Sales trainer roles, competencies, skills, and behaviors: A case study

Numerous studies have examined different issues related to evaluating the effectiveness of sales training programs. Limited needs assessment, lack of training objectives, no alignment between training objectives and corporate goals, and sales training content, are all potential factors that can influence the effectiveness of training programs. Yet, little attention has been paid to the role of a central actor in the training process — the sales trainer. The evaluation of sales training programs is incomplete without taking into consideration the qualifications of the trainer. Through a case study, this paper suggests there are 8 roles that are associated with the sales trainer position. To effectively execute these roles, this exploratory investigation identified 18 related skills that are grouped into 5 competencies. Recommendations are offered regarding the relevance of this research for practitioners and suggestions are provided for future research in this area.     

The effects of perceived market and learning orientation on assessed organizational capabilities

This study extends prior research by exploring the effects of managerial representations of market and learning orientation on perceived industrial firm capabilities. Cognitions that managers use to make sense of their environment impact competitive strategy decisions. Extant research has found market and learning orientation concepts to be empirically distinct and to have independent and synergistic effects on organizational performance. The present study generally supports hypotheses relating to independent effects of market and learning orientation viewpoints on perceptions of specific capability domains. Findings hold implications for managing the development of organizational capability portfolios as well as for future research aimed at understanding cognitions related to competitive advantage dynamics.     

Customer service strategy options: A multiple case study in a B2B setting

This study addresses the question whether customer service actually has order winning potential in B2B situations, which customer service strategies are deployed, and what determines customer service relevance. A literature review was followed by a multiple case study, using 12 organizations from different industries and from different positions in supply chains. Based on having both problem solving and transfer characteristics, four customer service strategy options are identified: customer integration, customer adaptation, logistical precision, and standard customer service. Many organizations are positioned in the least attractive customer service strategy option: customer adaptation. Partially, this is caused by difficulties in assessing the customer service capability and the customer's sensitivity for customer service. The article concludes with the theoretical and managerial implications.     

Factors Impacting the Adoption and Effectiveness of the World Wide Web in Marketing

With the increased popularity of the World Wide Web, companies are rushing to have a presence on the Web. However, many companies do not know whether the Web will be effective for them, or what they can do to increase its effectiveness. Few empirical studies have been done on what companies can do to increase the adoption and effectiveness of the Web in marketing. By studying the practices of 110 marketers, we found that adoption and effectiveness of the Web can be positively influenced if a company 1) provides formal training to its marketing organization, 2) encourages an effective relationship between the marketing and IS/MIS organization, 3) demonstrates the usefulness of the Web to the marketing organization, and 4) uses younger marketing personnel.     

What contributes to the enhanced use of customer, competition and technology knowledge for product innovation performance? : A survey of multinational industrial companies' subsidiaries operating in China

This study extends an emerging research area in knowledge management to new product development by empirically examining the factors associated with the use of different types of knowledge flows from various sources and product innovation performance (i.e., market success of new products) in the multinational companies' subsidiaries in China. The findings seem to indicate the vitality of considering a broad spectrum of knowledge management related variables such as a subsidiary's product development strategy, market conditions it faces, its knowledge capacity and knowledge support structure. Furthermore, we found that subsidiaries with better performance are generally excel in the use of competition knowledge flow, the development of moderate innovative products, communication among different functional departments or product development groups, the codification of knowledge, and a supportive culture.     

Perceived neighborhood quality in the United States: Measuring outdoor, housing and jurisdictional influences

Theory suggests that perception of neighborhood quality is influenced by crime, blight, and other outdoor characteristics, by respondent perception of the quality of their housing, and by attributes of the local jurisdiction. It also suggests that these geographical attributes should be confounded by respondent demographic characteristics. Using 48,000 sample responses collected by the American Housing Survey in 2002, ordinary least squares, factor analysis, and hierarchical linear modeling, we connected these strands of theory and found strong associations between neighborhood quality, detrimental conditions, housing quality, socioeconomic status, and age. We also measured a small anti-big city effect, and a few weaker relationships with growing/healthy and demographic homogeneity effect. The application of complex statistical tools, in short, enabled us to obtain insight about how people build mental models of their neighborhoods.     

Pattern of patent-based environmental technology innovation in China

Technology innovation benign to environmental preservation is one of the key strategies to address sustainable development. Understanding the pattern of environmental technology innovation in a country is necessary for making policies and decisions in environment management. Temporal and spatial distribution of environmental patents was analyzed to identify innovation capability of environmental technologies in China. In terms of features the patents were classified into invention, utility model (performance improvement) and design. The patents belonged to the individuals, enterprises and research institutes in terms of ownership. Through analyzing the pattern of environmental patents by features and ownership, it was found that individual-owned patents and utility model patents accounted for the biggest percentage of all the environmental patents applied by the domestic applicants. Eastern provinces had the majority of environmental patents. The cluster analysis showed that invention patents and enterprise-owned patents were concentrated in the eastern provinces. In general, the innovation capability of environmental technologies in the east is strongest among the regions. Though it had been improved in the last two decades, the percentage of invention patents was still small and enterprises did not play the most important role in innovation. Applications of environmental patents increased gradually but had a declining share of all the patents in the last two decades. The innovation capability of environmental technologies in China is still not strong on a global perspective.     

Literature-related discovery (LRD): Potential treatments for Multiple Sclerosis

Literature-related discovery (LRD) is the linking of two or more literature concepts that have heretofore not been linked (i.e., disjoint), in order to produce novel, interesting, plausible, and intelligible knowledge (i.e., potential discovery). The open discovery systems (ODS) component of LRD starts with a problem to be solved, and generates solutions to that problem through potential discovery. We have been using ODS LRD to identify potential treatments or preventative actions for challenging medical problems, among myriad other applications. The previous three papers in this Special Issue describe the application of ODS LRD to Raynaud's Phenomenon (RP), cataracts, and Parkinson's Disease (PD).Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder (typically preceded by periods of remission and relapse), affecting mainly people in their early-mid life. MS is characterized by changes in sensation (hypoesthesia), muscle weakness, abnormal muscle spasms, or difficulty to move; difficulties with coordination and balance (ataxia); problems in speech (Dysarthria) or swallowing (Dysphagia), visual problems (Nystagmus, optic neuritis, or diplopia), fatigue and acute or chronic pain syndromes, bladder and bowel difficulties, cognitive impairment, or emotional symptomatology (mainly depression).We selected the subject of MS because of its global prevalence, and its apparent intractability to all treatments except for palliative remediation mainly through drugs or surgery. Our first goal was to identify non-drug non-surgical treatments that would 1) prevent the occurrence, or 2) reduce the progression rate, or 3) stop the progression, or 4) maybe even reverse the progression, of MS. Our second goal was to demonstrate that we could again solve an ODS problem (using LRD) with no prior knowledge of any results or prior work (unlike the case of the RP problem). As in the ‘cataract’ and PD examples, we used the MeSH taxonomy of MEDLINE to restrict potential discoveries to selected semantic classes, and to identify potential discoveries efficiently. Our third goal was to generate large amounts of potential discovery in more than an order of magnitude less time than required for the RP study. The discovery generation methodology has been developed to the point where ODS LRD problems can be solved with no results or knowledge of any prior work.     

Strategic marketing in global supply chains: Four challenges

Supply chain management has emerged as a critical arena in which firms can find significant cost reduction opportunities, giving them a cost advantage over competitors. When supply chain management orientations are adopted by several firms in a supply chain, together they can significantly reduce supply chain costs pitting supply chain against supply chain. However, the pursuit of cost savings opportunities is not the only objective of supply chain management. Superior supply chain management can facilitate marketing strategy and lead to the creation of superior customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty, which in turn lead to improved product profit margins, overall firm profitability, and overall corporate growth. However, marketing strategy is problematic in global supply chains. Specifically, four significant strategic marketing challenges exist that relate to the development and execution of marketing strategy in global supply chains. This article draws attention to these challenges to stimulate managerial and research efforts that will move marketing strategy through the 21st century.     

Interaction in business relationships: A time perspective

Interaction is central to the relationship framework in business markets. Yet there is some theoretical imprecision with regard to the way interaction works in time. Clarification of this nexus further develops the interaction concept and provides theoretical support for the dynamic view of business relationships being developed by the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) group.The role of time as a backdrop for interaction is elaborated in conjunction with the cognitive ability of humans to arrive at an understanding of interfirm interaction. This elaboration extends the concept of horizontal relationship time (i.e., past, present, future), illustrates constraints on interfirm interaction, and analytically distinguishes between interaction as exchange versus adaptation while also displaying the importance of the actor in business relationships. In addition, theoretical grounds are provided for dismissing business relationship life cycle theories. Finally, the cognitive nature of time and relationships provides a means for theory development and management implications free from cultural and normative overtones.