price per year, and is billed directly by Oracle from the 2nd year on. This has no bearing on partners ' reward.
Oracle supports partners with its own university for the training and reschooling of new consultants. A partner ' s loyalty may be increased by investing in training and marketing. Every alliance plan is supported by an Enable Plan, which provides KPIs that are reflected in the reward structure for alliance managers, for example the number of trainings and of certified consultants per partner. There is even an HRM programme for partners: for 2000 dollars, Oracle will recruit and train new consultants for partners. Finally, Oracle strives to get ex-employees assigned to marketing posts at its partners.
More in general, a distributor will be inclined to sell those products or services that yield the largest reward proportionate to his sales efforts. This makes increasing the reward an important method, but there are also a large number of non-financial methods that can incentivise the distributor. The easier it becomes to sell a product, the more such methods will be applied, even though it means a somewhat lower financial reward.
Important is first of all the attractiveness of the product or service. This is certainly also a matter of packaging, the documentation and the guarantees. Packaging that is easy to stack or to ship, a clear manual that reduces the number of customers calling the distributor for help, and an effective complaints processing procedure and guarantee policy, preferably arranged without the distributor ' s involvement, can help limit the required sales effort.
Second, a supplier can assist in the marketing. By advertising the product it can generate a pull-effect, stimulating customer demand. Additionally, the supplier can help in terms of product-push: for instance by providing in-store displays, the design of the packaging, or by offering samples or trial versions.
Investing in training materials can be useful, particularly where more complex products are involved. The supplier usually assumes that the distributor has all the knowledge and skills required to sell the product; yet often enough the distributor even lacks commercial skills, let alone technical skills. Or perhaps the entrepreneur is sufficiently capable, but is assisted by employees that are just starting out. Good training materials, perhaps even videos to demonstrate how to sell a certain product, can significantly boost sales figures.
Non-financial factors are particularly relevant for distribution across a number of different links: here, the margin between the supplier ' s sales price and the sales prices for the end user is stretched across the various links. Although the supplier can set the price for the supply to the first distributor / wholesaler, he has no control over the price and discount structure applied further down the chain.
In such cases, non-financial methods such as providing promotion materials, in-store displays, training materials or arranging proper complaints procedures are much more effective than lowering the sales price. Projects in which the supplier ' s representatives talk to distributors far down the line, just one or two steps removed from the end user, can also prove more cost-effective than a discount campaign. Finally, the wholesaler can be rewarded for offering information and training to retailers.
For example, Coca-Cola supplies its raw materials to bottling companies, but supports the sales through mass marketing campaigns targeting consumers and by providing an infinite number of signs, banners and vending coolers to retailers all across the world. It is
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