Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover…
Abstract
Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.
Details
Keywords
Aaron D. Arndt and Jason Harkins
The aim of this paper is to examine when it is appropriate to provide dedicated support for a sales activity, and in cases where support is desirable, to explore the choice…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine when it is appropriate to provide dedicated support for a sales activity, and in cases where support is desirable, to explore the choice between core team support and external support.
Design/methodology/approach
Sales transactions typically require a diverse range of sales activities, including customer contact, scheduling appointments, internal meetings, processing orders, and preparing financing applications. This research develops a framework for understanding how to structure sales support for specific sales activities.
Findings
Each sales activity has four dimensions, i.e. workload, customization, complexity, and prequalification risk. Support structure (self‐support, core team support, and external support) moderates the influence of the four sales activity dimensions on sales activity performance and salesperson role stress. These, in turn, impact overall sales performance.
Research limitations/implications
This research presents a broad conceptual model of sales support structure. Further research should test this framework using empirical data.
Practical implications
Normative recommendations are made for managers about how to allocate sales activities to sales support.
Originality/value
This research proposes four relevant dimensions of sales activities that should be considered when allocating sales activities to members of the selling center. The framework will help managers, academicians, and business students understand how sales support structure impacts sales performance.
Details
Keywords
The sociological and socio-legal literatures on social movements have identified three main types of “legal framing” in contemporary social movement discourse: collective rights…
Abstract
The sociological and socio-legal literatures on social movements have identified three main types of “legal framing” in contemporary social movement discourse: collective rights framing, individual rights framing, and nationalistic legal framing. However, it is unclear from the current research how movement actors decide which of these framing strategies to use, under what circumstances, and to what effect. In this article, I offer a model for future empirical research on legal framing, which (1) distinguishes legal framing by its argumentative structure, ideological content, and remedy; and (2) analyzes how a social movement’s internal culture and institutional environment constrain the symbolic utility of particular legal frames and shape the movement’s legal framing strategy. I argue that the alternative approach offered here will help theorize how social movements strike a balance between the institutional pressure to reproduce dominant ideologies and the internal pressure to reform those ideologies. This perspective thus helps build socio-legal theory on the relationship between legal framing and social subordination, and on the conditions under which movements will be able to inflect legal language with insurgent social movement values.
This study aims to present a general overview of the characteristics of virtual communities hosted by apparel retailers.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to present a general overview of the characteristics of virtual communities hosted by apparel retailers.
Design/methodology/approach
Content analysis was conducted on 2,521 web sites hosted by apparel retailers. Web sites of apparel retailers were identified from Stores Magazine “top 100 specialty retailers” and “top 100 retailers” listings, and Google search engine directory. Web sites were analyzed in terms of general characteristics of apparel retailers (e.g. apparel product categories, ability to purchase online, presence of brick‐and‐mortar stores). Two coders individually visited each web site and coded the contents.
Findings
A total of 13 virtual communities hosted by apparel retailers were found. Apparel retailers selling casual merchandise to the young teen market had the strongest representation. Most of the virtual communities used bulletin or message board tools. About half of the virtual communities had registration requirements and rules or membership policies. Discussion topics of community members varied.
Research limitations/implications
The small percentage of apparel retailers hosting virtual communities indicates that more evidence is needed to make it a compelling case for retailers to host virtual communities. Virtual communities may be of value to marketers for consumer research and feedback.
Originality/value
This paper examines virtual communities of consumption hosted by companies that sell apparel products.
Details
Keywords
E.G.A. Armstrong, J.F.B. Goodman, J.E. Davis and A. Wagner
This article derives from a research project supported by the Social Science Research Council, the results of which appear in a book, Rule Making and Industrial Peace. The article…
Abstract
This article derives from a research project supported by the Social Science Research Council, the results of which appear in a book, Rule Making and Industrial Peace. The article is an account of industrial relations in a large multiplant footwear manufacturing company and a discussion of the factors, including personnel management initiatives, which appear to make for stable industrial relations in circumstances which from experience in some other industries commonly seem conducive to conflict, e.g. a high proportion of the labour force employed on payment by results, variable piecework earnings and disparities of earnings between factories.
Hanna Salojärvi and Sami Saarenketo
This study aims to examine what the role of key account teams is in the management of international key account customers in terms of customer knowledge processing behaviours of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine what the role of key account teams is in the management of international key account customers in terms of customer knowledge processing behaviours of the supplier, esprit de corps of employees and supplier's key account performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data from large industrial firms in Finland are used to compare the differences between supplier firms having a team and those not having a team for managing the key account customer.
Findings
The results reveal a higher perceived level of customer‐knowledge acquisition, dissemination and utilisation, and of suppliers' key account performance, in the group representing team‐based key account management compared with the non‐team group.
Originality/value
The article is one of the first studies in which the role of teams in the management of international key account customers is examined based on empirical, quantitative data.
Details
Keywords
E.G.A. Armstrong and R.E. Lucas
In carrying out its statutory advisory duties, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) makes a broad operational distinction between the “advisory visits” and…
Abstract
In carrying out its statutory advisory duties, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) makes a broad operational distinction between the “advisory visits” and “in‐depth” work undertaken by advisers. Typically, an advisory visit may entail a day's work and consist of helping a small company to improve its procedures or particulars of employment. By contrast, the average number of man‐days required for a piece of in‐depth work (which might consist of helping with the reform of a payment system) total approximately twelve.
L.E. Hollywood, G.A. Armstrong and M.G. Durkin
Emerging consumer trends within the food industry have increased the need to create market‐oriented products. In order to do so, a future strategy focusing on consumer behaviour…
Abstract
Purpose
Emerging consumer trends within the food industry have increased the need to create market‐oriented products. In order to do so, a future strategy focusing on consumer behaviour and segmentation should be utilised. By identifying how a consumer behaves throughout the purchasing process a company can determine whether what they are offering translates into what a consumer actually needs. This paper seeks to propose that the utilisation of consumer purchase motivation and decision‐making models can help identify specific customer clusters to improve marketing strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed methodology is a combined study of both qualitative and quantitative methods consisting of interviews, focus groups and a consumer questionnaire.
Findings
A new conceptual model, which integrates motivation, and decision‐making models in a food context are proposed.
Practical implications
By potentially gaining an intimate knowledge of the consumer, such models can optimise food‐marketing effectiveness by assisting the industry in predicting future consumer purchasing behaviour in a more systematic and informed manner. For the purposes of this paper, the research is applied to liquid milk category within the dairy sector in Northern Ireland. The commodity sector of liquid milk has been identified as the research context in recognition of its economic importance within the food industry in Northern Ireland.
Originality/value
The paper applies a new theoretical perspective of segmentation techniques to predict consumer purchase behaviour through the development of a conceptual model within a food industry context.
Details
Keywords
Heather J. Lawrence and Christopher R. Moberg
The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for team selling to sports firms that can be used to more effectively select members for sales and CRM teams and improve the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for team selling to sports firms that can be used to more effectively select members for sales and CRM teams and improve the performance of teams in attracting and retaining premium seating customers.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a two‐stage framework based on the personal selling process and the activities that support CRM programs. Recommendations are guided by the sport marketing and team selling literature streams and by best practices in sport marketing.
Findings
The paper recommends the formation of two teams (personal selling and CRM) during the customer relationship cycle and provides guidelines for team member selection based on the critical activities that occur during the personal selling and CRM processes. Key success factors are provided, including the establishment of a customer‐focused organization and effective communication practices among team members and between selling teams.
Originality/value
Although the use of selling teams is gaining popularity in several industries, the broader sales literature lacks research that can support the development and effective management of selling teams. Within the sport marketing literature, there is no research on selling teams. The main academic contribution of the paper is the cross‐disciplinary merging of existing team selling research in the sales literature with current research and industry information on marketing and sales by sport organizations (luxury suite sales). For the practitioner, the framework provides guidance on effective team member selection and best practices for the effective management of selling teams.