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1 – 10 of over 2000Ksenia Podoynitsyna, Yuliya Snihur, Llewellyn D. W. Thomas and Denis A. Grégoire
We investigate how Salesforce’s key people used analogies and metaphors during the deployment of their (then) radical business model innovation. Our analysis shows how Salesforce…
Abstract
We investigate how Salesforce’s key people used analogies and metaphors during the deployment of their (then) radical business model innovation. Our analysis shows how Salesforce’s entrepreneurial team skillfully used a mix of analogies and metaphors to communicate its innovations and differentiate the company from its competitors. We also show how business model innovators can weave together analogies and metaphors to create distinct meta-narratives that elicited strong emotions and helped construct a memorable organizational identity that galvanized stakeholders around the firm’s ecosystem appeal. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for business model and cognition research.
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Yuliya Snihur, Llewellyn D. W. Thomas and Robert A. Burgelman
Despite increasing interest in business model innovation (BMI), there is only limited scholarship that examines how business model (BM) innovators present and explain their…
Abstract
Despite increasing interest in business model innovation (BMI), there is only limited scholarship that examines how business model (BM) innovators present and explain their innovations to various stakeholders. As BMI often involves the creation of a new ecosystem, understanding how innovators can gain support of future ecosystem members is important. Based on a longitudinal case study of Salesforce, a pioneer in cloud computing, the authors show how the innovator’s skillful framing to different audiences fosters the emergence of an ecosystem around the new BM. The authors suggest that effective framing constitutes an important strategic process that enables BM innovators to shape new ecosystems due to the performative power of words.
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Three major environmental changes are taking place regarding business-to-business salesforce. The first trend is the marketing discipline's shift from a product-focus to a…
Abstract
Three major environmental changes are taking place regarding business-to-business salesforce. The first trend is the marketing discipline's shift from a product-focus to a service-focus. In response, firms are shifting their salesforce from a product-focus to providing integrated products and services or solutions to their customers. The second trend that is affecting salesforce is the enhanced utilization of technology, as technology is being used to handle some selling tasks (e.g., information provisioning). The third trend is globalization that is evolving to a stage where global salesforce originating from different countries is interacting with customers from different countries. This chapter suggests that these three trends are changing salesforce strategy, structure, and processes. The chapter reports on the decline in product-based salesforce, growth in customer-focused and global salesforce, globalization of salesforce, and the broader business and research implications. The shifts are dramatic and for researchers, it will be a new and fertile area of research.
Brien Ellis and Mary Anne Raymond
It is rarely acknowledged that salespeople occupy a unique positionas a contact between the customer and the firm, and therefore a plan forsalesforce quality can reap considerable…
Abstract
It is rarely acknowledged that salespeople occupy a unique position as a contact between the customer and the firm, and therefore a plan for salesforce quality can reap considerable benefits. Presents and discusses a framework designed to improve salesforce quality in specific areas and as a whole. Its dimensions include persistence, reliability, integrity, desire and empathy (PRIDE), teamwork, research, learning, change, leadership, and service. Concludes that once salesforce quality has been achieved, many of the same concepts can be applied throughout the organization.
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INTRODUCTION A large number of variables influence the approach of the marketing function to the problem of selling, including the state of technology, the economic environment…
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INTRODUCTION A large number of variables influence the approach of the marketing function to the problem of selling, including the state of technology, the economic environment, the social structure, the climate of the age (political, institutional, religious and educational), available communication media, skills which managers apply and so on. Yet personal selling is by far the major promotional method used to increase profitable sales by offering want satisfactions to markets and customers.
Geoffrey L. Gordon, Denise D. Schoenbachler, Peter F. Kaminski and Kimberly A. Brouchous
The development process for new products is critically dependent on customer‐generated new product ideas. Although several conduits exist for identifying and communicating these…
Abstract
The development process for new products is critically dependent on customer‐generated new product ideas. Although several conduits exist for identifying and communicating these ideas, by far the most productive one is the organization’s salesforce. While the integral role of salespeople as the linkage between buyers and sellers is generally acknowledged by many researchers, little empirical evidence exists which explores this role. This paper explores the role of the salesforce as an information source in the opportunity identification phase of the new product development process. It presents results of an empirical study of 223 sales managers concerning actual use and effectiveness of the salesforce as a source of new product ideas and proposes specific recommendations concerning improved utilization of the salesforce as a source of new product ideas generated from customers.
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Jeffrey E. Lewin and Wesley J. Johnston
As world trade has expanded to over two trillion dollars in the past 20 years, the international environment with all its complexities has become the arena in which many sales…
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As world trade has expanded to over two trillion dollars in the past 20 years, the international environment with all its complexities has become the arena in which many sales managers must labor. However, the combination of diverse languages, dissimilar cultural heritages and remote geographic locations can create strong barriers to managing effective buyer‐seller relationships. Explores the uniqueness of international salesforce management. Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of employing international marketing intermediaries, as well as issues related to seller‐intermediary relationships. Follows with a section focusing on the company‐owned salesforce and more direct buyer‐seller relationships. Examines issues surrounding organizing the international salesforce and explores the unique aspects of managing the international salesforce in distant markets.
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Shinaj Valangattil Shamsudheen and Ziyaad Mahomed
The purpose of this paper is to examine the burdening effect of Shariah knowledge on the sales performance of salesforce in Islamic financial institutions with special reference…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the burdening effect of Shariah knowledge on the sales performance of salesforce in Islamic financial institutions with special reference to gender heterogeneity.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 324 responses were collected from salesforce in Islamic financial institutions of Malaysia, and empirical assessment was conducted with the measures of model fit and bootstrapping techniques using partial least square multi-group analysis.
Findings
Empirical findings indicate that burdening effect is evident among salesforce, and the intensity of burdening effect is relatively lesser in female salesforce compared to male salesforce. Empirical findings suggest that respective authorities of Islamic financial institutions to intensify capacity building for their salesforce, particularly in the area where the Shariah knowledge and nature of underlying Islamic contracts are employed in the financial products.
Practical implications
There is a significant competitive advantage in preferring more female salesforce to improve the slow growth of the industry that results from burdening effect of Shariah knowledge. Not least of all, it is highly recommended for Islamic financial institutions to provide more training for the male salesforce to overcome the issue of information overload in sales performance.
Originality/value
While there is ample literature documented that examines the gender effect in conventional sales and marketing discipline, little emphasis has been given to the salesforce in the Islamic finance industry. Further, the findings of this study provide vital implications for the management in formulating crucial policies with respect to the salesforce preference and capacity building in dealing with the burdening effect of peculiar features of the Shariah knowledge in the light of the ongoing slow growth of the Islamic finance industry.
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Domingo Verano‐Tacoronte and Santiago Melián‐González
The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between the HR control system and organizational results, examining the moderating effect of uncertainty and HR risk…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between the HR control system and organizational results, examining the moderating effect of uncertainty and HR risk behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
The study analyzes the relationship between HR control systems and organizational results introducing two major moderating variables as, uncertainty and risk behavior. The data used for this study comes from questionnaire responses by sales and human resource managers of 108 Spanish firms.
Findings
The empirical results show that these moderating variables have an influence on the success of the control system, but it can be stated that the control system has an independent impact on the organizational and sales force performance.
Research limitations/implications
Small sample size and cross sectional study, and the use of subjective measures of company and HR performance are the main limitations of the work.
Practical implications
To make correct decisions about HR control systems, managers should assess their environment and the composition of the workforce. There is not a control system that is good for all situations.
Originality/value of paper
An analysis was made of an important non‐executive employee group, as the sales force is, and addressed the important issue of control and performance while the literature is focused on management control systems. The study does not limit the performance measures only to company variables, displaying customer satisfaction and human resource performance factors.
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Nwamaka A. Anaza, Brian N. Rutherford, Gavin Jiayun Wu and Ashok Bhattarai
Drawing on the organizational buying decision-making framework, the purpose of this study is to investigate how sales orientation (SOCO) affects buyers’ conflict…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the organizational buying decision-making framework, the purpose of this study is to investigate how sales orientation (SOCO) affects buyers’ conflict, salesperson-owned loyalty and buyers’ propensity to end a supply relationship when selling firms use a single versus multiple salesforce go-to-market strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data was analyzed with a sample of organizational buyers. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data.
Findings
Findings reveal that a selling firm’s go-to-market salesforce strategy moderates certain relational aspects of the buyer–salesperson relationship, consequently influencing a buyer’s decision to end a supply relationship.
Research limitations/implications
Empirically, these findings indicate that the effects of selling orientation on conflict, salesperson-owned loyalty and exit intentions are not only based on the salesperson’s efforts but are conditional on the selling firm’s go-to-market strategy, particularly with the implementation of multiple salespeople selling to a particular industrial buyer.
Practical implications
These results suggest that a salesforce go-to-market strategy conveys serious consequences on buying decisions. Given that a go-to-market strategy involving multiple salespeople impacts the buyer’s relationship with the selling firm to a greater degree, managerial oversight must remain present when selling firms decide to pursue such a go-to-market strategy.
Originality/value
The empirical investigation of a salesforce go-to-market strategy is an original pursuit. Specifically, this study shows that while it is critical that buying and selling firms monitor buyer–salesperson relationships as the basis for supply partnerships, these exchanges are largely contingent on the selling firm’s go-to-market strategy.
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