Jindi Enterprises: Finding a New Sales Manager

Jindi Enterprises is a manufacturer of heat exchanger units for residential and commercial markets in China. Recently, the company's top sales representative, who is also the sales manager for one of the company's provincial offices, quit and joined a competitor. A replacement must be found, however, a delay in choosing a strategic direction is seriously complicating the hiring decision. The chief executive officer must determine the corporate strategy and ensure that the hiring strategy reflects these changes. Learning objectives include understanding that corporate strategy and sales hiring and selection strategy are inter-related and must be integrated, that hiring criteria may have to change to reflect strategy changes, and that sales and sales management practices in emerging markets can be different than those in mature markets.