The impacts of technology solutions on sales force performance of a “fast moving consumer goods” company in Vietnam | |
| Author | Pham Hoang Minh |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.DBA-SOM-21-04 |
| Subject(s) | Sales personnel--Vietnam Consumer goods--Vietnam |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Business Administration |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Dissertation ;no. DBA-SOM-21-04 |
| Abstract | The business operation efficiency of FMCG distributors is influenced by several factors including retailer coverage quantity, in-store execution effectiveness, retailer service quality. There are significant business needs to improve in-store sales execution effectiveness, retailer service quality, and increasing coverage number of retailers in Vietnam. This research examined how technology solutions impact salesforce performance of traditional trade distribution business in Vietnam. The primary aim was to improve understanding of relative benefits of the technology solutions adoption by empirically investigating its impact on salesforce performance. Technology solutions are a suite of sales management applications to improve sales performance that cover Sales Force Automation (SFA), Distribution Management System (DMS), Artificial Intelligence (AI-Based Smart Assistant), and Photo / GPS tagging.Sales Force Automation (SFA) refers to applications that reduce administrative tasks and help salespeople automate the sales process to the maximum.Distribution Management System (DMS) is a collection of applications designed to monitor and control the entire distribution network efficiently and reliably. Sales AI assistant is an application that helpssalespeople completing tasks in more effective manner. The theoretical basis for this study was an investigation of multiple factors impacting salesperson performance. The focus of the literature was around key factors impacting salesperson performance, including salesperson disciplines, motivation, ethical behaviors, and technology solutions applied as control systems and AI-guided Sales Assistants. The conceptual framework underpinning this study described how the technology solutions enabling salesperson base disciplines, retailer service quality, and in-store execution effectiveness impact salesperson performance. Although there isa significant number of researches studied salesperson performance factors, none has revealed holistic data-based assessment of howtechnologysolutions impact salesperson performance to meet or exceed monthly sales targets. The extensive literature review has revealed no known study analyzing this topic in an integrated manner. The key of this study is to empirically prove that technology solutions reinforcing daily work commitments and AI-guided insights impact significantly salesperson performance. This is also the first study conducted on technology solutions’ impact onsalesforce performance in Vietnam’s traditional trade distribution business. Thus, this research delivers a substantial contribution to the limited body of knowledge about salesperson performance in Vietnam and to other Asian developing countries. The study explored technology solutions increasing sales performance using a sample of 1,150 salespeople in Vietnam’s traditional trade distribution business in the year 2020. Sourceof data (salesperson’s operational KPIs) was automatically populated from “FMCG COMPANY” technology solutions including Sales Force Automation (SFA) and Distribution Management System (DMS). The data wereanalyzed with SPSS software package to attain quantitative measures, factor analysis, Spearman’s correlation, and linear regression. The conceptual model explained 3 key factors impacting salesperson performance: Base Discipline Compliance, Retailer Service Quality, and In-store Execution Effectiveness. These are 3 dimensions of the technology solutions. Descriptive and inferential statistics from the study showed a significant positive impact of technology solutions on salesperson performance for 1,150 salespeople working under 4 regional distributors of “FMCG Company” in Vietnam. The analysis suggested that the more salesperson operates with discipline on daily sales operational activities and leverages AI-guided insights, the better sales results they achieve. The results also confirmed that the specific key factors enabled by technology solutions have a significant direct positive impact on salesperson performance.This research showed that technology solutions enabling indirect impacts identified to recommend 3 key factors: Base Discipline Compliance, Retailer Service Quality, and In-store Execution Effectiveness were significant for salesperson performance of “FMCG Company” regional distributors operating in Vietnam and 3 other ASEAN counties. This study suggested that sales managers should consider improving their salesforce performance by leveraging SFA, DMS, and AI-guided Smart Assistants to improve their sales operations. The best practices suggested using GPS tagging, photographicconfirmation asproofof performance and AI Assistants recommending optimal SKUs selling relevant to each individual retail store. |
| Year | 2021 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology.Dissertation ;no. DBA-SOM-21-04 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Management |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (Publication code = DBA-SM, SM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Levermore, Roger; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Swierczek, Fredric W.;Vatcharaporn Esichaikul; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2021 |