Becton Dickinson Division: Marketing Organization

Frank V. Cespedes

Case | HBS Case Collection | December 1992 (Revised November 1994)

Becton Dickinson Division: Marketing Organization

Abstract

The marketing director for the largest division of a health care products company is reviewing the structure and staffing of the division's marketing organization. The division has authorization to hire an additional marketing manager. Hence, the immediate case decisions are: 1) whether to hire an additional manager; and 2) if so, what should be the role and responsibilities of a new manager within the marketing organization. Industry developments, budgetary considerations, and changing field sales and service requirements make this a complex decision with larger implications for the division's marketing strategy and implementation.

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Health Care and Treatment; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Managerial Roles; Product Marketing; Measurement and Metrics; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry;

Format: Print

18 pages

Educators Purchase

Citation:

Cespedes, Frank V. "Becton Dickinson Division: Marketing Organization." Harvard Business School Case 593-070, December 1992. (Revised November 1994.)

Common advice in sales is to provide insights to customers during sales calls. But this advice generally stays at the level of “tell people something they don’t already know” and results in sales conversations littered with many irrelevant factoids. This article provides examples of how salespeople develop and deliver resonant insights in customer conversations and why the framing of insights depends upon to whom they are talking and when in the sales cycle.

Most research and training in sales focus on acquiring new customers. But winning back previous customers is increasingly important: mergers, choice in supply chains, and uncertainty about trade wars mean that B2B customers are constantly re-evaluating relationships with suppliers and making changes. Meanwhile, large buyers account, on average, for over 25% of revenues at publicly traded firms, up from 10% in the 1980s. This article discusses how and why the process for reacquiring lost customers requires a different approach than acquiring new ones and illustrates the process and its implications via a case example.

Fred Shilmover and Sam Clemens prepared for their fourth quarter board meeting. They were excited to have scaled their software startup, InsightSquared, to $2 million in revenue and secured an $8 million round of venture capital. However, they disagreed on the path ahead, specifically on the sales and marketing plan. Shilmover preferred a sales-centric approach to growth while Clemens preferred a marketing-centric one. Which strategy was optimal for their venture’s next phase of growth?

Faculty & Research

Becton Dickinson Division: Marketing Organization

Abstract

Citation:

About the Author

More from the Author