Harri Terho | University of Turku (original) (raw)

Papers by Harri Terho

Industrial Marketing Management, Jul 1, 2020

When economic crises disrupt markets and stifle sales, business-to-business (B2B) vendors are oft... more When economic crises disrupt markets and stifle sales, business-to-business (B2B) vendors are often tempted to respond by offering temporary price reductions to maintain sales and empathize with the customers' plight. This, however, may be a suboptimal strategy in plain sight. In this article, we propose an alternative approach, and suggest that value-based selling is a particularly suitable and mutually beneficial, yet often counter-intuitive strategy to selling in an economic crisis. We draw on the well-established organizational boundary theory to explain why economic crises should make customers more receptive to boundary changes that support valuebased selling. Subsequently, we develop managerial insights on how vendors can capitalize on these opportunities by demonstrating how boundary changes can help customers reduce immediate costs, while retaining their competitiveness to grow when the economy recovers.

Industrial Marketing Management, Aug 1, 2023

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide a contextualized understanding of how business-to... more 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 organizat...

Industrial Marketing Management

In recent methodological articles related to structural equation modeling (SEM), the question of ... more In recent methodological articles related to structural equation modeling (SEM), the question of how to measure endogenous formative variables has been raised as an urgent, unresolved issue. This research presents an empirical application from the CRM system development context to test a recently developed technique, which makes it possible to measure endogenous formative constructs in structural models. PLS path modeling is used to demonstrate the feasibility of measuring antecedent relationships at the formative indicator level, not the formative construct level. Empirical results show that this technique is a promising approach to measure antecedent relationships of formative constructs in SEM.

Industrial Marketing Management, 2022

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 2016

Purpose This study examines the role and relative impact of market orientation, product orientati... more 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-...

Handbuch Business-to-Business-Marketing, 2015

Die Wertorientierung hat in den vergangenen Jahren sowohl in der Marketingpraxis als auch in der ... more Die Wertorientierung hat in den vergangenen Jahren sowohl in der Marketingpraxis als auch in der Marketingwissenschaft an Bedeutung gewonnen. Obwohl sich Anbieterunternehmen verstarkt bemuhen zu verstehen, welchen Beitrag ihre Produkte zum Unternehmenserfolg der Kunden leisten, treten bei der Implementierung einer wertorientierten Marketingstrategie immer wieder fundamentale Probleme auf. Ein wesentlicher Erfolgsfaktor ist die Verkaufsorganisation. Sie muss die Wertorientierung des Anbieterunternehmens in der Interaktion mit den Kunden umsetzen und mit Leben erfullen. Wie sollte sich ein wertbasierter Verkaufer verhalten? Wie unterscheidet sich das wertbasierte Verkaufen von den traditionellen Verkaufsansatzen? Wie wirkt sich das wertbasierte Verkaufen auf den Verkaufserfolg aus? Diese Fragen werden in dem vorliegenden Beitrag erortert.

Customer portfolio management (CPM) is an important area in theories of relationship marketing an... more Customer portfolio management (CPM) is an important area in theories of relationship marketing and customer relationship management. It focuses on the whole portfolio of customer relationships, from transactions to strategic partnerships and their management based on the value of the various customers to the selling company. The academic research so far has produced a wealth of conceptual knowledge about CPM in terms of proposing and testing a large number of relationship portfolio models. However, almost no empirical research about implementation of this concept in business or its effect on performance exists. Consequently, the purpose of this research was to analyze companies’ CPM practices and performance in business markets. More specifically, there were three more specific aims: 1) to conceptualize customer portfolio management in B-to-B settings, 2) to form and validate a measure for studying CPM practices in business, and 3) to study contextually the relationship between CPM ...

Industrial Marketing Management, 2015

ABSTRACT The critical role of relationships in business performance is widely recognized in the b... more ABSTRACT The critical role of relationships in business performance is widely recognized in the business marketing literature. However, to date, the prevailing new product launch research has concentrated on firms' general customer and competitor focus on predicting launch performance, and mainly applied a product centered or marketing mix perspective on considering effective strategic and tactical launch activities. Consequently, there is only scant knowledge on the relevance of a relational perspective when launching new products. The study contributes to this gap by examining the impact of firms' relationship orientation on launch performance and the key activities through which it is transformed into performance in the new product launch context. A set of hypotheses is developed and tested with data collected from 109 new product launches in pharmaceutical companies. The results show that sales force management and relationship leveraging mediate relationship orientation's impact on launch performance through complexly intertwined relationships. From a theoretical perspective, this study highlights the role of the relational perspective in new product launch and fosters our understanding on how relationship-focused culture is effectively implemented in practice. From a managerial perspective, the results offer insights on how firms can effectively enhance the successful commercialization of new products through relationship-oriented sales and marketing activities.

Marketing Review St. Gallen, 2013

Industrieunternehmen hängt in hohem Maße von der Effektivität ihrer Verkäufer ab. Dabei wird häuf... more Industrieunternehmen hängt in hohem Maße von der Effektivität ihrer Verkäufer ab. Dabei wird häufig angenommen, dass Kundenorientierung zu Verkaufserfolg führt. Der Beitrag zeigt, dass diese Annahme nicht stimmt und stattdessen wertbasiertes Verkaufen, bei dem der "greifbare" finanzielle Mehrwert für den Kunden im Fokus steht, der wichtigere Erfolgsfaktor ist.

Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, 2009

Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, 2012

ABSTRACT Purpose: Customer portfolios represent one of the central contexts for business marketin... more ABSTRACT Purpose: Customer portfolios represent one of the central contexts for business marketing and thereby an important focus for industrial marketing research. In this article, the authors used the concept of customer portfolio to create new insights into the relational context of exchange where companies operate and manage their business. The study examines the general nature of firms' total customer portfolios in contrast to analytical portfolio studies that focus on value-segmentation of the firm's customer base. The authors contribute to the existing, largely conceptual knowledge on the topic by identifying key dimensions that systematically characterize firms' customer portfolios and building an empirical classification of portfolios. Methodology: The study is based on a nationwide cross-industry survey. The authors use cluster analysis to create the classification and discriminant analysis to investigate the importance of the portfolio dimensions for the identified clusters. Findings: The results sho

Industrial Marketing Management, 2017

Modern business-to-business firms focus increasingly on understanding and selling value, as a str... more Modern business-to-business firms focus increasingly on understanding and selling value, as a strategic priority and to achieve marketing and sales excellence. Yet many companies struggle to implement their value orientation, without sufficient knowledge of how to translate it into sales practice. This study therefore examines value-based selling (VBS) as an implementation of value-based marketing at the sales force level. The proposed motivation-opportunity-ability framework integrates individual-and organizational-level antecedents, outcomes, and moderators in an attempt to explain the adoption and performance outcomes of VBS in business markets. Multilevel path modeling with cross-sectional survey data from 944 salespeople and managers in 43 sales organizations confirms the prediction that VBS enhances salespeople's performance, beyond that achieved with established selling approaches. However, firms need specific types of salespeople and dedicated organizational support for effective VBS implementation. A salesperson's learning orientation and networking competencies emerge as critical antecedents. Organizational value assessment tools can compensate for individual salespeople's lack of learning orientation; reference marketing efforts also strengthen the performance outcomes of VBS. Finally, VBS is most effective in organizational settings where perceived customers value demandingness is lower, enabling salespeople to use VBS as a proactive selling approach.

Industrial Marketing Management, 2017

The use of customer references to facilitate marketing and sales in business markets has received... more The use of customer references to facilitate marketing and sales in business markets has received growing interest among practitioners and academics. The importance of references has been highlighted in a wide range of contexts, such as customer relationship management, customer value management, sales, and marketing communications. Yet knowledge about the effective application of references in business remains scant, and studies have not addressed in-depth what constitutes customer reference marketing or studied its relation to firm performance. This study contributes to this important but underdeveloped business marketing topic by 1) conceptualizing customer reference marketing based on theory and an extensive qualitative field study, 2) building a measure for the construct using survey data, and 3) demonstrating its relevance by linking the construct to firms' selling performance with additional collected data. The results broaden and specify the current understanding of how to effectively deploy references in business markets and provide evidence of the hypothesized performance, as well as contingency effects. The established conceptual foundations for the phenomenon provide substantial opportunities for practitioners and theory-testing oriented business marketing research.

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Purpose The current research aims to answer the following question: To what extent and under what... more 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 mec...

Customer portfolio management represents one of the our key relationship management levels in bus... more Customer portfolio management represents one of the our key relationship management levels in busines s markets. A large number of customer portfolio model s has been suggested and tested since early 1980s. However, there is currently only little knowledge abou t companies’ actual customer portfolio management ( CPM) practices and their performance. Moreover, there is currently little knowledge about the role of compa ny context on customer portfolio management. This study e xamines the relationship between companies’ CPM pra ctices and performance in different exchange context s. Total nine hypotheses are suggested and they are tested by PLS-modeling. The CPM activities are found to be connected to customer profitability and overall cu stomer performance but only with caution directly to firm performance. Different CPM styles are found e ffective in two examined exchange contexts. Highly desi gned, mechanistic CPM practices are best suited to market-like exchange contexts where the...

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) This material is protected by copyright and other intellectual p... more Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) This material is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, and duplication or sale of all or part of any of the repository collections is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for your research use or educational purposes in electronic or print form. You must obtain permission for any other use. Electronic or print copies may not be offered, whether for sale or otherwise to anyone who is not an authorised user. Salonen, Anna; Terho, Harri; Böhm, Eva; Rajala, Risto; Virtanen, Ari

Over the last two decades studies have demonstrated the importance of goal orientations in the co... more Over the last two decades studies have demonstrated the importance of goal orientations in the context of selling and established a body of the main antecedents and outcomes. A closer look at the empirical findings reveals that the relationship between goal orientations and performance remains partly inconsistent as there is mixed evidence of the learning orientation performance relationship partly conflicting with theory. We propose that these findings can be clarified by studying moderation effects related to the nomological network of goal orientations. In testing a research model focused on the interrelations of goal orientations, selling experience, adaptive selling and salesperson selling performance, we confirm the established relationships and show that the learning orientation performance relationship is more complex than earlier studies suggest. The main findings regarding moderation effects indicate that the effectiveness of learning orientation is contingent on selling e...

Industrial Marketing Management, Jul 1, 2020

When economic crises disrupt markets and stifle sales, business-to-business (B2B) vendors are oft... more When economic crises disrupt markets and stifle sales, business-to-business (B2B) vendors are often tempted to respond by offering temporary price reductions to maintain sales and empathize with the customers' plight. This, however, may be a suboptimal strategy in plain sight. In this article, we propose an alternative approach, and suggest that value-based selling is a particularly suitable and mutually beneficial, yet often counter-intuitive strategy to selling in an economic crisis. We draw on the well-established organizational boundary theory to explain why economic crises should make customers more receptive to boundary changes that support valuebased selling. Subsequently, we develop managerial insights on how vendors can capitalize on these opportunities by demonstrating how boundary changes can help customers reduce immediate costs, while retaining their competitiveness to grow when the economy recovers.

Industrial Marketing Management, Aug 1, 2023

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide a contextualized understanding of how business-to... more 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 organizat...

Industrial Marketing Management

In recent methodological articles related to structural equation modeling (SEM), the question of ... more In recent methodological articles related to structural equation modeling (SEM), the question of how to measure endogenous formative variables has been raised as an urgent, unresolved issue. This research presents an empirical application from the CRM system development context to test a recently developed technique, which makes it possible to measure endogenous formative constructs in structural models. PLS path modeling is used to demonstrate the feasibility of measuring antecedent relationships at the formative indicator level, not the formative construct level. Empirical results show that this technique is a promising approach to measure antecedent relationships of formative constructs in SEM.

Industrial Marketing Management, 2022

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 2016

Purpose This study examines the role and relative impact of market orientation, product orientati... more 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-...

Handbuch Business-to-Business-Marketing, 2015

Die Wertorientierung hat in den vergangenen Jahren sowohl in der Marketingpraxis als auch in der ... more Die Wertorientierung hat in den vergangenen Jahren sowohl in der Marketingpraxis als auch in der Marketingwissenschaft an Bedeutung gewonnen. Obwohl sich Anbieterunternehmen verstarkt bemuhen zu verstehen, welchen Beitrag ihre Produkte zum Unternehmenserfolg der Kunden leisten, treten bei der Implementierung einer wertorientierten Marketingstrategie immer wieder fundamentale Probleme auf. Ein wesentlicher Erfolgsfaktor ist die Verkaufsorganisation. Sie muss die Wertorientierung des Anbieterunternehmens in der Interaktion mit den Kunden umsetzen und mit Leben erfullen. Wie sollte sich ein wertbasierter Verkaufer verhalten? Wie unterscheidet sich das wertbasierte Verkaufen von den traditionellen Verkaufsansatzen? Wie wirkt sich das wertbasierte Verkaufen auf den Verkaufserfolg aus? Diese Fragen werden in dem vorliegenden Beitrag erortert.

Customer portfolio management (CPM) is an important area in theories of relationship marketing an... more Customer portfolio management (CPM) is an important area in theories of relationship marketing and customer relationship management. It focuses on the whole portfolio of customer relationships, from transactions to strategic partnerships and their management based on the value of the various customers to the selling company. The academic research so far has produced a wealth of conceptual knowledge about CPM in terms of proposing and testing a large number of relationship portfolio models. However, almost no empirical research about implementation of this concept in business or its effect on performance exists. Consequently, the purpose of this research was to analyze companies’ CPM practices and performance in business markets. More specifically, there were three more specific aims: 1) to conceptualize customer portfolio management in B-to-B settings, 2) to form and validate a measure for studying CPM practices in business, and 3) to study contextually the relationship between CPM ...

Industrial Marketing Management, 2015

ABSTRACT The critical role of relationships in business performance is widely recognized in the b... more ABSTRACT The critical role of relationships in business performance is widely recognized in the business marketing literature. However, to date, the prevailing new product launch research has concentrated on firms' general customer and competitor focus on predicting launch performance, and mainly applied a product centered or marketing mix perspective on considering effective strategic and tactical launch activities. Consequently, there is only scant knowledge on the relevance of a relational perspective when launching new products. The study contributes to this gap by examining the impact of firms' relationship orientation on launch performance and the key activities through which it is transformed into performance in the new product launch context. A set of hypotheses is developed and tested with data collected from 109 new product launches in pharmaceutical companies. The results show that sales force management and relationship leveraging mediate relationship orientation's impact on launch performance through complexly intertwined relationships. From a theoretical perspective, this study highlights the role of the relational perspective in new product launch and fosters our understanding on how relationship-focused culture is effectively implemented in practice. From a managerial perspective, the results offer insights on how firms can effectively enhance the successful commercialization of new products through relationship-oriented sales and marketing activities.

Marketing Review St. Gallen, 2013

Industrieunternehmen hängt in hohem Maße von der Effektivität ihrer Verkäufer ab. Dabei wird häuf... more Industrieunternehmen hängt in hohem Maße von der Effektivität ihrer Verkäufer ab. Dabei wird häufig angenommen, dass Kundenorientierung zu Verkaufserfolg führt. Der Beitrag zeigt, dass diese Annahme nicht stimmt und stattdessen wertbasiertes Verkaufen, bei dem der "greifbare" finanzielle Mehrwert für den Kunden im Fokus steht, der wichtigere Erfolgsfaktor ist.

Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, 2009

Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, 2012

ABSTRACT Purpose: Customer portfolios represent one of the central contexts for business marketin... more ABSTRACT Purpose: Customer portfolios represent one of the central contexts for business marketing and thereby an important focus for industrial marketing research. In this article, the authors used the concept of customer portfolio to create new insights into the relational context of exchange where companies operate and manage their business. The study examines the general nature of firms' total customer portfolios in contrast to analytical portfolio studies that focus on value-segmentation of the firm's customer base. The authors contribute to the existing, largely conceptual knowledge on the topic by identifying key dimensions that systematically characterize firms' customer portfolios and building an empirical classification of portfolios. Methodology: The study is based on a nationwide cross-industry survey. The authors use cluster analysis to create the classification and discriminant analysis to investigate the importance of the portfolio dimensions for the identified clusters. Findings: The results sho

Industrial Marketing Management, 2017

Modern business-to-business firms focus increasingly on understanding and selling value, as a str... more Modern business-to-business firms focus increasingly on understanding and selling value, as a strategic priority and to achieve marketing and sales excellence. Yet many companies struggle to implement their value orientation, without sufficient knowledge of how to translate it into sales practice. This study therefore examines value-based selling (VBS) as an implementation of value-based marketing at the sales force level. The proposed motivation-opportunity-ability framework integrates individual-and organizational-level antecedents, outcomes, and moderators in an attempt to explain the adoption and performance outcomes of VBS in business markets. Multilevel path modeling with cross-sectional survey data from 944 salespeople and managers in 43 sales organizations confirms the prediction that VBS enhances salespeople's performance, beyond that achieved with established selling approaches. However, firms need specific types of salespeople and dedicated organizational support for effective VBS implementation. A salesperson's learning orientation and networking competencies emerge as critical antecedents. Organizational value assessment tools can compensate for individual salespeople's lack of learning orientation; reference marketing efforts also strengthen the performance outcomes of VBS. Finally, VBS is most effective in organizational settings where perceived customers value demandingness is lower, enabling salespeople to use VBS as a proactive selling approach.

Industrial Marketing Management, 2017

The use of customer references to facilitate marketing and sales in business markets has received... more The use of customer references to facilitate marketing and sales in business markets has received growing interest among practitioners and academics. The importance of references has been highlighted in a wide range of contexts, such as customer relationship management, customer value management, sales, and marketing communications. Yet knowledge about the effective application of references in business remains scant, and studies have not addressed in-depth what constitutes customer reference marketing or studied its relation to firm performance. This study contributes to this important but underdeveloped business marketing topic by 1) conceptualizing customer reference marketing based on theory and an extensive qualitative field study, 2) building a measure for the construct using survey data, and 3) demonstrating its relevance by linking the construct to firms' selling performance with additional collected data. The results broaden and specify the current understanding of how to effectively deploy references in business markets and provide evidence of the hypothesized performance, as well as contingency effects. The established conceptual foundations for the phenomenon provide substantial opportunities for practitioners and theory-testing oriented business marketing research.

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Purpose The current research aims to answer the following question: To what extent and under what... more 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 mec...

Customer portfolio management represents one of the our key relationship management levels in bus... more Customer portfolio management represents one of the our key relationship management levels in busines s markets. A large number of customer portfolio model s has been suggested and tested since early 1980s. However, there is currently only little knowledge abou t companies’ actual customer portfolio management ( CPM) practices and their performance. Moreover, there is currently little knowledge about the role of compa ny context on customer portfolio management. This study e xamines the relationship between companies’ CPM pra ctices and performance in different exchange context s. Total nine hypotheses are suggested and they are tested by PLS-modeling. The CPM activities are found to be connected to customer profitability and overall cu stomer performance but only with caution directly to firm performance. Different CPM styles are found e ffective in two examined exchange contexts. Highly desi gned, mechanistic CPM practices are best suited to market-like exchange contexts where the...

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) This material is protected by copyright and other intellectual p... more Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) This material is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, and duplication or sale of all or part of any of the repository collections is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for your research use or educational purposes in electronic or print form. You must obtain permission for any other use. Electronic or print copies may not be offered, whether for sale or otherwise to anyone who is not an authorised user. Salonen, Anna; Terho, Harri; Böhm, Eva; Rajala, Risto; Virtanen, Ari

Over the last two decades studies have demonstrated the importance of goal orientations in the co... more Over the last two decades studies have demonstrated the importance of goal orientations in the context of selling and established a body of the main antecedents and outcomes. A closer look at the empirical findings reveals that the relationship between goal orientations and performance remains partly inconsistent as there is mixed evidence of the learning orientation performance relationship partly conflicting with theory. We propose that these findings can be clarified by studying moderation effects related to the nomological network of goal orientations. In testing a research model focused on the interrelations of goal orientations, selling experience, adaptive selling and salesperson selling performance, we confirm the established relationships and show that the learning orientation performance relationship is more complex than earlier studies suggest. The main findings regarding moderation effects indicate that the effectiveness of learning orientation is contingent on selling e...