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Case Study – Victory Publishers Ltd
Sales Department
There are basically three different types of customer; wholesale, retail and direct (schools and colleges).
The sales staff is divided into three teams, each with its own manager. One team is assigned to School and
College sales and goes round to various institutions and exhibitions displaying books and talking to
teachers to assess their needs. This information is relayed back to the Marketing Department.
The second team consists of sales people who visit bookshops and wholesalers. Sometimes they travel
abroad, especially to Southern Ireland, where they have a strong presence.
The third team is back in the office taking and entering orders, answering customer queries and liasing
with the Marketing and Distribution Departments. For example when a special promotion is implemented,
such as an advertisement or flyer with an order form for a particular book, they will set up a special
response code for orders resulting from the flyer so that the Marketing team can gauge how successful the
promotion has been.
Marketing Department
The Marketing Department is in charge of designing and sending out catalogues and questionnaires,
organising special promotions, gathering and analysing responses to questionnaires and promotions,
organising stands at exhibitions and placing advertisements in magazines or on web sites belonging to
other organisations.
Distribution
When orders are received they are entered into the Sales Order Processing system and invoices printed
out, usually once a day at about 12 noon. The dispatch notes are sent to the warehouse with a Picking List
showing how many of each book is required to fulfil all the orders. The books are picked off the shelves
and placed in a packing area where the orders are assembled and packed ready for collection by courier at
around 4pm. The invoices are printed in the warehouse and attached to the outside of each parcel.
The Distribution Department is also in charge of receiving stock into the warehouse and recording where
each title is located. The stock file is updated to show the revised quantity in stock.
Finance
The Finance Department is split into two teams each with its own manager, namely Sales Ledger and
Purchase Ledger. Sales Ledger staff are responsible for receiving and recording customer payments and
chasing up late payers. Purchase Ledger staff are responsible for paying suppliers. The Head of
Department is a chartered accountant who keeps the monthly and annual accounts and is responsible for
ensuring that the company is in sound financial health. The payroll is not handled within the company but
is contracted out to a Payroll Bureau. Each month details of salaries, sick pay, pension payments, tax
codes etc are assembled and e-mailed to the Bureau, who calculate the payslips and e-mail the results
back to the payroll clerk in the Finance Department, who transfers the net salaries into the employees’
bank accounts.
Administration
The Administration Department has a Head of Department and 4 other members of staff, two of whom
are computer personnel responsible for keeping all the company’s hardware and software systems running
smoothly. They also install and test new software and customise it to individual or company
requirements. The other staff in this department are responsible for the general running of the company,
from the maintenance of the premises to the hiring, care and training of employees.
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