Jindi Enterprises – Case Summary

Submitted by: Saamia Nawaz (22P00007)

Jindi Enterprises is a Chinese private company established in 1997 by Ma Rui, who has been in
the heating ventilation and air conditioning business for over 12 years. He founded the company
because he believed his skills would fill a gap in the market, regarding efficiency, size and
installment process which shifted in his focus on residential/commercial market. In 2002 sales
manager of Lanzhou’s office resigns and joined one of Jindi’s biggest competitor. Therefore,
there is a vacancy open that needs to be filled urgently. Things got more complicated when Ma
wants a new market strategy for entering the industrial market.
The residential/commercial market is segmented in 2 ways:
 Low-end market represents 80% of company’s sales and Jindi Enterprises is already
stablished in it. However, there is more low-price competition which can create some
restraints to Jindi Enterprises because Ma is more focused on efficiency. Longer order cycle
time is another restraint pointed by Ma. A great advantage point for sales performance is the
experience of the sales team about the technical particularities of the product Part of the sales
is made through direct walk-ins where the sales and engineering team gets on the streets
looking for new construction sites.
 In the other hand, the high-end market represents 20% of Jindi’s sales and needs huge
investments which reflect on price per unit (20% to 30% higher than low-end). As a
disadvantage it also has strict procedures before entering that market. The market is
dominated by largest companies with good and strongly stablished relations with designing
firms, where Jindi isn’t so strong at. Knowing that connections are a very important asset to
this market in order to be able to create targeted promotions (it’s the usual method used).
Having that said, Jindi isn’t known enough as a vendor to be able to enhance sales
performance.
Ma is taking a new path on his company, it is really important to have some knowledge and new
connections in order to get the best results. The candidate should give some examples about his
performance on previous situations. Then, some preferential criteria like some background
knowledge in engineering that allows the employee to understand the subjects that we are deal
with, proven ability to motivate and lead the sales team since this person will guide the team and
needs to be trustable and reliable, able to take good and concise decisions while managing the
team. Some general sales knowledge would be good also, since we are looking for a new sales
manager. To get those criteria fulfilled Ma needs to rethink his recruitment sources. To increase
the volume of the pool of candidates it’s needed to accept candidates that are not personally
connected to Ma (e.g. referrals). He should be capable to get out of his comfort zone and be
available to other options outside of his circle. With a larger pool of candidates, Ma is able to
have better candidates that fill out the requirements.
Ma involved, for the fist time, a local job agent. Talent One recommended several candidates,
Ma kept two of them and chooses other two internal candidates.
1. Hu Bin, internal candidate, became the first sales engineer of the company (besides Ma), and
it is described as “hard working”, being also faithful and reliable, which is good due to the
last experience. Has good leadership qualities and can solve any technical problem. However,
it was not a successful sales engineer. He was considered not “tricky” enough and too honest.
Although honesty is good to maintain long last relations with the company (Ma will know
with whom is dealing) and leadership qualities, it is not a good quality to be a Sales Manager.
He doesn’t have the profile that should be fill for a Sales Manager position.
2. Other internal candidate, Baig Dong, had previous background with his own business, even
he went bankruptcy, he learned how to deal with the customers and other value lessons. He
doesn’t have academic background in engineering he looks really interested in learning more
about the business, which reveals willing to grow. His age (25) can be seen in two
perspectives: in a good way if we consider a young person without work addictions and
“manias” that is blank and able to learn a lot; in a bad way if we consider a lack of
experience, that is compensated with his own business experience. Ma is quite worried if he
is too ambitious to leave the company after some time in the position.
3. Qian Cheng is a senior engineer in his thirties that moved because of his wife and is looking
for a new job. He was experienced and mature, graduating with a master’s degree in
engineering. He was very smart, diversified and one of the youngest engineers who had
advanced to the position of senior engineer in his architectural design firm. Ma is worried if
he is over qualified for this position, then he could be over confident like the last Sales
Manager, and if he should be considered for better positions.
4. Liu Xiaogang, one of One Talent candidates, has background in economics. He has excellent
interpersonal skills and it is very entrepreneur, being high motivated. He chatted naturally
with the receptionist while waiting for his interview and his image is great, which helps in
Sales field, because we know that his half way to get into the business. During the interview
Ma discovered also that he was son of a famous professor in the field of engineering and
executive member of some leading industrial councils and associations of the nation. Liu
disclosed that Yongda (Jindi’s competitor) had intended to make his father its advisor,
although he didn’t make up his decision yet.