Calox Case
Business Marketing CALOX CASE Section 1 Overview: The main player is Mike Brown who is the international sales manager for Calox Machinery Corporation. Brown’s situation is to decide between staying with his current New Zealand distributer Glade Industries or to switch to Calox New Zealand, Ltd. The main player for the new company is Geoff Wiggins who created G. W Diggers which he then sold and is now called Glade. Mr. Wiggins is now in charge of the new company Brown is highly considering to switch to. * Decision on which company to go with.
Glade has “gotten its act together” offers a new team of 3 sales executives opposed to Geoff Wiggins “one man show” * Legal risks * If the new company fails than Calox is basically screwed. Section 2: Since both companies are battling for your business then a smart marketing ploy would be to try to get the best deal/package out of them. See what each company is willing to do so you keep them around. Alternating the prices to benefit your company and see which one is willing to accept. Give Glade a call and have them pitch to you how they’re new team is going to increase sales and how they plan to market.
Wiggins on the other hand resume speaks for himself but you can call him and ask how can he market better than Glade’s 3 members. Lastly, another option would be favorable contract negotiation. Try to get a guarantee that the distributer will remain in business with Calox for x amount of years and see who’s most willing. Section 3: facts 1. After Colax sent a letter that they were dropping Glade, Glade came back saying the restructured their sales staff with 3 new skilled employees and have already commenced targeting Wescot’s (major competitor) employees.
On the other hand Mike Brown met face to face with Geoff Wiggins. What Brown got out of the interview was that Geoff is very affable, technically knowledgeable, and an excellent marketing person. Also Geoff founded what is now Glade and during his reign had about a 50% share of the New Zealand market. 2. Legal risks- “sole distributer agreement” is what Glade and Colax had. However, in the case it is unclear of the potential severity of the legal risk. If the relationship is terminated and Glade sued than the amount of the case would probably be 10,000.
With that being said it’s still a problem and it isn’t guaranteed they won’t get sued for a lot more. Section 4: My recommendation to this case is to switch with Mr. Wiggins company. Clearly, Glade is in a downfall. Their company is a mess and can’t market Colax’s products effectively. Wiggins on the other hand knows the market extremely well. Colax has had business with him in the past when he originated what is Glade’s today. During Wiggins reign he had about a 50% share of the New Zealand market. Once Wiggins left Glade, the company has been in a downwards spiral.
For these reasons I would terminate my agreement with Glade give them their 60 day termination notice and then sign the deal with Wiggins. The legal aspect of it is tricky. But, after reading the case and what the lawyers said was there was not really a probable claim since the agreement was signed when Wiggins was in charge and Glade’s was called G. W. Diggers. The lawyers are not a 100% sure but they are likely that Colax could be threatened to pay approximately 10,000 dollars. With all this being said, Wiggins and Calox New Zealand, Ltd. would be the move I would recommend. Case closed! Enjoy your Labor Day vacation Mr. Brown.
