Search results

Well‐documented corporate demands for crossfunctionally competent employees have instigated a wide variety of efforts by the educational community to integrate business curricula. Many colleges and universities struggle to functionally integrate business programs that historically have been delivered by well‐defined, and often well‐siloed, disciplines. Drawing from the numerous published and unpublished case studies of cross‐functional integration attempts, this study develops a framework of critical issues to consider when developing an integrated program. The framework develops five major categories of issues (strategic, leadership, administrative, faculty, and student) to help universities identify typical program decisions and potential roadblocks that may inhibit the development of a successful program.

Posits a stagewise learning process involved in the building of brand equity: brand birth; the creation of brand awareness and associations; the building of quality and value perceptions; the emergence of brand loyalty; and the launching of brand extensions. Also reports on an empirical study which explored the evolution, existence and extensibility of brand equity in a particular business‐to‐business market. Concludes with practical implications for managers in business‐to‐business product or service firms.

Examines how the business products‐marketing firm acquires knowledge about its customers. Objectives include identifying the most effective means by which organizations can acquire customer knowledge, and the specific kind of knowledge which firms should strive to possess about their customers in order to create value. Puts forward two key premisses regarding where customer knowledge acquisition efforts should lie, and what the results of these activities should be. Presents the results of an empirical study conducted in the telecommunications industry on this topic. Concludes by drawing managerial implications.

An enormous volume of literature has evolved which promises remedies for any organization′s new product development woes. Unfortunately, new product development is an inherently uncertain and complex process which is generally not amenable to standardized solutions. Based on extensive consulting experience, addresses three commonly held misconceptions regarding the new product development process. Provides examples to illustrate each of the misconceptions and presents the lesson to be learned from each. Finally, discusses recommendations for management.

Business‐to‐business service marketing has received comparatively less attention in the academic literature than business‐to‐business product marketing; much of the service marketing literature discusses the ways in which services and products are different. Compares service marketing to product marketing in the industrial sector from the perspective of customer value creation. Results of a study of managers in the telecommunications industry provide some insight into criteria used by customers to evaluate services and products. According to the results, more similarities than differences exist between service and product marketing in the industrial sector. Managerial implications of this finding are presented.

Observes that traditional retail, catalog, and online‐only businesses face a critical decision – to accept a new, yet unrefined business model that includes multiple channels or to retain their single channel model and risk becoming obsolete and left behind by new, multi‐channel competitors. The decision process and implementation of a multi‐channel strategy could be simplified if businesses understood what drives consumers to a single channel, multiple channels, and which channels are preferred. Outlines the key issues facing multi‐channel marketers, and encourages multi‐channel businesses to take a customer‐centric view rather than a channel focused view to work through the challenges unique to the multi‐channel marketer. A model of multi‐channel buyer behavior is proposed to help the multi‐channel marketer develop a customer‐centric view. Presents a series of propositions which serve to encourage and direct future research in this area.

The purpose of this research is to provide an empirical examination of the role of the salesperson in the new product/service development process.

A survey was mailed to 2,650 sales managers representing US firms across the nation, and the resulting sample size consisted of 246 respondents with a response rate of 9.3 percent. The survey sample included firms with a business‐to‐business emphasis, and those with a minimum of 50 employees.

The majority of the respondents reported that salespeople are indirectly or directly involved in the new product/service development process. In spite of this contribution, many firms do not directly reward salespeople for their involvement. Offering appropriate incentives could greatly increase their efforts to collect information for new product/service idea generation.

Suggested future research includes the perspectives of salespeople, new product development directors, etc. In addition, the study was strictly domestic and could benefit from an international focus, as well as a comparison of products versus services sectors.

The findings from this study can be used by managers as a benchmark for assessing sales force participation in the new product/service development, and to identify ways to encourage increased participation by the sales force with incentives.

Little formalized research has been conducted on the specific role that salespeople play in the new product/service development process. The findings from this study may provide strategic guidance to organizations with respect to the role of salespeople in the critical new product/service development process.

The purpose of this paper is to examine sales manager training approaches, methods, and instructors (as well as their perceived effectiveness, frequency, and assessment).

Utilizing a survey approach, data were collected (and analyzed) from 355 members of two associations: the United Professional Sales Association and the American Society for Training and Development.

First, internal training approaches and instructors are most commonly used and perceived as most effective. Second, sales managers are exposed to a wide variety of training content as part of their training activities. Third, the frequency, duration, and assessment of training vary widely among respondent organizations.

The utilized sample of sales managers and trainers are employed by firms within the USA. Cultural differences could exist in training practices, training content, and perceptions of effectiveness among respondents from other countries.

First, sales manager training activities lie on a continuum that complicates effectiveness measurement. Second, sales manager training should be provided in the field by those who are either senior to or more knowledgeable on the training topic(s) than the sales manager. Third, internet‐based training methods are still in their infancy. Fourth, the complexities associated with the sales manager position lead to a need for varied training being delivered by diverse instructors.

Almost a decade has passed since the last empirical studies of the “nuts and bolts” of sales manager training practices were published. The current study builds on previous work by utilizing a larger sample and incorporating technology advances and new content areas (e.g. financial analysis, networking, partnering, cross‐functional activities).

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.

Building brand loyalty has become more important, yet more difficult to achieve in today's marketplace. This research investigates a possible avenue for building brand loyalty that is not directly related to the marketing of the product – attracting individual investors in the brand's corporate parent. A survey of over 500 individual investors revealed that individual investors do tend to buy brands from companies in which they hold stock, and investors may buy stock in a company because they have experience with the brand. In contrast with brand loyalty, where consumers will not buy competitive offerings, individual investors indicated they would buy competitive offerings, suggesting that stock ownership is more likely to lead to repeat purchase behavior, but not brand loyalty.