The influence of formal and informal sales controls on customer-directed selling behaviors and sales unit effectiveness

Adaptive selling (AS) and customer-oriented selling (COS) constitute two key customer-directed selling behaviors for the success of the modern sales force. However, knowledge regarding the organizational factors that can induce salespeople to engage in those behaviors is strikingly limited. Against this background, we develop a comprehensive model that delineates the influences of formal and informal sales controls on AS and COS and, through them, on sales unit effectiveness. Based on a sample of sales managers in a major European Union country, we present new evidence that (a) formal and informal sales controls exert differential impact on salespeople's AS and COS behaviors; (b) AS directly and positively influences sales unit effectiveness; (c) COS affects sales unit effectiveness only indirectly, i.e. by fostering AS; and (d) outcome and cultural controls directly improve sales unit effectiveness. We conclude with a discussion of our findings for academics and practitioners.     

Strategies for improving cruise product sales using hybrid ‘multiple criteria decision making’ models

As airlines have shifted to decommission policies, selling cruise products has become a growing trend in the travel industry. However, few studies have discussed this issue or proposed strategies to help improve sales for travel agencies. The purpose of this study is to address this problem, using the novel method of hybrid multiple criteria decision making, including decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), the DEMATEL-based analytic network process and VIKOR (VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje), to present optimal improvement models, which are superior in identifying both an influential network and a priority sequence of dimensions/criteria related to selling cruises. The findings provide useful schemes for decision makers according to the priorities of influential weightings from high to low or the sequence of gap values to aspired level from low to high.     

The Effect of Probabilistic Selling on the Optimal Product Mix

Determination of the merchandize assortment is an important decision for retailers since the composition and depth of the product mix greatly impact both unit sales and costs. This paper considers how Probabilistic Selling (PS), an emerging marketing strategy, impacts the type and number of products a retailer should carry. We find that adopting PS can alter the optimal number of products (i.e., encourage the retailer to offer more or fewer products), depending on demand- and supply-side factors. Furthermore, introducing probabilistic goods sometimes increases the optimal degree of product differentiation and sometimes reduces it. Specifically, less differentiated products are warranted if there are either few or many consumers with extreme tastes, but more differentiation is needed otherwise. Our analysis reveals that PS can serve either as a substitute to new product introduction (because it enables a retailer to serve a diverse market at a lower cost) or as a complement to new product introduction (since, under PS, a new product enables a retailer to offer additional probabilistic goods that utilize this new product as one of its components). In sum, our results indicate that a retailer must adjust its merchandize assortment appropriately in order to fully benefit from probabilistic selling.     

Correspondence Analysis

No abstract available for this article.     

浅析外贸企业的客户信用风险管理

随着我国市场经济和国际贸易的快速发展,信用交易方式已成为外贸企业的主要结算方式之一,随之而来的是企业的信用风险日益加剧。因此如何加强外贸企业的信用风险管理,建立一套适合自身情况的信用风险管理模式,成为外贸企业必须解决的问题。本文介绍了信用风险的相关理论,提出了适合外贸企业的信用额度确定方法,并阐述了外贸企业在信用销售后应该采用的技术控制方法及应该配套制定的信用管理制度。     

Benefit of Employees and Motivation for Earnings Manipulation—— A Case Study of Employee Shares

The employee shares of Guilin Jiqi became tradable in stock exchanges from June 2000. The firm coincidently made up her profit disclosed in the semi-annual report. After ruling out other explanations, we find that the fraud of Guilin Jiqi seems to be intended to help her employees （not including top managers） to reap profits at the expense of misled investors. Our findings offer a potential insight into relating employee shares to insider selling.     

完善建设用地管理制度的几点建议

随着国民经济和社会的进一步发展,面对经济结构调整和国土资源管理新形势的需要,一些用地管理制度也应跟随形势变化进行补充和完善。为实现土地集约、节约、高效利用,加强国土资源管理工作,应加强用地效益评价工作,进一步完善工业用地出让制度,建立土地资产金融管理制度体系,将矿政管理和地政管理相结合。     

Service transition strategies of industrial manufacturers

Manufacturers are increasingly adopting service based strategies to maintain competitiveness in the face of commoditization, slower growth, and declining profitability in core product markets. The objective of this study is to explicate the transformation process towards services in more detail. We find that manufacturers develop product related services through a dedicated service division designed to exploit the commercial opportunities of servicing an installed base of equipment. At the same time, the strategy of integrated solutions is utilized to enhance the competitiveness of their core product offering under industry conditions which make it difficult to maintain competitive advantage purely through technological leadership. These logics are investigated through case studies of two industrial manufactures.     

Underpricing,Share Overhang,and Insider Selling in Follow‐on Offerings

Prospect and information‐momentum theories predict that insiders can offer fewer shares in an initial public offering (IPO) to create informational momentum and obtain higher prices in follow‐on offerings. I find that dilution and insider participation in the IPO are negatively related to the number and size of follow‐on offerings, consistent with the prediction. However, insider selling in follow‐on offerings is positively related to IPO selling, contrary to the theories. Returns around follow‐on offering announcements are more negative for newly public firms than older firms, but for newly public firms do not differ by whether the announcement comes before or after the lockup expiration date.     

企业产品保证成本分析方法研究

文章通过开展对产品保证问题的研究 ,明确产品保证与产品开发、生产与销售各阶段工作的关系。在研究分析时首先应明确产品保证系统特性并研究适用的产品保证策略 ,其后根据产品保证成本模型 ,开展产品保证时间成本分析工作。