Academic literature on the topic 'Sales force management'

The case is about restructuring of the sales force compensation system at Service Sales Corporation (SSC), a large shoe retailer in Pakistan. The organization went through many changes in its supply chain management starting in 2001, when a new COO, Omer Saeed, took over. There was a major increase in sales and the number of shops, and a decrease in the number of salesmen per shop with the net effect that some salesmen were drawing a compensation of ₹25,000–30,000 per month (standard salesmen salary in smaller shops was ₹8,000 per month). When the new COO Amer Mohsin joined in 2009, he was faced with the challenge of designing a salesmen compensation system that was in line with the growth of the organization. The case provides an opportunity to understand how different compensation systems are required as company dynamics change.

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to ascertain whether sport organizations which outsource ticket sales force management outperform sports organizations which manage their ticket sales force internally, relative to ticket revenue and attendance.Design/methodology/approachThirteen years of ticket revenue and football attendance data were collected for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football bowl subdivision (FBS) Division I Athletics Departments (n = 126), as well as data on whether the organization employed an external (outsourced), internal or no ticket sales force. The number of salespeople employed was also captured. Within-subjects, fixed effects regression models, which included several control variables such as number of home contests, prior season attendance, team success and population, were run to assess the relationship between sales force type and both ticket revenue and attendance, for one year, two years and three years after sales force establishment.FindingsAll models were significant. While both internally managed ticket sales forces and those managed by outsourced firms saw significant increases in ticket revenue (compared to not employing a sales force), internally managed departments outperformed third parties. In addition, departments utilizing outsourcing companies reported lower attendance for the first two years after outsourcing, but attendance differences were negligible by the third year of outsourcing.Practical implicationsThe results of the study provide data to help sport managers determine whether outsourcing sales functions within an organization will lead to greater ticket revenue and/or attendance.Originality/valueWhile several sport management studies have examined the decision-making process of outsourcing organizational functions, no prior studies have examined the financial implications of doing so.

Mestrado em Marketing
Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar o Sales Force Management na empresa x, que atua no setor alimentar, mais concretamente na área dos produtos alimentares pré-confecionados e ultracongelados. O foco vai estar subdividido em quatro grandes temas: Sales Force Management, o marketing relacional, o processo de venda e o Key Account Management. A investigação foi realizada partindo da adoção de uma abordagem qualitativa, através de um case study research. A recolha de dados foi realizada através da aplicação de entrevistas semi-estruturadas ao diretor comercial da empresa x e a um dos key account managers. Para cada uma das entrevistas foi formulado um guião de entrevista adaptado ao tipo de informação que se pretendia recolher. A aplicação destas ferramentas, permitiu efetuar a recolha de dados que conduziram às principais conclusões alcançadas. As ideias a reter é que esta dissertação apresenta conclusões e recomendações que têm como objetivo o melhoramento de procedimentos na empresa x, bem como ideias que se aplicam à generalidade das empresas e às suas áreas comerciais. As principais conclusões são a mudança de ótica consoante o cargo hierárquico responsável pela negociação e contacto com os fornecedores, o perigo da centralização da faturação num grupo pequeno de clientes para a empresa x, a importância crescente que a ótica relacional tem na manutenção dos clientes e a importância que a definição do processo de venda tem para garantir um trato uniforme a todos os clientes, permitindo, é claro, adaptações consoante as caraterísticas de cada um.
This dissertation has as a major goal to analyze the Sales Force Management on company x, that runs on the food industry, more specifically on the pre confectionated and deep frozen food products. The focus will be subdivided on four big issues: Sales Force Management, Relational Marketing, selling process and Key Account Management. The research relies on a qualitative approach through a case study. Moreover, the collected data was reached by semi-structured interviews with company x commercial manager and one of the companies key account managers. For each one of the interviews an interview script was formulated adapted to the type of information pretended. The use of these tools allowed to collect the data that based the main conclusions of this dissertation. Recommendations and conclusions have as goal the improvement of company x procedures, as well as some ideas that could be applied to the most of the companies and their commercial department, are what should be retained. The main conclusions are: the optic change according to the hierarchical position of who is leading the negotiations and suppliers? approach, the danger of consolidating the billing on a small group of clients for company x, the growing importance of the relational perspective on client maintenance and the importance of the standardization of the selling process to ensure an uniform performance to all clients, allowing, however, adaptations according to the characteristics of each one of them.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Mestrado em Marketing
A indústria Farmacêutica é um setor altamente regulamentado que nos últimos anos tem vindo a sofrer grandes alterações que se refletem na situação atual das empresas farmacêuticas. Neste sentido, na presente dissertação, as seguintes questões de investigação são formuladas: 1. Quais as características de Sales Force Management na Indústria Farmacêutica?; 2. Qual a importância das equipas de vendas na IF?; 3. Quais as tendências na organização das equipas de vendas na IF? e 4. Como são motivadas e compensadas as equipas de vendas na IF?. A investigação foi realizada adotando uma abordagem qualitativa, com uma estratégia de Case Study, a uma empresa multinacional do setor farmacêutico que representa um caso ilustrativo. A recolha de dados foi realizada, através da aplicação de um guião de entrevista com 28 perguntas, numa entrevista conjunta com os responsáveis de vendas e marketing da empresa farmacêutica. Após a análise dos dados conclui-se que: 1. As equipas de vendas são uma parte integrante e importante das empresas farmacêuticas porque são a principal forma de contacto entre empresas do setor e a classe médica; 2. A organização da força de vendas é definida, fundamentalmente, por estrutura geográfica. A adoção de Key Account Management (KAM) não está completamente implementado e 3. A motivação e compensação são implementadas através de sistemas de incentivo mistos, salário base e prémios de desempenho quando os objetivos de vendas são superados.
The highly regulated pharmaceutical Industry has been suffering great changes in these last years. These alterations have affected the present situation of the pharmaceutical businesses. Considering the aforementioned situation, in the present dissertation the following research questions are formulated: 1. Which are the Sales Force Management characteristics in the Pharmaceutical Industry? ; 2. What is the importance of the sales teams in the PI? ; 3. Which are the organisational tendencies in the sales teams in PI? ; 4. How are the sales teams motivated and rewarded in the PI? The multinational pharmaceutical company chosen for de research, represents an illustrative case. The research conducted adopted a qualitative approach, using the same strategy as in a Case Study. The collection of data was obtained by using a questionnaire, consisting of 28 questions, which was administered simultaneously in an interview setting, held with respective heads of both sales and marketing departments of a pharmaceutical company. Upon analysis of the data, it was concluded that: 1. The sales teams are an important and essential part of the pharmaceutical companies because they are the main source of contact among industry companies and the medical community; 2. The sales force is fundamentally organized according geographical structure. The implementation of the Key Account Management (KAM) is not fully complete; 3. A combination of incentives are used for motivational and compensation purposes. When sales objectives are met, the payment structures are applied through a base salary plus performance bonuses.

Marketing analytical studies of optimal salesforce compensation policies typically rely on a set of restrictive assumptions. In this paper, a model of decentralized salesforce compensation is developed, wherein some of the classical assumptions are challenged. Response Surface Methodology is used to optimize decentralized compensation policies over a set of simulated conditions. The proposed approach is then illustrated with two empirical applications in artificial and real settings. The objective is to provide some preliminary evidence about decentralized structures and to recommend salesforce compensation policies.

Sales management control and sales force performance has received substantial attention by researchers in the past decades. Researchers have been investigating the construct of sales control, its antecedents and its consequences on both the individual sales person and on sales force performance. This research project analyses how and why the sales control systems are implemented the way they are. The basis for this approach is drawn from the organisational or management control literature which treats behaviour and outcome approaches as dimensions rather than categories. Organisational control also treats the control system as a process which consists of a set of stages or sub processes being objective setting, planning, monitoring, feedback and correcting. With the growing importance of relationship selling and key account management it can no longer be assumed that all the sales people will operate at the same hierarchical level within an organisation nor that they will be subject to one and the same control system. Therefore an in depth analysis of how sales force control processes are implemented for different types of sales functions, ranging from customer acquisition, small to medium account management to strategic and global account management, is needed. The research project included 17 preliminary interviews across different organisations, from which one organisation was selected on the basis that it contains a large international sales force of about 2.500 people consisting of a very wide range of sales functions. The analysis of this organisation included 100 plus interviews of 66 sales managers and sales people across all types of sales functions over a two year period. The findings show that the inability to measure certain inputs and outputs does not deter a sales organisation to adopt their sales control strategy within a functional sales team. When some measures are not available or are unreliable, sales managers find other ways to measure them being it through some locally developed tools or through more qualitative approaches. The method used to obtain certain measures does impact the level of the sophistication of the actual control process or strategy. When there is a need to control sales people who operate as a team of employees from different departments the sales managers can no longer individually develop some local tools to measure inputs and outputs. The findings show that team based selling requires accurate data but also globally agreed rules and procedures in order to operate successfully. This enables us to conclude that the inability to measure certain inputs and outputs is a determining variable for the implementation of client sales teams. With regard to sales force control strategies the research uncovered that within the category of the hybrid sales control approach there are four types of sales control sub approaches. The choice of which control to use is dependent on the size of the customers or opportunities the sales people work with and the selling approach which is either hunting or farming. This shows that while farming can be relabelled as key account management, hunting remains a major sales activity requiring not only different selling approaches it also requires different types of sales control processes than for farming. All of these findings indicate that several types of sales control systems can operate across one single organisation and that the main determining variables are the sales approach and the type of accounts the sales person is managing. This challenges current beliefs or assumptions that all sales people operate at the same hierarchical level within an organisation and that they all operate under one single sales control approach. Future research on sales force control will need to take these findings into account when designing their approach to study control systems within organisations.

Sales management researchers and practitioners give considerable attention to early employment expectations, attitudes, and behaviors primarily because of a desire to specify the cognition process leading to performance and retention of salespeople. While a massive body of literature exists concerning turnover of employees and determinants of employee performance, more empirical study specific to the sales force as a research population is needed to assess the nature of turnover and performance. Because the bulk of salesperson turnover occurs in early employment, particular attention needs to be devoted to the cognitive process of newcomers to the sales force. The present work examines expectation-based and perception-oriented models of performance and retention for sales force new hires. Interests of this investigation focus on the initial expectations of newly hired sales representatives and on how the degree of fulfillment of these expectations relates to subsequent performance and retention behavior. Extant research suggests that the degree to which expectations are met positively influences mediating variables such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and indirectly influences outcomes such as job performance and retention of newcomers. Alternatively, some researchers contend that these results are due to improper measurement of met expectations. A longitudinal research design and alternative measurement methods are employed here to better assess the role of met/unmet expectations. The proposed study is based on theoretical research from a variety of academic disciplines, and the results of the study will have multi-disciplinary implications. Contributions include: (a) replication and extension of theoretical research concerning processes leading to performance and retention of sales force newcomers, (b) a thorough examination of met expectations as a precursor to early sales force outcomes, and (c) methodological advances in the measurement of met expectations.

This study is an exploratory review of the determinants and extent of information technology’s influence on the operations of material handling dealerships in the USA. The goal is to develop an analysis framework specifying which factors contribute to the transformation of the material handling industry’s practices in relation to using information technology to optimize transactions in goods, knowledge, and services. Knowledge management, sales force automation, customer relationship management, demand chain management, customer service automation, inventory management, and enterprise resource planning, will be investigated. A survey instrument will be used to elicit both information technology ideas that have already changed operations and those that are expected to impact future approaches to informing clients effectively and efficiently. The primary objectives of this research are to identify relevant issues, develop a pilot case study, and provide an analysis of the participant’s responses to an initial survey questionnaire about these topics.

The entire world is facing with the impact and consequences of the COVID 19 pandemic, what is reflected in various spheres of social life. In the conditions of the crisis management, companies are forced to adapt to the new situation in order to survive on the market. Sales companies have had to make changes in their former business; namely in their organization, logistics, retail supply channels that are now oriented towards the online sales without contact when delivering to customers. The Civil Protection Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia has brought a Decision by which are regulated the working hours and the method of work in the trade business during the Coronavirus epidemic, according to which it is obligatory for all stores to organize their work in compliance with general anti-epidemic measures and special recommendations of the Croatian Institute of Public Health. In the paper are listed and analyzed changes in the sales operations of the two companies due to the pandemic crisis; one company deals with the sale of agricultural machinery and the other with the sale of food products.

E-commerce in trade companies during the course of the pandemic crisis has become more than a technology; it includes a whole range of activities such as business processes, business organization, communication, customer relationship management, the E-sales orientation and business progress through the Information and Communication technologies. The consequences of the pandemic COVID-19 are reflected on the various spheres of social life, including the businesses of the companies. New strategies and techniques in business have positively contributed to the survival of trading companies on the market in the new situation. Therefore, trading companies were forced to adjust their way of working, doing business and maintaining contacts with the customers and suppliers in the new situation. E-commerce in trading companies has become much more than the E-sales. Digitalising business leads to the implementation of E-commerce of the supply chain management that leads to speeding up and maintaining of the business processes. Due to rapid technological changes, E-commerce needs to follow new trends on the Information and Communication technologies market in order to remain effective. E-commerce can also help to organize communication processes. Online sales in the situation of the pandemic crisis have proven to be an effective sales method with which trading companies can maintain their sales in contactless customer relations. With the E-commerce can be improved all the company's business relations by the introduction of opportunities that it provides in business, by building architecture of E-commerce and by implementation of applications for business enterprises taking into account the potential costs and benefits of introducing this kind of business. However, with the introduction of E-commerce, both of the marketing strategies and the market expansions can be improved. In the paper are listed and analysed changes in the trade operations of the two companies due to the pandemic crisis; one deals with the sale of agricultural machinery and the other with the sale of food products: at this point we examine and compares the differences in the business processes management with the customers and suppliers in the normal way of doing business also in the new occasions, that is the consequential business adjustment in the course of pandemic.

The economic life implies the existence of the actors who have to satisfy their own needs, expectations, this presupposing the appearance of the choices that they must make from the multitude of products or services on the market. Since ancient times, the sale has been made for a better living, so Thales is the first wise, Solon the second founder of Athens and the mathematician Hippocrates, who were traders. Plato, the divine, sold oil, and Baruch Spinoza, philosopher, polished mirrors. Therefore, sales forces play an important role, which, through their strategies, can make a significant contribution to achieving the general and specific objectives. The art of selling tips the balance of success and failure, the relationship between the seller and the client, ending with win-win situation for both parties.

The consequences of the global pandemic have accelerated the digital transformation and created a new business environment. Adapting to the circumstances, brands have shifted their communication and sales on the online channel. Despite the growth of online shopping, the inability to test products is known to be one of the main obstacles to choosing this channel. Limited access to stores during the pandemic has forced brands to choose alternative ways to display and test products. Creating business models based on virtual technologies is recognized as a chance to engage consumers in the era of pandemic marketing, when the importance of digital experiences is growing. In such conditions, the tool that enables virtual try-on, supported by augmented reality (AR) technology, has experienced expansion. The paper analyzes the usage of AR technology and its virtual try-on function. An overview of virtual solutions in different industries is given. In addition to the utilitarian, hedonistic value of interaction with such tools is also recognized, making the virtual try-on feature more than a pandemic trend.

Attention to safety and health are of ever-increasing priority to industrial organizations. Good Safety is demanded by stockholders, employees, and the community while increasing injury costs provide additional motivation for safety and health excellence. Safety has always been a strong corporate value of DuPont and a vital part of its culture. As a result, DuPont has become a benchmark in safety and health performance. Since 1990, DuPont has re-engineered itself to meet global competition and address future vision. In the new re-engineered organizational structures, DuPont has also had to re-engineer its safety management systems. A special Discovery Team was chartered by DuPont senior management to determine the “best practices’ for safety and health being used in DuPont best-performing sites. A summary of the findings is presented, and five of the practices are discussed. Excellence in safety and health management is more important today than ever. Public awareness, federal and state regulations, and enlightened management have resulted in a widespread conviction that all employees have the right to work in an environment that will not adversely affect their safety and health. In DuPont, we believe that excellence in safety and health is necessary to achieve global competitiveness, maintain employee loyalty, and be an accepted member of the communities in which we make, handle, use, and transport products. Safety can also be the “catalyst” to achieving excellence in other important business parameters. The organizational and communication skills developed by management, individuals, and teams in safety can be directly applied to other company initiatives. As we look into the 21st Century, we must also recognize that new organizational structures (flatter with empowered teams) will require new safety management techniques and systems in order to maintain continuous improvement in safety performance. Injury costs, which have risen dramatically in the past twenty years, provide another incentive for safety and health excellence. Shown in the Figure 1, injury costs have increased even after correcting for inflation. Many companies have found these costs to be an “invisible drain” on earnings and profitability. In some organizations, significant initiatives have been launched to better manage the workers’ compensation systems. We have found that the ultimate solution is to prevent injuries and incidents before they occur. A globally-respected company, DuPont is regarded as a well-managed, extremely ethical firm that is the benchmark in industrial safety performance. Like many other companies, DuPont has re-engineered itself and downsized its operations since 1985. Through these changes, we have maintained dedication to our principles and developed new techniques to manage in these organizational environments. As a diversified company, our operations involve chemical process facilities, production line operations, field activities, and sales and distribution of materials. Our customer base is almost entirely industrial and yet we still maintain a high level of consumer awareness and positive perception. The DuPont concern for safety dates back to the early 1800s and the first days of the company. In 1802 E.I. DuPont, a Frenchman, began manufacturing quality grade explosives to fill America’s growing need to build roads, clear fields, increase mining output, and protect its recently won independence. Because explosives production is such a hazardous industry, DuPont recognized and accepted the need for an effective safety effort. The building walls of the first powder mill near Wilmington, Delaware, were built three stones thick on three sides. The back remained open to the Brandywine River to direct any explosive forces away from other buildings and employees. To set the safety example, DuPont also built his home and the homes of his managers next to the powder yard. An effective safety program was a necessity. It represented the first defense against instant corporate liquidation. Safety needs more than a well-designed plant, however. In 1811, work rules were posted in the mill to guide employee work habits. Though not nearly as sophisticated as the safety standards of today, they did introduce an important basic concept — that safety must be a line management responsibility. Later, DuPont introduced an employee health program and hired a company doctor. An early step taken in 1912 was the keeping of safety statistics, approximately 60 years before the federal requirement to do so. We had a visible measure of our safety performance and were determined that we were going to improve it. When the nation entered World War I, the DuPont Company supplied 40 percent of the explosives used by the Allied Forces, more than 1.5 billion pounds. To accomplish this task, over 30,000 new employees were hired and trained to build and operate many plants. Among these facilities was the largest smokeless powder plant the world had ever seen. The new plant was producing granulated powder in a record 116 days after ground breaking. The trends on the safety performance chart reflect the problems that a large new work force can pose until the employees fully accept the company’s safety philosophy. The first arrow reflects the World War I scale-up, and the second arrow represents rapid diversification into new businesses during the 1920s. These instances of significant deterioration in safety performance reinforced DuPont’s commitment to reduce the unsafe acts that were causing 96 percent of our injuries. Only 4 percent of injuries result from unsafe conditions or equipment — the remainder result from the unsafe acts of people. This is an important concept if we are to focus our attention on reducing injuries and incidents within the work environment. World War II brought on a similar set of demands. The story was similar to World War I but the numbers were even more astonishing: one billion dollars in capital expenditures, 54 new plants, 75,000 additional employees, and 4.5 billion pounds of explosives produced — 20 percent of the volume used by the Allied Forces. Yet, the performance during the war years showed no significant deviation from the pre-war years. In 1941, the DuPont Company was 10 times safer than all industry and 9 times safer than the Chemical Industry. Management and the line organization were finally working as they should to control the real causes of injuries. Today, DuPont is about 50 times safer than US industrial safety performance averages. Comparing performance to other industries, it is interesting to note that seemingly “hazard-free” industries seem to have extraordinarily high injury rates. This is because, as DuPont has found out, performance is a function of injury prevention and safety management systems, not hazard exposure. Our success in safety results from a sound safety management philosophy. Each of the 125 DuPont facilities is responsible for its own safety program, progress, and performance. However, management at each of these facilities approaches safety from the same fundamental and sound philosophy. This philosophy can be expressed in eleven straightforward principles. The first principle is that all injuries can be prevented. That statement may seem a bit optimistic. In fact, we believe that this is a realistic goal and not just a theoretical objective. Our safety performance proves that the objective is achievable. We have plants with over 2,000 employees that have operated for over 10 years without a lost time injury. As injuries and incidents are investigated, we can always identify actions that could have prevented that incident. If we manage safety in a proactive — rather than reactive — manner, we will eliminate injuries by reducing the acts and conditions that cause them. The second principle is that management, which includes all levels through first-line supervisors, is responsible and accountable for preventing injuries. Only when senior management exerts sustained and consistent leadership in establishing safety goals, demanding accountability for safety performance and providing the necessary resources, can a safety program be effective in an industrial environment. The third principle states that, while recognizing management responsibility, it takes the combined energy of the entire organization to reach sustained, continuous improvement in safety and health performance. Creating an environment in which employees feel ownership for the safety effort and make significant contributions is an essential task for management, and one that needs deliberate and ongoing attention. The fourth principle is a corollary to the first principle that all injuries are preventable. It holds that all operating exposures that may result in injuries or illnesses can be controlled. No matter what the exposure, an effective safeguard can be provided. It is preferable, of course, to eliminate sources of danger, but when this is not reasonable or practical, supervision must specify measures such as special training, safety devices, and protective clothing. Our fifth safety principle states that safety is a condition of employment. Conscientious assumption of safety responsibility is required from all employees from their first day on the job. Each employee must be convinced that he or she has a responsibility for working safely. The sixth safety principle: Employees must be trained to work safely. We have found that an awareness for safety does not come naturally and that people have to be trained to work safely. With effective training programs to teach, motivate, and sustain safety knowledge, all injuries and illnesses can be eliminated. Our seventh principle holds that management must audit performance on the workplace to assess safety program success. Comprehensive inspections of both facilities and programs not only confirm their effectiveness in achieving the desired performance, but also detect specific problems and help to identify weaknesses in the safety effort. The Company’s eighth principle states that all deficiencies must be corrected promptly. Without prompt action, risk of injuries will increase and, even more important, the credibility of management’s safety efforts will suffer. Our ninth principle is a statement that off-the-job safety is an important part of the overall safety effort. We do not expect nor want employees to “turn safety on” as they come to work and “turn it off” when they go home. The company safety culture truly becomes of the individual employee’s way of thinking. The tenth principle recognizes that it’s good business to prevent injuries. Injuries cost money. However, hidden or indirect costs usually exceed the direct cost. Our last principle is the most important. Safety must be integrated as core business and personal value. There are two reasons for this. First, we’ve learned from almost 200 years of experience that 96 percent of safety incidents are directly caused by the action of people, not by faulty equipment or inadequate safety standards. But conversely, it is our people who provide the solutions to our safety problems. They are the one essential ingredient in the recipe for a safe workplace. Intelligent, trained, and motivated employees are any company’s greatest resource. Our success in safety depends upon the men and women in our plants following procedures, participating actively in training, and identifying and alerting each other and management to potential hazards. By demonstrating a real concern for each employee, management helps establish a mutual respect, and the foundation is laid for a solid safety program. This, of course, is also the foundation for good employee relations. An important lesson learned in DuPont is that the majority of injuries are caused by unsafe acts and at-risk behaviors rather than unsafe equipment or conditions. In fact, in several DuPont studies it was estimated that 96 percent of injuries are caused by unsafe acts. This was particularly revealing when considering safety audits — if audits were only focused on conditions, at best we could only prevent four percent of our injuries. By establishing management systems for safety auditing that focus on people, including audit training, techniques, and plans, all incidents are preventable. Of course, employee contribution and involvement in auditing leads to sustainability through stakeholdership in the system. Management safety audits help to make manage the “behavioral balance.” Every job and task performed at a site can do be done at-risk or safely. The essence of a good safety system ensures that safe behavior is the accepted norm amongst employees, and that it is the expected and respected way of doing things. Shifting employees norms contributes mightily to changing culture. The management safety audit provides a way to quantify these norms. DuPont safety performance has continued to improve since we began keeping records in 1911 until about 1990. In the 1990–1994 time frame, performance deteriorated as shown in the chart that follows: This increase in injuries caused great concern to senior DuPont management as well as employees. It occurred while the corporation was undergoing changes in organization. In order to sustain our technological, competitive, and business leadership positions, DuPont began re-engineering itself beginning in about 1990. New streamlined organizational structures and collaborative work processes eliminated many positions and levels of management and supervision. The total employment of the company was reduced about 25 percent during these four years. In our traditional hierarchical organization structures, every level of supervision and management knew exactly what they were expected to do with safety, and all had important roles. As many of these levels were eliminated, new systems needed to be identified for these new organizations. In early 1995, Edgar S. Woolard, DuPont Chairman, chartered a Corporate Discovery Team to look for processes that will put DuPont on a consistent path toward a goal of zero injuries and occupational illnesses. The cross-functional team used a mode of “discovery through learning” from as many DuPont employees and sites around the world. The Discovery Team fostered the rapid sharing and leveraging of “best practices” and innovative approaches being pursued at DuPont’s plants, field sites, laboratories, and office locations. In short, the team examined the company’s current state, described the future state, identified barriers between the two, and recommended key ways to overcome these barriers. After reporting back to executive management in April, 1995, the Discovery Team was realigned to help organizations implement their recommendations. The Discovery Team reconfirmed key values in DuPont — in short, that all injuries, incidents, and occupational illnesses are preventable and that safety is a source of competitive advantage. As such, the steps taken to improve safety performance also improve overall competitiveness. Senior management made this belief clear: “We will strengthen our business by making safety excellence an integral part of all business activities.” One of the key findings of the Discovery Team was the identification of the best practices used within the company, which are listed below: ▪ Felt Leadership – Management Commitment ▪ Business Integration ▪ Responsibility and Accountability ▪ Individual/Team Involvement and Influence ▪ Contractor Safety ▪ Metrics and Measurements ▪ Communications ▪ Rewards and Recognition ▪ Caring Interdependent Culture; Team-Based Work Process and Systems ▪ Performance Standards and Operating Discipline ▪ Training/Capability ▪ Technology ▪ Safety and Health Resources ▪ Management and Team Audits ▪ Deviation Investigation ▪ Risk Management and Emergency Response ▪ Process Safety ▪ Off-the-Job Safety and Health Education Attention to each of these best practices is essential to achieve sustained improvements in safety and health. The Discovery Implementation in conjunction with DuPont Safety and Environmental Management Services has developed a Safety Self-Assessment around these systems. In this presentation, we will discuss a few of these practices and learn what they mean. Paper published with permission.

In times of crisis, one of the major challenges for businesses is maintaining an appropriate level of liquidity. During periods marked by supply and/or demand shocks caused by various economic, political, or natural influences, most companies experience a drop in sales and a decreased likelihood of collecting receivables on time, if at all. In conditions of reduced business activity and lower cash inflows from operations, businesses are forced to seek additional sources of liquidity to ensure their survival despite the crisis. Tax reliefs can serve as a means for companies to secure additional liquidity sources, i.e., a way to reduce the costs they face. This paper primarily explores the possibility of reducing cash outflows related to gross wages paid. One form of tax relief available to companies in the Republic of Serbia is for research and development (R&D) activities. If a company decides to engage in R&D activities, it will pay a lower amount of taxes and contributions for employees involved in these activities, thereby saving funds and improving its liquidity. The paper presents which activities are considered R&D according to the legal and sub-legal regulations of the Republic of Serbia and the conditions necessary for a company to benefit from tax reliefs. Additionally, the paper discusses the accounting aspect of calculating wages for employees engaged in R&D activities.

Banco de la República's monitoring of the local financial market infrastructure is an additional contribution to the country's financial stability. One of the products of that monitoring has been the Payment Systems Report, which is now known as the Financial Infrastructure Report. The change in name, as of this edition, is intended to reflect in a broader way the issues that are addressed in the report. The 2022 edition includes several changes that are the result of a comparative study of financial infrastructure reports prepared by other central banks. These changes seek to make the report more fluid and easier to read, including main points and selected key figures for the different interest groups to which it is addressed. The report shows the financial infrastructure continued to render its services without interruption, with general evidence of good performance in 2021. Additionally, the resilience of the Central Counterparty Risk of Colombia (CRCC) and the Large-value Payments System (CUD) to extreme events was validated, based on stress tests conducted according to international standards (focused on liquidity and credit risk). As for retail payments, transactional information indicates the use of electronic instruments increased in terms of value during 2021 compared to 2020 (credit and debit cards, checks and electronic funds transfers). The use of debit and credit cards in payments rose to levels similar to those reached in the pre-pandemic year. Meanwhile, electronic funds transfers continued to grow. Although the results of the BR 2022 survey show cash continues to be the instrument most used by the public for regular payments (like the situation in other countries), the perception of its use decreased significantly to 75 % (87 % in 2019). Also, in commerce, cash was the preferred instrument for customers. However, in this measurement, several retail channels such as hairdressers, drugstores and restaurants joined the group that has traditionally received electronic payments for a value greater than 10% of their sales (hypermarkets and gas stations). Likewise, for nearly 50% of the population, cash payments are lower than before the pandemic. This is consistent with the transactional increase in electronic payment instruments that was observed in 2021. Banco de la República continues to monitor the technological developments that have expanded and modernized the supply in the international and local payments market, as these are issues of interest to the industry that provides clearing and settlement services. This report outlines the Pix case for instant payments in Brazil, the projects that are underway regarding the possible issue of digital currency by central banks (CBDC) for cross-border payments, as well as an approach to the Fintech ecosystem in Colombia, with an emphasis on companies that provide payment services. Leonardo Villar Governor Main points: 2022 The local financial infrastructure was safe and efficient throughout the year. The services of the financial infrastructure were proved on a continuous basis, showing good performance overall. Less momentum in the large-value payment system CUD activity declined versus the previous year because of fewer government deposits with BanRep. This was offset partially by growth in repos to increase money supply and in retail-value payments (electronic funds transfers, checks and cards). Increased momentum in financial market infrastructures. Larger amounts were cleared and settled through the Central Securities Depository (DCV) due to an increase in the market for sovereign debt. Operations managed by the Central Counterparty Risk of Colombia (CRCC) increased due to inclusion of the foreign exchange segment and the positive evolution in non-delivery forward peso/dollar contracts. Added confidence in the peso/dollar spot foreign exchange market due to CRCC interposition. Number and value of trades grew, mainly due to the adjustment of therisk management model for the FX segment and the increase in the limiton net selling positions in dollars. Stress testing with international standards to validate CRCC and CUD resilience Stress tests conducted independently by the SFC, BanRep and the CRCC, like those done in England and the United States, concluded that the CRCC's risk management model allows it to withstand extreme market events and simultaneous defaults by its main members. Based on the experience of other central banks, BanRep strengthened its intraday liquidity risk stress exercises in the CUD by incorporating temporary payment delays. It calculated that a two-hour delay by a key participant increases the system's liquidity needs by 0.5%. Electronic payments increased during 2021 According to transactional information, all electronic payment instruments increased in value versus 2020 (electronic funds transfers, checks and debit and credit cards). Electronic funds transfers continued to grow (80% from legal entities), with the participation of closed schemes driven particularly by the use of mobile wallets (35% of the number of intra-transfer transactions). The use of debit and credit cards for payments climbed to levels similar to those witnessed in the pre-pandemic year. Cash continues to be the instrument most used by the public for regular payments. The results of the BanRep survey in 2022 show that the perception of the use of cash declined significantly to 75% (87% in 2019), and about 50% of the population perceive their cash payments as being lower than those they made before the pandemic. Electronic funds transfers were second most used instrument, having increased to 15% (3% in 2019). Also, in commerce, cash was the preferred instrument of payment for its customers; however, several commerce channels received more than 10% of the value of their sales in electronic payments (hypermarkets 35%, gas stations 25%, hairdressers 15%, drugstores 14% and restaurants 12%). Continuous technological developments have broadened, and modernized services offered in the payments market. Pix (instant payments in Brazil). The high level of adoption of instant transfers in Brazil motivated a review of its strengths; namely, the possibility of different use cases between individuals, businesses, and government; high participation by financial and payment institutions; free of charge for individuals and the possibility of charging legal entities, and simple user experience. Digital currencies in central banking. Several groups of countries have joined forces to conduct pilot projects with wholesale CBDCs for cross-border payments. Flows generated by international trade, foreign investment and remittances between individuals can be processed more efficiently, transparently, and securely by reducing their cost and increasing their speed. Due to the constant progress being made on this issue, BanRep will continue to monitor all CBDC-related matters. The fintech ecosystem for payments in Colombia. A high percentage of existing FinTech companies in the country are dedicated to offering digital payment services: wallets, payment gateways, mobile devices (point-of-sale terminals) and acquisition. These have driven innovation in payment services.