vision and strategy of the company, leadership and management qualities of the owner/director, good and motivated sales personnel, high quality and strategically positioned infrastructure, financial stability, ethical and moral values in conducting business, etc.). Also, in regions where none of the existing sales people satisfied the set criteria, new distributors were hired.

The next phase consisted of the contractual definition of the rights and obligations of the newly established network of dealers, the creation of a team environment and intensive training, which enhanced their knowledge and skills in order to be up to the challenges of the market.

The result of this optimization of the route to market may be seen either from the point of view of the dealer or from that of the multinational company. Afterwards the dealers were more satisfied and motivated. Their business dealings with the multinational company became clearer regarding their rights and obligations (which gave them more security in their investment), they received much greater sales support, and a firm partnership was created between them and the multinational company.

The results achieved by the multinational company through this optimization were impressive. During the year-long optimization and restructuring of the dealers' network, the sales did not drop, in spite of a multiple reduction of the number of dealers. Already in the next year the sales started to grow significantly. In addition, the expenses of the multinational company were substantially reduced (for example, a lower number of orders, a more efficient collection of payments, better production planning).