Gordon Sparks Ltd. sells ergonomic chairs. The company implemented a new bonus structure for all of their managers. If net income increased from the previous year, managers would be rewarded with 0.5% of the increase in net income. In January of last year, Mingle Nicholson was hired as the manager of the marketing department. As the marketing manager, he was responsible for seeking external opportunities, managing budgets and understanding current and potential customers. Every three or four days, Mingle would meet with the sales manager, Logan Freidman. The meeting was usually about past sales, and whether there were changes to the selling strategy. This information was extremely important to Mingle, since he was responsible to ensure the marketing objectives are aligned with the sales objectives. During the year, Mingle made several changes to Gordon Sparks' marketing strategy. Mingle created a set of popular commercials, which were a complete success. Each commercial reached over 5,000,000 views on YouTube. However, by the end of that year, Mingle realized that he did not receive a bonus from the company because the company's overall financial performance remained the same. Discuss the appropriateness of the company's bonus policy. Suggestions to students: * State very clearly "The company's bonus plan is (in)appropriate, because, X, Y and Z." * Provide 3 or more reasons for your position. * Review CH 9 textbook pages 228-229. * Consider where the marketing manager has control and influence and how that person could best be measured and rewarded.