AXON Instrumentation Company: The Branch Launch

Dilemma
Sohum Reddy (Reddy), the newly appointed Regional Manager at AXON
Instrumentation Company (AXON) had been entrusted with the responsibility of
launching a new branch of the company at Hyderabad, capital of the Southern Indian
state of Andhra Pradesh. He had been given the mandate to start with a clean slate and
also to consider setting up a new sales organization if necessary.
AXON, an electronic company based in Mumbai, had 123 employees. It dealt in a range
of electronic products that included plotters and digitizers. The company had a product
mix of around 45 and each product category had around 15 models (Refer to Exhibit I for
a brief description of the products). Its clients were primarily businesses.
AXON had centralized operations but had four branch offices – one each at New Delhi 1,
Lucknow2, Pune, and Vadodara3. The Branch Manager looked after some key accounts,
pricing, and some other logistical issues relating to the branch. In addition to the Branch
Manager, a resident engineer, designated as Sales Manager, was posted at each branch.
He/she looked after the sales of the territory falling under the respective branch.
Depending on the business potential of the area, there were also a few Sales Executives
posted in some branches (Refer to Exhibit II for the organizational structure at AXON).
While AXON had a good presence in Northern and Western India, its presence was
limited in Eastern and Southern India. With the top management at AXON wanting to
bolster the company’s presence in Southern India, the Regional Manager (West) was
given the responsibility of doing some initial market research to find out the feasibility of
setting up a new branch office in the South.
As their initial research showed that there was a big opportunity to be tapped, the top
management at AXON decided to set up the first branch office in the south in Hyderabad.
Subsequently, they decided to recruit a Regional Manager (South). Reddy, who had been
working as a Regional Manager in a rival company for the past four years, was selected
for this assignment.
Reddy had a very good track record in his previous company. While he was born and
brought up in Hyderabad, much of his work experience had been in the northern part of
India. Shortly after his selection, he had a meeting with the Marketing Manager and the
National Sales Manager.
Krishna Kant, the National Sales Manager, said, “We have great expectations of this new
branch. For some time now we have been thinking of rejiggng our sales force
organization to be more in tune with market realities. Keeping your past track record in
mind and your background, we are willing to give you free rein. Go ahead with a new
sales force strategy for the new branch… even consider a new sales organization if you
think it’s necessary.”

1
New Delhi is the capital of India. It is situated in the Northern part of India.
2
Lucknow is another prominent city in the Northern part of the country.
3
Pune, and Vadodhara are two prominent cities in Western India.

1
Ravi Shah, the Marketing Manager, added, “That way, we will have an opportunity to use
your region as a test market for redesigning our overall sales organization. You may also
decide on which product categories you want to focus in the initial few months… Just
show us results.”
Now Reddy had to decide what kind of sales strategy to adopt. While he was familiar
with the business and also somewhat familiar with the region, he hadn’t worked in this
region before. Should he opt for a completely new sales strategy, or should he go along
with the company’s sales strategy in other regions? What should the new sales
organization look like? What should the role of the salesperson be? What information
sources should he tap to arrive at the decision?
Exhibit I
AXON’s Product Descriptions
Plotters Digitizers Electronic
Recorders
Description Electronic device Electronic device Electronic device
used for designing used for storing used for measuring
documents of the parameters for
products processing industry
Customers Architects Any offices with Any chemical
documents industry

Exhibit II
Organizational Structure of AXON

CEO

VP (Finance) VP (Marketing) VP (R&D) VP (Manufacturing)

Manager Marketing Personnel Manager

Product Manager National Sales Manger

Regional Manager

Branch Manager

Sales Manager

Sales Executive