Commercial management is the function in charge of making the organization known and opening up to the outside world, it deals with two fundamental problems, customer satisfaction and the participation or increase of its market, given this, it is necessary to develop an adequate system of quality, an efficient customer service department and quality products or services.
According to Herrera (p.151), commercial management is the one that carries out the exchange relationship of the company with the market. If we analyze this from the point of view of the production process, the commercial function or management would constitute the last stage of said process, since through it the company's products are supplied to the market and in exchange it contributes economic resources to it. However, commercial management is not only the last stage of the business process, since considered in this way it would only fulfill an exclusive sales function and, however, commercial management ranges from the market study to the sale or placement of the product to disposition of the consumer or client, including sales strategies, and sales policy in the business environment (everything related to setting objectives,incentive system in the event that such objectives are achieved and, where appropriate, the control of non-compliance as well as the degree and causes thereof).
Borja explains (pp. 9 and 10) that commercial management is an essential part of the functioning of organizations: decisions regarding which markets to access; with what products; what pricing policy to apply; how to develop an effective commercial system,… are part of the daily life of organizations, in addition to being aspects that emanate directly from decisions derived from corporate strategy.
In large companies and corporations, where the strategic planning process is standardized, the strategic decisions that affect commercial performance are the consequence of the very definition of objectives established at the highest corporate level. business management itself, loses this "strategic content", and focuses on how to resolve operationally the dilemmas posed in corporate strategy:
- How to guide the aspects related to the marketing mix How to adapt information systems to commercial management How to structure and size the commercial organization How to streamline the commercial system.
However, in cases where this strategic planning process is not formalized (either due to the size of the company, or simply due to the absence of this initiative), commercial management takes on special significance, to the extent that it must assume a double role:
- On the one hand, it must assume a role in commercial and marketing planning, from which the definition of the objectives and decisions that would correspond to the corporate strategic planning process will derive. On the other hand, it must continue to provide an adequate response to the operational solution of business and marketing problems arising from global strategic decisions.
Bibliography
- From Borja de Carlos Martín-Lagos, Francisco. Systematization of the Commercial Function. Netbiblo, 2008 Herrero Palomo, Julián. Administration, management and marketing in small businesses, Editorial Paraninfo, 2001.
