Challenges for the Sales Force in Coming across and Seeking to Serve a Lean Organization - Research Paper Example

Critique of a Completed Research Project [Student’s Name] [Institution Affiliation] Introduction In their research project, Piercy & Rich (2008), sought to discover the suggestions of lean operations to marketing force from sales approach in Toyota Japan. Toyota is a multinational company and it is one of the largest automobile manufacturers by production in the world. Piercy & Rich (2008) research shows how lean operation principles, which are based on Toyota Japan, are being employed by companies worldwide in all economic sectors to improve costs, quality, and productivity. The research question addressed by the study was “what are the challenges for the sales force in coming across and seeking to serve a lean organization?” This research project was chosen for the critique project because the researcher has used most of the aspects of a research project and will thus serve as a base of analyzing whether the researchers covered the aspects in the appropriate manner before they reached their conclusion. A good research project generates valid and reliable results, which can be generalized to the larger population. It should consist of research conceptualization, research methodology, research results, research conclusion, & recommendations. These five aspects will be used as the basis for reviewing Piercy & Rich research project. The source of the research article is the “Journal of Strategic Marketing.” Summary The research project comprises of research conceptualization, research methodology, results, and recommendation. In research conceptualization, the authors of the articles have stated the objectives of the study; there is a literature review as well as a research perspective and scope. The limitations as well as ethical standards are missing. In the research methodology, the authors have clearly stated the type of data to be collected, the research analysis, as well as the data analysis used. The research results are well analyzed and they provide answers for the research objectives. The results are well presented in an understandable form. There is also a section on research conclusions, which answer the research objectives and address gaps in companies’ lean operations. The scope of this research project is wide as it cites even other organizations, which have taken up Toyota Japan lean organization strategies, and it has been quite useful in deriving the study results and in the answering of the research objectives. Nonetheless, the authors did not label the research project items clearly and this makes it a bit hard for the reader to understand the research items as well as the results in an uncomplicated and better manner. Research Conceptualization Objective In this research project, the authors have clearly stated the objectives of the study. The authors state, “In this paper we set out to analyze the challenges for the sales force in encountering and seeking to serve a lean organization” (p.238). The authors failed to label this section as the objectives of the study. Nevertheless, the author explains that in analyzing the challenges, they considered the trickle down consequences of lean shift in the supplying organization as well as the issues that they come across. They describe the process, which transforms the sales strength into a marketing strength as well as its implications. The authors of the study clearly state the course that the research will take in answering the research objectives. However, there were no research questions as well as hypotheses for guiding the study and helping achieve the study objectives and thus the study is lacking in this way. Literature Review In the research project, different literatures such as books, journal articles, Toyota’s website, and other websites are used. The different sources have been used to support different topics on lean operations in Toyota and help to achieve reliability and validity of the study. The literature review is very detailed and the in citations are correct. The review starts with a background on lean thinking, followed by the shifting character of sales-purchaser affiliations, the spread of lean approaches and lean sales force: all these topics are related to the research topic and hence offer support for the study. There are numerous cited sources, which are good for the study, and there is even a diagram to show the lean trickledown effect in the organization. In this research, the review is more than a search for information and it is evident that the literature cited was well identified and articulated in relation to the research subject. The only limitation like in research conceptualization is that the authors did not clearly indicate that this is the literature review section. Clear indication of the different sections in a research helps the reader to clearly follow and understand the research. Research Perspective The research perspective in this research was marketing. The authors highlighted the main challenges that organizations such as Toyota are facing as they move towards lean production. The changes requires a change in sales approach to an open and shared strategy to working with customers, directness as well as information distribution across organizational boundaries as well as diverse ways of working in the organization. Instead of competition, which is dependent on price, the sales compete on the capacity of an organization and play a major function in shaping the capacity. The perspective taken was very relevant to the research topic and laid an established basis on the way research was carried out. The authors of the articles have provided an interpretation of observed phenomena in lean operations in Toyota in relation to the organizations involved in the specific situations. Scope and Limitation The authors did not clearly state the scope of the study. However, they mostly focused on lean operations in Toyota Japan and cited other organizations to demonstrate the key challenges that organizations face as they move towards lean operations. The authors did not also state the limitations of the study. The limitations would have offered the reader a practical approach to the problems (if any) that surrounded the execution and interpretation of research. Ethical Standards The authors did not state the ethical standards. When conducting research with human as well as non-human subjects, the researchers are usually ultimately responsible for the subjects’ welfare. Thus, the researchers are responsible for protecting the research participants from harm. Ethical standards include informed consent, privacy, and confidentiality. To analyze the shifting function and prerequisites of sales beneath lean sourcing, the researchers carried out primary investigations of five major 10-year research projects in Toyota. There was thus need for various ethical considerations in this research. Research Methodology Types of data The researchers used both primary and secondary data. The secondary material examined consisted of source materials and literature from Toyota Japan, which specify the company requisites for supply chain contributions, supplier policy, as well as the company logistics manual. Primary data was acquired through examining the sales force function in additional details. The two authors compiled data from five major projects. The projects entailed interviews with sales, marketing, operation and production employees, customer interviews, examinations of action-research and fulfilment processes over a ten-year durations with almost one hundred European suppliers. The use of primary and secondary data was good for this study as the secondary data supplemented the primary data obtained. Research Design The authors of the study used both qualitative and quantitative research designs. In addition to the primary and secondary research, the authors also conducted an in-depth analysis to offer an account summary of the change procedure to sales approach as well as tactic in selling to a lean corporation. Data analysis used The authors critically analyzed the data by showing the key themes, which emerged in every one of the renovation projects embarked on in five research projects. According to the authors, there were several distinct issues, which were obvious in price, product, service provision, and order management. The authors did not use any instrument in analyzing data; however, there is an exploratory data analysis, which interprets the data acquired satisfactorily. Research Results The results of this research provide an answer to the research objectives. The results present the changing role of sales inside the department in Toyota and changes in company relationships. The results demonstrate a shift towards marketing –orientated as opposed to a sales-push strategy as well as the challenges that the sales team is facing and seeking to serve an organization, which is lean. In any research, the results should provide an answer to the research objectives and questions. The results are well presented by dividing them into different sections thus assisting the reader to make sense of the acquired information. Research Conclusions The authors’ conclusion begins with a statement, which demonstrates the inevitability of lean operations in organizations, and showing that lean concepts are accelerating from automotive companies such as Toyota to all economic sectors. The authors state the key changes identified from the study concerning lean operations. They propose a change in planned organization, which transpires with the sales-strength emerging as a marketing strength, carrying out activities conventionally related to the market orientation, or notion as this can be advantageous for a corporation. The authors also recommend areas of further research in leans operations- to investigate the function of sales as well as marketing workforce in the time of lean process transformations. The conclusion of this study is satisfactory as it go over the main points all covered in the study and connects the objectives with the results-it connects the first section to the last section. Recommendations The authors recommend more research to look at the task of sales and marketing staff during lean operational shifts. The second recommendation accrues from the study initial findings. They recommend a change in calculated organization with the sales strength becoming a marketing strength, carrying out activities by tradition related with marketing orientations and conception. The recommendations section is satisfactory, as the authors have demonstrated the need for the shift. Both the research conclusions and recommendations sections answer the research objectives and address gaps in research that concerns lean operations and the change to marketing force from marketing force in the face of lean operations. Overall Assessment Generally, this report identified and analyzed the research topic with satisfactory analysis as well as with critical reasoning and support from published literature in the issue. There is an interaction of relevant materials and a connection among the main concepts related to lean operations. Nonetheless, the study is lacking in terms of arrangement of items. Some of the research items such as limitations of the study are missing. There is more attention and greater precision to details in the use of arguments in the study. Overall, this is a good research project as there is a flow of the relevant research items although they are not well defined. It is evidence of original thing as well as an extensive knowledge base. It has clear objectives, which are answered by the conclusion, and it is a well researched and documented. Reference Piercy, N., & Rich, N. (2009). The implications of lean operations for sales strategy: from sales- force to marketing-force. Journal of Strategic Management. 17(3-4): 237-255. Read More