Case

You are an analyst at ZS associates. Agriculta has engaged ZS to

help design the incentive compensation for their sales force:

Situation:

Agriculta is a market leader in producing and selling farm

equipment in a particular country. It had a revenue of $50 million
in 2007
Agriculta employs sales representatives, who promote specific
product or item to farmers and other agricultural businesses
within a specific geographic location
Agricultas major product is Drum-seeder equipment which is
used extensively by farmers during the process of sowing the
paddy seeds. The cost of a Drum-Seeder is $2,000
Each state is assigned to a single sales representative to
promote the Drum-seeder equipment. Hence, all the sales in
each state for the equipment is credited to the concerned sales
representative only
Joe Smith is the new VP of sales at Agriculta. Joe has engaged
ZS Associates to help him in deciding the performance metric(s)
for calculating the sales force incentives

Complication

Agricultas recent financial performance has not met investor

expectations. Joe is under pressure from the board to improve
the sales force motivation through a bonus program
 While, Joe understands the boards concerns, he would like to
make changes only after he understands the business

Key Questions
1. How can you help Joe get a view of the business?

1.1 Analyze the sales distribution data and observe any

trends being followed. What could be the reasons for these
trends?

1.2 Do you agree that the recent performance by the

company is dismal and below expectations?

2. What would your recommendation be on the

incentive compensation design?

2.1 What factors should Joe consider while deciding the

metrics for performance based incentives given to the sales
representatives?

2.2 Are there any other data feeds that Joe should request
to help make this decision?
Supporting
Data Tables
Product Sales Trends (In $):
Representative Information Product Sales Market Sales

Rep id Rep Name State Jan-Mar '07 Apr-Jun'07 Jul-Sep '07 Oct-Dec '07 Jan-Mar '07 Apr-Jun'07 Jul-Sep '07 Oct-Dec '07

101001 Michael McCalister Ariland 353710.00 2146620.00 966000.00 722561.00 798581.00 5435080.00 2415000.00 1806403.00

101002 Marcie Mcllrath Baseland 20073.00 125680.00 57600.00 57346.00 28392.00 175952.00 80640.00 80284.00

101003 Dennis Goetz Cosaland 126325.00 766650.00 345000.00 258058.00 176855.00 1073310.00 483000.00 361281.00

101004 Luanne Morris Direland 3093.00 108700.00 40620.00 40366.00 4330.00 152180.00 56868.00 56512.00

101005 Kendrick Carpenter Eupland 143710.00 1936620.00 756000.00 512561.00 201194.00 2711268.00 1058400.00 717585.00

101006 Anthony Searcy Firoland 140075.00 873368.00 398500.00 316644.00 154083.00 960704.00 438350.00 348308.00

101007 Marsha Brawley Goland 129418.00 875350.00 385620.00 298424.00 181185.00 1225490.00 539868.00 417793.00

101008 Steve Briseno Hireland 43663.00 299793.00 131133.00 96356.00 61128.00 419710.00 183586.00 134898.00

101009 Garrett Feldman Iroland 13206.00 80105.00 50733.00 50479.00 18488.00 112772.00 71026.00 70671.00

101010 Kristina Bugle Jenland 90366.00 698360.00 304326.00 238475.00 99403.00 768196.00 334759.00 262323.00

101011 Kristin Velis Kirland 56869.00 418600.00 181866.00 146835.00 79617.00 586048.00 254612.00 205569.00

101012 Shamsur Rahman Lonland 38530.00 294660.00 126000.00 91223.00 53942.00 412524.00 176400.00 127712.00
 Product Sales Trends (In $):
Representative Information Product Sales Market Sales

Rep id Rep Name State Jan-Mar '06 Apr-Jun'06 Jul-Sep '06 Oct-Dec '06 Jan-Mar '06 Apr-Jun'06 Jul-Sep '06 Oct-Dec '06

101001 Michael McCalister Ariland 335650 2089829 926000 734090 391580 2048951 3 880908

101002 Marcie Mcllrath Baseland 20200 127000 56300 54469 22220 139700 61930 59916

101003 Dennis Goetz Cosaland 119875 499718 N/A 187175 136250 610000 N/A 128093

101004 Luanne Morris Direland 2880 110020 39320 37489 6870 121022 43252 41238

101005 Kendrick Carpenter Eupland 125650 1879829 748160 524090 138215 2067812 822976 576499

101006 Anthony Searcy Firoland 146398 892330 402600 315404 336715 2052359 925980 725428

101007 Marsha Brawley Goland 123095 856388 381520 299664 110786 770749 343368 269698

101008 Steve Briseno Hireland 41083 291680 130013 98003 45191 320848 143014 107803

101009 Garrett Feldman Iroland 13333 120133 49433 47602 14666 132146 54376 52362

101010 Kristina Bugle Jenland 95399 713266 307866 238058 171718 1283879 554159 428504

101011 Kristin Velis Kirland 54416 411813 179446 145605 59858 452994 197391 160166

101012 Shamsur Rahman Lonland 23950 286547 124880 92870 40845 315202 -89815 102157
Forecast Data:
States per capita income from agriculture relative to total per capita income (in %)

State Year 2003 Year 2004 Year 2005 Year 2006 Year 2007 Year 2008 Year 2009

Ariland 40 42 42.4 43.3 44 45 45.5

Baseland 38 38.4 38.40 38.50 39.00 40.00 41.00

Cosaland 42 42.5 43.40 44.10 45.10 46.30 47.20

Direland 45 45 45.50 46.00 47.00 48.00 48.50

Eupland 32 33 33.50 34.00 34.20 34.20 35.00

Firoland 48 48 47.70 45.00 40.00 38.00 32.00

Goland 54 55 56.00 57.00 58.50 58.50 59.00

Hireland 42 42.5 43.40 44.10 45.10 46.30 47.20

Iroland 38 38.4 38.40 38.50 39.00 40.00 41.00

Jenland 35 32 30.00 29.50 29.00 25.00 20.00

Kirland 45 45 45.50 46.00 47.00 48.00 48.50

Lonland 34 34.3 35.20 36.20 37.50 38.00 38.30

General Instructions:
1.Last day for submission is 28th February, 2017.
2.The solution must be submitted in form of a Microsoft
PowerPoint presentation file (max 7 slides in total, excluding the
title slide) to submissions@bclub.co.in with 'GBAC Round 1
Submission_Team name' as the subject.
3.Individual clarifications on the case asked to B-Club or ZS
Associates will not be entertained.
4.You are not expected to come up with a creative strategy but
with an analytical solution (based on only the data given in this
presentation) to the question(s) at hand.
5. No plagiarism will be tolerated.

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