Advancing marketing strategy in the marketing discipline and beyond: from promise,to neglect,to prominence,to fragment (to promise?)

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to advance the field of strategic marketing within the marketing discipline, which will in turn, the author argues, contribute to enhancing the discipline’s impact beyond the narrow confines of its own journals. Towards this goal, certain aspects of the history of marketing strategy need to be reviewed. However, though this article draws extensively on historical sources, it is not a history of marketing strategy. Rather, this article uses historical materials and arguments concerning the four ‘Eras’ of marketing thought to advance five major claims: the area of strategic marketing (1) had significant promise when the marketing academic discipline was founded in Era I (1900–1920), (2) was neglected in Era II (1920–1950), (3) rose to prominence in Era III (1950–1980), (4) has become a ‘fragment’ in Era IV (1980–present) and (5) has prospects that are both promising and problematic in the future ‘Era V’. Finally, a tentative prognosis for strategic marketing and the marketing discipline is suggested.     

Selling and sales management

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm), almost 14 million Americans are employed in sales or sales-related jobs. Many organizations derive their entire revenue stream from the efforts of salespeople. As part of the domain of marketing, the academic study of selling and sales management is relatively young. Consider that the Journal of Marketing has been published for 70 years, while the Journal of Marketing Research has been in publication for 43 years (www.marketingpower.com). For its part, the specialized journal in selling and sales management, The Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, has been published for just 26 years. Therefore, while there are a great many widely-used and studied models in the field, there is still much to be learned about this topic. As highlighted in this article, the research published in 2006 indicates the range of interesting and relevant work being conducted in the area.     

Ethical and Moral Dilemmas Associated with Strategic Relationships between Business-to-Business Buyers and Sellers

While ethical and moral issues have been widely considered in the general areas of marketing and sales, similar attention has not been given to the impact of strategic account management (SAM) approaches to handling the relationships between suppliers and very␣large customers. SAM approaches have been widely␣adopted by suppliers as a mechanism for managing␣relationships and partnerships with dominant customers␣– characterized by high levels of buyer–seller inter-dependence and forms of collaborative partnership. Observation suggests that the perceived moral intensity of␣these relationships is commonly low, notwithstanding the underlying principles of benefiting the few (large, strategic customers) at the expense of the many (smaller customers and other stakeholders), and the magnitude of the consequences of concessions made to large customers, even though some such consequences may be unintended. Dilemmas exist also for executives implementing strategic account relationships regarding such issues as information sharing, trust, and hidden incentives for unethical behaviour. We propose the need for greater transparency and senior management questioning of the ethical and moral issues implicit in strategic account management. Nigel F. Piercy (Nigel.Piercy@wbs.ac.uk) is Professor in Marketing and Strategic Management, Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, UK. He holds a PhD from the University of Wales and a higher doctorate (DLitt) from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. His current research interests focus on strategic sales and account management. His work has been published in many journals including Organizational Dynamics, the Journal of World Business, the British Journal of Management, the Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Nikala Lane (Nikala.Lane@wbs.ac.uk) is Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Strategic Management, Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, UK. She holds a PhD from the University of Wales and was previously Senior Research Associate at Cardiff University. Her research interests are focused on gender and ethics issues in sales and marketing management. Her work has been published widely in the international literature, and includes articles in the Journal of Management Studies, the British Journal of Management, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management.     

Revisiting the Purpose of Selling: Toward a Model of Responsible Selling

Selling as a profession and sales management as an organizational function have undergone major changes that were driven by the evolutionary journey of the marketing discipline. The extant value cocreation paradigm is recrafting the purpose of selling. This paper explores the conceptual development of a selling paradigm that is more responsible to its customers. Specifically, in Business-to-Business (B2B) context, the cost of any selling behavior that compromises customer interest could be of disastrous proportions. Building on the theoretical foundations of self-regulation and job demands-resources theory, this paper develops a conceptual model of responsible selling by integrating self-leadership literature with the emerging paradigm of value-based selling. The conceptual model outlines several research propositions for empirical validation and discusses its potential implications for sales managers and sales organizations.     

Online marketing: When to offer a refund for advanced sales

Advance selling is a marketing strategy commonly used by online retailers to increase sales by exploiting consumer valuation uncertainty. Recently, some online retailers have started to allow refunds on products sold in advance. On the one hand this reduces the net advance sales, but on the other hand it allows a higher advance sales price. This research is the first to explore the overall effect of allowing a refund on profits from advance sales, identifying conditions where advance selling with or without refunds (or no advance selling at all) is best. We analytically compare the profits of three advance selling strategies: none, without refund, and with refund. We show that selling in advance and allowing a refund is optimal for products with a relatively small profit margin and small strategic market size, and that the added profit can be considerable. Our results guide managers in selecting the right advance selling strategy. To facilitate this, we graphically display, based on the two dimensions of regular profit margin and strategic market size, under what conditions the different strategies are optimal.     

Values,the key to business in 1990 and beyond∗

This article is concerned with the changes which have affected the personal selling function in industrial markets in recent years. It reviews research findings from the UK, Europe and America, and discusses the implications for sales force management and sales training. It concludes that industrial marketing must focus upon key account relationship management, rather than the manipulation of the four Ps in order to create competitive advantage, and that radical new approaches are needed in sales training which reflect the changing nature of the sales person's role, and which may be demonstrated to have a positive affect on selling effectiveness.     

The Selling Cycle

Abstract

The selling cycle, a measure of calendar time from the initiation to the completion of a sale, is a significant factor in planning and assessing sales force deployment. Empirically-based analyses of the selling cycle are nonexistent, however. This paper reports an exploratory study of selected relationships involving the length of the selling cycle in various selling situations and in different types of sales organizations, and then concludes with management implications and further research ideas.     

A Study on Ethically Problematic Selling Methods in China with a Broaden Concept of Gray-marketing

This paper expands the definition of gray-marketing to include some ethically problematic marketing activities and techniques used in personal selling in China. Based on this, a conceptual model of gray-marketing for a particular type of selling in which both the sellers and the buyers exhibit problematic ethics in an exchange and the associated hypotheses are developed and tested. The findings show that, first, the respondents have different ethical evaluations of different marketing practices used in personal selling such as giving and accepting gifts, buying and accepting meals, and offering and accepting kickbacks. Some of these practices may not be considered unethical. Second, in terms of ethical assessment, gray-marketing practiced by buying agents is more unacceptable than when practiced by sales agents. Third, a person’s ethical evaluation of gray-marketing behavior, empathy for gray-marketing, and belief that gray-marketing has serious consequences, significantly affects his inclination to use gray-marketing. This paper concludes with a discussion of some possible applications of our research findings. Both authors contributed equally to this work. Guijun Zhuang (Ph.D., City University of Hong Kong) is a professor of marketing in the School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, the People’s Republic of China. His current research interests include marketing channel behaviors, relationship marketing, and consumer choice. He has published in European Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, and many leading marketing and management journals in China. Alex S.L. Tsang (Ph.D., City University of Hong Kong) is an assistant professor at the Department of Marketing, Hong Kong Baptist University. His research currently focuses on cross-cultural consumer behavior, marketing in China, and marketing communication. He has published in Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing, and Business Horizons, among others.     

Allocating a Promotion Budget between Advertising and Sales Contest Prizes: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective

This paper develops and analyzes a normative model for allocating a fixed, short-term promotion budget between product advertising and prizes of a rank-order sales contest for a homogeneous sales force when sales are driven by both personal selling effort and advertising. The model provides insights into how the optimal budget allocations vary with the synergy between advertising and selling effort, sales force size, salesperson risk-tolerance, perceived cost of effort, selling effectiveness and sales response uncertainty. The analysis highlights the need for and value of close coordination between marketing and sales management in designing a promotion program involving both advertising and sales force incentives.     

Perceptual differences of sales practitioners and students concerning ethical behavior

This study investigates specific behavioral perceptual differences of ethics between practitioners and students enrolled in sales classes. Respondents were asked to indicate their beliefs to issues related to ethics in sales. A highly significant difference was found between mean responses of students and sales personnel. Managers indicated a greater concern for ethical behavior and less attention to sales than did the students. Students indicated a strong desire for success regardless of ethical constraints violated.James B. DeConinck is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Central Missouri State University. Prior to obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas, he held industry positions in transportation and professional selling. He has published in the areas of product liability, sales force motivation, and marketing ethics.David J. Good is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Central Missouri State University. His Ph.D. is from the University of Arkansas, and, he has published articles about quotas, compensation and strategies in a number of journals. Prior to being in academics, he held positions in sales, sales management and marketing management.     

Do Mystery Shoppers Really Predict Customer Satisfaction and Sales Performance?

Mystery shopping (MS) is a widely used tool to monitor the quality of service and personal selling. In consultative retail settings, assessments of mystery shoppers are supposed to capture the most relevant aspects of salespeople’s service and sales behavior. Given the important conclusions drawn by managers from MS results, the standard assumption seems to be that assessments of mystery shoppers are strongly related to customer satisfaction and sales performance. However, surprisingly scant empirical evidence supports this assumption. We test the relationship between MS assessments and customer evaluations and sales performance with large-scale data from three service retail chains. Surprisingly, we do not find a substantial correlation. The results show that mystery shoppers are not good proxies for real customers. While MS assessments are not related to sales, our findings confirm the established correlation between customer satisfaction measurements and sales results.     

Probabilistic selling vs. markdown selling: Price discrimination and management of demand uncertainty in retailing

Markdown selling (i.e., price reductions over the course of the selling season) is a strategy to implement price discrimination and to manage market uncertainty that has been widely adopted by retailers. This paper explores the potential advantage of introducing an additional tool to the arsenal of retailers, probabilistic selling (i.e., offering consumers a choice to buy a product that can turn out to be any item from a predetermined set of distinct items). We show that both probabilistic and markdown selling strategies serve as price discrimination tools by offering buyers an option to purchase a “damaged” good (an uncertain product under the former and delayed consumption of a product under the latter). However, the two strategies segment markets based on different types of buyer heterogeneity: buyer preference strength under probabilistic selling and buyer patience under markdown selling. Our analytical model reveals that, compared with markdown selling, probabilistic selling can (1) improve margin management by increasing revenue from full-price sales and reducing the magnitude of discounts; and (2) improve inventory utilization by reducing stockouts and the amount of excess inventory. We identify the conditions required for probabilistic selling to be more profitable than markdown selling.     

Are key marketing topics adequately covered in strategic management?

Most business schools have a capstone course called strategic management. Students in these courses are often required to assess organizations’ functional areas of business, including marketing. Students determine marketing strengths and weaknesses of firms, and develop strategic plans for case companies. Students formulate strategies, make recommendations, and determine the expected marketing impact of those recommendations. Although marketing plays an important role in strategic planning, the present research shows that most strategic-management textbooks provide little to no marketing coverage. In study 1, a content analysis of six leading strategic-management textbooks reveals 10 marketing topics being discussed, although scantly. In study 2, a survey of 167 business students nearing graduation examines the relative importance of the identified topics in strategic planning. Findings of this research suggest that the capstone business course needs to be more integrative. Implications for business courses, faculty, textbook authors, as well as practicing marketers and managers are discussed.     

Salesperson impression and strategy formation

Personal selling is one of the most expensive, and for many companies, one of the most important elements of the marketing mix. Salesperson adaptivity is an especially important element of salesperson performance. The purpose of this research was to explore factors that may influence salespersons' adaptivity during the impression-formation and strategy formulation stages of the selling process. We found that the positioning of the product offered for sale by the salesperson affected the impression formed of the customer's need for quality and subsequently affected the selection of selling objectives. This suggests that a salesperson's adaptivity to a specific selling situation may be influenced by the impression formed of the customer's needs and constrained by the characteristics of the product.Both authors contributed equally to the project; order of authorship was determined arbitrarily. The authors wish to thank Erin Anderson, C. Samuel Craig, Avijit Ghosh, and Thomas Robertson for comments on a previous version.     

Advances in strategic marketing and the advancement of the marketing discipline: the promise of theory

ABSTRACT

Hunt (2018, Advancing marketing strategy in the marketing discipline and beyond: From promise, to neglect, to prominence, to fragment, (to promise?). Journal of Marketing Management, 34, 16–51. doi:10.1080/0267257X.2017.1326973) provides a synthesis and critical review of over 100 years of marketing literature organised into four eras. In his prognosis of the outlook for Era V, Hunt notes that there are reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for both the marketing discipline, broadly, and the field of strategic marketing, specifically. However, he also draws attention to the concerns voiced by a number of marketing scholars regarding the current state of the field and the future outlook for the field. Hunt argues that the prospects for the marketing discipline and the field of strategic marketing are closely intertwined, and that the health of the latter contributes significantly to that of the former. Against this backdrop, this commentary focuses on the promise of theory for advances in strategic marketing and the advancement of the marketing discipline.     

Demographics,job satisfaction,and propensity to leave of industrial salesmen

An extremely important and expensive promotional tool used by industrial marketers is personal selling. One of the major costs of personal selling is the cost associated with sales personnel turnover. Past studies in the sales management area have focused on the effect of organizational and psychological factors on the satisfaction of salespeople and their propensity to leave their organizations. However, no study has examined the interrelationships among salespeople's demographic variables, job satisfaction, and propensity to leave, even though such relationships have been studied for nonselling occupations. An empirical study done to at least partly fill this research void is described. The results provide new insights for researchers and practitioners with an interest in the sales management area.     

The Transition from Product to Solution Selling: The Role and Organization of Employees Engaged in Current Business

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This research investigates how to manage and organize existing employees when launching a solution sales strategy, specifically addressing whether it is possible to migrate existing sales representatives active in product sales to solution sales, and whether it is possible to combine the roles.

Methodology/approach: A case-based approach was applied to a multinational firm, engaged in business-to-business sales that simultaneously launched a solution sales strategy in 17 countries. In-depth interviews with 29 managers and sales representatives were performed to inductively identify why some countries succeeded in the launch, while others did not.

Findings: Because of fundamental differences in approach between solution and product sales, those countries where the solutions and product businesses were separated performed better. The difference in required capabilities and mindset meant that migrating sales representatives from product to solution sales is problematic.

Research implications: This research offers evidence of differences in mindset and approach between different marketing and sales strategies, extending the conclusions to how these differences affect the possibility of migrating existing sales representatives when launching a new selling strategy. Whether to separate service and product sales has been debated. The present results indicate that separating the current product business from the new solution business facilitates the successful implementation of the new strategy. In the case company, the solutions represent a mixture of product and services, suggesting that the problem is not the difference between products and services, but rather different selling strategies and approaches that require different capabilities.

Practical implications: When launching a solution sales strategy, the solution business should be separated from the current product business at both the organizational and personnel levels. Solution sales necessitates a particular approach and capabilities, making it unadvisable to transfer sales representatives and managers to the new solution business based solely on previous product sales success. Instead, a new skill profile must be developed taking account of the requirements of a demand-driven solution strategy.

Originality/value/contribution: Consensus is lacking as to whether to separate product and service businesses. This article extends the debate to the field of solution

sales, demonstrating that separation is needed to succeed in launching a solution sales strategy. Furthermore, this research extends our knowledge of the difference in approaches between different selling strategies, covering the possibility of successfully migrating existing sales representatives to a different selling strategy.     

Culture and International Marketing: A Sub-Saharan African Context

ABSTRACT

The authors review and extend the culture literature in international marketing by discussing some of the cultural underpinnings pertaining to the sub-Saharan African context. With the use of inductive reasoning, the authors offer several key normative suggestions for international marketing practices. Marketers should focus not only on the end user but also on those who significantly influence the final decision. Sub-Saharan African culture is characterized by long, drawn-out negotiation processes and by contracts and overall sales targets that likely will be dissimilar to those from countries with a linear view of time. Age is relevant when selecting people for negotiation assignments and hiring sales and managerial staff. Because of the importance of “respect,” messages should focus on an individual's need for belongingness rather than on the individual striving for achievement. The authors advocate that advertising appeals should focus on the society and on the individual as a member of the society and not on individual self-enhancement. Context and nonverbal communications are important in personal selling. It is better to establish social trust first in negotiations, personal selling, and buyer–seller interaction.     

Selection,Training, and Performance Evaluation of Sales Managers: An Empirical Investigation

ABSTRACT

Despite the important role sales managers play in an organization, little empirical work has explored various facets of their jobs. The state of knowledge regarding this issue is woefully inadequate. To partially address this gap in the sales management literature, this paper reports the results of a study that investigated recruitment/selection, training, and performance evaluation practices vis-à-vis sales managers. Findings suggest that sales managers (irrespective of their company's size or primary market offering) generally rely on subjective recruitment and selection tools and techniques when recruiting sales management candidates, do not feel that any particular job activity is uniquely important or difficult to perform, and consider few evaluation criteria when assaying sales manager performance. Conclusions concerning the study's results are provided.