Conflict at ACME

Case Solution & Analysis

GROUP 3
MAINALI GAUTAM-19020841015
SHREYA KAPOOR-19020841031
AMRITHA VARSHINI-19020841047
RUSHEEL NAIR-19020841071
YASH CHANDRA-19020841095
ARGHYADEEP BASU-19020841109
NEAL VAKANI-19020841153
 SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
1. Major Dispute between sales and marketing manager at
ACME Ltd.
2. Acme runs a Line & Staff sales organization structure
where 2 functional departments are reporting to 1 head or
authority, while acting as independent units with conflicts
emerging with a time gap between actions taken.
3. There is a lack of Effective Coordination and a gap
between staff and line functions.
4. The sales budget is acting as a Coordination tool where the
sales team has to adapt to the results suggested by the
marketing team.
 IMMEDIATE DECISIONS
1. VP should support Mr.Chaturvedi, the sales manager, because the market research suggests changes which
directly affect the sales department without consulting the sales team. The sales team is well aware and informed
about their target market, channels , competitors i.e. the ground reality of the market and that a decision such as
this might have a negative impact
2. The VP should ensure a WIN-WIN Situation between the sales manager and marketing manager by
explaining the marketing manager that raising the Advertising budget would not guarantee an increase in sales
of the product.
● Cutting the retail margin will be too big of a risk.
● Suggest Mr. Gurunath to cut the offset cost from a different department that does not affect retail margin or any
other sales function.
3. The VP should explain Mr.Chaturvedi, the sales manager should not make decisions based on preconcieved
notion and understand the insights provided by Mr.Gurunath from his marketing research as it is supported by
statistical analysis and will provide positive results
 SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE
Long Term : Develop a Functional Sales Organisation from line and staff sales organization
● Increasing Communication & Collaboration with common Sales force.
● Works well for large organizations
Split the Marketing team into Strategic and Tactical
● Under which the tactical team would work for advertisements, promotion campaigns, case history, etc.
● The strategic team can monitor the concerns and issues of the consumers in form of a marketing research and
make strategic plans in accordance to the opportunities and threats. It can provide its insights to the tactical team
and sales team to align their strategy and KPI according the goals