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This paper aims to explore how sales managers make resourcing decisions with particular focus on their perceptions of outsourcing.

This paper is based on in-depth interviews with 29 senior sales managers from a variety of industry sectors based in the UK. All had more than five years’ experience of making resourcing decisions.

The findings are that resourcing decisions are prompted by cost pressure, the need to access skills or to improve flexibility. Outsourcing preferences are strongly moderated by perceived reputational risk. Availability of suitable suppliers and the ability to manage outsourcing are also practical moderators.

The sample was purposeful in identifying and accessing senior respondents in substantial companies with extensive experience, but it was not random.

Respondents reported a lack of information available when making resourcing decisions; the model proposed provides a framework by which sales managers can identify the factors which should be taken into account and the information they need to make objective evaluations of resourcing options.

It has been acknowledged in prior literature that there is relatively little outsourcing of sales activities. This is the first exploratory study of the perceptions of sales managers about resourcing options and the first conceptualisation of how sales resourcing decisions are made.

National policy appears to be supportive of part‐time management education, but many researchers have observed difficult challenges in this type of skills development. This paper seeks to discuss how academic assessments that are also work‐based projects could benefit all stakeholders in management education.

This premise is based on prior literature sources together with an example from the author's own teaching practice – a part‐time Master's programme focused on sales managers.

It is possible for company sponsors and their employees to achieve considerable benefits from management education when assignments are used to address their change projects.

This paper demonstrates how, even in the most outcome‐oriented of management functions, part‐time education can provide mutual value for all stakeholders.

The purpose of the study described in this paper was to explore with property and facilities managers to what degree they are able to achieve a good return for their organisations on PFM, and what might facilitate or inhibit that.

Semi‐structured interviews were held with 12 managers with significant experience of property and facilities management (PFM). A variety of industry sectors, and the public sector, were represented in the sample. Within these interviews, the researchers were able to explore the opinions of respondents and the qualitative data gathered provided interesting insight on the research topic.

This research identifies that in practice it is extremely difficult for companies to achieve a wide spectrum of added value from property and facilities. Property management may have a lower profile in organisations than it deserves, with a concentration on cost rather than opportunity. A sense of resignation may be created by long leases, which are still “the norm” in the UK. The literature review and primary research show dissatisfaction with long leases and a strong preference for more flexible arrangements with landlords. Flexibility is inextricably linked to the expectation of better return on property investment. The demand for flexibility is felt most acutely in economic recession, which causes organisations to consolidate space and manage property and facilities at a micro level.

This research was based on a relatively small sample size (12), collected from volunteer respondents in the south of the UK. On the basis of the findings, there is scope for further research on a larger scale, perhaps involving structured samples, quantitative data collection methods, and comparisons of the UK with a country where PFM choice is wider, such as the USA or Australia. Development of an economic model of the impact of flexibility on return on investment might be possible.

This paper provides a comprehensive discussion of how PFM is typically managed in the UK and how property and facilities managers would like to see it improve in the future.

This paper has identified an apparent suppressed demand for more flexibility in the property market in the UK. This could be of use to PFM suppliers in designing future offerings, and to the companies who use PFM services in articulating their requirements to suppliers.

Based on a broad set of indicators of individual and company capabilities, this research sets out to establish a meaningful, straightforward benchmark of sales performance for a cross‐industry group of 19 companies, based on the perceptions of their salespeople.

The establishment of the benchmark involved the completion of questionnaires by 426 salespeople across 19 companies.

The research identified some areas for development common to most companies in the survey.

Although comprehensive, this survey needs to be repeated over time to maintain the benchmark. Benchmarking can be helpful to many companies trying to improve their sales capability.

This is a practical case study of a benchmarking approach to developing the sales function in a number of organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how an industrial retailer used a small‐scale study to explore the importance of retail atmospherics in non‐consumer retailing and made a considerable contribution to its success. It focuses on the importance of interior and point of purchase retail atmospherics as a sales tool in industrial retailing. It also explores the relevance of previous research findings on atmospherics in business‐to‐consumer (B2C) retail outlets to the business‐to‐business (B2B) environment.

The research was carried out using a quantitative questionnaire method using closed questions in a face‐to‐face interaction with respondents in the case study company's best‐performing B2B retail outlet.

The findings indicate that atmospherics are relevant to B2B retailing, although there are differences in the levels of importance attached to various atmospheric elements. Also, the level of importance of the elements varies with trade customers depending on whether they are participating in a planned purchase, an alternative/substitute purchase (when the planned purchase is not possible), or an impulse purchase.

Consumer retailing atmospherics has been subject to considerable examination and proved to be influential in maximising the potential sales of stores. However, industrial (B2B) retailing has been generally overlooked by academic studies. This study not only explores industrial retail buying, but indicates that B2C findings are transferable to some degree and may contribute to improved performance.

This paper aims to propose a conceptual model that will guide development of mobile applications to support value-added business-to-business (B2B) sales activities.

The paper reviews the concepts of context-aware applications and context-marketing, then examines B2B selling and the creation of value, utilizing Terho’s model of value-based selling, and presenting the potential role of context-aware B2B selling in creating value. Terho’s model is then combined with a taxonomy of context modeling to produce step-by-step a conceptual model for developing context-aware B2B sales applications (CABS).

By mapping the context-aware application development taxonomy against each stage of Terho’s “value-based selling” model, the CABS model is proposed. This model provides a platform for the B2B salesforce, their customers and information technology (IT) staff to work together in developing requirements and prototypes for mobile B2B context-aware applications.

The CABS model would require empirical testing to assess its viability and suitability. This would initially be done via focus groups in targeted sales organizations.

The CABS model could utilized by sales staff and their customers to develop requirements for mobile context-aware applications to support B2B activity. In addition, the CABS model could be utilized in joint application design processes to enable sales and IT staff to work together in developing prototype mobile applications.

While context-aware applications are beginning to transform business-to-sale (B2C) sales activities, it is clear that B2B sales could also benefit from these types of applications, but little progress has been made in understanding or developing their potential. The CABS model enables B2B sales staff and their customers to recognize these benefits and facilitate working with IT staff in defining requirements and developing prototypes.

The value of mentoring is gaining a growing appreciation among managers today. Despite scepticism in some quarters that the mentoring relationship if ‘just a chemical thing’ or people just ‘clicking’, there is an accepted view that mentoring is a valuable tool of management and organisation development and that the relationship can be replicated to the benefit of all concerned.

Over the past ten to 15 years, key account management (KAM) has established itself as an important and growing field of academic study and as a major issue for practitioners. Despite the use of strategic intent in conceptualizing KAM relationship types, the role of strategic intent has not previously been empirically tested. This paper aims to address this issue

This paper reports on inductive research that used a dyadic methodology and difference modelling to examine nine key account relationship dyads involving 18 companies. This is supplemented with 13 semi-structured interviews with key account managers from a further 13 companies, which provides additional depth of understanding of the drivers of KAM relationship type.

The research found a misalignment of strategic intent between supplier and customer, which suggested that strategic intent is unrelated to relationship type. In contrast, key buyer/supplier relationships were differentiated not by the level of strategic fit or intent, but by contact structure and differentiated service.

This research showed that there can be stable key account relationships even where there is an asymmetry of strategic interests. The findings also have practical implications relating to the selection and management of key accounts.

These results raise questions relating to conceptualizations of such relationships, both in the classroom and within businesses.

This paper aims to review the development of thinking about the information needed by companies to create an accurate picture of how well they manage their engagement with customers, taking into account the evolution of thinking and practice in this area over the past three decades towards the idea of data-driven customer engagement. It then describes the evolution and use of an assessment and benchmarking process and tool which provide the needed information.

Literature review, conceptual analysis and explanation of the management consulting process are used.

Companies can get an accurate picture of how well they manage customer engagement provided that a careful assessment approach is used where assessors are properly selected and trained and that there is a strong focus on compliance with requirements rather than “box-ticking” based upon managers’ perceptions.

The assessment and benchmarking process was developed mainly for use by larger companies, though the findings could be adapted for use by smaller companies.

Companies whose success depends upon customer engagement should consider using the assessment and benchmarking tool to guide their planning and implementation. They should heed the warnings about the risks of inaccurate assessments which may arise because of the incentives by which managers are managed.

The assessment and benchmarking process has been used by the public sector and government, and given government’s desire to engage citizens better, they should consider adopting the ideas in this paper to reform citizen engagement.

This is the only paper which reviews the development of the assessment process for customer engagement.