ENHANCING SALES PERFORMANCE THROUGH E-LEARNING PLATFORMS A Case Study in Mercedes Benz Cyprus

1. ENHANCING SALES PERFORMANCE THROUGH E-LEARNING PLATFORMSA Case Study in Mercedes Benz Cyprus International Conference Vocational Professional and Work Based Learning 23-26th June Intercollege, Larnaca and Asgata Village

2. Introduction • Case Study • Background • The Organisation • The Researchers • Methodological Approach • E-Learning and sales performance • Demo and Conclusive Remarks

3. A case study of e-learning as imperative for enable an organisation to strengthen its sales performance • How is the notion of e-learning platforms with sales performance? • Combine primary and secondary research results for the design and development a framework for e-learning development of an organisation • Implementation and users assessment: Conclusions and directions for future development

4. Research conducted within the area controlled by the Republic of Cyprus • Eurasian island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea • Member of the European Union since May 1st 2004 • Adopted Euro currency since January 2008 • Population: 750,000 (Cyprus Statistics Department, 2002) • IMF estimates: Per capita GDP adjusted for purchasing power is at $ 46,865  3rd highest in the EU!

5. Case Study: The Organisation Cyprus Import Corporation • Sole distributor of Mercedes Benz in the Republic of Cyprus • CIC Group currently operates out of 12 different premises in the 4 major towns of Cyprus and employs over 280 people. • Strong positioning in luxury cars (Market share 8% in 2009), one of the highest in Europe for Mercedes – Benz vehicles • eMercedes (2010) ‘training at the Daimler AG is almost as old as the automobile itself.

6. Case Study: The Organisation • Sole distributor of Mercedes Benz in the Republic of Cyprus Cyprus Import Corporation

7. Cyprus Import Corporation training at the Daimler AG is almost as old as the automobile itself

8. Case Study: The Researchers • MIS Team, School of Business, University of Nicosia • Assistant Sales & Marketing Director, CIC • Motivations: • The alignment of academic interests voiced by the business community • In progress work towards the completion of the requirements for a DProf degree pursued by the first author

9. Methodological Approach • Secondary data • Literature review on e-learning and sales performance • Primary data: • Focus Group, early 2010, 8 business stakeholders to solicit staff and management requirments • Survey Questionnaires, March 2010, 16 out of 23 sales employees, to assess framework outcomes

10. E-learning is defined as the creation and distribution of organisational knowledge through the online delivery of information, communication, education, and training (Wild et al., 2002) The total e-learning solution comprises the integration of three elements: content, technology and services’ (Henry, 2001) E-learning allows organisations to: • deliver training consistently to all employees • to update training content when necessary • to reduce travel costs to outside training facilities • to provide training to employees on demand, anytime, and anywhere (Burgess & Russell, 2003).

11. Zoltners et al. (2003) outline in figure 1 the learning and development in the sales organisations takes place using blended learning methods. Figure 1: Using blended learning methods. (From Zoltners et al., 2003)

12. E-Learning and sales performance Khan (2001) suggests a very useful theoretical octagonal framework, figure 2, for providing answers to what meaningful blended learning is and thus to the effective e-learning. Figure 2: Khan’s octagon e-learning framework. (From Khan, 2001)

13. E-Learning and sales performance Balanced score card approach The Balanced Scorecard approach is often viewed as an attempt to translate strategy into action and it proposes measuring enterprise performance under four different perspectives, as shown in Figure 3.(Kaplan & Norton, 1992) Figure 3: Balanced Scorecard Perspectives (from Kaplan & Norton, 1992))

14. The success of an e-learning initiative depend as much on the people and culture of the organisation(McIntosh, 2006) They are many reasons for e-learning failures. It takes leadership, accountability, communications and commitment (Cross et al., 2002) Some people have a fear of technology and as a result are not attracted to e-learning (Roffe, 2004) Lack of engagement has been shown to be one of the primary reasons why learners drop out of distance learning courses (Skipper, 2000)

15. Focus group discussion appraises: • Benefits of using E-learning • Notion of E-learning with sales performance • Context and Relevance • Lack of engagement to E-learning development • E-learning performance as part of sales compensation • Findings: • Design & development of a framework for development E-learning in the organisation

16. E-learning development framework Figure 6: E-learning development framework for the sales & marketing department in Mercedes-Benz Cyprus.

17. Blended Learning reduce training cost – Minimize lost work time Figure 5: Reduce training costs - Minimize lost work time (from Daimler A.G Global training Department, 2010)

18. A Snapshot of the E-learning System

19. Survey Conducted for the assessment of the system • A survey among actual users • Demographical Data • Data on usage and preference of the developed system • Conducted in the first trimester of 2010 • A draft version questionnaire pilot-tested among 5 representatives of Cypriot business community • Online survey mechanism (http://www.mysurvs.com)  For Convenience • High satisfaction rate

20. E-learning Test E-learning Test Balanced score card E-learning inside sales compensation

21. Q & A Thank You!