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Introduction It is noticeable that most management training and education incorporates an element of marketing studies in one form or another. This is true for business studies degrees and diplomas, for post‐graduate management degrees and diplomas, and for professional studies. It may be in need of particular justification, since it is often the case that it is easier to see the link between topics such as management accounting and functions such as production or personnel, than the relationship with marketing, which seems a rather different type of business discipline. In fact, this problem is complicated further by the changing nature of marketing itself, since views on the role of marketing in the company have changed radically in most companies in the last two decades.

International marketing management is rarely considered as an academic area that deserves separate and specific curriculum. Examines two primary questions which challenge this: first, is international marketing management different from basic marketing management? Second, if it is different, what type of training, knowledge and skill should international marketers have? Reviews the changes in the international business environment, factors encouraging internationalization and the need for specialist training as one of the tools required to achieve international competitiveness and growth. Concludes that success in international marketing management requires deep knowledge of cross‐cultural and intercultural issues which facilitate attitude change, assist the development of interpersonal skills, and the creation of awareness of multienvironmental requirements of international marketing operation; and that these skills can only be acquired and developed by a formalized programme of specialist education and training.

The purpose of this study is to provide a contextualized understanding of how business-to-business (B2B) firms use the sales development function for efficient and effective lead funnel management.

The authors adopted a qualitative field-study approach and interviewed 13 people from eight firms. While software as a service (SaaS) firms are the most prevalent application context for the sales development function, the authors also included respondents from non-SaaS firms to develop an in-depth understanding of the contextualized nature of the sales development process.

Sales development processes can be applied in outbound prospect-focused, outbound account-based, inbound prospect-focused and inbound account-based lead management contexts. The sales development processes of lead research, engagement and handover vary depending on the nature of the lead management context. These processes are supported by the appropriate design of organizational, technological and people platforms.

The authors explain how sales development as a form of inside sales can support effective lead funnel management in B2B firms through technology-enabled lead research and nurture processes designed to prepare customers for meaningful conversations with field sales.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to focus purely on the sales development function as a form of inside sales. They explain how the sales development processes relating to lead research, engagement and handover are conducted in four distinct application contexts to qualify leads for the outside salesforce.

Records management is a nascent discipline encompassing those who do not recognise themselves as records managers, a diversity of information managers and archivists and an increasing number of professional organisations, including the International Records Management Council, the International Council on Archives, the Association of Records Managers and Administrators, the Institute of Certified Record Managers and the Records Management Society of Great Britain. This paper aims to show that the Records Manager can define and exploit a positive role within the organisation through the use of marketing concepts and techniques. The elements of a marketing plan are discussed and marketing strategies relevant to Records Managers are defined. The fundamental role and formidable potential of the Records Manager is underscored throughout.

The Education Reform Act and, in particular, the Local Management of Schools will demand different skills, understanding and differing roles of senior management in educational establishments. This text draws on written assignments and experience of teachers and headteachers who piloted an MBA programme, designed specifically for senior teachers. Topics such as customers, product, price, promotion and the notion of teachers as a salesforce are unfamiliar to educators. They draw attention to the kind of strategic planning which will take place in schools as they take over responsibility for delegated budgets. All of this is new territory for the majority of state schools and this collection hopefully provides a useful resource.

Boxing Not so Clever In this first issue of what will be a regular review of the world's marketing literature, it is a challenge to an editor to extricate a theme from such an abundance of riches.

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate about the existence and nature of a “gap” between theory and practice in management.

The putative theory/practice “gap” in management is investigated by examining the theory/practice debate in three cognate fields–economics, nursing and marketing.

The relationship between theory and practice is actively debated in all three of the fields. In economics, criticism has been directed at the implicit ontological assumptions made in formal mathematical methods employed by orthodox neoclassical economists. In nursing the debate has centred on the practical issues associated with implementing evidence based practice; in particular identifying and seeking to overcome barriers to implementation. In marketing, managers find most academic theory difficult to read and irrelevant; this may be because the goals of academics and the goals of practitioners are different.

Potentially fruitful topics for further research are identified at the pragmatic, epistemological and ontological levels.

The paper identifies lessons for the field of management research from economics, nursing and marketing. Each of these three areas provides a unique lens through which to view the research/practice “gap” in management.

This paper aims to address two issues facing marketing management: firstly, the need to make marketing a more central function of the firm; and secondly to explore ways in which marketing can be more innovative.

The logic of marketing management as practised by corporate marketing executives (CMEs) is investigated. Logics describe the sensemaking activities of managers which help explain the disparate ways in which marketing managers approach similar marketing problems. The paper develops a framework for analysing managerial decision making. The research applies a grounded theory technique and 15 personal in‐depth interviews are carried out with top managers in marketing (CMEs) in three financial services companies, three telecommunications and IT companies, and nine pharmaceutical companies.

The results suggest four main logics, i.e. performance, communication, stakeholder and innovation. These are then defined in terms of management and marketing capabilities.

The paper develops a framework in which to examine the use of logics in marketing management. In the actual survey the authors examined only a relatively small sample of organisations in a few industries, but in considerable depth. The research does however give the basis for a more quantitative study to generalise the existence of these logics and investigate their links with company performance.

This paper gives important managerial insights into the ways in which managers' logics both limit and provide opportunities for managerial action. The findings will help managers become more reflexive towards the tacit assumptions they make about the business environment, the tasks that they undertake and the capabilities that they need to develop.

The paper represents a new and unique way of addressing marketing management. Management logics and sensemaking have been studied in the management literature but their repercussions for marketing managers have not been fully explored. The paper paves the way for further research into the role of marketing logics in influencing managerial action.

In recent years, impression management and the application of the metaphor of behaviour as drama have found their way into the marketing literature. While such creative perspectives concerning the marketing enterprise are generally welcome, little effort has been devoted to providing a specific vehicle for their development. This special issue of the European Journal of Marketing represents an attempt to rectify that circumstance. Discusses in broad terms the relationship of impression management to marketing, while arguing that much room for applications such as impression management’s drama metaphor abound. To demonstrate the efficacy of impression management for marketing, briefly presents the four articles that comprise this special issue. Finally, registers a call for continued work in the area of impression management’s application to marketing.

The Great Benchmarking Scam? Time was, in management circles, that the term “benchmarking” would induce none‐too‐disguised yawns in recognition of it “being something to do with computers or job evaluation”. Not today; those yawns have been replaced with the excited management‐blabber of a new fad. You can benchmark anything these days; I encountered recently a guide to benchmarking employee attitudes.