Good day, tutor. Kindly compose a recommendation and explain the recommendation based on the case problem picture below and relate it also to the concepts of investing in employees training and creating a marketing plan.

 

Case Problem:

 

Relate the recommendation and its explanation to the concepts of investing in employees training and creating a marketing plan. Thank you.

CASE PROBLEMS Marty Selig was looking over his financial statement for E-Town, his small chain case 2.1 E-Town of electronics stores. Marty's company sells electronics such as HDTVs, but where he really distinguishes his company from big box discounters like Best Buy and Walmart is in service. His best opportunities to provide value and make money are for services such as installing home theaters. But a tight economy has buy- ers either downsizing their purchases or not buying at all, and Marty is worried about whether his business will make it. A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. "Hey, Marty!" exclaimed Amanda Duron as she entered his office and sat down. "We've just come out with a limited offer, something that we have very few units for, and we're targeting value-added resellers like E-Town." Amanda represented a lesser-known Korean brand of televisions and other electronics. "What we'd like to do is consolidate all of our remaining inventory on this year's models into stores like yours, then offer a 30% rebate to you. You can use it as a spiff for your reps, a sales price for customers, or a combination of the two. And we won't consolidate these models into any store here in San Antonio except E-Towns. What do you say?" "Why the big rebate? Are these closeouts?" he asked. "Yes, they are. With this big rebate, I can't help you with advertising costs, but you can offset advertising costs by charging full price and keeping the rebate. Or, as I said, offer your sales staff a spiff." "How many do I have to take?" "I worked out a plan that is 50 units per store, and based on your past sales with us, I've already got a matrix for allocating the various models to each store. Can I count on you for this promotion? I'd rather it be E-Town than Circuit Country!" she said, mentioning one of Marty's toughest competitors. Marty considered her offer. The brand she represented had good picture qual- ity but was known, at least among dealers, for needing more service. The cost for installation was also a bit higher in home theater applications because of the way the cabling had to be done, but more service and higher installation costs would mean more revenue for Marty. Marty decided to take Amanda up on her offer. He marked the TVs down 10 percent, offered the salespeople a 10 percent spiff (ranging from $50 to $350), and applied the final 10 percent to local advertising costs. As he walked through one of his stores, he overheard a salesperson say about one of Amanda's TVs, "This TV is every bit as good as that one (pointing to a different brand), but this sale price makes it the best choice for you."