Hausser Food Case

Hausser Food Products Company is well known for its production of infant food. It controled approximately 60 percent of the market and continued to increases sales every year until the baby bust in 1980. This was the first time that Hausser started to see a decrease in sales. The marketing department has focused its efforts to increase sales. Currently, they have divided the country into seven geographical regions, each with a sales manager who reports back to the district level. The first step to achieving higher sales starts with the new management techniques at the corporate level.

While the sales have become stagnant, so have the selling techniques. Currently the sales representatives put in the minimal effort in order to reach sales goals and receive bonuses. With no desire to sell beyond the sales goal, the motivation in the employees has completely diminished. Not only have employees leveled their effort, but regional managers have also accepted the effect. In Florida, the sales representatives talk about how they love their district manager because he is “one of them.” Jay Boyer does not expect better performance out of his team because they are making the sales goals, which guarantees Jay his bonus. As long as the team makes the minimum goal, Jay does not see the reason to push them. The entire culture has been rewarded for simply being good enough.

Although the regional sales managers are satisfied with reaching the minimum, corporate would prefer to see the districts reaching maximum sales. This is not happening because there is no incentive. Hausser promises bonuses for simply meeting the sales goal, but does not promise a larger bonus for going beyond the goal. With equal outcomes, Hausser cannot expect employees to increase their performance.

The lack of effort and innovation has become the culture that people cannot change. Fred came into the Florida unit with the desire to increase sales. However, his performance simply