Sales Trends for 2015 of BMW Company

The above graph clarifies sales trends during the next following months for the year 2015. The month of March, April, may and June offers of BMW Company were observed to be very low sales they all were between $102,360 – $143,000 Noteworthy increment seen in the month of July and sales were $244,240 and at all sudden it dropped to $199,740 in a month of August. From the September and October, it had the dramatic increase in comparison to March to August. Through the assessment of the sales trend, the company will be able to make an assessment of their current sales against their desired sales. The dashboard makes it possible for the policy makers in the organization to see the trend and consequently make an assessment of their current situations (Web-based dashboard, 2009). The ability to meet their sales targets as well as the inability is evident from the dashboard. Additionally, in the event they were not able to meet their sales target, it will be possible to make an assessment of the factors that inhibited the attained as well as the possible interventions needed. In the case of BMW, the management can notice that there are some months that are recording low sales and thus the need to consider the measures that could promote their sales. These could range from adopting social media marketing strategies to the motivation of the sales team, giving them the incentive to augment their commissions via better sales. The overall objective of the business, in this case, is developing a competitive advantage that will assist them to have a superior competitive edge over the competitors and thus generate better sales (Pratt, 2014).

Revenue of Sales Person and Their Commission
Karthik was found to be active and significant in comparison to other sales person in marketing and making the business. His overall sales for the year 2015 from June to October were $278,360. And Akhil and Sachin found to be same revenue range of $160,800-165,000 but the sum of a commission of Sachin’s is 4.41% comparatively low to Akhil’s sum of commission. The graph additionally indicates that Brijesh has the lowest sum of revenue as well as a sum of commission comparative to all others in above dashboard. The assessment of the sales that employees’ are making for the business makes it possible for the business to be aware of the individuals making the greatest contribution to the business. Additionally BMW can assess whether there are skills that are necessary to improve the productivity of their sales people. Through the assessment, it is possible to ascertain the sales doing the best job via looking at their compensation and finding ways of addressing those with lower compensations (Podgórski, 2015).

Revenue by Sales Person per Month

The revenue of sales per month of Ramesh is $135,000 from June to October, where it is comparatively very high to other sales. The sales of Chandu, Akhil, Sachin, Suresh, Vamshi, and Brijesh are below then $76,000. The application of the sales cycle KPI for the sales people is instrumental to the BMW as they can examine the duration it takes one individual to generate revenue from the sales. The assessment of the sales person average cycle will assist BMW make an accurate evaluation of their employees in the sales in assessing their performance. Thus, the KPI will assist BMW to retain as well as recruit the sales people who are productive to the company. Additionally the company can make sale projection by relying on their monthly sales (Hildreth, 2012). Their expansion and marketing strategies heavily rely on the sales they make as they offer the necessary incentive in directing the organizational performance as well as the available resources for their investments. Additionally assessing the monthly revenue that the business is making will assist in making right evaluations of business growth trend and the factors that may hinder the growth.

Revenue by States
The above chart illustrates the revenue of the states that BMW made from the sale of different car models in the diverse above chart illustrates the revenue of the states that BMW made from the sale of different car models in the diverse states. The California has revenue of $258,860 this was the highest revenue generated comparatively to other states. We can also see that Atlanta has very low revenue i.e. $54,000. There are various KPIs that the business applies in promoting its revenue in these states. In this case, the objective of the company is enhancing their revenues collection in each state and one of the KPIs that can assist in assessing the revenue collected the examination of the customer retention rate. The higher the number of customer retention the better the revenue collection (Data Visualization, 2010). Thus, the assessment of the sales made in the different states will give the business a platform to assess their performance and consequently design the strategies that will improve their performance in the respective states. The ability that the company has in assessing their perform states.

The California has revenue of $258,860 this was the highest revenue generated comparatively to other states. We can also see that Atlanta has very low revenue i.e. $54,000. There are various KPIs that the business applies in promoting its revenue in these states. In this case, the objective of the company is enhancing their revenues collection in each state and one of the KPIs that can assist in assessing the revenue collected the examination of the customer retention rate. The higher the number of customer retention the better the revenue collection. Thus, the assessment of the sales made in the different states will give the business a platform to assess their performance and consequently design the strategies that will improve their performance in the respective states (Hein, 2009). The ability that the company has in assessing their performance in the different states will make it possible to outline the specific issues driving the various customers’ states in these states depending on the sales. Through the description of the sales targets for these states, it will be possible to strategies on the most effective marketing strategies that will promote the sales in these states.

Sales by Invoice Amount
This above chart illustrates the following sales by invoice amounts. By this chart, we can assume that the sales from invoice amount of 31560-41559 are the second highest sale from Invoice amount of 71560-81559 as the highest number of sales. Through assessment of the invoice amount, the business can assess the sales they have made and at the same time make the work of the auditors easy as the records of sales are available. Additionally through the assessment of the sales invoice, BMW can attract the effectives of the employees by tracking their sales via invoices as well as the amount generated (Hildreth, 2012).

Revenue by Product
The above graph illustrates the sales of products of the company BMW. It seems to BMW Z 650i has the highest sales comparative to the other products. We can also see that BMW i8 had very low sales from all other products. The application of this KPI offers the business with the advantage of examining the sales they are making depending on their car models. Through this examination, it is possible to assess the models that the customers prefer and thus increasing their availability in the market to boost the sales. Ability to see the models that have low sales makes it possible for BMW to conduct research on the reasons the models are unpopular among the customers and thus make modifications or pull them out of the market (Hein, 2009). BMW will be able to assess the circumstances around each model in the context of the reasons that are promoting the sales of a particular model such as an effective marketing campaign. On the other hand, the low sales for the other model could be because the competition is offering an identical model at a lower price. Thus through the application of this KPI, the BMW will be able to assess the issues that are revolving around the performance of a certain model and how to improve each model to attain the desired sales.

Conceptual Framework
According to Creswell (2014), the conceptual framework does create a logical chain of evidence through which the researcher does test and verify conclusions. The conceptual framework is usually developed so as to generate a comprehensive understanding of the applicability of employee involvement in project management. Involvement in decision-making is the independent variable while the goal achievement is the dependent variable.

Goal Setting Theory
The identified conceptual framework for this study is based on Goal Setting Theory. The goal setting theory normally assumes that a direct relationship does exist between the definition of the measurable and specific goals and the performance. The researcher, Edwin Locke primarily developed the theory when he started the goal setting research in 1960s (Locke & Latham 1979). Goal setting theory does involve the process of establishing levels of performance so as to obtain the desired outcomes. Based on the theory, it purport that the source of motivation involves the desire and the intention to reach a particular goal. According to Armstrong (2013), when managers know what they aim at achieving, they are motivated to put more effort that increases performance. The goal setting theory was advanced by Armstrong (2013), who emphasize on goal setting and encouragement of decision rights as the basis for employee performance. When the management allows the employees to get involved in decision-making on matters concerning them and the organization, it tends to increase the employee’s commitment. Employee involvement in decision-making wins the commitment of employees and when the management can win the employee’s commitment; it does increase job satisfaction and motivate employees to work hard.

Taking responsibility for the results requires that the members of the organization receive a chance to influence their results favorably and have freedom of taking action. Based on the theory, the decision rights tend to allow greater involvement of employees in deciding issues that do affect their work Armstrong (2013), He argues that employees are likely to meet their performance goals when they are empowered with authority to make decisions and also solve problems that relate to the results that they are accountable. The goals of an organization represent a shared responsibility among all its employees each of whom has a role in the success of the organization. The contribution of the employees tends to be a starting point for enumerating the results of which they are accountable. Thus, the goal setting theory is used in developing the study’s conceptual framework.

The employee can contribute significantly towards achieving the objectives and the goals of the organization. Hence, it is essential that the organization should have knowledge of the various factors that affect the behavior of their staff so as to bring out the best in these employees. Because of this, the researcher selects the goal setting theory as the conceptual framework for the study. The goal setting theory tends to be one of the most practical and influential theories of motivation. Several studies have been conducted to support the theory, and there tends to be a strong support that is setting goals related to performance improvement. The aim of the study is to examine how employee involvement in decision-making predicts goal achievement. Locke suggests that goals normally tell an employee what they need to do and how much effort should be expended (Latham, 2004). The theory does suggest that specific goals tend to increase performance and that the difficult goals when they are accepted do lead to higher performance.

From the theory, it suggests the significance of setting difficult goals as it leads to the increase in the likelihood of goal achievement. Locke postulated that through employee involvement and participation in goal setting, the employees are likely to participating in the goals and increasing performance; thus, enhancing the job satisfaction (Latham & Locke 2006). Goal setting tends to be an effective strategy of affecting performance through employee involvement, participation, and providing feedback. The involvement of the employee in setting goal tends to direct the behavior of the employee, and it contributes to higher performance than the absence of feedback and the lack of involvement. Latham, (2004) claims that difficult goals normally lead to participation through involvement employees in decision making and setting goals, enhanced employee-employer relations and also improved performance through producing high levels of planning and effort. Hence, goal setting may be an effective strategy for influence performance through enhances the initiatives of employee involvement by providing regular feedback and appropriate communication (Locke et al. 2010).

According to Latham & Locke (2006), the employee involvement in decision-making does include the process that results in some degree of transfer of then decision control and the responsibility from the superior to his subordinates. The participation in the setting of the work goals tends to fall in this definition as employee’s determination of goals is the transfer of the decision control and the responsibilities from the superior to the subordinates. Locke et al. (2010) conclude that participation in goal setting leads to increased performance. Erez et al. (1985) conducted a study to investigate the impact that participation in goal setting has on goal acceptance and the performance of the American college students. The researchers hypothesized that the level of the goal acceptance would increase as participation increased and participation influence performance through influence on acceptance. The study by Erez et al. (1985) revealed that the participative and representative goal setting increased the individual goal acceptance and the goal acceptance contributed to the performance. Locke et al. (2010) state that the involvement of employees in decision-making may contribute to the development of an effective strategy for attaining the goals that in turn increase the self-efficacy of the participant that the goal is attainable.

An examination of the goal setting theory, purport that the participation of the employee in setting the goal makes the goals to be more acceptable and it also leads to more involvement. With regards to involvement in setting the goals, the employees need to ensure that they have the necessary skills, abilities, and knowledge for reaching the goals. When the employees do not have the necessary skills, setting the outcome goals, have indicated to result in a lower level of performance (Seijts & Latham, 2005). Seijts & Latham (2005) state that people are more likely to feel helpless when they do not have the ability to reach the goals and making it difficult to achieve the goals.

Literature review
It is vital to choose the right programming language that helps the programmer carry out transaction processing and the one that supports procedural constructs, and robust error handling (Wichmann, 1995). That programming language also needs to incorporated variable declarations and general high performance. The PL/SQL programming language has database basis, and it is also an application development language that supplements the SQL programming language with standard programming feature. It is the superset of SQL programming language. The features that this programming language adds to SQL include block structure, flow control statements and loops, customized error handling, structured data and variables and constant types (Feuerstein & Pribyl, 2014). It makes it possible for the one programming to store the compiled code into the database directly. With that possibility, the any number of users and applications can share the same functions and procedures. As a matter of fact, once the loading of the code takes place onto the memory, multiple users can use the same code simultaneously.

The users can also define triggers to enable the database execute them automatically in response to the specified events (Sharma et al., 2011). Pl/SQL is an exclusive product from Oracle Corporation and not an industry standard. The language helps in bringing efficiency to programming because if the user compiles it prior to runtime, there is high efficiency ensured in that code or program. It groups its statements into some units that we can refer to as block just like any other programming languages groups the statements into some units (Gupta, 2012). Those blocks can be anonymous or named as subprograms of procedures. There is the usage of a function in an expression, and it returns a valued top the expression before the invoking of a standalone statement. It then passes the value to the calling program using parameters only. It is also possible to nest those subprograms into one another and then into larger units known as packages. The daily responsibilities of a PL/SQL programming entail writing programs, queries, and functions so as to manipulate the structure and data of a database.

There is also a responsibility of querying databases and then generating reports that is vital to the decision-making process of an organizations or any business (Parker & Ottawa, 2006). PL/SQL ensures that those tasks take place in the required manner so as to deliver a high-quality code that lead to the delivery of high-quality reports or queries. Pl/SQL development takes place on the Oracle database, and the developers may also work with MySQL and the Microsoft SQL Servers, or any other database system (Hellstrom, 2015). It requires the SQL developer to have a thorough knowledge of SQL programming analytics ability and a strong logic. The software development arena requires that the developers report to the managers and the software development team leads. Because of that, it is a requirement that a PL/SQL developer handles the successful delivery of the development projects for software as well as support the production development. Those are the responsibilities that I will ensure that they take place while working in the i5 Tech Company as highlighted in my introduction and methodology.

The PL/SQL developer requires having active participation in software design and solutions while ensuring that he/she develops the company systems forward to deliver a high quality managed solution. PL/SQL language offers to the developer elements that are imperative to the software or application development task (Gupta, 2012). One of the elements includes organized code management packages that serve the purpose of making the locating of the code easy as well as its understanding and reuse. There is also the easy of top-down application design. That is because a separation between the public interface and the implementation if a crucial feature required for any package. That ensures that the programmer can code and compile a package with the absence of the body. When there is such vital separation of the public interface and the body, there is the possibility of developing an application in a modular fashion and not face bottlenecks. The bottlenecks arise due to incomplete implementation details in the code or application.

Both the bottom-up and the top-down development approaches are strategies that are useful for the processing of information and knowledge ordering (Dell Corporation, 2006). These tasks are vital in many areas such as software, scientific theories, humanistic, management, and organization. The top-down approach to PL/SQL development also known as decomposition, it is vital in breaking a system down to gain more understanding of the same regarding its compositional structure. In this approach, there is formulating of a system, making specifications although there is no detailing of any first-level subsystems. There is then the refining of the system into greater detail, and sometimes this may take place in many additional levels until the developers reduce the system into its base elements (Wile, 2002). It mean than the PL/SQL language helps in the reduction of the complexity of the task of development as in the case of bottom-up approach. The latter approach is where there is the piercing together of systems to form a more complex system meant for making g the original system be a subsystem of the emergent one.

The other powerful element of the PL/SQL is what the programmers call painless implementation changes because the language helps to eliminate the havoc or making changes to the subprograms. In many of the programming languages, making changes to a subprogram creates havoc with the other programs that might be referring it. With PL/SQL, there are no changes required in the dependent objects if only the there is the changing of the code in the package body (Tutorialspoint.com, n.d). It is also possible to ensure security and maintainability in the code when using this application language. It makes it possible to specify which of the items, types and subprograms that is private or public. Also, the ability to have in a package some private portions makes it impossible to access them publically. That is essential as it helps in protecting the integrity of that package as well as simplifying the maintenance.

PL/SQL also incorporates session-wide persistence of the public variables. That means the package public cursors, as well as the variables only, persist as long as the session is not over. They let the programmer to maintain the data across many transactions without the need for storing it in the database. They help in the storage of the values that have session-wide relevance like the debug/trace options. Better performance in PL/SQL language is possible through the loading of the package into the memory after the invocation of the packaged subprogram for the first time (Urman et al., 2004). There no disk I/O operations required for later calls to the subprograms that are in the package. All this translates to better performance than the SQL itself and other application programming languages.

Proposal
In the i5 Tech Company where I will be carrying out my research as an intern, I will have involvement in many tasks as highlighted in my introduction and methodology. Those tasks will relate to the PL/SQL development as I will be working as a PL/SQL developer in this company. I will have involvement in vital projects development with this language in question and in all those tasks I will be interacting with various teams of experts so as to understand what is in the requirement of me. Other tasks I will be in the requirement to carry them out alone while others I will be working with other teams or groups of professional for the purpose of quality and accountability. All those tasks have a division into five iterations including orientation, training, gathering and understanding the user requirements, coding, and testing and implementation. Those iterations have an explanation in the following paragraphs.

Orientation
The orientation session is where I will have the explanation of how the organization works, its structure, models of operation, management, working procedures and guidelines among others. I will have to know the limits of my duties and conduct so as not to have trouble in failing to adhere to the company rules and regulations regarding conduct and internship responsibilities. There will also be the issuance of the intern card that I will be using to identify myself as a legally taking my internship in the company.

Training
In the training phase where will be the task of helping me to know the areas that I will be handling during my internship in the company wherein, I will be taking my internship. There will be through training on the PL/ASQL coding principles and the rules that I ought to follow to ensure that I am in line with the international standards of coding in this language. There will be an assessment at the end of the training to test my understanding of the basics in taught during the training session as this will determine the project that company will assign to me.

Gathering and understanding user requirement
During the session of gathering and understanding the user requirements, I will have involvement in meeting and interacting with various end users of the application to have development. That will be helpful to me as I will understand the requirements clearly so as to code in light of those requirements. The development team will have to verify the data after analysis before giving me a go-ahead with the development. The company will assign to me one of the PL/SQL developers and one of the project development team members to help with the consultation services.

Coding
In the coding phase, I will begin the process of developing the required application that is the actual project development. It is the phase where I will have much work. It will require me to have regular contact with my supervisors so that I will carry it out in the required way and deliver unit within the specified time and quality.

Testing and implementation
In the testing and implementation phase, there will be the testing of the developed application for errors. The task will have performance in collaboration with the project development team and after the testing there will be the implementation of the developed application. It will be the last iteration in the company.