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The aftermath of the 1990 Middle East war and the region′s subsequent exposure to Western technologies and lifestyles has contributed to an accelerated opening up of Arabic culture to Western ideas. Often relegated to a secondary role in the Arab culture, changing market conditions have helped increase the importance of many marketing functions and, in particular, personal selling. Given the increased importance of personal selling in a high context culture, such as that of Saudi Arabia, the development of a qualified salesforce should significantly improve a firm′s competitive position. This exploratory study examined the extent to which sales training philosophies and practices differ between Saudi Arabia and the United States. Findings reveal the limited extent of Saudi sales training programmes and offer insight into the future development of marketing and sales training in this Arab culture as well as implications for both Arab and foreign businesses.

Previous research has revealed that sales trainers have been reluctant to incorporate distance education training methods into their programs. This study investigated the effectiveness of six different teaching methods in delivering one sales training course to a national salesforce from one organization. Training methods ranged from no‐tech to high‐tec and included: an on‐site instructor, a written manual, a manual plus videotape, video‐conferencing, audio‐graphics and an interactive multi‐media computer‐based training program. Pre‐ and post‐training evaluations of course content indicated significant improvements. Media were evaluated in terms of training required, number of participants to be trained and other technical considerations. Measures of course content revealed no significant differences in terms of delivery methods. Strengths, weaknesses and situations for optimal utilization of media and delivery method were identified. Findings should assist sales training managers in making more informed choices among distance education delivery options.

Describes the experiences of an American professor who taught a graduate course in cross‐cultural management at a Portuguese university. Outlines the overall experience before detailing several pedagogic issues which were unforeseen/problematic. Proposes ten axioms to guide similar future internal exchange experiences. Emphasizes four areas of difficulty, preparation, expectations, conduct and relationships.

This paper examines how perceptions about salesforce automation (SFA) systems are influenced by the perceived accuracy of the information the system provides.

Three hypotheses are tested. They are as follows. Sales people who perceive that the information is inaccurate will be less likely to: have a positive perception of the system; think that their training was helpful; and think that the system improves their productivity. Chi‐square tests are used to test the association between the perceptions of information accuracy and the statements in the hypotheses.

Negative perceptions about the accuracy of information leads to negative perceptions about other aspects of the SFA system.

This study examines the results for only one particular organization. The results may not be generalizable to other organizations. As similar data about other SFA systems become available, this study can be used as a basis for examining the effect of information accuracy on perceptions of SFA systems.

Since the company has some control over the accuracy of the information provided by the system, they should attempt to provide information that the salesforce finds useful. To enure that the proper information is provided, management must seek the user's input about what information should be provided. Additionally, the data should be cleansed and provide an indicator of the probability that a particular lead will result in a sale.

This research looks at the main effect of individuals’ moral philosophies, idealism and relativism, and its impact on the four dimensions of the consumer ethics beliefs – active benefit, passive benefit, no harm and doing good. The moderating impact of two dominant personalities – Machiavellianism and narcissism – was also analyzed. Based on Hunt–Vitell theory of ethics, this study aims to propose that there is a positive and significant impact of more relativistic and less idealistic moral philosophies on the decreased consumer ethical perceptions and that the narcissistic/Machiavellian personality traits drive that effect.

A total of 497 survey respondents were recruited via an online platform. All respondents were asked to answer questions, which were divided into four major parts. The first part consisted of scales related to both moral philosophies, the second part had both dark personality scales, the third part questioned about their consumer ethical beliefs and the final part was related to consumer demographics.

Relativists had higher scores in three consumer unethical belief dimensions. Idealists were not supportive of the active and passive illegal activities, as did their positive relation with doing good aspect of the ethical beliefs. Machiavellians strengthen the positive relativism relationship. The idealistic relation of narcissists, compared to relativistic relation, is stronger on unethical decision-making for consumers.

This study contributes to the current knowledge of individual’s moral philosophies and their impact on consumer ethical beliefs. It further demonstrates how the dark personalities of narcissism and Machiavellianism drive the relationship.

Focuses on the use and role of older people in advertisements in the UK. Investigates the current situation in the UK with regard to the use of older models, and considers the views of advertising executives in relation to which types of products and services are considered appropriate by advertisers for representation by older people. Using a framework developed in the USA, this initial study which included responses from 19 London agencies found executives were cautious of using models that they considered might alienate the younger audiences for their advertisements. Aims to open a debate which is already well developed in the USA but less so in the UK as to the approach taken towards advertising and older people. In particular it raises the question as to whether this is purely a social issue of discrimination or a broader one of consumer and managerial concern.

The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of baby boomers’ physiological and psychological needs through clothing consumption.

A qualitative research approach was employed for this study. Data were collected from two generational segments: early baby boomers (1946–1954), and late baby boomers (1955–1964). In total, 13 informants aged from 53 to 71 years were participated in this study. Content analysis and interpretive approach were used for data analysis.

According to the findings, there are several reasons why the baby boomers shopped for clothing, including a way of stress relief or retail therapy, wardrobe update, replacement of worn-out garments, attractiveness of clothing styles and convenience. Style, fit, comfort and colour were the four most important product evaluative cues. Other than product cues, age appropriateness is an important factor for clothing consumption. Many informants were disappointed with their current body type, shopping experience and the industry offers.

Age-appropriate clothing can give wearers greater self-assurance/-gratification. If fashion designers create their products based on the baby boomers’ cognitive age, it would probably increase their customers’ acceptance and satisfaction.

The rapid growth of the aging population is a global phenomenon. Therefore, investigating the needs and challenges of the baby boomer generation is both timely and imperative. This study intended to offer new knowledge on the issues of baby boomers’ unmet needs, and provide insights and implications to fashion practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the barriers associated with the adoption and use of mobile sales force automation (SFA) systems from a salesperson’s perspective.

A qualitative investigation of two business-to-business companies was conducted. Data collected from ten semi-structured interviews with directors or sales managers were analyzed to understand the main barriers to SFA system adoption.

The study confirms the existence of three barriers (customer knowledge, quality of information and the characteristics of mobile devices) to a mobile SFA system use and identifies two additional barriers: lack of time and optimization issues.

The explorative nature of the study and the qualitative method employed limit the generalizability of the results. The propositions could be further validated and tested with a wider population.

Organizations wishing to speed the adoption of a mobile SFA system should evaluate the importance and significance of the five identified barriers to adoption, and plan how to overcome them. It is important for the providers of the mobile SFA systems to focus on developing systems that can exploit the different characteristics of each channel and, in parallel, overcome the inherent limitations of any single channel. The content of an SFA system should be customizable for each type of mobile device.

Ever increasing mobility has led to a rise in the use of smartphones and tablet PCs (tablets) in business and the consequent growth in the use of SFA systems. Although SFA systems have been studied for roughly 30 years, little is known of the impact of newly developed mobile devices on sales management and sales personnel.

The variables impacting marketers’ motivation to work smarter are examined. These influencing variables are the manager’s venturesomeness, job challenge, effort and skill results, as well as self‐esteem. The model is empirically tested using 273 responses to a questionnaire distributed to marketers using a purchased, national mailing list. The empirical tests were done using a structural equations approach and maximum likelihood estimation. The results indicate that the motivation to work smarter is directly and positively impacted by the manager’s job challenge, effort and skill results, and venturesomeness. The manager’s self‐esteem has positive, indirect impacts on the motivation to work smarter through each of the manager’s venturesomeness, effort and skill results, and job challenge. Based on these results, recommendations on how marketers can be encouraged to work smarter are made.