John Heady is worried about the latest sales figures for his company. As marketing manager of Helensgate Glass Ltd, he is concerned that over a twelve month period sales have dropped by some 10 per cent.

However, more than this, he knows that he will have to present and explain these figures to the main board at the company’s annual review of results.

He knows that understandably, the dir -

ectors will want answers as to why sales have dropped. After all, in the previous five years that the company has been trading, sales have increased every year. The problem is that John simply does not know why sales have dropped, nor what this means in the context of the market as a whole.

For the past two years, he has been arguing that the control and evaluation systems in the company, particularly with respect to marketing activities, have been neglected.

In arguing for more resources and effort in this area, however, the directors have always been able to point to the fact that there was no need to put more effort into this area of evaluation and control because sales were constantly rising. John now feels caught in a trap in the sense that he is going to have to explain the reasons for a drop in sales, but without having had the support of the necessary control and evaluation techniques required to provide this information.

He is determined to use the situation to reinforce his case for improved control and evaluation techniques, including the resources necessary to implement these. At the moment, the company only has a system of profit control in operation that can be used to examine profitability by product and customer group. In addition, there is a rela -

tively crude system of sales analysis. There is no market share analysis, no systems of customer tracking, no efficiency controls and no systems of strategic control in the com -

pany. John is determined to make this case for implementing some of thee key areas of market ing control in the company at the forthcoming meeting.

CASE STUDY QUESTION Prepare John’s case for the types of controls he feels are necessary.