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The development of collaborative network structures is an increasingly significant issue in the services industry. These interorganizational relationships are formed to gain flexibility, obtain needed skills and resources, and achieve operating efficiencies. Evaluates processes of network formation and compares them with the emerging relationship marketing paradigm, in the search for greater insight into an important but little understood phenomenon. Proposes a novel network classification scheme that identifies hollow, flexible, value‐added and virtual networks, leading to discussion of the need to extend the knowledge base concerning networks and the significance of the relationship marketing model to achieving research and managerial goals in this area.

Innovation is central to modern competition and yet many executives are wary of the risks of cannibalisation of their existing product and service sales through inappropriate innovation. However, the impact of discontinuous technological change is fundamental, and the risks to established companies from not innovating to compete with disruptive technologies are substantial. Many of the arguments which tended towards avoiding cannibalisation are increasingly invalid as a basis for strategic decisions. We propose a framework of proactive cannibalisation that responds to changing customer value, as part of the process for building appropriate innovation strategies for the new competitive and technological environment faced by companies. We provide a framework for managers to evaluate the drivers of successful innovations in developing their strategies.

Successful companies encounter unique competitive challenges. However, there are several product strategy initiatives that are relevant to all organizations seeking to develop market‐driven strategies. Key initiatives include the leveraging the business design, recognizing the growth mandate, developing market vision, achieving a capabilities/value match, exploring strategic relationships, building strong brands, brand leveraging, and recognizing the advantages of proactive cannibalization. We propose a product strategy agenda for review by executives in identifying which initiatives should be assessed relative to the needs of their organization.

Investigates the antecedents and outcomes of salesperson burnout. Prior research on burnout in personal selling is extended by including a more complete set of predictors of burnout, and by testing the conceptual model of burnout using a multi‐company sample of field salespeople in an international setting. Relationships among burnout, attitudes, and behavior are predicted based on relevant literature, and are tested using survey results from 148 field salespeople in Australia. Path analysis results show that the proposed conceptual model fits the data well. Intrinsic motivation, role ambiguity, and role conflict are all significant antecedents of burnout. Job satisfaction and salesperson performance are direct outcomes of burnout, and also mediate the indirect influence of burnout on organizational commitment and intention to leave. Implications for salesforce management and future research are discussed.

Harsh economic conditions have put pricing higher on the agenda but responses to pricing challenges have frequently been tactical. The intent is to build on basic pricing principles to emphasize a strategic perspective on pricing built around opportunities to deliver superior customer value.

Our logic is drawn from the observation of company pricing practices and interesting moves from conventional to innovative pricing strategies.

Our observations underline the need for executives to adopt a more strategic view of price and to examine the scope for raising prices, especially in a post‐recession economic scenario.

Our action agenda addresses: why there is an urgent need to make pricing decisions strategically, particularly as economic recovery occurs, with important insights coming from innovative pricing models designed to deliver superior customer value; the role of price in strategic positioning – key management considerations are whether price is to play an active or passive role in marketing the product or service, and whether price is high or low compared to alternatives; the challenges of raising prices in recession and recovery conditions, where analysis underlines the importance of considering product differentiation from a customer perspective and comparing this with how strongly the customer needs the product; and the need to design a value‐based pricing strategy which integrates the conclusions reached about the strategic role of price.

Viewing pricing as a “quick fix” and the only route to maintaining sales or protecting market share underplays the strategic importance of pricing and its long‐term strategic implications. We propose a management action agenda for making pricing decisions strategically.

Technology will continue its pervasive global impact on marketing strategies and program components in the twenty‐first century. Technology is changing markets and buyer preferences and the rate of change is likely to increase in the future. Highlights several of the more apparent impacts of technology on markets and the organizations competing in these markets. While change is challenging, it is also exciting. Organizations that are market‐driven and learn how to leverage technologies and other competencies can anticipate promising opportunities for growth and performance.

Constructs a new management agenda to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of the marketing organization for the future, reflecting certain key changes in the current marketing environment. Argues that these critical factors impacting on the marketing organization include accelerating both external environmental changes and internal organization developments. Raises many important questions relating to the survival and the future forms of the marketing organization and the implementation of the marketing process. Finds that a prime manifestation of these changes is the development of various types of network organizational forms to implement strategic alliances and inter‐organizational collaborations and partnerships. Proposes a structured approach to mapping the implications for the organization of such changes and the development of an organizational strategy that defines an appropriate role and form for the marketing organization and marketing processes in the corporation of the future.

As productivity pressures, job uncertainties, changing sales strategies, and growing international competition increase, the salesperson experiences unprecedented levels of job stress. Cause and effect of job stress still remains poorly understood. Examines the role of a number of organizational variables including met expectations, role conflict, role ambiguity, job satisfaction, organization commitment and intention to leave and their relationships to job stress. The sample is drawn from an international, service‐oriented salesforce of a large Fortune 500 organization. Provides strong support for the hypothesized model relationship. Presents a discussion and implications of the results along with a summary of needed future research.

Literature has seen a few famous salesmen suffering from burnout. Think of Willy Lomax’s famous disintegration in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman or the tortured individuals in the work of David Mamet. Surprisingly, little research has been conducted as to why salespeople suffer from burnout, certainly outside the USA.