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This paper aims to explore the impact of salespeople’s goal orientation and self-regulatory mode on their performance through sales ambidexterity and sales technology infusion (STI) using a sales technology ecosystem approach.

This paper adopts a qualitative methodology, through in-depth interviews with salespeople from a diverse range of industries, age profiles and contexts, to explore the narratives and original meanings related to their goal orientation, self-regulatory mode, ambidexterity, STI and performance.

Sceptics are salespeople who may fear or hesitate to fully use the sales technology, whereas enthusiasts are ambidextrous salespeople with high STI, who are more open to change and able to face uncertainty, regardless of the differences in their background in terms of industry, age and experience.

STI may be influenced by individual factors, such as the salesperson’s goal orientation and self-regulatory mode. Hence, sales organizations should try to foster and facilitate further STI and sales ambidexterity, which are key to achieving positive outcomes in today’s technology-intensive sales settings.

This paper extends the current literature on sales technology and sales ambidexterity within a sales technology ecosystem perspective and provides new insight on the combined impact of these variables on the salesperson’s performance.

Digital ecosystemic business environments challenge dyadic approaches to value creation and particularly to business-to-business (B2B) sales. This paper aims to offer a novel conceptualization of the connection between value creation and B2B sales, which indicates practical implications and builds an agenda for future research.

This conceptual paper integrates theoretical insights on service-dominant logic, service ecosystems, interactional value co-creation and B2B sales. This paper uses anecdotal evidence from the field of B2B sales to illustrate theoretical concepts developed in the paper.

The paper develops the concept of value idea emergence (VIE), the process through which B2B entities become aware of a pursuable benefit. The paper further proposes that value (co-)creation in ecosystems happens through VIE’s intertwinement with the process of value proposition creation, a process, which includes all activities needed to bring a value proposition to a customer. The paper then discusses the role of B2B in these processes and proposes an agenda for future research.

The novel conceptualizations of value (co-)creation can help B2B sales managers to understand the ecosystemic nature of the interactions that affect sales and value creation in the current business environment.

The paper contributes to the literature on B2B sales and value creation by proposing a novel concept of VIE, introducing a conceptual model of interactive value (co-)creation in ecosystems and reformulating the role of B2B sales in value creation. These theory-developing insights can be used to guide both academic and managerial attention to interactions happening in the ecosystem outside of the buyer-seller dyad.

This study aimed to examine the digital transformation of business-to-business (B2B) sales and its effects on the management of value-based selling.

The study adopted a qualitative interview research design. A total of two participant groups—one consisting of sales management professionals and the other consisting of buyers—were created to conduct abductive data analysis to gain a new understanding of B2B sales management.

As a result of the digital transformation of sales, companies are shifting B2B sales towards value-based selling using a more proactive, continuous process wherein digital value co-creation activities play a big role. Similarly, their buyers now expect more proactive communication about new value propositions, but social media channels are of little importance to most B2B buyers. The management of digital value co-creation activities should be addressed from the sales ecosystem perspective, where non-sellers tend to have a strong role in communicating new value propositions.

There needs to be further research on digital value co-creation activities in the sales ecosystem, as value-based selling requires that selling organizations focus more on educational digital content marketing and engagement with non-sellers via both marketing and sales activities.

Companies rarely exploit experts and project personnel when implementing digital sales strategies; however, they often meet with customers personally and network with them. This requires a broader perspective on sales management.

This is one of the first studies to explore the management of value-based selling from both seller and buyer perspectives.

The purpose of this study is to understand how digital servitization enables the process of internationalization for industrial SMEs.

The present study has adopted an exploratory multiple case study, conducting a total of 40 interviews in a two-phased approach to data collection. The first phase consisted of exploratory interviews with twenty-six industrial SMEs connected to the manufacturing industry in Sweden and Finland. Then, six SMEs were selected in the second phase to participate in additional in-depth interviews.

First, this study identifies three gradual enabling phases concerned with the digital service maturity of SMEs consisting of digital awareness, digital service innovation and digital service mass customization. Second, the three interdependent phases of ecosystem knowledge synergy, ecosystem integration and ecosystem value co-creation were identified to improve ecosystem involvement. Finally, a process framework has been developed for SME internationalization consisting of a digital servitization innovation strategy, a digital servitization ecosystem strategy and a digital servitization scaling strategy.

The present research contributes to how digital servitization enables SME internationalization by demonstrating how the development of digital service offerings and ecosystem partnerships supports the internationalization process. This research extends the literature by proposing a process framework for the digital-servitization-enabled internationalization of SMEs. This process perspective provides a richer explanation of the complex interplay between servitization, digitalization and ecosystems choices, which supports the expansion into international markets.

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.

The majority of business-to-business companies are working on their digital transformation in sales. Despite enormous transformation efforts, the expected productivity gains are often missing in most companies. Based on empirical research, this paper aims to develop a new market-oriented transformation model. Management implications as well as future research directions are derived for a more focused digital transformation process in sales.

Within the exploratory research study, 90 key informants were interviewed to provide better insights in the context of digital transformation in sales. The accuracy of the research results was safeguarded by triangulation.

As this research paper will show, the reasons for the missing productivity gains caused by a limited knowledge about the main success factors of digital transformation as well as a lack of understanding of digital transformation as an evolving process.

Based on the empirical research, a new market-oriented transformation model is developed and management implications as well as future research directions are derived for a more focused digital transformation process in sales.

The Chinese market represents an increasingly popular destination for wine firms and recent opportunities derive from the growth of e-commerce. The aim of this paper is to understand the impact of digital platforms on wine firms' internationalisation in China by adopting the service ecosystems approach.

The authors carried out a case study of Italian premium wine firms from the Valpolicella area by collecting 27 semi-structured interviews with key informants that operate at the micro-, meso- and macro-levels of the internationalisation ecosystem. Italian wine firms were selected as the focus of the analysis, given the recent sales growth of their products in the Chinese market.

Results show that digital platforms hold a key role in the wine firms' internationalisation in China, intervening with resource integration mechanisms, alignment to the cultural context and mediating firms' digital presence in the market. The platformisation dynamics also reveal the existence of enablers and constraints in the firm internationalisation through digital platforms.

The authors aim to contribute to the marketing literature by analysing how digital platforms influence the wine firms' internationalisation in China through an original perspective, i.e. the service ecosystems lens.

The study adopts the service ecosystems approach to understand the internationalisation of wine firms in the Chinese market through digital platforms.

The authors seek to understand the process of digital servitization as a shift of manufacturing companies from the provision of standard products and services to smart solutions. Specifically, the authors focus on changes in the business model (i.e. the value proposition, the value delivery system and the value capture mechanism) for digital servitization.

The authors examine a Chinese air conditioner manufacturer, Gree, who became the global leader with their smart solutions. These solutions included performance-based contracts underpinned by artificial intelligence (AI)-powered air conditioners that automatically adjust to environmental changes and are capable of remote monitoring and servicing thanks to its Internet of things (IoT) technology.

To successfully offer smart solution value propositions, a manufacturer needs an ecosystem value delivery system composed of suppliers, distributors, partners and customers. Once the ecosystem relationships are well aligned, the manufacturer gains value with multiple value capture mechanisms (i.e. efficiency, accountability, shared customer value and novelty). To arrive at this point, a manufacturer has to pass through different stages that are characterized by both discontinuous and continuous interplay between business models and digital technologies. At the beginning of each stage, new value propositions and value delivery systems are first discontinuously created and then enabled with digital technology. As a result, new value capture mechanisms are activated. Meanwhile, the elements of the existing business model are continuously improved.

By combining process-perspective and business-model lenses, the authors offer nuanced insights into how digital servitization unfolds.

Executives can obtain insights into the business model elements, they need to change over the course of digital servitization and how to manage the process.

A longitudinal case study of a traditional manufacturer that has achieved stellar success through digital servitization business models development.

This study aims to focus on a key unanswered question about how digitalization and the knowledge processes it enables affect firms’ strategies in the international arena.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review of relevant theoretical and empirical studies covering over 20 years of research (from 2000 to 2023) and including 73 journal papers.

This review allows us to highlight a relationship between firms’ international strategies and the knowledge processes enabled by applying digital technologies. Specifically, the authors discuss the characteristics of patterns of knowledge flows and knowledge processes (their origin, the type of knowledge they carry on and their directionality) as determinants for the emergence of diverse international strategies embraced by single firms or by populations of firms within ecosystems, networks, global value chains or alliances.

Despite digital technologies constituting important antecedents and critical factors for the internationalization process, and international businesses in general, and operating cross borders implies the enactment of highly knowledge-intensive processes, current literature still fails to provide a holistic picture of how firms strategically use what they know and seek out what they do not know in the international environment, using the affordances of digital technologies.

Fundamental changes in economic relations, instability of the market environment in which enterprises operate and increased intensity of competitive influences to obtain better business conditions emphasize the importance of the nature of interaction for all participants of business processes in the distribution channel and the success of the chosen business structure. This circumstance determines the expansion of the content of the ecosystem approach to the organization of enterprise activities and the clarification of the participants' roles in such systems. The purpose of the study is to identify the key features and differences in business models of digital ecosystem participants that are critical to shaping the value of the distribution system.

In this paper, within the framework of the theoretical component, the authors analyze conceptual and empirical articles contained in the Web of Science database and also rely on information obtained from the study of articles by Russian academicians in specialized journals, monographs and conference abstracts. Using the method of content analysis, data on enterprises were collected and generalized into cases, which made it possible to propose possible classification properties of enterprise archetypes within the digital ecosystem and to determine the general properties of the objects under study and their interrelations.

The systematization of results allows us to present a co-competitive activity model for ecosystem participants, depending on their archetype, where they are segmented according to the dominant principle of role and activity within the system. From a practical point of view, the considered classification of the archetypes of recipient enterprises and their economic relations make it possible to structurally visualize a digital ecosystem, which significantly reduces the distance between the consumer of the product/service, the manufacturer and the seller. This reduces the time of delivery and waiting as well as the time to find a suitable option making the market more perfect. The proposed conceptual framework indicates the interdependence of the development of all participants in the product distribution and proves that successful business models take part in the market expansion. Finally, the authors' systematic review of the academic literature results in identifying certain promising directions for future research based on the consideration of open ecosystems with transparent infrastructure.

The results are limited by the authors' sample data and the case study approach. The study does not show the further evolution of the digital ecosystem depending on the set and configurations of ecosystem participants. The authors introduce a possible new classification of archetypes of ecosystem participants and a co-competitive activity model for ecosystem participants depending on these archetypes.

From a practical point of view, the considered classification of the archetypes of recipient enterprises and their economic relations make it possible to structurally visualize a digital ecosystem, which significantly reduces the distance between the consumer of the product/service, the manufacturer and the seller.

From a practical point of view, the considered classification of the archetypes of recipient enterprises and their economic relations makes it possible to structurally visualize a digital ecosystem, which significantly reduces the distance between the consumer of the product or service and the manufacturer or the seller. This reduces the time of delivery and waiting as well as the time to find a suitable option making the market more perfect in this respect.

經濟關係作根本性的變化、企業營運的市場環境日趨不穩定、以及為求達致更好的經營狀況，企業不得不面對日益劇烈的競爭，這都清晰顯示了在分銷渠道內、業務過程中，所有參與者之相互作用的性質是必須重視的。同樣地，被採用的企業結構之成效也不可忽視。這情況就決定了企業在如斯的系統裏，對其經營活動的籌劃及參與者角色的闡明會擴大其生態系統方法的內容。本研究擬確定數位生態系統參與者的各商業模式之主要特點及不同之處；而這些商業模式，對分配系統價值之塑造、至關重要。

在本文中，我們在理論成分的框架裏，分析在Web of Science 資料庫內概念性和實徵性的文章。我們使用的資料，亦包括取自俄國院士在專業期刊、專著和會議摘要內發表的學術論文。研究人員透過內容分析，收集關於企業的數據，並概括為案例；這樣，研究人員就可以在數位生態系統裏提出企業原型可能的分類屬性，以及能夠判斷研究對象的一般屬性及它們之間的相互關聯。

研究結果之系統化，讓我們能夠依賴生態系統參與者的原型，為它們展示一個共同競爭活動模型，而在這模型裏，它們會根據在系統內作用和活動的主導原則而被分割。從實際的角度來看，因受援企業的原型及其經濟關係得到分類，故數位生態系統的結構可被形象化，這可大幅縮短商品或服務的消費者、製造商和銷售者三者之間的距離；這可減少交貨和等候的時間，以及尋找合適選擇所需的時間，使市場更趨完善。被提出之概念性框架顯示了在產物分佈上，所有參與者的發展是相互依賴的；同時，亦證實了成功的商業模式在市場擴展上擔當著一定的角色。最後，我們詳盡而有系統的學術文獻探討，確定了今後研究的某些合適方向，這都是建基於對擁有透明基礎設施的開放生態系統之研究。

研究結果因樣本數據以及採用了個案研究法而有其局限，研究沒有顯示數位生態系統如何依賴生態系統參與者的設置和配置而進一步進化。我們引進一個生態系統參與者原型的可能新分類，以及仗賴這些原型，為生態系統參與者介紹一個共同競爭活動模型。

從實際的角度來看，因受援企業的原型及其經濟關係得到分類，故數位生態系統的結構可被形象化，這可大幅縮短商品或服務的消費者、製造商和銷售者三者之間的距離。

從實際的角度來看，因受援企業的原型及其經濟關係得到分類，故數位生態系統的結構可被形象化，這可大幅縮短商品或服務的消費者、製造商和銷售者三者之間的距離；這可減少交貨和等候的時間，以及尋找合適選擇所需的時間，使市場就此而言更趨完善。