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The paper seeks to provide a conceptual model of the account management process that isolates the social connections of more versus less effective account managers.

The sales performance research tradition is reviewed and a social network perspective is offered to explore the web of internal working relationships that account managers activate to acquire customer and competitor information and create solutions for customers.

Available evidence suggests that network size, network range, and network diversity are among the relational properties that may influence account manager performance. By building a strong network of relationships both within the firm as well as within the customer organization, high‐performing account managers, compared with their peers, are better able to diagnose customer requirements, mobilize internal experts, and choreograph the activities that are required to out‐maneuver rivals and create the desired customer solution.

The information‐acquisition practices of high‐performing account managers provide a template for improving customer relationship management (CRM) systems and processes.

The paper demonstrates the value of a social network perspective in advancing knowledge of account manager performance.

This paper aims to propose and test an exploratory model, illustrating performance differences based on underlying role identities and attributions of salespeople in business markets.

The sample consists of 60 salespeople from a Fortune 100 high technology firm responsible for managing multi‐million dollar customer projects. Interviews with both salespeople and their sales managers provided the data to examine the relationships among role identities, attributions, and performance.

The model suggests that higher‐performing salespeople have role identities as sales consultants, whereas lower performers tend to have role identities as technical specialists. Further, those salespeople with sales consultant role identities were more likely to attribute success to relational factors, whereas salespeople with technical specialist role identities were more likely to attribute success to technical factors. There were no significant relationships among role identities and attribution type in unsuccessful customer engagements.

While multiple sources of data were obtained from both salespeople and sales managers, all the respondents were from one large multinational organization.

The link between role identity and attributions provides opportunities for situation‐based sales training programs, and sheds new light on performance differences among salespeople.

The paper isolates role identity as a potential driver of salesperson performance.

The purpose of this short report is to provide a summary of the inaugural webinar session of the Women's Enterprise Committee (WEC), International Council for Small Business (ICSB).

In a live webinar from Babson College, Professors Brush, Duffy and Kelley discussed key findings from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2010 Women's Report.

An important finding was that there are over 40 percent more men than women entrepreneurs in all but one of the 59 countries studied. Women entrepreneurs are also more likely than men to engage in entrepreneurship due to necessity.

It is recognised that further studies are required to determine the reasons behind the differences in male‐female entrepreneurship participation rates globally.

It would appear that considerable scope exists to develop the entrepreneurial potential of women across the globe.

The GEM Women's Report is the most comprehensive study ever conducted on women's entrepreneurial activity internationally, and the webinar offered researchers an opportunity to engage directly with the report authors.

This study aims to assess and measure the sales culture within the commercial banks in Jordan, and to provide top management of these banks with the database which may be required for improving the banks' selling effectiveness.

The study has been conducted on a convenience sample of 1,000 employees selected from those of all the commercial banks operating in Jordan. Sales culture was measured by using the Sales Culture Index (SCI), consisting of 65 statements. The data required for this study were collected by a self‐structured questionnaire.

The findings of the study indicate that the overall employees' perception of sales culture in the surveyed banks is moderate. However, the sales culture in the non‐Jordanian banks was stronger than that in the Jordanian banks.

As is the case in any study, some limitations relevant to this study cannot be abandoned. For instance, the findings of this study are based on self‐report perceptions of both the employees and the customers. Data collected by this approach may or may not be accurate to that extent, which reflects the respondents' real feelings.

The results of this study would enable management in the commercial banks in Jordan to design internal marketing programs aimed at building a strong service‐minded sales culture among employees.

This is a first attempt to assess and measure the sales culture in the commercial banks in Jordan.

This chapter interrogates gender, inner conflict and narrative arcs of the characters of Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier in the TV series The Walking Dead.

From the outset, these two characters are constructed in line with traditional gendered stereotypes, yet they both go through a transformation during the series, moving away from their starting point. Carol and Daryl are introduced to the audiences in scenes that situate them within traditional gendered roles and spaces. Thus, Carol is presented as submissive, compliant and obedient; she speaks with a soft voice and is positioned within domestic spaces in the camp site: by the camp fire, by the washing spot in the lake, inside the tent, etc. In contrast, Daryl is presented as a loner and a hunter, is referred to as a volatile person and portrays a physical appearance that echoes redneck masculinities (O’Sullivan, 2016).

This chapter will engage with theories of performativity and gender in relation to character design, in order to analyse and compare the ways in which these two characters challenge the gender stereotype through actions, yet often conform to it through the inner conflict and the solutions adopted.

Establishing acceptability of complex interventions to stakeholders is vital in early scientific development. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the acceptability of a program of equine-assisted activities (EAAP) for people with dementia by elucidating programmatic practices needed to enhance their safety and quality of life (QoL) from the perspectives of service providers.

Semi-structured interviews with five providers were analyzed using a basic qualitative approach.

Providers perceived the EAAP as acceptable and revealed potential mechanisms of change supporting well-being, including aspects related to the physical and social environment and person with dementia. Linkages identified among the EAAP and its physical and social context support its complexity. Providers explicated program practices that promoted safety and QoL, such as implementing staff trainings and tailoring activities to each person’s preferences and needs. These practices aligned with best dementia care approaches, underscoring that the EAAP is a promising complex intervention that merits further scientific development.

This work is novel and adds to the literature by illuminating the role of a community-based, animal-assisted program for enhancing the QoL of older adults with dementia residing in institutional care facilities.

This research considers the potential for renewable energy partnerships to contribute to Canada's efforts to overcome its colonial past and present by developing an understanding of how non-Indigenous peoples working in the sector relate to their Indigenous partners.

This study is part of a larger research program focused on decolonization and reconciliation in the renewable energy sector. This exploratory research is framed by energy justice and decolonial reconciliation literatures relevant to the topic of Indigenous-led renewable energy. The authors used content and discourse analysis to identify themes arising from 10 semi-structured interviews with non-Indigenous corporate and governmental partners.

Interviewees’ lack of prior exposure to Indigenous histories, cultures and acknowledgement of settler colonialism had a profound impact on their engagement with reconciliation frameworks. Partners' perspectives on what it means to partner with Indigenous peoples varied; most dismissed the need to further develop understandings of reconciliation and instead focused on increasing community capacity to allow Indigenous groups to participate in the renewable energy transition.

In this study, the authors intentionally spoke with non-Indigenous peoples working in the renewable energy sector. Recruitment was a challenge and the sample is small. The authors encourage researchers to extend their questions to other organizations in the renewable energy sector, across industries and with Indigenous peoples given this is an under-researched field.

This paper is an early look at the way non-Indigenous “partners” working in renewable energy understand and relate to topics of reconciliation, Indigenous rights and self-determination. It highlights potential barriers to reconciliation that are naïvely occurring at organizational and institutional levels, while anchored in colonial power structures.

Becoming self-employed has appeal to both genders. For many women, balancing work and family is a key motivator. However, businesses owned and operated by women are often very small, with limited turnover. This potentially can have disastrous consequences when these women come to retire, unless a solid retirement savings strategy has been considered. The purpose of this paper is to outline many of the issues and implications of a lack of research in this area.

Data were collected from 201 small business owners via a convenience sample derived from various databases. The survey was completed on-line and analysed using SPSS.

Many self-employed women in Australia have neither enough savings for their retirement, or an actual retirement plan. This is exacerbated by the lack of regulation requiring mandatory contributions into a superannuation (personal pension) fund by small business owners, unlike pay as you go employees, whose employers must contribute a certain about on their behalf.

Middle-to-older aged women are the biggest cohort of homeless people in Australia. This is likely to grow as self-employed Baby Boomers stop working and find they do not have sufficient personal financial resources to fund their retirement.

Whereas there is much written about gender and small business ownership, as well as retirement and savings planning, these two areas have not been researched before in Australia. Yet it is an issue for the majority of small business owners, particularly women.