts that would aid the organization to achieve its goals and objectives. Overseeing the whole organization and having the obligation to effectively manage the whole company, Executive-level managers have a big say on how the company operations should be managed and done, of course with recommendations from the First-line supervisors and Midlevel managers. It is ideal for sales representatives to sell to Executive-level managers, for the Management Level and to the Accounting and finance aside from the Information systems, for the Functional Area. Accounting and finance is important for the organization in assessing the performance of each subsidiary in terms of sales and other financial operations. By knowing what subsidiary is working good and which is performing below as expected, the parent MNC can create solutions and corrective actions to help the subsidiary with problem.

The Executive-level manager oversees the organization and takes charge of making decisions on the company's future strategies and goals. It is assumed that Executive-level managers have a clear idea of his subordinates' needs and should be proactive in the company's efforts in gaining competitive advantage. By offering Executive managers PCs or other terminals connected to a central computer system (Hardware) and Electronic mail/communication (Software), they can effectively manage the whole organization and make eventual updates, communicate to subsidiary officers and other officers in the organization that have the needed information of current operation conditions.

PCs or other terminals connected to a distributed computer system (Hardware) and Spreadsheet/financial report preparation (Software) should also be offered to Accounting and finance. The hardware and the software will aid the department in keeping incontact with other departments and of other subsidiaries in its efforts of generating financial performance reports for the whole organization.

Sales Plan for Subsidiary Company
First-line supervisor or manager should be targeted by sales representatives in selling computer hardwares and softwares. It logs most of computer hours used and mans the company's front operations, mostly attending and overseeing the whole assembly proccess, going out in the field creating accounts and closing deals. They are the ones who mostly need applications to aid them or help them in doing their tasks. Offering them a PC and other terminal connected to local area network and Graphics applications for creating models of new products or machines for assembly and other relevant operations, First-line supervisors or managers will be better-off and could work best with their jobs. It is assumed that since the parent MNC has implemented electronic mail and commuincation softwares, First-line supervisors will have no problem in constantly communicating and interacting with its subordinates.

Marketing is important for a subsidiary's operation. it is vital in unifying and making the organization work. Through proper marketing efforts, the subsidiary can create better strategies and provide consistentcy in terms of services and products althroughout. By offering Marketing with PC or other terminal connected to a local area network and Word processing softwares, this will give the Marketing department better hold of its processes and help them create necessary and effective marketing strategies in its efforts of keeping the company, its product and services, well publicised and widely appreciated.