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This paper aims to explore the increasing importance of the intraorganizational dimension of the sales role (IDSR) based on service-ecosystem theory. Specifically, it examines how firms can improve interactions both internally and with external actors and stakeholders to both create and sustain advantageous “thin crossing points” (Hartmann et al. 2018). Academic research on sales ecosystems has yet to fully harness the rich insights and potential afforded by the crossing-point perspective.

After developing and unpacking the paper’s guiding conceptual framework (Figure 1), the authors focus on crossing points and the diversity of interactions between the contemporary sales force and its many stakeholders. They examine the sales literature, identify opportunities for thinning sales crossing points and propose dozens of research questions and needs.

The paper examines the importance of improving interactions both within and outside the vendor firm to thin crossing points, further develops the concept of the “sales ecosystem” and contributes a series of important research questions for future examination.

The paper focuses on applying “thick” and “thin” crossing points, a key element of Hartman et al. (2018). The primary limitation of the paper is that it focuses solely on the crossing-points perspective and does not consider other applications of Hartman et al. (2018).

This work informs managers of the need to improve interactions both within and outside the firm by thinning crossing points. Improving relationships with stakeholders will improve many vendor firm and customer outcomes, including performance.

Integrating findings from the literature, the authors propose a conceptual framework to encompass the entire diversity of idiosyncratic interactions as well as long-term relationships the sales force experiences. They discuss the strategic importance of thinning crossing points as well as the competitive disadvantages, even peril, “thick” crossing points create. They propose an ambitious research agenda based on dozens of questions to drive further examination of the IDSR from a sales-ecosystem perspective.

The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of how the “seven steps of selling” are used within the modern international business environment and the degree to which international sales executives are able to identify and adapt to differences in global markets.

A phenomenological type of approach was used. In-depth interviews were conducted with international sales executives (based either in the USA or UK) that operated across multiple different regions of the world.

This study provides a holistic assessment of the international business-to-business sales process. This study outlines four key aspects of the sales process that differ from traditional domestic industrial selling. Then, the study suggests examining the international sales process as a stage-based approach, versus exclusively focusing on the sales process as a seven-step process. Third, the study focuses on differences between regions of the world.

From an academic standpoint, this study highlights a number of avenues to pursue. In addition, this study underscores the limited volume of research focused on international sales force management, especially the differences within the sales process. Limitations focus on issues pertaining to the sales executives examined within the study.

Firms looking to enter or expand their international market presence will be able to use the results of this study focusing on the international sales process. Firms can apply the results of this study to build both initial and continuous training programs.

This study identifies aspects that occur during each stage of the international sales process to provide a detailed account of the activities that international salespeople are engaged in. Further, this study suggests that the stages of the sales process differ between transactional exchanges and strategic relationships. However, this study offers more insight on the development of strategic long-term relationships, as the majority of the sales executives focused on the strategic relationship development during the interviews. As a last step within this study, seven country-specific issues are described.

This paper aims to investigate business-to-business sales executives’ navigation of challenges and changes in planning during two separate periods (prevaccine and postvaccine) of time, which were impacted by a disruptive event (the COVID-19 pandemic).

This study uses a two-phase qualitative data collection approach. Thirteen executives, primarily from the Business-to-Business (B2B) manufacturing industry, were interviewed in phase one (2–3 months before the first COVID-19 vaccine). The second period of data collection was collected 4–5 months after vaccines became available.

The prevaccine business environment focused on short-term challenges, while the vaccine created exponential changes to long-term sales practices, suggesting the need to focus on critical inflection points that occur after the initial disruptive event.

This exploratory study is a step toward developing a deeper understanding of managing disruptive events within a business-to-business sales environment by stressing the importance of both the actual disruptive event and the inflection points that follow the event.

New business models are constantly developing and evolving. However, this study suggests the biggest changes could occur after an inflection point from the disruption. Thus, firms need to consider different planning strategies before and after certain inflection points following a disruptive event. First, firms should adapt from their predisruption strategy to focus on short-term challenges during the initial phases of a disruption, likely halting most of the long-term planning. Second, inflection points create the need to move beyond short-term challenges and changes to focus on long-term changes. Third, long-term strategies and planning postinflection point will be different, and likely more complex, than long-term strategies and planning predisruption.

Most studies look at a disruptive event through a single data collection period. This longitudinal study compares prevaccine and postvaccine thought processes to explore the impact of an inflection point.

The recent pandemic disrupted the way in which businesses transact with each other. In response to maintaining cleanliness in business-to-business (B2B) settings, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled robots have been adopted as substitutes for cleaning personnel, yet their implications remain largely underexamined. This study aims to examine B2B buyer responses to cleaning information notices (human vs AI-enabled agent) placed at either the entry to the premises or the sales counter, thereby adding to the nascent literature in this line of inquiry.

Three field experiments were conducted across diverse B2B businesses (wholesalers in Studies 1–2 and a commercial business in Study 3). To achieve greater empirical rigor and generalizability, this research used diverse stimuli across different B2B settings. In addition, the results ruled out alternate explanations and shed light upon political ideology as a boundary condition. Finally, a single-paper meta-analysis confirmed H1, consolidating the established effect.

Featuring over 1,000 B2B buyers, the results show that politically liberal B2B buyers express greater preference for human over AI-performed cleaning while labor-orientated buyers are indifferent. Importantly, this effect is driven by greater relaxation associated with humans, which in turn, increases their future patronage and referral intent.

The results enrich the collective knowledge of the adoption of AI-enabled robots, reinforcing for marketing practitioners and businesses that the reliance on human-based outcomes remains a preferred touchpoint in B2B settings, particularly for liberals.

The purpose of this manuscript is to highlight how gamification is transforming recruitment, retention and training to resolve employee engagement challenges in the ever-changing workplace. In collaborating with game industry experts and designers, the authors taught students team leadership skills by demonstrating how to design and play their own original cooperative strategy games. In doing so, students learn what gamification is and how it can be used to train our multigenerational workforce; how designing board games teaches team leadership skills (e.g. communication, conflict management, power, decision-making); and how to develop cooperative strategy game elements (player characters, roles and actions) that motivate engaging gameplay with successful learning outcomes.

In this paper, the authors discuss the practical implications of a three-phase semester-long experiential learning experience, where game design demonstrates to students how employees can work collaboratively together in teams. Students’ developed storylines (i.e. strategic objectives) including motivation challenges, social media communication breakdowns, sabotage, global sustainability and other real-world challenges. In Phase 1, students learn about how companies are using gamification in training high-performing teams. In Phase 2, students play a cooperative strategy game Forbidden Island with their student teams. In Phase 3, students design (and play) their original cooperative strategy game, instructions booklet and build a facilitation guide.

Approximately, 400 students developed 48 original cooperative strategy games that can be used to teach team leadership skills. These student teams designed cooperative strategy board games – in which the entire team either wins or loses based on their control of valued resources and player actions as key decision-making points. The data and feedback indicate that the learning experience helped them practically consider team interdependence in making effective decisions, and in creating creative self-efficacy, resilience and self-confidence in their own leadership voice. In this manuscript, the authors focus on providing an overview and implementation plan for our semester-long experiential learning exercise.

This experiential exercise was implemented from 2019 to 2023 in different learning modalities (face-to-face, hybrid, 100% synchronous online learning) and during challenging times (prepandemic, pandemic and postpandemic learning environments). These varying experiences provided them with a challenge to persevere and learn about their own interpersonal skills and resilience in a creative engaging way with limited resources. Students developed 26 original games during 100% synchronous remote learning due to COVID. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other business school is working with gaming industry experts and game designers to teach team leadership to this degree during pre- and postpandemic environments.

The growing focus on socially responsible supply chain management (SRSCM) has made it crucial to extend corporate social responsibility (CSR) to upstream suppliers. Drawing on resource dependence theory, this study aims to examine how supplier dependence upon socially responsible buyers impacts suppliers' CSR performance and how this relationship is moderated by network prominence and demand uncertainty.

The proposed hypotheses are tested using regression analysis with Heckman's two-stage model and a dyadic supply chain dataset constructed based on publicly traded Chinese firms between 2008 and 2016. This time window is selected due to a one-year lag of the dependent variable and the change in evaluation methods of the database providing CSR performance in 2018.

The empirical results indicate that supplier dependence upon socially responsible buyers is positively associated with suppliers' CSR performance. However, this positive relationship is attenuated when suppliers occupy a prominent position in the network or when they face high demand uncertainty.

This study extends knowledge about the role of relationship dependence in implementing SRSCM by highlighting its positive impact on suppliers' CSR. Thus, this study contributes to the buyer–supplier relationship literature and the power and relationship dependence literature. This study further advances the understanding of the factors that influence suppliers' behavior by exploring the moderating roles of network prominence and demand uncertainty. The results have several practical implications for managers and policymakers.

Research in the business-to-business (B2B) and user entrepreneurship literature agrees that “user-driven” perspectives allow entrepreneurs to develop innovative products superior to conventional products. Other researchers argue that such “user-driven” products have limited success and limited impact in certain markets (e.g. niche and industrial markets). This study aims to understand the extent to which user input or co-creation becomes critical in determining product performance.

The key informant approach is used for data collection. Data were collected using a survey instrument via an online panel. Existing scales are used to measure all the focal constructs. Partial least square-based structural equation modeling was used to check for the psychometric properties of the scales and test the hypotheses.

The results indicate that user entrepreneurship is significantly related to firm collaboration efforts and customer collaboration efforts in the B2B market. Both firm collaboration efforts and customer collaboration efforts are significantly related to product performance and mediate the relationship between user entrepreneurship and product performance. Also, findings show that there is an “n” relationship between firm collaboration efforts and product performance.

This study supports the concerns raised by researchers about the dark side of value co-creation and highlights that value co-creation can impede product performance when user entrepreneurs lay too much emphasis on the collaboration processes.

Design is an important construct in the retail environment literature. Yet, the measures used for design have not followed appropriate scale development procedures. The purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual definition and then develop a scale for retail environment design (RED).

Interviews with both consumers and marketing researchers are used to generate a potential list of items. Using four different studies, these items are refined, and the RED scale is offered.

This study develops and validates the four-dimensional RED scale to measure the design of retail environments. The dimensions are functional, aesthetic, lighting and signage.

The newly developed RED scale will allow retailing researchers to measure lighting and signage qualities as part of retail design, measure design of retail environments more accurately and allow different studies to be compared.

The newly developed RED scale will allow retailers to better understand customers’ perceptions of the four dimensions of design. Retailers spend significant time and money designing and redesigning retail environments. The RED scale will enable managers to ensure these significant investments create competitive advantages and an appropriate return on investment.

A scale to measure retail environment design is developed. The scale includes two dimensions (lighting and signage) that are not typically investigated.

The purpose of this study is to determine the factors that impact the trust of microenterprises in online selling platforms and cargo carriers and examine the consequences of a lack of trust.

This study adopts a qualitative exploratory approach and uses grounded theory to generate insights based on interviews with 27 microenterprise owners selling internationally on an online selling platform.

The results show that a lack of competence, an absence of an integrated claim system and a lack of transparency are the main factors affecting sellers’ trust in online selling platforms. The relationship between the sellers’ intention to continue to use the online selling platform and their trust in the platform was found to be moderated by switching costs.

This study is limited in that the results were mainly based on the sellers’ perspectives although the phenomenon of interest involves various actors. To mitigate this limitation and cross-check the data, the customer reviews and some of the sellers’ account statistics were also analyzed.

This study introduces the sellers’ perspectives on the dynamics of supply chain management in international micro trade. These dynamics provide a guideline for how to build and manage an online selling platform targeting microenterprises.

Unlike previous studies, this study examines online transaction behaviors from the standpoint of sellers, not buyers. Moreover, it is the first study examining the damaged or lost shipments within the context of online transactions in international micro trade.