In: Economics
You are the owner of a clothing retail store in Manhattan that sells brand name clothes, including high-end clothing brands. Your retail salespersons are paid a mean hourly wage of $15. Over the last several months, your sales have significantly declined and customer satisfaction surveys indicate that your customers are increasingly dissatisfied with the quality of service. You just took a course in microeconomics for business decisions in which you learned about the concept of principal-agent problem. To what extent should you apply this concept to increase the motivation of your retail salespersons? How should the performance of the retail salespersons be evaluated? Should you redesign the structure of compensation in terms of fixed pay (hourly wage) and variable pay (bonus, commissions)?