An Analysis of the Dick Spencer Case
An Analysis of the Dick Spencer Case
The career of Dick Spencer presented in the assigned case offers several opportunities for the business student to examine principles of management using a realistic example of the modern business environment. This paper undertakes to perform an analysis of Mr. Spencer’s career in order to identify and explore those factors that contributed to his early career success as a sales person as well as those factors that contributed to significant challenges experienced by Mr. Spencer as he transitioned into the operations side of his company’s business and began to progress in his career up through the ranks of middle management. The paper concludes by offering recommendations that could have helped Mr. Spencer be more successful in his various management roles.
Dick Spencer joined the Tri-American Corporation as a salesperson upon graduating at the age of 22 with a master’s degree in business administration. Mr. Spencer experienced almost immediate success during his first year with the company, primarily through successfully landing a single, large contract. His success, although not as spectacular, extended into his second and third years with the company and his sales performance remained near the top among his peers. Several of Mr. Spencer’s peers attributed his success during his first year with Tri-American as much to his appearance, personality and skills on the golf course as to his knowledge of the company’s business or his ability to sell its products. However, this does not appear to be a satisfactory explanation. A close reading of the case, coupled with a review of the literature surrounding research into salesperson performance reveals a number of factors that appear to have contributed to Mr. Spencer’s success during his time as a salesperson with Tri-American.
A substantial body of research into the determinants of good sales performance has been accumulated over the last century (Shannahan, Bush & Shannahan,
The career of Dick Spencer presented in the assigned case offers several opportunities for the business student to examine principles of management using a realistic example of the modern business environment. This paper undertakes to perform an analysis of Mr. Spencer’s career in order to identify and explore those factors that contributed to his early career success as a sales person as well as those factors that contributed to significant challenges experienced by Mr. Spencer as he transitioned into the operations side of his company’s business and began to progress in his career up through the ranks of middle management. The paper concludes by offering recommendations that could have helped Mr. Spencer be more successful in his various management roles.
Dick Spencer joined the Tri-American Corporation as a salesperson upon graduating at the age of 22 with a master’s degree in business administration. Mr. Spencer experienced almost immediate success during his first year with the company, primarily through successfully landing a single, large contract. His success, although not as spectacular, extended into his second and third years with the company and his sales performance remained near the top among his peers. Several of Mr. Spencer’s peers attributed his success during his first year with Tri-American as much to his appearance, personality and skills on the golf course as to his knowledge of the company’s business or his ability to sell its products. However, this does not appear to be a satisfactory explanation. A close reading of the case, coupled with a review of the literature surrounding research into salesperson performance reveals a number of factors that appear to have contributed to Mr. Spencer’s success during his time as a salesperson with Tri-American.
A substantial body of research into the determinants of good sales performance has been accumulated over the last century (Shannahan, Bush & Shannahan,
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