Telemarketing (TM), National Account Management (NAM), and other new selling techniques are increasingly being adopted by industrial marketers to replace or augment face-to-face sales forces. Adoption of any of these techniques requires the firm to adjust its selling mix, which is the combination of personal selling techniques used by the firm to reach its customers. Adoption of new selling mixes offers substantial payoffs, but involves risks and problems. This article proposes an analytical framework, based on the experiences of 40 business-to-business marketers, to guide managers in successfully adopting a new selling mix. The utility of this framework is demonstrated by applying it to two firms. From this analysis, management guidelines are developed for adopting new selling mixes.

A conceptual framework for examining the roles of telemarketing in selling strategy is proposed. A typology of telemarketing jobs is developed and related to face-to-face selling jobs. Important telemarketing strategy issues are examined from managerial and research perspectives. Finally, research propositions are presented and discussed.

The average cost of a sales call has declined approximately 15% over the past decade, while average salesperson compensation has doubled. These statistics illustrate an important benefit of technology: salespeople are more productive. To better understand the impact technology has played on sales and sales management, this paper examines the impact of sales technology from four perspectives: the salesperson, the field sales manager, the sales executive, and the customer. Noting that the needs and evaluations of technology vary, depending upon the functional position and viewpoint, a research agenda is offered that reflects these various perspectives.

Academy of Management PerspectivesVol. 16, No. 4 ArticlesSoul: A book for “a few dozen computer scientists”Shannon ShippShannon ShippPublished Online:1 Nov 2002https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.2002.8951327AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsDownload CitationsAdd to favoritesTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail View articleAbstractThe article presents a review of the book “The Soul of a New Machine,” by Tracy Kidder.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 16, No. 4 Permissions Metrics in the past 12 months History Published online 1 November 2002 Published in print 1 November 2002 Information© Academy of Management PerspectivesKeywordsBOOKS -- ReviewsLEADERSHIPNONFICTIONDownload PDF

The relationship between marketing mix composition and SBU performance is one of the most fundamental issues in marketing management. While the impact of environmental variables such as business type and stage of the product life cycle on the marketing mix/SBU performance relationship have been studied in depth, other environmental variables from the strategic management and industrial/organizational economics literature have not. This study empirically assesses the impact of several environmental variables on the marketing mix composition/SBU performance relationship using PIMS, a cross-industry, cross-firm database. The study shows that several environmental variables that have received little attention in the marketing literature, such as level of industry imports and industry concentration, have a significant impact on the relationship between marketing mix composition and SBU performance, while commonly used variables such as the product life cycle and business type do not significantly affect the relationship.

This article examines the use of journal or diary writing assignments to enhance a foreign study tour program. Two versions of the journal writing assignment are described, and benefits of this teaching and learning approach are discussed.

Previous efforts in analyzing productivity in academic journals in marketing have failed to consider collaboration and diversity of authors within journals. We study authorship patterns in five major marketing journals from 1984 through 1993. The analysis focuses not only on productivity, but also on collaboration and diversity. The findings provide valuable insights for productivity comparisons, publication among different ranks, career planning, and journal trends.

Business schools are frequently criticized for focusing too much attention on theories and concepts and not enough attention on communication, decision making, and other skills that are at least as important to career success as content knowledge. This article presents a six-step approach that has been used successfully to integrate skills training into an undergraduate marketing curriculum. The process is general and appropriate for other faculty groups considering systematic integration of skills training into their curricula.

Turbulence and rapid change in the business environment have been associated for some time with the development of new network organizational forms which put various types of strategic alliance and other inter‐organizational collaborations into effect. This paper traces the rationale for the formation of such networks and the associated vertical disaggregation of functions and implications for internal organizational design. This leads to the proposal of a classification framework for network forms. Using the dimensions of volatility of environmental change on the one hand, and the type of inter‐organizational relationship involved (collaborative or transactional) on the other hand, network forms are classified as: hollow networks, flexible networks, value‐added networks and virtual networks. In each case it is possible to identify the environmental and organizational contingencies most likely to be associated with the emergence and adoption of a particular type of network arrangement. This argument leads to the identification of a new research agenda which has the goals of developing more robust conceptualizations of network characteristics; better understanding the contingencies surrounding the emergence of network forms and their relative efficiencies and specifying some of the major implications of network formation for internal organizational design. In parallel the paper identifies a number of managerial implications for setting strategic priorities and developing appropriate management systems in these new organizational contexts.

The use of role plays in sales management classes is pervasive, but one recurring drawback is the lack of realism. Students acting as buyers are often too easy on the “sellers.” The authors outline...

Independent organizations collaborate to increase the competitive advantage of each organization. This paper develops a conceptual framework for defining and classifying co-operative interorganizational relationships. The features and differences between alternative co-operative interorganizational relationships are highlighted by the framework. One form of co-operative interorganizational relationship, a strategic alliance, is a means for organizations to gain competitive advantage in a product/market when environmental turbulence and diversity are high and the organization's skill and resource gaps are high. The subsequent discussion examines strategic alliances. The external and internal influences on alliance formation and the dimensions of the relationship that may impact alliance effectiveness are considered. Several propositions concerning effectiveness are formulated. The external and internal influences of alliance formation include internal structure and relationships, technology, and organizational performance. Propositions regarding alliance effectiveness are based on the dimensions of the relationship, including the power and dependence of the alliance partners, alliance planning processes, the extent of collaboration, and the commitment of the partners. Finally, several managerial and research implications of strategic alliance formation and effectiveness are considered.

Because of recent changes in the environment of business and business education, the basic skills of students—such as written and oral communication, intuition, creativity, and computer usage—are being scrutinized closely by prospective employers and thus students. The authors present ways to incorporate education on important skills into curriculum while continuing to impart content knowledge.

States that firms in many industries are seeking strategic partnerships with suppliers, distributors and customers. Discusses Customer‐Linked Strategy (CLS), a type of partnership being used by some firms. Evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of CLS and specifies appropriate circumstances for adopting CLS, together with information on implementing the partnership. Considers the consequencesof CLS and finds that it is of great benefit to many firms. Recommends that those businesses not currently using the technique but whose situation is suited to the strategy should reconsider their action.

Given that society depends on a steady supply of innovators to overcome challenges, innovation education efforts must be amplified to promote innovation skills among students. A key aspect of promoting innovation in context is understanding how and why innovators are motivated to innovate. However, even in the limited emerging literature on motivating innovation, there is a paucity of information on established innovators’ motivations for innovating. This two-phase, primarily qualitative study addresses this knowledge gap by investigating the strategies that innovators used to make their creative endeavours more likely, combining semi-structured interviews and a survey of Canadian innovators. Interviews were conducted with a diverse, multidisciplinary sample of 30 Canadian innovators which informed the development of the survey administered to a larger sample of 500 Canadian innovators. Participants reported costs of innovating and from their perspectives offered advice for aspiring innovators. Specifically, innovators detailed advice and approaches for aspiring innovators to maximize expectancies, maximize values, and proactively mitigate costs. This study calls for innovation education to focus on building capacity for developing innovators based on the strategies of successful innovators. These promotive and mitigating strategies are useful guides for educators, leaders, and of course for innovators themselves. Study results direct attention to approaches that should be integrated into programs designed to promote innovation across disciplines, organizations, and learning contexts.

Many industrial firms are adopting new selling methods such as telemarketing, national account management, and the like. Unfortunately, there are few guidelines for division managers who pioneer the use of these techniques in their firms, particularly in terms of changes in appraisal, coordination, and planning systems that accompany the adoption of new selling methods. This article details the development and implementation of new selling methods at an industrial firm, and provides guidelines to managers for using these techniques in their own firms.