Japan office Machine

The main issue in the case study of Japan Office Machine is whether to provide incentive or straight salary as a mode of motivating

the sales force of NABMC(Nippon/American Business Machines Corporation); a joint venture of National Office Machine & Nippon Cash Machine. Before the merger, NCM sales have decreased 15% from last year and it has been losing since 1970 even though it produced the best machine in Japan, under the Japanese traditional system of straight salary and guaranteed lifetime employment, the case study states. On the other hand, NOM leads in the industry and has one of the most successful and aggressive sales forces in the United States. So, Changing the new joint company’s’ payment plan may be its only choice because NCM have lost so much market share. I believe the main factor of poor motivation is that money is guaranteed regardless of the employee’s productivity. I think NABMC should offer Incentive because it will be a new strategy to experiment on.

If NABMC creates a payment that comes from both commission and salary it will increase incentive for creating and sustaining sales.

This method will assure the Japanese of a fixed salary and will let them know that other half of the salary will depend on their work.

By implementing this half/half sales plan the company will see increased sales while the employees still will have payment security. The

tradition of spending a lifetime with a single employer is supporting the company’s ineffectiveness because of the guaranteed salary.

If incentive cannot be used, I would implement a companywide policy; an attractive salary with fringe benefits but no

guaranteed lifetime employment. The salary will surpass the average salaries paid by any other employers in this competitive market. But

if the company sales quotas go unfulfilled for two times in a row, the company could replace any employees at its discretion. I believe

this will be an effective motivation force because nobody would want to lose the job that would pay an unmatched salary. I would target

abolishing the tradition of spending a lifetime with a single employer so the Japanese employees get the idea that ineffective