Dimitri Kapelianis

A Two-Stage Model of Sales Opportunity Outcomes

Salesperson performance is one of the most important—and, concomitantly, one of the most researched—issues in the sales literature. A search of Google Scholar reveals nearly one thousand academic articles with the phrase “salesperson performance” or “sales performance” in the title. This area of inquiry is now sufficiently mature that several meta-analyses have been published examining aspects of salesperson performance (see, for example, Churchill et al. 1985; Rich et al. 1999; Verbeke, Dietz and Verwaal, 2011). Yet, at the operational level, salesperson performance is an aggregate construct; salespeople achieve high performance over time by accumulating a number of wins over a series of discrete sales opportunities. And it is at this discrete, transactional level that our understanding of the determinants of the outcomes of sales opportunities remains incomplete.

When do salespeople pursue and win deals? a two-stage model of sales opportunity outcomes

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to develop and test a two-stage model of sales opportunity outcomes, and thus identify the factors that influence the likelihood of a salesperson pursuing and winning a sales deal. Design/methodology/approach – Using a longitudinal design, the authors collect data on 330 sales opportunities at two different time periods from two distinct sources and conduct data analysis using hierarchical linear modeling. Findings – In the first stage, the authors find that the salesperson’s decision to pursue the opportunity is influenced by the strategic value of the client’s business and the concreteness of the opportunity. In the second stage, the authors find that the likelihood of winning the opportunity is influenced by the extent of the salesperson’s specialization, closeness to the buying center, company’s competitive position and fit with the client’s value orientation. Research limitations/implications – The authors have examined discrete sales opportunities independent o...

Alternative Distribution Channels to Reach the Bottom of the Pyramid in an Emerging Market: An Extended Abstract

Faced with pressures to achieve sales growth while enduring hypercompetitive and slow-growing landscapes in established markets, multinational companies are increasingly developing strategies to sell products to consumers in low-income markets around the world. These “base of the pyramid” (BoP) markets (Prahalad 2010) account for over half the world’s population. In South Africa, the context for our research, BoP consumers constitute more than one-third of the population (Chipp et al. 2013). These markets have tended to grow at significantly faster rates than established global markets recently, both in terms of population growth and growth in disposable income. Looking ahead to future decades, certain markets that occupy the base of the pyramid today will become important emerging markets that can fuel future sales growth, just as happened with countries such as South Korea that emerged before the concept of base of the pyramid markets had been recognized. Multinational companies that succeed in figuring out how to reach these unique markets may reap concomitant benefits. Successful companies may also contribute to poverty alleviation by providing base of the pyramid consumers with access to new products and services that can enhance their quality of life.

Ukukhothana: The Curious Case of Conspicuous Consumption and Destruction in an Emerging Economy

This study investigates “ukukhothana” as a form of conspicuous consumption and destruction among poor black youth in South Africa. Ukukhothana is an isiZulu word and translates loosely as “to lick like a snake” (Nkosi, 2011) and those who engage in this activity are known as iZikhothane (“the lickers”). In highly-stylized public displays, competing crews gather to flaunt and taunt: they parade their wealth—typically luxury brands, but also cash—while boasting of their superiority. The displays culminate with acts of conspicuous destruction during which the luxury products are ripped, smashed, or burned. Based on qualitative research conducted in several townships, including depth interviews and observation, this study yields insights into the main features of ukukhothana as well as the drivers for engaging in this behavior. We conclude by comparing and contrasting ukukhothana to other forms of behavior.

The Use of Social Media Tools in the Sales Organization: Individual, Organizational, and Customer–Related Antecedents

There is ample recognition that social media tools (for example, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and LinkedIn) are being used by marketers to influence consumer preferences and purchase decisions and to generate word of mouth (Kumar and Mirchandani 2012). However, social media usage in the sales function and/or organization is still in an early stage, and research in this area is required. Previous related research has looked at some determinants of technology adoption by salespeople, such as sales force automation (SFA) or customer relationship management (CRM) tools (Jelinek et al. 2006; Richard et al. 2007; Speier and Venkatesh 2002). However, social media tools differ from SFA or CRM not only in their relative newness, but also in the sales purposes they can help to achieve (for example, prospecting for customers, obtaining market information, promoting products, and identifying candidates for sales positions, among others). In addition, most previous research has examined the individual salesperson’s adoption of technology, rather than the adoption of technology by the sales organization, which could be considered a more strategic issue for a company.

Managerial Beliefs Regarding Banking Activity at the Bottom of the Pyramid in an Emerging Economy

A decade has passed since C.K. Prahalad and his colleagues first introduced the notion of the “bottom of the pyramid” (BoP) into the managerial lexicon (Hammond and Prahalad, 2004; Prahalad, 2004; Prahalad and Hammond, 2002; Prahalad and Hart, 2002). Briefly, the BoP thesis states that the world’s poor are an increasingly attractive market, especially for multinational corporations. While the top of the pyramid is characterized by relative wealth, its long-term attractiveness is limited owing to high levels of current market penetration, bordering on saturation. By contrast, while the bottom of the pyramid is relatively poor, its long-term prospects are very attractive because of low levels of current market penetration offering the potential for rapid growth in the future. However, to fully leverage this potential, converting the very poor into active consumers will require considerable innovation in terms of products, business models, distribution networks, and especially price-performance relationships for products and services. To date, most companies have failed to generate the necessary innovation, preferring instead to simply transplant offerings developed for their traditional markets (Dawar and Chattopadhyay, 2002).