A practical conceptual framework for sales resource allocation modeling is presented in this paper. A literature review of sales resource allocation models is described in terms of this framework. The conceptual framework also lends itself to several integer programming models which may be used...

Deciding which items to include in a sales catalog and how much space should be allocated to each item is a major planning problem facing many large retailers and catalog firms. The steps in the catalog planning process include compiling a list of candidate items, developing one or several ad...

A specially-structured integer programming model, called the multiple-choice nested knapsack model, is developed in this paper. The model is characterized by variables which are partitioned into multiple-choice sets and resource constraints which are nested across the multiple-choice sets. The...

This paper addresses the time management problem confronted by sales representatives. The sales representative planning his itinerary must decide the best way to ration time among the accounts comprising his territory. The time management problem is formulated as an integer program whereby each...

The sales territory alignment problem may be viewed as the problem of grouping small geographic sales coverage units into larger geographic clusters called sales territories in a way that the sales territories are acceptable according to managerially relevant alignment criteria. This paper first...

Sales territory alignment is the assignment of accounts and their associated selling activities to salespeople and teams. Models, systems, processes, and wisdom have evolved over 1,500 project implementations for 500 companies with 500,000 sales territories. Optimization models have evolved over...

This paper presents an agency theoretic model-based approach that assists sales managers in determining the profit-maximizing structure of a common multiproduct sales quota-bonus plan for a geographically specialized heterogeneous sales force operating in a repetitive buying environment. This...

This paper presents the application of a modified mixed-integer programming algorithm to plan menus in which the portion size of the menu items can vary over a specified positive range. Previous mathematical programming formulations of menu planning problems have either required the variables...

This paper analyzes the problem of designing the structure of multiproduct sales forces selling in an environment where purchase decisions are made on a straight rebuy or modified rebuy basis. It addresses two key issues pertaining to structure: How many sales forces should the firm have and...

This paper presents Elimination-By-Cutoffs (EBC), an individual-level model of choice which derives choice probabilities from the location of choice alternatives in a perceptual space. EBC is a multidimensional operationalization of Tversky's (Tversky, A. 1972. Elimination by aspects: A theory...