This year's practice partner for students of the Master of Advanced Management course was Pieroth Wein AG - a traditional, internationally active winemaking company in Rhineland-Palatinate. In the concept seminar Strategic Growth and Sales Management, the aim was to reposition the classic sales field service and to provide conceptual support for this change process.
Develop modern sales strategies
The company has its roots in the winemaking tradition of the Pieroth family, who began winegrowing in the Rhine-Nahe region over 300 years ago. In 1953, Elmar and Kuno Pieroth had the brilliant business idea: Due to the lack of mobility of their customers in the then still structurally weak and rural region, they began to move wine tasting from their own wine cellar to their customers' living rooms. This laid the foundation for today's modern sales force - still USP, spearhead and most important sales channel of the company.
But the market of the traditional company is changing. The networking of the now numerous additional sales channels was the task of the students this semester. Especially the interaction of e-commerce with the other channels played a major role in the students' explanations.
A total of six groups analyzed the market, defined the company's strengths and made recommendations on how Pieroth can maintain and further expand its market position in the future. The results were presented to members of management and employees in May 2019. The expectations of the company representatives regarding the students' concepts were far exceeded.
