ABC Sales is expanding its operations and attempting to expand its sales territories. The sales manager has a staff of experienced salespersons who are each paid $500 per week. He is planning to hire some new sales trainees for $300 per week. An experienced salesperson can generate $20,000 worth of sales per week. A sales trainee can generate an average of $12,000 worth of sales per week. The company has budgeted $800 for a training program for the new trainees. The estimated cost of training is $100 per trainee. The sales manager’s payroll budget is $3,600 per week. Furthermore, the company has decided that the total sales force should be limited to 10 or fewer salespersons.

Write the linear programming formulation to help the sales manager to determine the optimum number of experienced salespersons and new trainees in order to maximize sales revenues.

For this Assignment, you will research firms that have entered into strategic alliances with companies abroad and consider how these activities have evolved with respect to the changing international trade environment.

To prepare:

• Think about the conditions that might encourage a firm to establish a global partnership(s) in order to maximize its marketing and overall business goals abroad.
• Then, select two real-world firms from this week’s Resources (e.g., Sony, Apple, Hyundai, etc.) or from your own research.

Assignment: Analyze the companies you have selected. In your analysis:

• Compare and contrast the strategic alliances that these two companies have established abroad.
• Describe how these companies have shifted or evolved their global marketing activities to accommodate international trade policies.