Suchergebnisse

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to provide a contextualized understanding of how business-to-business (B2B) firms use the sales development function for efficient and effective lead funnel management.


Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopted a qualitative field-study approach and interviewed 13 people from eight firms. While software as a service (SaaS) firms are the most prevalent application context for the sales development function, the authors also included respondents from non-SaaS firms to develop an in-depth understanding of the contextualized nature of the sales development process.


Findings
Sales development processes can be applied in outbound prospect-focused, outbound account-based, inbound prospect-focused and inbound account-based lead management contexts. The sales development processes of lead research, engagement and handover vary depending on the nature of the lead management context. These processes are supported by the appropriate design of organizational, technological and people platforms.


Practical implications
The authors explain how sales development as a form of inside sales can support effective lead funnel management in B2B firms through technology-enabled lead research and nurture processes designed to prepare customers for meaningful conversations with field sales.


Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to focus purely on the sales development function as a form of inside sales. They explain how the sales development processes relating to lead research, engagement and handover are conducted in four distinct application contexts to qualify leads for the outside salesforce.

Purpose
This study examines the role and relative impact of market orientation, product orientation and relationship orientation on new product launch performance, investigating product advantage and market-based assets as alternative mediating mechanisms, which link these strategic orientations to launch performance.


Design/methodology/approach
Survey data from the pharmaceutical industry are used to test hypotheses in the research model using partial least squares modeling.


Findings
Findings show that while each examined strategic orientation relates positively to launch performance, their performance effects and related mechanisms vary significantly. Results demonstrate a firm's relationship orientation is the strongest predictor of launch performance, and accumulated market-based assets represent an alternative relational mediator besides product advantage linking firms' orientations and launch performance.


Research limitations/implications
The empirical study is based on cross-sectional data collected in one specific industry sector. The authors encourage researchers to confirm the key findings in different industry and other contextual settings.


Practical implications
New product launch can be effectively managed as a relational activity. Firms benefit from paying explicit attention to strategic orientations and relationships. Especially, top management should foster a relationship-oriented organizational culture, develop relational competences and fully use the firm's accumulated market-based assets for increased launch performance.


Originality/value
The study extends knowledge on the role of strategic orientations in launch performance by highlighting the significance of relationship orientations and providing novel knowledge on the key mediating mechanisms between strategic orientations and launch performance.

Purpose
The current research aims to answer the following question: To what extent and under what conditions does hiring consultants to implement a customer relationship management (CRM) system produce performance gains for companies? To answer this question, this research delves into the critical interdependent roles of CRM consultant resources (CR) and user involvement (UI) in overcoming CRM's technological and organizational implementation challenges.


Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative field study methodology was used to empirically test the research hypotheses. Cross-sectional data (N = 126) were collected from large client companies using CRM technology. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used to estimate the significance levels of the structural model.


Findings
The findings indicate that the extent to which CRM consultants improve CRM system quality (SQ) and, ultimately, firm performance, largely depends on UI, which acts as the key facilitating mechanism to cope with application complexity (APP) and requirements uncertainty (REQ).


Originality/value
This research probes into the largely unexplored interactions between CRM CR, UI, APP and REQ. Using these parameters, this model successfully predicts CRM SQ and firm performance.