The joint contribution of marketing and sales to the creation of superior customer value (original) (raw)

2007, Journal of Business Research

Academic research has demonstrated that sound marketing capabilities allow a firm to create superior customer value. Moreover, academic research and business practice have shown that Marketing and Sales departments are jointly responsible for marketing activities. Although scholars have devoted very limited attention to the relationship between these two departments, overlooking the role that poor alignment between the two has on the firm's capacity to generate superior customer value would be an error. The present paper proposes a model of antecedents to superior customer value creation elaborating on literature that deals with marketing capabilities and Marketing-Sales relationship. More specifically, the authors hypothesize that a firm's long-term strategic orientation, effective Marketing-Sales relationship, the use of a direct sales force and customer-oriented salespeople positively affect superior customer value creation and market performance. The empirical research confirms all hypotheses with the exception of the impact of a direct sales force. examination of the relationships between retail work environments, salesperson selling orientationcustomer orientation and job performance. J Mark Theory Pract 2001;9:1-13 [Summer]. Bolton Ruth N, Lemon Katherine N. A dynamic model of customers' usage of services: usage as an antecedent and consequence of satisfaction. J Mark Res 1999;36:171-86 [May]. Brown Tom J, Mowen John C, Donavan Todd D, Licata Jane W. The customer orientation of service workers: personality trait effects on self and supervisor performance ratings. J Mark Res 2002;39:110-9 [February]. Carpenter P. Bridging the gap between marketing and sales. Sales Mark Manage 1992:29-31 [March]. Cespedes Frank V. Co-ordinating sales and marketing in consumer goods firms. J Consum Mark 1993;10(2):37-55. Chimhanzi Jacqueline. The impact of marketing/HR interactions on marketing strategy implementation. Eur J Mark 2004;38(1/2):73-98. Christensen Clayton M, Bower Joseph L. Customer power, strategic investment, and the failure of leading firms. Strateg Manage J 1996;17(3):197-218. Churchill Jr Gilbert A. A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs. J Mark Res 1979;16:64-73 [February]. Churchill Jr Gilbert A, Ford Neil M, Hartley Steven W, Walker Jr Orville C. The determinants of salesperson performance: a meta-analysis. J Mark Res 1985;22:103-18 [May]. Colletti Jerome A, Chonko Larry B. Change management initiatives: moving sales organizations from obsolescence to high performance.