Minna Rollins

Inter‐firm customer knowledge sharing in logistics services: an empirical study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine customer knowledge sharing between a buyer of a logistics service and the logistics service provider (LSP). The authors attempt to fill the gap in current research by investigating inter‐firm customer knowledge sharing.Design/methodology/approach – A survey study was conducted. Data were collected from buyers of logistic services. Confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression were used to analyze data and test hypotheses.Findings – Results suggest that open and fluent communication mediates the relationship between customer knowledge sharing and satisfaction with a logistics service provider. In addition, the close relationship with the logistics service provider is needed to strengthen the relationship between customer knowledge sharing and satisfaction with the logistics service provider.Research limitations/implications – This study provided new empirical evidence concerning inter‐firm customer knowledge sharing. The authors suggest that logistic...

Learning by Blogging: Understanding Salespeople's Learning Experiences on Social Media

We examined 200 salespeoples blogs using netnography method. Drawing on social learning theory and real salespeoples blogs, we illustrate how and why sales people can learn by using blogging, both reading and writing. For example, blogging, writing and reading blogs, can keep salespeople networked with their peers within and across industries and help salespeople learn a greater variety of things from their peers. Our findings illustrate that writing and reading blogs can be a helpful learning tool for many salespeople. Our findings also suggest that companies should not ignore blogging as a sales training tool. In addition, Information Systems and Sales should not ignore netnography as a research method. We conclude our paper with avenues for future research.

Introduction to Knowledge Society, Culture, and Information Systems Minitrack

Our minitrack focuses on various cultural aspects of Knowledge Management and Information Systems within organizations. First two papers in our minitrack investigate cross-cultural issues and challenges in managing knowledge within a global firm. The first paper of in this minitrack by Frygell, Hedman, and Carlsson, “Implementing CRM System in a Global Organization National vs. Organizational Culture” study Customer Relationship Management (CRM) implementation in China, Poland, Russia, Middle East, Dubai, Pakistan, Iran, Korea and Japan within one global company. Frygell et al. conclude that implementation of CRM was not a complete success. Based on their findings from longitudinal case study, authors emphasize the importance of understanding the difference between the organizational culture in which the CRM system is developed and the national culture in which the system is implemented. The second paper “International Firms’ Market Orientation and Use of Knowledge: Implications for Market Information Systems” by Pehrsson explores market orientation in international industrial firms. Pehrsson states that “an understanding of the importance of knowledge of foreign markets and use situations will facilitate the design of market information systems that include creation and sharing of knowledge within international industrial firms.”

The Salesperson's Use of Global Customer Relationship Management Systems

We explore the factors affecting sales peoples use of global Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. Previous research focusing on global CRM has largely explored the macro level issues of CRM and CRM system implementation at the company or industry level ignoring people who actually use the global CRM systems in their everyday work. Neglect of the behavior of sales people may have misled the entire CRM research field, which has looked at the issue from a perspective of economic and technological advancement, without realizing that the root cause for the conflicting research results can be traced to the individual level. Hence, we problematize the extant research and propose that cultural context and distance, Global Account Management Programs, and perceived customer information quality affect the sales persons use of global CRM systems. Our paper concludes with avenues for future research in the area.