sales force competency of steels products and energy business division in mitsui &co viet nam ltd

Le ha minhSales force competency of Steels Products and Energy Business Division in Mitsui &Co Viet Nam Ltd Hanoi – 2013... Le ha minhSales force competency of Steels Products and Ene

Le ha minh

Sales force competency

of Steels Products and Energy Business Division

in Mitsui &Co Viet Nam Ltd

Hanoi – 2013

Le ha minh

Sales force competency

of Steels Products and Energy Business Division

in Mitsui &Co Viet Nam Ltd

SUPERVISOR: PHD NGUYEN QUOC DUY

Hanoi - 2013

In order to complete thesis “Sales force competency of Steels Products andEnergy Business Division at Mitsui &Co Viet Nam Ltd”, I got supports fromprofessors at Business school – National Economic University, especially Dr.Nguyen Quoc Duy – my supervisor During the time for completing my research,

he helped me by his best when necessary He gave me useful guidance and fullinformation so that I can report my thesis on time He is really a professionalsupervisor with valuable supports

Moreover, I also want thank to all employees Mitsui &Co Viet Nam Ltd,including: Board of Directors, all managers and staffs that helped me so muchduring time of studying my research I would like to express my thanks to Dr SatoMotonobu, General Director of Mitsui & Co Vietnam Ltd and Mr NagasawaMasayuki, General Manager of Steels Products and Energy Business Divisionbecause of their advice for me during my MBA course and research In addition, Iwish to say thanks to Mr Asaga Minoru, General Manager of Human ResourceDivision, Ms Chu Nguyen Thanh Thuy, Manager of Human Resource Division andtheir staffs to provide me lots of useful information about human strategy, salarypolicy, human management form, etc

In conclusion, I would like to say thanks to all managers, staffs of EMBAprogram who helped all EMBA students in studying and research during 2 years

Thank you very much!

TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

TABLE OF CONTENT ii

ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF Diagram & TABLES v

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Research Objectives 3

1.3 Research Question 3

1.4 Research Methodology 4

1.4.1 Research process: 4

1.4.2 Collecting data: 4

1.4.3 Data Analysis 5

1.5 Scope of research 6

1.6 Research structure: 6

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ON COMPETENCY 7

2.1 Nature of competency 7

2.2 Competence model 9

2.3 Components of competence 11

2.3.1 Components of selling competence: 11

2.3.2 Competency assessment method and process 14

2.3.3 Factors affect to competency at an organization 18

CHAPTER 3: SALE STAFFS COMPETENCY IN STEELS PRODUCTS AND ENERGY BUSINESS DIVISION AT MITSUI CO VIET NAM Ltd 19

3.1 Requirement of sales force for sale staff competency in SPEBD at Mitsui Vietnam 19

3.1.1 Overview of Mitsui Vietnam 19

3.1.2 Sales force job analyze of SPEBD at Mitsui Viet Nam 24

3.1.3 The requirement for competency of sales forces at SPEBD 30

3.2 Current competencies of sales force at SPEBD analysis 38

3.2.1 Current knowledge 39

3.2.2 Current skills 43

3.2.3 Current attitude 50

3.2.4 Overall assessment on the gap of competency 52

3.3 The strengths and shortcoming of sales force’ competencies 53

CHAPTER 4: SOLUTION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 56

4.1 Orientation of Mitsui business in the near future 56

4.2 Solution to improve sales staffs’ competencies of SPEBD 57

4.2.1 Improving Training and Development 57

4.2.2 Improving Non-Training and Development 60

4.2.3 Recommendation to improve sales staffs’ competencies of SPEBD 63

CONCLUSION 68

REFERENCES 70

APPENDIX 1 GUIDELINE FOR IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW GENERAL INPORMATION 71

APPENDIX 2 QUESTIONNAIRES CURRENT COMPETENCIES OF SALE STAFFS AT SPEBD OF MITSUI COMPANY 72

MITSUI VIET NAM MITSUI & Co VIETNAM Ltd

SPEBD Steels Products and Energy Business Division

LIST OF DIAGRAM & TABLES Diagram:

Diagram 2.1: Components of selling competencies 11

Table Table 3.1: Structure of the SPEBD 25

Table 3.2: Sales Process of the SPEBD 26

Table 3.3: Results of Mitsui Vietnam Business and Business Division sales of steel in the years 2008 – 2012 27

Table 3.4: Members of SPEBD 28

Table 3.5: Basic salary of the Sales Department’s sales force: 29

Table 3.6: Responder of the deep-interview 30

Table 3.7: Requirement for competencies of the sale staff at SPEBD 30

Table 3.8: Respondent rate 39

Table 3.9: Knowledge on market and industry 40

Table 3.10: Knowledge on company and functions Of the Steels Products and Energy Business Division 41

Table 3.11: Knowledge on Product of the Steels Products and Energy Business Division 42

Table 3.12: Evaluation problem solving 43

Table 3.13: Evaluation assessment skill 43

Table 3.14: Evaluation forecast skill 44

Table 3.15: Evaluation Planning 44

Table 3.16: Evaluation communication 45

Table 3.17: Evaluation negotiation 46

Table 3.18: Evaluation teamwork 47

Table 3.19: Evaluation presenting 47

Table 3.21: Evaluation foreign language 49

Table 3.22: Evaluation taking responsibility 50

Table 3.23: Evaluation Enthusiasm and quality sellers 50

Table 4.1: The contents of the training courses 58

Table 4.2: Commissions for employees monthly sales 61

Table 4.3: Redistricting bonus for employees 62

Table 4.4: Weekly reports of sales representatives 65

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

From the 2000s, Vietnam’s construction industry has been developing rapidly.During sustainable development period, the urban environment is also taken care It

is the reason for the booming of Vietnam construction industry

On the background of the market economy, especially after Vietnam’s entryinto the World Trade Organization (WTO), the most important objective of thedomestic economy is to enable local enterprises to sustain and develop in such afiercely competitive market Enterprises must apply new technology and developshuman resource strategy in order to survive in the competitive environment of bothdomestic and international market Among important strategies to keep localenterprises alive, policy of the human resource considered as the first and foremostfactor to develop

This thesis is written based on the fact of Mitsui Viet Nam is facing with theproblem of losing competitive advantage in term of human resource’s quality for itsfuture development to become a leading steel company in Vietnam This weaknessinduces Mitsui Viet Nam easily to lose potential business opportunities due to thelack of competent people who do the job in the most effective way Therefore, thecompany is trying to overcome this bad situation by improving human resourcespecially managers that the company did not pay much attention before

In the scope of my thesis, the study was conducted to identify requiredcompetencies Mitsui Viet Nam’s sale office and assess their current competencies

to determine the gap between requirements and their current competencies, therebygiving some implications for addressing that gap

Based on literature foundation of the competency, competency model, jobanalysis, synthesis and qualitative analysis of primary and secondary data are used

to test Primary data are collected by in depth interviews and questionnaire survey.Secondary data were collected mostly from the company policies, regulations,reports From analyzing job performance and interview results, requirement of

competencies required were identified for the sale staff including: (1) Knowledge;(2) Skills: Personal Skill; Interpersonal Skill; Work Skill; (3) Attitude

Basing on given competencies criteria, the survey was conducted to assess thecurrent competencies of the sale staff at Mitsui Viet Nam in Hanoi In this step,360o evaluation method was used to identify their current competencies

The questionnaire survey was designed and revealed some key findings as follow:The Score that people give for most of competency criteria were not high such

as It means that the sale staff has some competencies not meet requirements of thecompany and they should improve these competencies immediately

The sale staff’s evaluation on competencies of themselves is higher thanmanagers and customers It proved that they are over confident in theircompetencies

The gap between current and required managerial competencies for projectofficer of the company was identified This is a big gap problem that the company isfacing and they should consider to taken the right actions for addressing this gapand improving these competencies of the sale staff immediately

Basing on these findings, the thesis suggested some solutions for addressingthe gap between the current competencies of sale staff and the company’srequirements I would like to suggest REST progress, which improves thecompetencies of sale staffs, included four function need to be implementedcarefully, and they are: Recruiting and selection, Evaluation, Succession planning,Training and Development

The thesis focused only on two solutions including training solution and training and development solution In training solution, the thesis suggested internaltraining and external training plan In non-training and development solutions, thethesis focused on policy of Compensation, Developing Incentive and Bonus term

non-and Conditions, policy of Punishment, Improving Evaluation to explore ways that

can help the company achieve effectiveness of the solutions in improving of salestaff as well as human resource’s

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, the economic integration with the regional and global economyhas recently accelerated in Viet Nam, hence competition is fierce One of themeasures for development of companies is improving its sales force because salesforce can build long-term exchange relationships that bring benefit to theircustomers and the company it represents Sales force competency requires salesmanagers to attract and retain salespeople who can create a more value-addedrelationship with customers and play an important role in producing corporate’srevenue, especially in the context that products’ features and benefits are oftenreadily available online Therefore competency for salesman in the company is animportant issue

Mitsui & Co Viet Nam Ltd was established in 2006 The main business of

Steels Products and Energy Business Division is that Import/ Export & domestictrading business on Iron & Steel material for various area, construction steel,automotive steel, plate for ship – building, home electronics, stainless and specialsteel for domestic market The Steels Products and Energy Business Division isworking to improve the sales and distribution of steel products to market tocustomers and to system of businesses The turnover from Steels Products andEnergy Business Division has accounted for about 80-85% total turnover of theCompany This result is due to the following factors:

The objective cause: According to the statistics of Vietnam SteelsAssociation (VSA), the number of steels producers totals about 400 and there arenearly 600 steels trading companies in the industry whereas the real estate market isstill in the slowdown period with plummeting demand

The inequality between supply and demand has lead to fierce competition inthe industry and make the market share of Mitsui to be downsized from 10% (2009)

to 6% (2012)

The subjective cause: the company’s sales force has yet to live up to themanagement expectations in terms of the size and competence.

The above-mentioned factors have led the company’s turnovers to be in thedecreasing trend over the period:

Billion VND

Indicators 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Facing the above difficulties, the Energy and Steel Product Business Divisionhas been assigned by the Mitsui Viet Nam Board of Managers to achieve a growth rate

of 10-20% annually in the upcoming years Therefore, we can see that the role of theEnergy and Steel Product Business Division is very important They take in charge ofcontrolling sales network as well as Carrying out researches, evaluate theeffectiveness of sales policies and current service standards to promote sales,improve service quality So the sales force plays a key role in Steels Products andEnergy Business Division Consequently, sales force competences are required asperfect as possible

From these rationales, this research topic focus on the issue “Sales force

competency of Steels Products and Energy Business Division at Mitsui & Co Viet Nam Ltd", thus generating the limitations of active sales force to provide a

basis for finding solutions to improve sales force competences at Mitsui & Co Viet

Nam Ltd.

1.2 Research Objectives

The goal of the research is to close the gap between evaluated and requiredcompetencies Steels Products and Energy Business Division at Mitsui & Co VietNam Ltd So I focus on four contents:

 Clarify the competency requirements of sales force at Steels Products andEnergy Business Division

 Analyze the current sales forces competencies and find out the gap betweenrequired and current competencies of sales force under theoreticalbackground applied

 Propose the solutions to close the gap between evaluated and required

competencies Steels Products and Energy Business Division at Mitsui & Co Viet Nam Ltd.

 What are solutions to improving sales force competencies?

- From Mitsui & Co Viet Nam Ltd of documents, reports, policies,regulations, labor agreement: show the performance of sales staff

- Other articles on newspapers, journals, books, magazines related tocompetency subject

1.4.2.2 Primary data:

Colleting primary data is very important for the author implement this research.Based on desire of this thesis, resolving power and authentic of data, the author chose 2formally information gathering: in-depth interview and questionnaire survey

Sale staff’s job analysis

Required competence for sale staffs

Gap Recommendation

a) Method of in-depth interview with the following key persons of SPEBD:

- 01 Director of Mitsui Vietnam

- 01 Manager of Steels Products and Energy Business Division

Approach ways of in-depth interview are:

- Meeting directly key managers in Mitsui Vietnam

- Proposing questions based on list of prepared questions

- Collecting opinions and comments

The purposes of the in-depth interviews are:

- To identify the current salesmen competency of SPEBD

- To find out the evaluation of sale staff competency

- To find out the requirement for competencies of the sale staff at SPEBD b) Survey: This research used survey method to give questionnaire to 13current sales staff of Division to collect data about their opinions aboutthemselves as well as their colleagues’ competencies, and 50 customers tocollect data about current salesmen competencies and their demand

1.4.3 Data Analysis

From the primary data that were collected, it have been used to figure outwhat that data to serve for the research The keys when analyzing the data is to pullout information that is the most pertinent to the research

When analyzing survey, the raw data has been got into that can bemanipulated The results of multiple choices answer system in the survey have beenentered into Excel spreadsheet to answer the research question

Secondary data can be a valuable source of information for gaining knowledgeand insight into a broad range pf issues and phenomena Review and analysis ofsecondary data can Review and analysis of secondary data can provide a cost-effectiveway of adressing issues, conducting cross-national comparisons, understanding country-specific and local conditions, describing the current situation

1.5 Scope of research

Object: The thesis focus on competency of sales force Steels Products and

Energy Business Division at Mitsui & Co Viet Nam Ltd through improving salestaffs competency of Steels Products and Energy Business Division at Mitsui & CoViet Nam Ltd

Time:

Secondary data: 2 consecutive years 2011 – 2012

Primary data: will be collected via questionnaires and face to face interviewfrom April to July, 2013

CHAPITER 4: SOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

ON COMPETENCY

2.1 Nature of competency

Competence has been long understood as a person’s ability or capacity to do

a job It was devised in the 1970s by the US Company McBer to identify thespecific personal characteristics which resulted in effective and/or superiorperformance

So, what exactly is the idea behind competencies ?

Every job has a requirement of specific set of competencies to undertake itefficiently, and the individuals who would perform the job need to be laced withthose competencies One of the interesting and worth mentioning aspect of this term

is that it focuses not on what a person can do but on what a person can learn Thisforward looking approach makes it quite popular amongst training providers andrecruitment experts

Competencies with their specific behavioral indicators facilitate thedemonstration of appropriate skills and behaviors, it is not a set of tasks performedlike a robot neither it is an underlying capacity which is never demonstrated

Competency also includes motivation and self-knowledge, a desire andwillingness to demonstrate effective performance

So, with this information we can proceed to defining Competency:

A set of individual performance behaviors which are observable, measurableand critical to successful individual and company performance

Individual characteristics of a person which result in an effective andsuperior performance in a job

There has been a lot of debate on the aspect that whether competencies areunique to a particular job or they are generic in nature A little example would helpthe understanding, does ‘Management’ require the same set of behaviors to be

demonstrated across the organization, job function, location etc by the managers orthey differ across organizations, cultures, functions and settings

Another way, Competency: The combination of observable and measurable

knowledge, skills, abilities and personal attributes that contribute to enhancedemployee performance and ultimately result in organizational success Tounderstand competencies, it is important to define the various components ofcompetencies

In the scope of the thesis, competency is defined as follow:

Competency = Knowledge + Skills + Attitude

Knowledge is the cognizance of facts, truths and principles gained from

formal training and/or experience Application and sharing of one's knowledge base

is critical to individual and organizational success

Skill is a developed proficiency or dexterity in mental operations or physical

processes that is often acquired through specialized training; the execution of theseskills results in successful performance

Skills include many different fields You will have to apply a lot of skills toachieve high efficiency in work Each occupation, job title, different areas requiredifferent skills It depends on the ability applications of individual to specific:

- Functional skills (work skills)- are those basic skills used for solcingnormal problems in daily situations Examples of function skills arecommunicating, listening, questioning, analyzing, decision-making andorganizing

- Adaptive skills (Personal skills and Interpersonal skills)- are those skillsrelated to personality traits that help the worker adapt to new or changingenvironments Example of adaptive skills are flexibility, positive workattitude and assertiveness

With managers, skills is also the practice of understanding, developing anddeploying people and their skills Well-implemented skills management should

identify the skills that job roles required, the skills of individual employees, and anygap between the required skills and individual's skills.

Attitude: are generally positive or negative views of a person (individual's

degree of like or dislike for something), place, thing, or event- this is often referred

to as the attitude object People can also be conflicted or ambivalent toward anobject, meaning that they simultaneously possess both positive and negativeattitudes toward somebody or something

Professional attitude is understood as the way of thinking and behaving atwork Attitudes can affect one's working willingness, tendency of achievingknowledge at work and affect the result of job performance

Attitudes have three important characteristics: they are learned, theypredispose action, they have evaluation (favorable-unfavorable, positive-negative,good-bad) To do an effective job in the change rapid world, the employee needs todevelopment knowledge, skills and attitude at work To meet the needs of societyand work, every organization ought to have HRM development plan To do that,they must regularly assess the competency of their staff to understand theweaknesses of HRM in organization

(Source: http://hr.unl.edu/compensation/nuvalues/corecompetencies.shtml )

2.2 Competence model

A competency model is a framework for organizing a collection ofobservable skills, behaviors, and attitudes that impact the quality of work thatpeople do It describes what people need to know and be able to do in order toexecute on their responsibilities effectively

Even though the definition is pretty simple, the role of competency models inorganizational design has become extremely significant In fact, as the war for talentcontinues to rage, many organizations have come to view competencies asfoundational to effective talent management and have classified competency models

as a strategic imperative The reason for this is that the best organizations are usingcompetencies to:

+ recruit and select of employees to ensure organizational fit,

+ set performance expectations and measure contributions objectively,

+ focus employees on what is critical to enhancing their contribution and increasing their satisfaction, and

+ provide a roadmap for employee development and career planning

In addition, by assessing “competency gaps” in relation to individuals and groups, competency models become valuable inputs to creating highly targeted training initiatives.

Developing Competency Models: Competency enable employees to achieve results, there by creating value It follows that competencies aligned with business objectives help foster an organization's success Organizations must understand their core competency needs- the skills, knowledge, behaviors, and abilities that are necessary for people in key roles to deliver business results.

According to Boulter, at al (1998), there six stages involved in defining a competency model for a given job role These stages are:

1 Performance criteria- Defining the criteria for superior performance in the role.

2 Criterion sample- Choosing a sample of people performing the role for data collection.

3 Data collection- collecting sample data about behaviors that lead to success.

4 Data analysis- Developing hypotheses about the competencies of outstanding performers and how these competencies work together to produce desired results.

5 Validation- Validating the results of data collection and analysis.

6 Application- Applying the competency models in human resource activities, as needed.

2.3 Components of competence

2.3.1 Components of selling competence:

An effective competence management system management system willmonitor each of the key components of competence, as shown below:

Diagram 2.1: Components of selling competencies

(Source: http:// www trainism.com/be-competent-be

supremely-self-competent- article html)

In selling, the sale competencies are behaviors that encompass the sellingknowledge, selling skills, and selling attitudes required for successful performance

 Selling skills:

There are five (5) Critical Sell skills that make the greatest impact on

moving the sale forward If your sales teams master these skills within a saleprocess that matches how customers make decisions, you will see dramatic andconsistent in sales productivity

1 Managing the Buyer/Seller Relationship

2 Sales Call Planning

3 Sales Questioning Skills

4 Sales Presentation Skills

5 Gaining Commitment

There are three reasons why these selling skills are the highest pripority

1 Sales staffs can be taught how and when to use each skill (Success is notbased on personality.)

2 Skill level and learning can be measured Our assessment will measure skilllevel and give on – the – spot recommendations on how to improve in each key area

3 When these skills are mastered, your business will see a dramatic increase

in sales productivity

 Selling knowledge:

Selling knowledge is power and for retailers, product knowledge can mean

more sales It is difficult to effectively sell to a consumer if we cannot show how aparticular product will address a shopper’s needs Read on to learn some of thebenefits of knowing the products you sell

Strengthens Communication Skills

Having a thorough understanding of the products on the shelves can allow aretailer to use different techniques and methods of presenting the product tocustomers Stronger communication skills will allow a salesperson to recognize andadapt a sales presentation for the various types of customers

Boosts Enthusiasm

Seeing someone completely enthusiastic about a product is one of the bestselling tools As you generate excitement for the product, you remove anyuncertainty the product may not be the best solution for that customer The easiestway to become enthusiastic is to truly believe in the product

Grows Confidence

If a customer isn't fully committed to completing a sale, the difference maysimply be the presence (or lack) of confidence a salesperson has towardstheproduct Becoming educated in the product and its uses will help cement thanconfidence

Assists in Overcoming Objections

Objection made by customers may be struck down with factual information

regarding the product That information usually comes in the form of productknowledge Being well versed in not only your products, but similar products sold

by competitors, allows you to easily counter objections

How to Gain Product Knowledge

What to Know About Your Products

• Pricing structure

• Styles, colors or models available

• History of the product

• Any special manufacturing process

• How to use the product

• Product distribution and delivery

• Servicing, warranty and repair information

It may take a while to easily articulate your product knowledge, especiallywith new products, but over time you will become comfortable and confident inproviding the correct information to shoppers That confidence will pay off in

improved sales results.

 In Sales, Your Attitude is Important:

Your attitude is what drives all your physical learning and behaviors, if yourattitude is off in the slightest you can be sure that this will be reflected in yourresults Often times when results do not appear to be going your way the answer can

be found in your attitude somewhere (Article Source:http:/lEzineArticles.com/2117505)

2.3.2 Competency assessment method and process

 Competency assessment method according to 360 Degree Feedback :

There are four methods to evaluate the competencies of salesmen such as selfassessment by employee, supervisor's evaluation, customer's assessment and the lastone is 360 degree feedback

The first one is self assessment by employee Salesmen will evaluate

themselves base on the common competencies criteria The advantage of thismethod is nobody can understand you by yourself And the disadvantage of thismethod is their evaluation is not exact in some case

The second one is manager's or supervisor's evaluation This assessment

usually is made at the end of month, quarter, years The advantages of this methodare save time and exact evaluation, because the manager can understand their staffsthrough daily working The disadvantages of this method are: emotional factorinfluence, different level manager will have different way to evaluate salesmen

The third one is customer's assessment Salesmen have to perform and

contact with their customer everyday to make a deal, to present their sellingknowledge for any customer's questions… Therefore, customer will evaluate thequalification of salesmen through their feeling The advantages of this method areshowing the requirement of customer about the services of company andrequirement of customer about the behavior or experience of salesman Thedisadvantages of this method are: need long time to collect assessments' from

customer, some trouble happen with' unready customer and the quality of theevaluation is influenced by customer's emotion.

360 Degree Feedback is a system or process in which employees receive

confidential, anonymous feedback from the people who work around them Thistypically includes the employee's manager, peers, and direct reports A mixture ofabout eight to twelve people fill out an anonymous online feedback form that asksquestions covering a broad range of workplace competencies The feedback formsinclude questions that are measured on a rating scale and also ask raters to providewritten comments The person receiving feedback also fills out a self-rating surveythat includes the same survey questions that others receive in their forms

Managers and leaders within organizations use 360 feedback surveys to get abetter understanding of their strengths and weaknesses The 360 feedback systemautomatically tabulates the results and presents those in a format that helps thefeedback recipient create a development plan Individual responses are alwayscombined with responses from other people in the same rater category (e.g peer,direct report) in order to preserve anonymity and to give the employee a clearpicture of his/her greatest overall strengths and weaknesses

360 Degree Feedback can also be a useful development tool for people whoare not in a management role (customers) Strictly speaking, a "non-manager" 360assessment is not measuring feedback from 360 degrees since there are no directreports, but the same principles still apply 360 Feedback for non-managers is useful

to help people be more effective in their current roles, and also to help themunderstand what areas they should focus on if they want to move into amanagement role

 360 degree Feedback as a Development Tool to help employees

recognize strengths and weaknesses and become more effective:

When done properly, 360 degree is highly effective as a development tool.The feedback process gives people an opportunity to provide anonymous feedback

to a coworker that they might otherwise be uncomfortable giving Feedback

recipients gain insight into how others perceive them and have an opportunity toadjust behaviors and develop skills that will enable them to excel at their jobs.

 360 degree Feedback as a Performance Appraisal Tool to measure

employee performance

Using a 360 degree feedback system for Performance Appraisal is a commonpractice, but not always a good idea It is difficulty to properly structure a 360feedback process that creates an atmosphere of trust when you use 360 evaluations

to measure performance Moreover, 360 degree feedback focuses on behaviors andcompetencies more than on basic skills, job requirements, and performanceobjectives These things are most appropriately addressed by an employee andhis/her manager as part of an annual review and performance appraisal process Itcertainly possible and can be beneficial to incorporate 360 degree feedback into alarge performance management process, but only with clear communication on howthe 360 feedback will be used

Advantage of 360 degree Feedback is: Peers and direct reports have moreregular contact than manager, self-ratings force employees, each person have aunique perspective and greater reliability in the feedback exists because of theincreased number of ratings But, disadvantage of this method are time consumingand more complicate with other methods

Base on the advantages and disadvantages each method, I choose the 360degree feedback method to evaluate competencies of salesmen in SPEBD ofMitsui's Company Because this method will supply larger, more accurate evaluatedinformation about sales staff in SPEBD of Mitsui's Company the other.Competencies evaluation will be rate in in-depth interview and questionnaire surveyfrom in next part

 Competency assessment process:

This part shows the criteria and method to assess competencies in general This

is a theory providing some factors that are necessary to evaluate competencies of sale

staffs likes: Skill, Knowledge and Attitude… The way to evaluate competencies of salestaffs: how to conduct assessment process, how many steps in this process.

Step 1: Create a position profile: Describe sale staffs in term of attitudes,

knowledge and skills most successfully performance and the proficiency level required.Aims of this step are to determine necessary competences for sale staffs to competetheir works To determine competencies based on job analysis and depth interviewmanagers of SPEBD at Mitsui's Company Its aims are to answer question: “What arerequired competences of sale staffs in SPEBD of Mitsui's Company?”

Step 2: Create a person profile: Rate current level of proficiency on attitudes,

knowledge and skill to identify in the position profile

Based on requirements of competences as determine in step 1, questionnaire willdesign to investigate current rate of competences of sale staffs Four objects arechosen to investigate including SPEBD staffs, managers, director and customersResult of this step is to answer the second question of my thesis: “What are currentcompetencies of sale staffs in SPEBD?”

Step 3: Clarify the shortage between required and current competencies:

identify any current attitudes, knowledge and skill that lower than requiredcompetencies

Based on survey result of the second step, these results will processed bySPSS, Excel application to find rate of assessment of each object about sale staffs’current competences At the same time, considering gaps between currentcompetency and required competency

Step 4: Develop a learning plan identify developmental activities to reduce

the gap between the required level and the current level of those competencies Howcan improve competencies to catch up requirements? Solutions and

recommendation will be suggested in order to improve the lacks of competencies ofsale staffs This is main importance objective of my thesis

2.3.3 Factors affect to competency at an organization

Motivation and supervision: Motivation is the way in which people can be

encouraged to make an effort to do something Motivation help salesmen to workharder produce higher quality of work and are less liable to take time off Of course,salesmen have to improve their competencies to do like that On the other hand,manager has to supervise the sales men activities Supervisions are activity carriedout by supervisors to oversee the productivity and progress of employees whoreport directly to the supervision For example, first – level supervisors superviseentry – level employees Depending on the size of an organization, middle –manager, etc Supervision is a management activity and supervisors have amanagement role in the organization

Company’s regulation is importance factor that influence employee’sperformance In specially, regulations about compensation such as salary, bonus isaffected directly to motivation of employees If employees feel fair treatment, it willencourage their word and contra

Organization’s environment and culture: Organization’s environment also

is a factor that effect to employees performance Working process, office facilitiesalso influence to competencies of employees Organization culture is the personality

of the organization Culture is comprised of the assumptions, values, norms andtangible signs of organization member and their behaviors Culture is one of thoseterms that are difficult to express distinctly, but everyone knows it when they sense

it Corporate culture can be locked at as a system with full of input – output Organization culture is an observable, powerful force in any organization.Made up pf its members’ shares values, beliefs, symbols, and behaviors, cultureguides individual decisions and actions at the unconscious level If organization.Has nice culture such as whose work long term teach to newcomer their job oremployees always is willing to charge their position under assigned order

process-Training and development strategy: process-Training can increase salesmen’s

knowledge of competitors and culture, which is critical for success in the market.Furthermore, training ensures that salesmen have the basic skills to work Traininghelp salesmen understand how to work effectively in teams to contribute to productand service quality In general, Training helps salesmen develop specific skills thatenable them to succeed in their current job and develop for the future

CHAPTER 3: SALE STAFFS COMPETENCY IN STEELS PRODUCTS AND ENERGY BUSINESS DIVISION

AT MITSUI CO VIET NAM Ltd.

3.1 Requirement of sales force for sale staff competency in SPEBD at Mitsui Vietnam

3.1.1 Overview of Mitsui Vietnam

 About Mitsui Global:

Mitsui & Co., Ltd (called Mitsui Corporation) was established in 1876 Atthat time, they engaged in rice trading and distribution, introducing moresophisticated systems as Japan’s population grew and modernized Over the years,Mitsui diversified into coal, cotton and machinery trading, supporting Japan’sdevelopment as an industrial and trading company

In 1930s, the company focus shifted from light to heavy industries, and asJapan’s industrial structure continued to evolve with the times, so did the rolesplayed by Mitsui Since then, they enlarged their company by building a wide range

of businesses: Iron & Steel products business, Mineral & metal resources business,Infrastructure projects business, Motor vehicles & construction machinery business,Marine & aerospace business, Basic chemicals business, Performance chemicalsbusiness, Energy business, Food resource business, Food products & servicesbusiness, Consumer services business, IT business, Financial & new business,Transportation logistics business

About steel distribution in Japan and advanced services globally:

In steel & energy industry, Mitsui & Co., Ltd (Head office) cooperates withleading companies in establishing local steel manufacturing, processing, anddistribution bases globally to meet the diversifying needs of automotive, consumerelectronics, and heavy electrical equipment manufacturers expanding theirproduction bases in China, ASEAN countries, the Americas, Russia and othermarkets They also have developed systemized, IT-based supply chain managementsystems, and have moved beyond simple steel distribution to provide high – value –added services

In the mature steel market in Japan as well, they also are actively involvedwith the restructuring of the steel industry and are supporting the shift of productionbases by Japanese steel – related companies to Asia, primarily through Mitsui &

Co Steel Ltd., which was established by the merger of four related domesticcompanies

Through these measures, Mitsui Corporation plan to position themselves as aleading company in the global steel distribution industry

Developing alliances with partners throughout the world to enlarge supply chain:

In China, they are teaming up with Shanghai Bao steel Group Corporation,China’s largest steelmaker, to develop a steel processing and logistics networkacross mainland China to meet the needs of automakers and companies from otherindustries aspiring to develop and expand their operations in China They alsodeveloped auto parts manufacturing and processing centers throughout Chinathrough a joint venture with an automotive parts manufacturer They also built steelmanufacturing operations in other Asian countries exhibiting high growth InThailand, Mitsui hold equity stakes in the Nippon steel group’s The SIAM YamatoSteel CO., Ltd In India, they have invested in India Steel Corporation, joint venturewith the Ruchi Group They also plan to establish a joint venture to manufactureand sell specialty steel for automobiles with Mahindra Group and Sanyo SpecialSteel CO., Ltd

Through this process, they strengthened earnings base by building a network

of business alliances with leading companies in Japan and overseas in steelmanufacturing, processing and distribution Collaborating with other Mitsuibusiness units to develop operations in other growth markets around the world, theycontinue to globally expand business fields, provide a large supplying source fortheir business in regional, as well as in Vietnam

 About Mitsui Viet Nam

Mitsui & Co Ltd Vietnam is the first foreign company in Vietnam permitted

to do import trading business according to WTO commitments, however, thecommercial certificate issued by the Planning and Investment of Ho Chi Minh city

in 28/12/2006 is only partial Mitsui & Co Ltd Vietnam is a subsidiary of theMitsui Group in Japan

According to the investment certificate, Mitsui & Co Vietnam Ltd isallowed to export goods but not purchasing Activities permitted in the investmentcertificate of Mitsui & Co Vietnam Ltd are wider than the other firms as it isallowed to do distribution business with Japanese companies in Vietnam

With a total investment of 30 million USD, of which 10 million USD has beeninvested in projects, Mitsui & Co Vietnam Ltd is the firm established by theJapanese and Vietnamese Government in the form of a 100% foreign capital company.The firm starts trading in 2007 and the permitted operating duration is 50 years

 The business of Mitsui Vietnam:

Mitsui Vietnam focuses on 4 main areas:

- Trading business, import and export of steel products for the constructingand manufacturing industries such as semi-finished steel (slabs, billets ), flat-rolled steel products (hot rolled, cold rolled , sheets, coated sheets, tilpates, electricleaf ), pipe, steel coils for the automotive industry

- Trading business, import and export of chemical products, functional food

- Investments in information technology businesses

- Investment in infrastructure projects.

However, in recent years, the firm focuses in the steel business whichaccounted for about 85% of the company total revenue

 Organization structure of Mitsui Vietnam:

Functions and duties of these Departments:

- General Director: Leadership, comprehensive direction on the operations ofthe Company as authorized by the Board member hierarchy

- The Deputy Director: Directing the assigned departments as authorized

- Back office block: Here are the logistics department which supports thefirm governance and does not directly generate revenue, including:

+ Finance Office: Advising the Board of Managers of the issues relating tofinancial – accounting matters, asset management, settlement of economic contracts

+ HR Department: Advising the Board of Managers of the issues relating tostaff coordination, recruiting, training and retraining staff

Departme

nt

Administration Department

Energy and steel products business Division

Department for sales of chemical and food products

Investment Management

of Information Technology Companies Department

Investment Manageme

nt of infrastructu

re projects Department

+ Administration Department: In charge of the foreign affairs issues,communications and other logistics which support the operation of the Company

- Front office Department: these are the Departments which directly generaterevenue for the company, including:

+ Investment Management of infrastructure projects Department:researching, seeking investment opportunities, evaluating projects to serve theinvestment decision making, participation in the project management as therepresentatives of the capital providers in the implementation process

+ Investment Management of Information Technology CompaniesDepartment: Researching and seeking opportunities to invest in companiesoperating in the information technology industry, participation in the capitalmanagement as representatives of the capital providers in the invested companies

+ Department for sales of chemical and food products: Looking forconsumers and developing sales network in Vietnam At the same time, sourcing inVietnam (mainly food) for export to other countries

+ Energy and steel products business Department: Looking for consumer anddeveloping production base in Vietnam for export to other countries

3.1.2 Sales force job analyze of SPEBD at Mitsui Viet Nam

 Functions and duties of the Department:

Function: Perform tasks related to sales activities

Duties:

- Promoting the company's products

- In search of consumers

- Receiving the information about the consumers, market demands

- Capturing the information regularly about the sales contract, orders

- Plan and implement import orders

- Monitoring the quality of goods before and after the sales

- Management and make good use of division staff

 The goal of the SPEBD in the coming years:

Sales target is one of the first establishments to offer solutions to the sales force.Facing the difficulty of the economy, steel product sales of the company inrecent years declined consecutively, the Company Board of Manager have set atarget sales growth of 10-20% per year in the coming years The Board of Managersalso set specific tasks for the Sales Department as follows:

- Maintaining market share that the company has achieved in recent yearsand continues to grow in the future

- In addition to locating great customers, searching and developingproviders to increase retail sales

- Focus efforts to exploit key market places such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, DaNang and Ho Chi Minh City

- Focus efforts to tap on new markets places such as Nghe An, Ha Tinh,Dong Nai…

 The organizational structure of SPEBD:

Table 3.1: Structure of the SPEBD

Roles Quantity Ha Noi Location HCM

Steel products for the construction

industry sales group:

Source: Human resource department in Mitsui Viet Nam

Describe the functions and tasks of the position:

- Manager:

+ Planning and implementing advertising and marketing jobs, looking forprospecting customers and taking good care of consumers.

+ General management of sales activities, assigning tasks to business groupsand taking direct responsibility about the business results to the company CEO

- Steel products for the construction industry sales group: looking for

distribution channels (suppliers), directly involved in the tender of supplyingequipments for road construction projects, infrastructure projects, public projectsand high voltage works (e.g customers: Sumitomo Mitsui Thang Long - Nhat TanBridge project, EVN, Vietnam Asia - High Voltage works )

- Steel products serving the industry sales group: directly access to the

plant, the industrial production companies to introduce products and find customerse.g Vinashin (the subsidiaries including: Ha Long Shipbuilding company, BachDang Shipbuilding company, Thinh Long shipbuilding company etc .) Carmanufacturers, motorcycles & automotive parts manufacturers, motorcyclesmanufacturers (such as Yamaha, Honda, SYM Manufacturers of spare parts:YPMV, Credit - up, Yamato and so on )

 Sales Process:

Table 3.2: Sales Process of the SPEBD

No Responsibilities Content

1 Sales person Collecting and analyzing customers’

information

2 Sales person Analyze customers; demands, picking the

appropriate products and checking product source

3 Sales person Pricing Initiation

Sales Department’s

Director

Checking and approving price (in the band allowed)

Sales person Quoting price and negotiating with customers

5 Account Department

General Director

Signing contract/Depositing

No Responsibilities Content

6 Sales Department

General Director

Import planningApproving and signing import contracts

9 Customers

Account Department

General Director

Completing payment/Liquidating contract

10 Sales Department Observing customers’ usage of product, if

problems originate, reporting to related department for fixing

Source: Administration department in Mitsui Viet Nam

 Results of Mitsui Vietnam Business and Business Division sales of steel

Source: Financial department in Mitsui Viet Nam

Comment: In the year 2006 - 2007, the real estate market becomes

overheating, then in the year 2008 - 2009 the growth slowed down So in the period

of 2006 - 2010, the Mitsui Vietnam has resulted in profits However, entering theperiod of 2011 - 2012, when the macro economy is not favorable which impacts allactivities in the economy, especially in the field of real estate and investment public,the business results of the company has been hit hard No outside that orbit, TheSales of the steel products Department has also declined significantly There are 02reasons to this:

+ Objective reasons: due to economic uncertainties as discussed above

+ Subjective reasons: limited sales organization and sales force capacity.

 Characteristics of the Sales Force Sales Department:

 Regarding human resources:

The Sales Department of Mitsui Vietnam has 25 members including:

Table 3.4: Members of SPEBD

Job title

Age Seniority Qualification

Nationality

25-35 years old

Less 3 years Over 3 years Bachelor’s Degree Master’s Degree

Source: Human resource department in Mitsui Viet Nam

- The Department Director comes from the mother country; the businessactivities of Mitsui Vietnam must comply with the company's own identity in thehost country, to make sure that all the Group’s policies and strategies are executedaccurately However, the application of this staff policy also has some limitations,such as creating a distance between the Director and the staff due to differences incustoms, habits and Director which comes from the mother country must take thetime to learn about the business culture in Vietnam, as well as policies and salesexperience because of the Director’s lacking of seniority

- The sales staffs have university degrees or higher, however, most of themhave major in linguistics and engineering, so the technique to approaching andpersuading customers is not good

- The Sales force of the company is very young, this is an advantage for thecompany The young salesmen are healthy people who are also quick learners andaccept long business trips In contrast, due to their young age, they have lessseniority, skills and limited experience

 Salary, bonus to employees of the Company

Currently, the company is applying a policy of fixed salaries and yearlyperformance bonus.

The application of fixed salary can help the firm to predict its cost and thestaff knows their income in advance Base salaries of the company’s sales force arelisted in the table below

Table 3.5: Basic salary of the Sales Department’s sales force:

Unit: million VND/month

Title salary Number of Total

average monthly salary

-3 Staff have worked for

-4 Staff have worked for

Source: Administration resource department in Mitsui Viet Nam

From the table above we can see the average salary of officers from theenergy and steel products Business Department of Mitsui Vietnam is relatively high(10:52 million VND / person / month) compared to the average salary of the salesforce in the joint ventures (7-8 million VND / person / month) This is an advantage

in recruiting and retaining talent

In addition to direct wages above, the company also has policies to rewardsales staff once a year At the end of the financial year, based on the performance ofsales personnel and the evaluation of sales director, the HR Department comparesthe proposed criteria to calculate the reward The reward of the sales staff areinformed and compensated in March of the upcoming year

So, the company rewarding policy which is currently applied is not consistentwith the “building strategy” pursued The company should pay sales commission on amonthly basis for sales personnel, because in the current period, the company's sales

depend largely on the sales staff The compensation bonuses made in March of theupcoming year can be considered not just as timely and so diminishing its value,because the company policy to reward once a year makes sales staff put highexpectations on the only bonus this year, so that the delay in the implementation ofthe bonus may not meet expectations and reduce the motivation of sales staff.

3.1.3 The requirement for competency of sales forces at SPEBD

To identify key required competencies for sale staffs, the thesis analyzed jobperformance and conducted interviews with representatives’ tittles at differentlevels (including Director of Mitsui, Manager Division and Group) Increasingly,the result of this part will be the basic to develop questionnaires at the followingpart to assess current competencies for the sale staffs

Table 3.6: Responder of the deep-interview

to verity and expand upon the important job components, competencies and howlevel competency of each job's title effect to the job performance, the author " I say

it as follow: Level 5: (4-5) Excellent; Level 4: (3-4) Good; Level 3: (2-3) Average;Level 2: (1-2) Bad; Level 1: (0-1) Very Bad

After finishing job analysis and interviews, the list of required competencies for the sale force at Steels Products and Energy Business Division

Table 3.7: Requirement for competencies of the sale staff at SPEBD

Competencies Description Required

rate

KNOWLEDG Knowledge on -Make sure to understanding about 5