Sales Force Development in China

Sales management never received much attention in Chinese enterprises under central planning. Firms purchased inputs from suppliers and sold to customers assigned by the plan. For transactions outside the plan, personal connections were more important than selling skills or sales management, because there was no free market where firms could buy or sell output. Reforms and increasing competition have disrupted this old system. Customers have choice, and some of them are choosing better quality, better after sales service, better delivery. Relying completely on connections has become more difficult.Foreign and joint venture companies have introduced modern sales management into China, and many are developing effective sales forces. This article contrasts sales management in wholly owned foreign firms, joint ventures, and SOEs. Foreign companies lead in adopting modern sales management, while SOEs have not progressed very far in modernizing sales. However, profitable SOEs have begun to change how they sell. JVs show a mixture of foreign and SOE management technique. They may achieve the best sales forces in the long run, because they are adapting modern methods to the Chinese context