SEMESTER: Spring 2020

COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA 266-11

COURSE TITLE: Sales Force Management and Channel Strategy

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 units

INSTRUCTOR: Wasim Azhar

PREREQUISITE(S): EWMBA 206 Marketing

INSTRUCTION MODES: Case and lecture discussions; guest speakers

CAREER FIELD: The course will be extremely useful for those intending to pursue a career in marketing, consulting or corporate strategy development since effective sales and distribution channels are a key source of competitive advantage and an essential element of implementing and developing strategic plans.

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:

20%: Class Participation
25%: Group Short Take-Home Assignments based on Cases

25%: Individual Short Take-Home Assignments based on Cases

30% Final Group Take-Home Exam

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES: The design and management of sales force and distribution channels are key elements in organizing and implementing corporate and marketing strategy. Many of the strategy implementation problems to be tackled in practice are related to sales force and distribution channels.

The course aims to introduce frameworks and develop practical managerial takeaways for effective design, implementation and management of professional sales force and distribution channel networks and systems for companies during their start-up, growth and mature phases.

Issues discussed will include selection of types of channel intermediaries, targeted intensity of market coverage, desired channel length and breadth, and effective and efficient design of direct, indirect and composite channel structures. Coverage of the design and management of a direct sales force without intermediaries will include inside and outside sales forces, sales force deployment, quota management, sales force motivation, sales learning curve, performance evaluation and compensation, and matching sales force structures and incentives with new pricing models such as SaaS. The course includes coverage of effective and efficient design and governance of multiple channel systems, franchise systems and e-commerce channels.

The course also identifies the linkages of channel management with other elements of the marketing mix, and covers issues regarding ongoing management and coordination of channels, including how firms can best respond to the challenge of building channel cooperation and working relationships among channel members to improve the productivity and efficiency of channels as products and markets evolve. The sessions will be supplemented by a number of guest speakers from industry such as Cisco, Box, Dropbox, Unilever, and PwC.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: As a member of the Marketing Faculty at Haas Business School, University of California, Berkeley, USA, Professor Wasim Azhar teaches electives in Pricing Strategies, International Marketing and Channels Management as well as the core marketing course in the EWMBA, FTMBA and BBA programs.

Dr. Azhar won the Cheit Award for Best Teaching in the EWMBA program for 2007-8 and is a Distinguished Teaching Fellow at Haas. Wasim served as a Director in the Center for Teaching Excellence at Haas, advising his faculty clients regarding design and delivery of courses and participating as an instructor in teacher training seminars.

Wasim has been a member of P-FACT, a committee that advises the Dean on matters related to teaching. Wasim also taught at Stanford from 2001-2009 where he offered MBA elective courses in Global and International Marketing, Channels Management, as well as the core marketing course. He serves on Advisory boards of several overseas universities and has taught in executive programs in the United States, Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka and has travelled extensively in Europe and Asia.

Wasim is a member of several Boards of Directors of companies in USA including Globe Equity Partners, PageOnce Corporation and VeriSys Corporation. He is also Marketing Director and Partner in Amzone LLC, USA.

Testimonials from alumni:

Testimonial 1

Jay, Jamie and Mark,

I graduated from the Berkeley Haas Evening/Weekend MBA program in 2010 and currently work at Box in Silicon Valley leading a team that designs sales compensation plans for Box's ~500 salespeople. It has been a fantastic journey post graduation and I feel extremely blessed thanks to the Haas MBA experience and the network I have built.

Ten years ago, I had the opportunity to be a part of Professor Azhar's Sales & Distribution Channels while I was a student and it was this class that helped me solidify my career aspirations after Haas in the areas of sales strategy and sales operations. During the past few years, I have had the opportunity to be a guest speaker in this same class and it has been a wonderful opportunity to share real-world concepts with students and give back as an alumnus.

Sales strategy and execution is something that many business don't properly invest in and similarly, it's rare for MBA programs to offer sales related courses. I just wanted to say thanks for Haas giving me this exposure many years ago that helped me get to where I am today. It is these types of experiences that make Haas a special place and one where I am honored to give back.

Go Bears!

Best Regards,

Joshua Sivaslian

MBA Class of 2010

Testimonial 2:

As business managers our success is in growing revenue for the products and services we oversee. Professor Azhar's Salesforce Management course provides the tools to evaluate your company's business model and distribution strategy, to build a plan to move up or down market, and to grow revenue for a product line. Highly recommended for all sales managers and any entrepreneurs, product managers, and product marketers. Professor Azhar always has a high-caliber speaker lineup that bring the current market perspective into the classroom.

The lessons from this course have been invaluable in my career as I transitioned to a Business Development role. I oversee the revenue strategy for my company's new products and regularly use the course frameworks in building my go-to-market plans.

-Sarfaraz Rydhan, EWMBA 2017