Causes and Consequences of Abusive Supervision in Sales Management: A Tale of Two Perspectives

Abuse may characterize some most important relationships, and it is estimated that 20 million Americans face abusive work situations on a daily basis. Given this statistic, there is a clear need to investigate this topic within the marketing literature. As a result, the purpose of this study is to explore antecedents and outcomes of abusive supervision in sales management, where the performance‐driven nature of salesperson–sales manager relationships often creates a highly stressful situation. This research looks at several characteristics of sales managers from their perspectives as well as subordinates, and it considers how abuse influences professional and personal lives of both parties. Causes under investigation include leadership style, justice perceptions, negative affectivity, and experiences of abusive leadership by sales managers. Their impact is measured on salesperson and manager job satisfaction and organizational commitment. A model is used to help readers visualize the processes involved with both salespersons and sales managers, and theoretical and practical implications are provided in the close.     

Market valuation of marketing alliances in East Asia: Korean evidence

This paper investigates firm value created by non-equity marketing alliance announcements of Korean listed firms in terms of stock price reactions to the announcements. We find evidence that on the Korean stock market, the announcements of marketing alliances produce significant positive abnormal returns, which reflect an increase in firm value, around the announcement date. This suggests that firm managers need to seek for various marketing alliances not only for an effective competition in competitive business environments but also for enhancement in shareholder wealth. The increase in firm value has inverse relationship with firm's size and growth opportunity. In particular, marketing alliances with firms based in G7-countries create greater firm value than ones with firms based in the home country. Our study provides investors, firm managers, and academics with valuable implications of an importance of marketing alliances for valuation of firms in other Asian countries as well as in Korea.     

Computer‐based data and organizational learning: The importance of managers’ stories

While many organizations are investing large amounts of money to provide computer‐based data to their managers, little is known about how, or even whether, managers use these data to learn about the business environment. This issue is explored by examining how grocery product managers use supermarket scanner data to learn about changes in the marketing environment. Managers’ stories play a central role in the four‐step process used by one product management organization as it learns from analyzing computer‐based data. First, a manager examines the data and looks for unexpected results—findings that contradict one or more of her stories about the marketing environment. If something is found, the manager carries out a relatively unstructured, multistage process to make sense out of the unexpected result. This process can be viewed as a dialogue between the result and a set of tools at the manager's disposal (including analyses of computer‐based data). Next, the manager tells the story to share her insights with peers and superiors, developing a common understanding. Finally, the manager creates an official story, which is used to “sell”; new marketing approaches to people outside the product manager organization—the sales force and supermarket buyers.     

Evolving "New Marketing" Philosophies By Merging Existing Concepts: Application Of Process Within Small High-Technology Firms

The important role of small high-technology firms in both job creation and new innovations capable of sustaining a country's competitive advantage has understandably caused many Governments to be interested in factors influencing the market performance of these types of firm. A potential hazard with alternative emerging theories about appropriate marketing philosophies is that polarisation of opinions may cause theorists to reject alternative perspectives despite the fact that observations of "real world" marketing practice may suggest that a hybrid managerial approach is the most appropriate response to prevailing market circumstances. If one accepts this perspective, it permits merger of the transactional, relationship and entrepreneurial schools of marketing thought; thereby generating alternative approaches to marketing practice based upon (i) conservative-transactional, (ii) conservative-relationship, (iii) entrepreneurial-transactional and (iv) entrepreneurial-relationship orientations.

Research questions which arise about a hybrid concept are whether orientation might influence overall performance and the level of internal organisational competencies required of the firm in the key areas of innovation, HRM, employee productivity and decision-making. The results of a mail survey measuring revenue growth suggest that an entrepreneurial-relationship orientation will enhance overall performance of small high-technology firms. The survey also suggests that as entrepreneurial high-technology firms move closer to customers they exhibit higher competencies in areas such as HRM, employee productivity, management of quality and utilisation of information in decision-making.

It is concluded that the research has some interesting implications concerning the appropriate marketing styles available to small, high-technology firms. As entrepreneurial and relationship marketing can enhance performance, then possibly an owner/manager seeking to increase sales may be able to select a style which seem appropriate both to the degree to which customers seek closer relationships with suppliers and the vision of the firm concerning the importance of innovation as a strategy for delivering customer satisfaction. Further research is needed in order to gain additional understanding of (a) the influence of organisational competencies on overall performance and (b) whether marketing style might influence how small high-technology firms acquire the knowledge they require to improve internal operational processes.     

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.     

Psychic distance,marketing strategy and performance in export ventures of Brazilian firms

Compared to other issues examined in the exporting literature, less attention has been paid to the performance implications of following a standardisation or adaptation strategy. In addition, despite the interest in the psychic distance construct in the international marketing literature, there has been also little empirical research on the effect of managers' psychic distance on the international marketing strategies of the firm. To address these issues the present study offers an empirical investigation of the relationship among psychic distance, international marketing strategies, and export performance of Brazilian firms. A sample of senior managers of industrial firms in Brazil is used to test the hypotheses. The results reported here indicate that the degree of international marketing strategy adaptation is affected by the manager's psychic distance towards the foreign markets. Product and promotion adaptation were found to have a positive effect on export performance while surprisingly, distribution and price adaptation were found to influence export performance negatively. Contrary to expectations, the results also confirm that psychic distance has a positive effect on the export performance of the firm. Implications of these findings along with the limitations of the study are discussed.     

Marketing Culture and Customer Retention in the Tourism Industry

During the last few years considerable attention has been focused on the essence of cultivating a culture which fosters the effective operationalisation of marketing practices in tourism firms. This issue is considered an important source of competitive advantage in the tourism industry where sophisticated marketing is still in its developmental stages. Considering the high level of interaction between a tourism firm and its customers, the significance of effective marketing activities cannot be overstated. In addition, maketing academics and managers assert that a strong marketing culture will lead to customer retention via customer satisfaction. This study is based on an empirical examination of the link between UK tourism firms’ marketing culture and customer retention. Our results reveal a moderately strong relationship between marketing culture and customer retention. Finally, implications of the findings for tourism managers and avenues for future research are discussed.     

Value quantification capabilities in industrial markets

This study explores the origins and benefits of value quantification capabilities in industrial markets. After polling 131 US industrial sales and account managers, this study finds that value quantification capabilities improve firm—but not individual sales manager—performance. Second, in stable markets, the effect of value quantification capabilities on firm performance is stronger than in dynamic markets. Third, the study finds that the following psychological traits are positively related to the individual value quantification capability: risk taking and creativity, sales manager questioning style, customer-oriented selling, and cross-functional collaboration. This study suggests that value quantification capabilities benefit firm performance especially in stable markets, it explores attitudinal and behavioural traits underlying value quantification capabilities, and it highlights the need for further studies exploring the circumstances under which value quantification capabilities improve individual sales manager performance.     

The market within: A marketing approach to creating and developing high-value employment relationships

In the battle for high-value talent, managers need to think like marketers, creating job offerings and employment relationships that provide mutual value for firms and their employees. This article provides a 3-stage framework for the application of marketing techniques to the recruitment and retention of high-value employees. In the first stage, the 4Ps of the marketing mix are used to create compelling job offerings that attract high-value employees. In the second stage, firms use relationship marketing concepts to build long-lasting employment relationships that create mutual value for the firm and its employees. The third stage involves the outcomes of high-value employment relationships, which include greater employee commitment and satisfaction, which then lead to greater employee advocacy of the firm and lower levels of employee turnover. The ultimate proposed outcomes of this approach are increased performance and stability of the firm.     

Store Manager–Store Performance Relationship: A Research Note

Despite the critical role that store managers play in linking top management teams and service/retail employees, as well as in fulfilling corporate strategy within chain store environments, service management research infrequently addresses the factors that may promote store managers’ effective exchange relationships within the firm and subsequent effects on store operations and profitability. This study focuses on how store managers’ performance orientation, trust of a regional manager’s capabilities, and organizational commitment affect a manager’s relationships relative to regional managers and frontline employees. The direct effect of store managers’ relationship capacity on store performance is also examined. The results, based on survey data from managers of stores of a retail and service chain and company financial reports, generally support the suggested hypotheses. Specifically, a store manager’s relationship with his/her supervisor has a strong influence on how the manager views the supervisor’s leadership support and leadership style, which ultimately influence store performance (primary goods/service sales and store profits).     

Corporate codes of ethics and sales force behavior: A case study

A growing public concern regarding ethical business conduct has stimulated marketing research in the ethics area. This study is the first empirical research to investigate the relationship between a code of ethics and sales force behavior. The findings present preliminary evidence that a well communicated code of ethics may be related to ethical sales force behavior. Furthermore, it appears that a sales force that is employed in such an environment can be profiled as being relatively high in job performance and receiving equally high satisfaction from their positions. Suggestions are made for future research and recommendations are offered for marketing practitioners.     

Translating strategy into action: The importance of an agile mindset and agile slack in international business

There is growing recognition that agility, the ability to respond quickly, is essential for international business (IB) in times of daunting challenges. Drawing on the resource-based view, we argue that agility is more than a capability and therefore should be investigated from a broader perspective. The current study offers insights for the IB literature by introducing agile resources (mindset and slack) as drivers of marketing strategy effectiveness capability. An agile mindset drives firms to seek out and introduce new management methods and approaches by encouraging their members to be alert to new and innovative ways of doing things. Agile slack refers to unutilized resources that can be quickly deployed in new strategic initiatives. An analysis of survey data from 179 managers via structural equation modeling shows that an agile mindset and agile slack strongly drive marketing strategy effectiveness capability. Marketing strategy effectiveness is a crucial driver of international performance. Nevertheless, the results suggest that while agile resources are important drivers of marketing strategy effectiveness, they do not influence performance directly. Hence, a firm’s ability to exploit resources through capabilities is critical, and to be truly agile, firms must invest in agile slack resources. Managers are advised to improve their firm’s effectiveness and performance by adopting an agile mindset while relying on agile slack resources.     

The role of customer gratitude in making relationship marketing investments successful

This paper recognises that customer loyalty is important for many competitive organisations, and that retail firms make investments to build and maintain loyal relationships with their existing and potential customers (e.g. loyalty programs). However, there has been little focus on the mechanisms by which these relationship investments operate to achieve customer loyalty. This paper examines one mechanism, namely customer gratitude, which works to make a firm’s relationship marketing investment a success or a failure. Using data from 1600 undergraduate students, this study empirically confirms the mediating role of customer gratitude between the customers’ perceptions a firm’s relationship marketing investments and customers’ perceptions of the value of the relationship with the firm. Further, a significant moderating effect of perceived benevolence on the relationship between customers’ perceptions a firm’s relationship marketing investments and customer gratitude was identified. For theorists, this customer gratitude model offers a better psychological explanation of how relationship marketing investments operate to improve the value that customers place on their relationships with retailers. Our research suggests that managers should invest resources to stimulate customer gratitude in order to build strong customer–seller relationships.     

The Influence of Customer Relationship Marketing Strategies on Supply Chain Relationships: The Moderating Effects of Environmental Uncertainty and Competitive Rivalry

Purpose: A firm's customer relationship marketing strategy also may affect its attitudinal loyalty toward its main supplier. Furthermore, environmental uncertainty and competitive rivalry could moderate this relationship. This research investigates both questions.

Methodology/Approach: The empirical study involves a structured survey of 141 industrial firms. A structural equation technique with EQS 6.1 estimated the causal model. Multi-sample analysis revealed whether environmental uncertainty and/or competitive rivalry act as moderators.

Findings: The influence of customer relationship marketing on attitudinal loyalty toward the main supplier is positive but indirect, working through effective communication, satisfaction, and trust. However, when environmental uncertainty is high, the negative direct effect becomes significantly more intense, and when competitive rivalry is high, the positive indirect effect through satisfaction and trust is less intense.

Originality/Value: This study explores potential new paths in the relationship marketing field. Most scholars focus on the influence of a firm's relationship marketing strategy on customers' loyalty, but no previous works consider its potential influence on the firm's relationship with other partners in the supply chain, notably its strategic suppliers.

Research Implications: Structured academic research on this topic is lacking, even though many firms have implemented customer relationship programs. Supply-side researchers must evaluate the effects of such programs. Furthermore, this study combines different theoretical approaches.

Practical Implications: Practitioners can use the findings to segment their customer base and develop specific programs adapted to each target.     

The complex firm financial effects of customer satisfaction improvements

It has been widely assumed that increases in customer satisfaction have continuous financial benefits for firms. However, recent meta-analysis results and anecdotal evidence suggest substantial variability in satisfaction-performance effects. We propose and investigate three explanations for this variability: (1) changing trade-offs of financial benefits vis-à-vis costs along the satisfaction continuum, (2) varying stickiness of benefits and costs over time, and (3) contextual effects related to a firm’s marketing strategic situation. For our empirical investigation, we used customer satisfaction scores and financial data for around 100 U.S. firms over a 15-year period. The results show that revenues and savings in marketing and acquisition costs can accelerate at high satisfaction levels. However, for many firms, operating costs and capital investments also accelerate, and shareholder returns for satisfaction improvements can become negative. Tests over different assessment horizons show that operating cost increases are sticky while top line benefits fade. Finally, firm strategy, offering customization, potential of customer word of mouth, and competitive innovation pressure determine the satisfaction payoffs. Our study will help managers to predict more accurately than before the financial effects of their customer-directed investment decisions.     

The impact of new technologies on customer satisfaction and business to business customer relationships: Evidence from the soft drinks industry

Sales technology has been touted as a primary tool for enhancing customer relationship management (CRM) and thus improving overall customer satisfaction. The marketing, IT, and practitioner literatures make numerous references to the impact of CRM on business orientation and performance. However, according to Richard et al. (2007), not many studies have investigated customer relationship technology adopted by a firm and the impact on relationship development. The aim of this paper is to examine the relative impact of new technologies on improving customer relations and overall customer satisfaction within the sales industry. New technologies have revolutionised the workplace and have become an integral part of organisations throughout the world (Forster, 2000). Driving this revolution are two powerful new forces, cyberspace and computing power. This article defines three key terms which include CRM, customer satisfaction and new technologies and evaluates the impact of these emerging technological developments on relationships and customer satisfaction in a sales force/customer context. Primary research was conducted using two focus groups consisting of nine participants from Britvic. The analysis reveals that technology is both beneficial and essential within the sales force industry for both the sales representative and their customers and provides an insight into the impact of technology on the sales force/customer relationship. The paper concludes with reference to new technologies and the future.     

Effect of Customers' and Suppliers' Perceptions of the Market Orientation of Manufacturing Firms on Channel Relationships and Financial Performance

ABSTRACT

This study is designed to investigate the effect of customers' and suppliers' perceptions of the market orientation of manufacturing firms on customers' and suppliers' trust in, cooperative norms in, and satisfaction with the relationship with the manufacturing firm. The findings from a sample of 72 matched sets of suppliers, manufacturing firms and customers in industrial channels in the Netherlands reveal that the perceived market orientation of manufacturing firms engaged in channel partnerships has a positive influence on customers' and suppliers' levels of trust in, cooperative norms in, and satisfaction with the relationship. This study further investigates the effect of the customers' and suppliers' trust in, cooperative norms in, and satisfaction with the relationship on the financial performance of the manufacturing firm. The results reveal that customers' and suppliers' cooperative norms in the relationship positively influence the manufacturing firm's financial performance. Customer's and supplier's trust in and satisfaction with the relationship have no effect on the manufacturing firm's financial performance.     

Choosing the Right Metrics to Maximize Profitability and Shareholder Value

There is an ever-present need for managers to justify marketing expenditures to the firm. This can only be done when we can establish a direct link between marketing metrics and future customer value and firm performance. In this article, we assess the marketing literature with regard to marketing metrics. Subsequently, we develop a framework that identifies key metrics that firms should focus on that can give a firm a better picture of how they got to where they are now and insights towards how they can continue to grow into the future. We then identify several organizational challenges that need to be addressed in order for firms to build the capabilities of collecting the right data, measuring the right metrics, and linking those metrics to customer value and firm performance. Finally, we offer guidelines for future research with regard to marketing metrics to help firms establish successful marketing strategies, measure marketing effectiveness, and justify marketing expenditures to top management.     

Corporate entrepreneurship,customer-oriented selling,absorptive capacity,and international sales performance in the international B2B setting: Conceptual framework and research propositions

In the international business-to-business (B2B) setting, a firm's salespeople often have more direct, prolonged, and intimate contact with the customer and market environments than any other employees of the firm. In fact, for customers in many B2B markets, the salesperson is the face of the firm. The sales function can be characterized as an inherently entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurship is founded on knowing or seeing something others do not see, and the sales force has long been recognized as an important source of knowledge about a firm's customers and environment. However, there has been relatively little work linking entrepreneurship to international sales performance, especially in the B2B context.This paper focuses on the intelligence-gathering role of salespeople to firms practicing corporate entrepreneurship in the international B2B setting. More specifically, drawing on the theories of corporate entrepreneurship and the knowledge-based view of the firm, the authors develop a conceptual model that proposes international sales performance for firms practicing corporate entrepreneurship will be enhanced when salespeople practice customer-oriented selling and the firm's absorptive capacity is stronger. Recommended methodology for testing the proposed model is a single-informant survey of sales managers with firms in the domain of interest, using structural equation modeling with moderator tests. The paper concludes with implications and directions for future research.