Wessex News

November 30, 2019

Capon Addresses South African Executives on Marketing Trends in Wholesaling and Retailing

Wessex Press Chair, Prof. Noel Capon, spoke recently to a delegation of South African retail executives about marketing and the direction of retailing and wholesaling in the 21st century.

Capon’s address was arranged by the University of Johannesburg and the International Leadership Development Programme (ILDP) of the Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority, a South African government agency. The week-long event, which hosted executives from more than 20 South African companies, was designed to serve as an active learning opportunity for participants.

The event included an academic and, most importantly, a practical applied learning component and is designed so that participants can identify synergies, explore best practices, and experience the wholesale and retail sectors within the U.S.

“The focus was on the South African economy and I shared my view on marketing and how that applies to wholesaling and retailing in the 21st century,” Capon said. “It was really designed to help them understand what was going on in other countries and to help them improve wholesale and retailing opportunities in South Africa.”

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November 25, 2019

Capon Focuses on Importance of Global Procurement at Columbia Executive Conference

Successfully managing global accounts and some of the key considerations that are driving global account management were the central themes of a keynote address by Wessex Press Chair, Prof. Noel Capon, at the Columbia University Executive Program in New York.

Capon’s talk emphasized the increasing importance major accounts are making on procurement decisions globally.

“Much of what I talked about is linked to the textbook I wrote with Dr. Christoph Senn (Switzerland) on this topic — Managing Key, Strategic, and Global Customers — and that is how to address and manage customers in a world that is increasingly globalizing and looking for opportunities to make procurement decisions on a global basis.”

The three-day program, held at Columbia from Nov., 11–15, 2019 was the first of its kind. Participants came from businesses around the world. A follow-up conference call with attendees was scheduled in February.

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November 09, 2019

Wessex Press COO Carelle Bassil Presents Global Strategy at Columbia University

NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2019—Carelle Bassil, COO of textbook publisher Wessex Press, gave a presentation on global strategy at the Columbia School of Professional Studies as a guest speaker in Professor Sandy Becker’s Marketing Strategy course.

Bassil, who is responsible for building and implementing Wessex Press’s business and product development strategy in the U.S. and global markets, discussed the global strategy that is driving the company.“As the cost of a college education continues to skyrocket, many students can’t afford to buy textbooks from conventional publishers,” said Bassil.

“Wessex is uniquely positioned as a publishing company because we are committed to making textbooks and other learning materials more accessible globally. Our strategy focuses on college students and life-long learners by providing cost-effective, technology-based solutions.”

Bassil discussed how Wessex will accomplish this through its “global strategy readiness” approach. Leveraging technology is at the heart of this strategy because it enables Wessex to reach customers globally and instantly through e-books and printing on-demand.

“Wessex operates at the cutting edge of technology,” Bassil said, “by providing traditional and e-learning tools to students and instructors.”

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May 28, 2019

Understanding the Complexities and Characteristics of Sales Managers

Front-line sales managers (FLSMs) are critical to a sales organization’s success. Yet, in many firms today, the FLSM role is inadequately-resourced, poorly-supported, even under-appreciated.

Coping with these issues, as well as understanding the characteristics and complexities of the FLSM role, were among the many topics and goals explored at the 2019 Sales Force Productivity Conference last fall in Atlanta. In a presentation entitled “The Changing Role of Front-Line Sales Managers,” Wessex Press Chair, Prof. Noel Capon, gave a first-hand perspective on the importance of the front-line sales management role.

Professor Capon R.C. Kopf Professor of International Marketing at Columbia Business School. compared the importance of this role to that of a Field General executing the firm’s sales strategy. He also presented the sixfold FLSM Acumen Framework as a means of ensuring that firms appoint the best candidates to these Field General roles and that they are coached to improve their performance.

Capon is the co-author of Sales Eats First: How customer-motivated sales organizations out-think, out-offer, and out-perform the competition. He also wrote Key Account Management and Planning.

A follow-up panel discussion further explored the roles FLSMs should play, the important attributes of today’s FLSMs, and how the role is poised to change.

Some 200 sales and management professionals attended the conference. During Exhibition and Networking hours, conference attendees were able to connect with the sponsors, who set up booths with information about their companies.

“Our participation at events like the Sales Force ProductivityConference shows that Wessex Press is at the cutting edge of sales management and the discourse around it. We’re bringing new intellectual content to both students and executives.”

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