Belinda Dewsnap

A social psychological model of relations between marketing and sales

This paper highlights the opportunity to investigate relations between the marketing and sales departments of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies. Drawing on empirical results from social psychology, the authors develop a framework for exploring the social psychological causes and effects of intergroup relations in FMCG marketing. This conceptual model integrates two social psychological theories, the realistic group conflict theory, and the social identity theory. As a development to previous applications of these theories, the model extends beyond the social psychological effects of intergroup relations to consider the implications for organizational effectiveness. A number of research propositions to guide future research are also developed, and the paper concludes with a discussion of managerial and future research implications.

The Sales-Marketing Interface in Consumer Packaged-Goods Companies: A Conceptual Framework

For those companies marketing branded consumer packaged-goods to an increasingly powerful retail trade, collaborative relations within the marketing function are crucial, particularly between trade customer-focused sales personnel and brand-focused marketing personnel. Yet although there is a well-developed body of literature on marketings relations with other major business functions, relations within the marketing function itself remain unresearched. Drawing on theory and empirical results from studies of marketings cross-functional interfaces, the authors develop a framework for understanding the nature, causes and effects of relations between sales and marketing in consumer packaged-goods firms. Propositions to guide further research are also developed.

Category management: a new approach for fashion marketing?

As a supply chain management initiative, category management has to date been the almost exclusive preserve of the grocery sector and, within that sector, limited to food categories. This paper proposes that the fashion industry might usefully follow the grocery industrys lead and implement category management. A comprehensive review of the literature on category management highlights the opportunity for fashion marketing to consider the potential of category management, and the specific research gaps. In operationalising the subsequent research objectives, the paper reports the results of exploratory, in‐depth consumer research for a particular category of intimate apparel. The managerial implications of these findings are then discussed in the context of the established eight‐step category management process. The overall tentative conclusion of this study is that as a consumer‐oriented joint planning tool, category management offers retailer‐supplier partnerships in the fashion industry an important adjunct to the industrys quick response methods. The paper closes with an agenda for future research.

An exploratory study of the consumer decision process for intimate apparel

In contrast to outer apparel, academic research has neglected consumer behaviour for intimate apparel or lingerie. It is argued that within this category the bra deserves singular research attention. This paper presents the results of exploratory research designed to explore in depth the bra consumer decision process. The key findings indicate a highly involved consumer who is motivated by a complex range of interlinked factors, and a consumer who desires to be brand loyal in order to enjoy a less extensive decision process, but who is prevented from doing so by high levels of perceived risk and “obstructive” marketing. The authors offer directions for future empirical research based on the consumer behavioural constructs of involvement, perceived risk and the self‐concept. Implications for marketing management are also discussed.

Marketing information use and organisational performance: the mediating role of responsiveness

While marketing information use is often cited as a critical facet of decision-making and a key denominator of competitive firms, little empirical evidence currently exists on its relationship to organisational performance. The current study addresses this gap by examining the mediating role that responsiveness plays in the use-performance relationship. A structured questionnaire was administered to New Zealand manufacturers, and 253 useable mail responses were obtained. Measures were developed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and hypotheses were tested via moderated hierarchical regression. The findings indicate the positive effect of the instrumental/conceptual use of information on responsiveness, albeit moderated by information overload. Inter-functional co-ordination was also found to play a critical role. Responsiveness was, in turn, found to be positively related to organisational performance.

Learning orientation in export functions: impact on export growth

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how the learning orientation of export functions affects their growth performance.Design/methodology/approach – A mail survey of 354 exporters was conducted, and the data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.Findings – Results show that the link between response to export information and export growth is quadratic (U‐shaped), and that this relationship is moderated by use of export memory. Export memory itself was found to be beneficial to export growth when responsiveness to export information is low, but detrimental under high levels of export information responsiveness. In turn, response to export information is driven by export information acquisition and distribution, as well as by the management of mental export models. Export memory use is also enhanced by the latter and the integration of export information within organizational systems.Research limitations/implications – The authors examine learning ori...

An exploratory study of sales‐marketing integrative devices

Purpose – The study explores structural devices designed to enhance collaboration between sales and marketing groups. The paper aims to develop a conceptual framework of how such integrative devices link to higher levels of sales‐marketing collaboration and also to higher levels of business performance.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 20 in‐depth interviews and a review of the literature are used to examine the nature and effects of sales‐marketing integrative devices in UK consumer packaged goods firms.Findings – The study identifies two main types of integrative device in operation: trade marketing and category management. The exploratory interviews highlight how these two types of integrative device operate, respectively, at operational and strategic levels. All of the organisations were found to operate some kind of integrative device. However, the organisations studied manifest different levels of collaboration between sales and marketing groups. The conclusion drawn from this and subsequentl...

Antecedents to export information generation: a cross-national study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that enhance export decision-makers’ generation of export information, using a non-linear approach and a multi-country context, and so provide export decision-makers with empirically based guidelines on how to maximize their information acquisition efforts. Design/methodology/approach – A broad perspective on export information generation is adopted, including marketing research, export assistance, and market intelligence. The model of antecedents to information generation is tested in three studies (USA, Austria, New Zealand, respectively) using structural equation modeling techniques. Multigroup and hierarchical analysis is performed to assess cross-national invariance of relevant measures, and quadratic effects. Findings – The findings show that the predictors of export information generation vary across the three countries studied, and that many of the relationships are non-linear. Research limitations/implications – This study contributes ...

Performance Implications of the Interplay Between Sales Intra-Functional Flexibility, Customer Orientation and Role Ambiguity

The competitive sales landscape is changing rapidly, moving away from the traditional arms-length transactional exchange and more towards the relational exchange (e.g., Ingram et al. 2001). Within this changing competitive environment, firms need greater flexibility to proactively and quickly reallocate critical resources (Storbacka et al. 2009) in order to meet customers’ changing exceptions. Although it is suggested that salespeople are becoming more interdependent (i.e. dependent on their colleagues) to acquire the necessary resources needed for effective work with customers (Schmitz 2013; Kennedy et al. 2001), research has yet to systematically examine such flexibility in salespeople internal resource exchange.