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Presents a portfolio model for multi‐sales channel effort deployment. Shows how the approach can help sales management restructure sales channels. Notes that combining an organization′s selling effort into multiple sales channels can be facilitated through an analytical approach that considers variations in customer requirements, buying power and contact costs. Concludes that implementing a successful multiple sales channel strategy offers impressive productivity opportunities.

Analyses salesforce performance and examines high and low performance Australian sales organizations. Chief sales executives in 99 companies describe their sales organizations′ characteristics, management priorities, salesforce performance and sales organization effectiveness. The companies are divided into two performance groups and compared across 31 salesforce performance activities. Important differences between the high and low performance groups concern expense control, sales presentation effectiveness, and sales results performance of salespeople. Identifies important performing issues and indicates guidelines for improving sales organization performance.

Examines how sales managers can affect and improve salesforce performance. Describes the similarities and differences between high‐ and low‐performance salesforces and the ways in which sales management can create the opportunity for salespeople to perform well. Discusses research implications and offers management guidelines to improve the effectiveness of sales organizations.

Considers the interaction between customer and provider in professional service encounters, where extended person‐to‐person discussions frequently take place. Describes an experiment in which subjects read and reacted to stories describing such encounters, which included three service variables – competency, outcome and courtesy. Reports on the emotional responses of the subjects, finding that courtesy was responsible for most of the variation in response. Discusses the managerial implications resulting from the study, notably the importance of courtesy in professional service encounters.

The significance of the search for sales organization effectiveness is underlined by the major costs represented by the field salesforce for many organizations, and it is heightened by the pressures of global competition and new challenges to develop long‐term customer relationships as the foundation for competitive and sustainable marketing strategies. A study of sales management in British companies adds to an emerging research stream by identifying certain characteristics of superior performance and effectiveness in the business‐to‐business sales organization. We find that conventional measures of salesforce size, call‐rates, costs and productivity reveal relatively little about the differences between more effective and less effective sales organizations and may be dangerously misleading. The hallmarks of effective sales organizations we found to be: balanced compensation strategy; successful salesperson characteristics, in terms of motivation, customer orientation, team orientation, and sales support orientation; high performance in the drivers of sales effectiveness, i.e. sales presentation, technical knowledge, but most particularly adaptiveness, teamwork, sales planning, and sales support; the use of behaviour‐based control approaches involving effective monitoring, directing, evaluating and rewarding activities by sales managers; and, sound organizational structures. The research findings contribute benchmarks to a powerful management agenda to be addressed by executives in pursuing sales organization effectiveness.

This paper aims to identify and discuss the concept of servant leadership, find some dimensions and understand how staffs in organizations make sense of this style of leadership.

Multiple exploratory case studies in six Portuguese organizations/firms were performed. As data-collecting instruments, several interviews, direct observations made on-site and documentary analysis were used.

From thematic analysis, the authors found nine dimensions associated with servant leadership in the organizations/firms studied: empowering, helping subordinates grow and succeed, putting subordinates first, ethical behaviour, altruistic calling, wisdom or vision, organizational stewardship, family atmosphere and identification with the leader.

Based on these dimensions identified, the authors constructed an analytical framework for servant leadership. This study contributes to theoretical development by integrating the servant leadership literature and organizational behaviour literature and should help servant leadership gain legitimacy as an important and relevant leadership theory.

This study is innovative because contributes to knowledge about organizations that follow a servant style of leadership, and in so doing form consistent dimensions that can represent benchmarking for other organizational structures.

This study examines the effect of four measures related to benchmarking and its successful implementation on organizational performance, controlling for size and industry. The four benchmarking measures are (1) internal preliminary competitive analysis, (2) external preliminary competitive analysis, (3) degree of organizational commitment, and (4) prior benchmarking experience (Elnathan et al. 1996). Data for the study was obtained from 157 U.S. manufacturing business units using a questionnaire instrument. The results indicate that three of the benchmarking measures have a positive effect on organizational performance that is significant. Prior experience with benchmarking, the commitment of the organization to benchmarking and internal preliminary competitive analysis meaningfully enhance firm performance.

States that information regarding the trading environment and customers is essential if a firm′s marketing is to be effective. Describes the two sources: primary, e.g. salespeople and distributors; and secondary such as statistical research. Examines the development of the cheaper primary source through the use of sales force feedback instruments, incorporating call reports. Concludes that the effective use of the sales feedback mechanism can assist managerial strategic decisions.

This paper studies the role of personal selling and the salesforce as an information source and the impact potential information gaps in a downstream business chain can have. It offers a conceptual model of information gaps in an on‐licence wine business channel and suggests areas necessitating further research.