Essay-Sales and Purchasing Management

Question (case) 1
TYR Swimwear is a well-established US producer of technical swimwear (worn by competitive swimmers) as
well as accessories such as goggles, paddles and other equipment for swim training. When starting the
business in the USA, they sold through retailers but later decided to rather sell directly to their end users
making use of e-commerce (web-shop).
This model worked well for the company and today they have a good market share.
A few years ago, they tried the same approach (direct selling / e-commerce) to enter the German market but
failed. The brand has almost fully disappeared from the German market.
1. Discuss and evaluate what could be the reasons TYR Swimwear failed in Germany? = 25 points
2. How would you have planned to enter a new market for the TYR brand? Describe an approach and
provide reasons why you have done how you would have done. = 25 points
Question (case) 2
DELL computers (USA) is renowned for the direct selling of PC’s (notebooks) to customers. Over the past 20
years the company has diversified its offers.
To compete with competitors like HP and IBM, DELL developed other business fields – see table below:
DELL revenue (in billion dollars)
Devices/Solutions 2001 2004 2006
PCs 20 27 30
Servers 5 8 10
Services 3 5 9
Software 3 7 13

1. Research the history of DELL as a company and analyze the DELL sales and distribution strategy from
when the company started business. What has made the business so successful? Why do you think the
company has started to diversify – adding products and services – in the early 21st century ? = 25 points
2. Given the company background above, are you surprised by DELL’s move to personal salespeople and
sales teams for business customers? Critically evaluate the pros and cons of their strategy. = 25 points

Answer preview:

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