Vishag Badrinarayanan

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION (IMC) AND BRAND IDENTITY AS CRITICAL COMPONENTS OF BRAND EQUITY STRATEGY

This paper presents integrated marketing communication (IMC) and brand identity as critical components of the firms brand equity strategy. Specifically, the authors provide a brand equity strategy schematic that details (1) the role of IMC in creating and maintaining brand equity, and (2) the role of brand identity in informing, guiding, and helping to develop, nurture, and implement the firms overall IMC strategy. The authors also present a conceptual framework with testable research propositions toward IMC theory development. Finally, a discussion of implications for academics and practitioners is provided, and opportunities for future qualitative and quantitative research are suggested.

ENHANCING CUSTOMER-NEEDS-DRIVEN CRM STRATEGIES: CORE SELLING TEAMS, KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT COMPETENCE, AND RELATIONSHIP MARKETING COMPETENCE

Managing relationships with customers is often challenging because firms engage in many different types of transactions and their customers vary considerably as to their wants and needs. To meet these challenges, firms are turning increasingly to formal customer relationship management (CRM) programs. Because of their ability to enhance interfirm relationships in business-to-business marketing, firms often turn specifically to customer-needs–driven CRM strategies. These strategies focus on the use of database technology to aid in developing long-term cooperative relationships with key customers. One important resource that enables firms to more easily develop and implement customer-needs–driven CRM strategies is the core selling (CS) team. We examine CS teams’ ability to enhance the development of two competences (a knowledge management competence and a relationship marketing competence) that are important components of customer-needs–driven CRM strategy.

Workplace Spirituality and the Selling Organization: A Conceptual Framework and Research Propositions

The past few years have witnessed a proliferation of articles on spirituality and its relevance for business. A growing trend in spirituality research is an emphasis on spirituality in the workplace. Theoretical and empirical support is emerging on how workplace spirituality infl uences both employee and organizational outcomes. However, the sales literature has not yet integrated the dimensions of workplace spirituality into its frameworks. Therefore, drawing on existing theoretical foundations, we propose a conceptual framework that illustrates the role of workplace spirituality in selling organizations. We present relevant testable research propositions, guidelines for future research, and implications for practice.

Brand Advocacy and Sales Effort by Retail Salespeople: Antecedents and Influence of Identification with Manufacturers’ Brands

Retail salespeople represent an important link for manufacturers in communicating value propositions to retail customers and for implementing target market strategies. Past research reveals that the recommendations provided by retail salespeople exert significant influence on customers’ brand choice, especially in the context of consumer durables. However, as the retail environment is often characterized by an inherent tension between manufacturer and retailer strategies, a major challenge for manufacturers is to induce retail salespeople to recommend their brands over those of rivals. Relationship marketing and social identity theory suggest that psychological attachments motivate the direction and intensity of individuals’ volitional efforts and extra-role behaviors. Extending past research, this study examines brand identification among retail salespeople as a critical psychological mechanism that mediates the influence of manufacturer and manufacturer representative–related factors on brand advocacy and sales effort. Using data gathered from retail salespeople employed in the consumer durables division of a major national retailer, a framework integrating the antecedents and outcomes of brand identification is tested. Based on the study’s results, implications for theory, manufacturers, and retailers are offered.

Global Virtual Sales Teams (GVSTs ): A Conceptual Framework of the Influence of Intellectual and Social Capital on Effectiveness

International sales opportunities, consolidation of global accounts, and advancements in communication technologies have led to the prevalence of global virtual sales teams (GVSTs). GVSTs enable salespeople from different geographical areas, time zones, and cultural backgrounds to use virtual interfaces and work closely together on interdependent global sales objectives. However, as technology-enabled, culturally diverse, and globally separated teams have not lived up to their potential, researchers have called for furthering our understanding of such teams. Therefore, drawing from literature streams on traditional sales teams, global sales teams, virtual teams, teamwork in organizations, intellectual capital, and social capital, we offer a framework for enhancing the effectiveness of GVSTs. Specifically, we define GVST effectiveness, identify effectiveness enhancing components of the GVST environment, and examine unique dimensions of GVST intellectual and social capital that influence the GVST environment. We conclude with several directions for future research in this promising, yet underresearched, area and implications for practice.

Approaching global industrial marketing from a managerial cognition perspective: a theoretical framework

Purpose – This paper aims to attempt to develop an integrative theoretical framework that approaches global industrial marketing from a managerial cognition perspective.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing from the managerial cognition research, business strategy research, and international business research, this paper develops a theoretical framework that is relevant to global industrial marketing.Findings – Global industrial marketing research has much to gain from the managerial cognition literature. The framework developed in this article presents relevant managerial cognition variables, their individual and firm level antecedents, and desirable outcomes.Research limitations/implications – The framework presented in this paper provides strong theoretical foundation for further theory development in global industrial marketing research and managerial cognition research. However, given the conceptual nature of our research, empirical scrutiny and further conceptual and empirical research are required....

Relationship marketing strategy: an operant resource perspective

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to illustrate that the operant resource perspective of the service-dominant (S-D) logic can explicate how operant resources can influence relationship marketing (RM) strategy success. Design/methodology/approach – After a brief discussion of the operant resource perspective of the service-dominant (S-D) logic, the paper reviews relationship marketing literature to identify and explore specific operant resources that can influence relationship marketing success. Findings – This paper identifies several operant resources that have been empirically verified to have positive influence on relationship marketing success and several other operant resources that need further conceptual and empirical investigation. Originality/value – The operant resource perspective of relationship marketing strategy and the operant resources identified in this paper provide the foundation for theory development and managerial practice.

Professional sales coaching: : an integrative review and research agenda

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrative review of coaching research from different contexts (e.g. athletics, executive coaching, project management and sales), delineate professional sales coaching from other developmental activities and develop a research agenda for stimulating research on professional sales coaching. Professional sales coaching is considered an important sales force developmental program by both sales practitioners and researchers. Yet, research on sales coaching remains fragmented in the extant literature. Design/methodology/approach – An extensive literature review of extant research and theoretical perspectives on coaching as well as insights gathered from exploratory, in-depth interviews of ten sales managers were used to develop the research agenda. Findings – The review and research agenda identify a number of sales coaching-related topics that warrant further research. Specifically, the research agenda addresses salesperson characteristics, sales manager ...

Metaphors and Sales Management: A Review and Research Agenda: An Abstract

The marketing and strategy literatures are rich with research explicating the usefulness of metaphors. For example, metaphors have been shown to be useful in the context of brand communication, leadership, marketing communications, marketing management, marketing research, marketing science, marketing theory construction, organizational knowledge production, and sales message creation. However, in the context of sales management, there is little research that investigates metaphors. Therefore, more scholarly research is warranted in the domain of sales management by drawing from other fields on metaphor-based research. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to identify and discuss relevant literary and theoretical metaphors for sales management and develop a research agenda for metaphors in the context of sales management. Through “metaphoric transfers,” theoretical metaphors can lead to theory construction and new discoveries. Specifically, future research should focus on (1) investigating new and existing literary and theoretical metaphors in the context of sales management, (2) explicating theoretical metaphors and evaluating their usefulness by examining dimensions of metaphoric transfer and analyzing the metaphors using the comparison model and the domains-interaction model, (3) engaging in theory development with reference to metaphors in the context of sales management research, and (4) empirically investigating the theories developed through metaphoric transfers.

Perceived Security Risk and Shopping Behavior: An Exposition in Emerging Markets: An Abstract

Perceived security risk refers to consumers’ perceptions of the likelihood of becoming a victim of crime (Rader, May, & Goodrum, 2007). Consumers’ cognitive perception of the threat of criminal victimization and associated emotional fear may drastically affect their daily lives and behavior (Rader et al., 2007). For instance, perceived security risk may influence consumers’ conspicuous consumption, shopping intentions, shopping times and locations, and brand-directed behaviors. Although crime and perceived security risk are prevalent in all countries and economies, they are heightened in emerging markets and, as more firms look to emerging markets for growth, it is important to understand the effects of perceived security risk on consumption.