Question

Following several years of declining advertising sales, the Greenville Times reorganized its advertising sales force. Before reorganization, the sales force was organized geographically, with some sales representatives concentrating on city-center businesses and others concentrating on different outlying regions. The reorganization attempted to increase the sales representatives' knowledge of clients’ businesses by having each sales representative deal with only one type of industry or of retailing. After the reorganization, revenue from advertising sales increased.
In assessing whether the improvement in advertising sales can properly be attributed to the reorganization, it would be most helpful to find out which of the following?

• A. What proportion of the total revenue of the Greenville Times is generated by advertising sales?
• B. Has the circulation of the Greenville Times increased substantially in the last two years?
• C. Among all the types of industry and retailing that use the Greenville Times as an advertising vehicle, which type accounts for the largest proportion of the newspaper's advertising sales?
• D. Do any clients of the sales representatives of the Greenville Times have a standing order with the Times for a fixed amount of advertising per month?
• E. Among the advertisers in the Greenville Times, are there more types of retail business or more types of industrial business?

Hint:

When evaluating the success of a change in business strategy, focus on the key metrics directly tied to the change’s intended impact.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Understanding the reorganization's impact.
The reorganization aimed to improve advertising sales by changing the structure of the sales force. To evaluate whether this led to an increase in advertising revenue, we need to assess what portion of the revenue is from advertising.
Step 2: Analyzing the options.
- (A) This is the correct answer. To assess the impact of the reorganization, it is crucial to know what proportion of total revenue is from advertising to determine if the increase in sales is truly from the changes in the sales force.
- (B) This is not directly relevant. An increase in circulation might influence revenue, but it does not directly show whether the reorganization was the cause of increased advertising sales.
- (C) While this would be helpful, it doesn’t directly assess the impact of the reorganization on overall advertising revenue.
- (D) This does not address the overall impact of the reorganization but focuses on specific clients.
- (E) This is not relevant. The type of business is not the central factor in assessing the effectiveness of the reorganization.
Step 3: Conclusion.
The correct answer is (A), as it provides the most relevant information to assess the reorganization's impact on advertising revenue.