...The salesperson’s role in CRM success: Exploring the value of salespersons’ mapping of buying centre structure Prabakar Kothandaraman, William Paterson University, NJ, USA Raj Agnihotri, William Paterson University, NJ, USA* Rolph E. Anderson, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA Perhaps the most important, yet underutilised resources in customer relationship management are salespeople. Drawing upon literature from social network theory, personal selling, sales management, and industrial buying behaviour, buying centre mapping is proposed as a tool for salespeople to improve customer relationship management (CRM). A framework linking a salesperson’s systematic mapping of buying centre structure to the CRM strategy development and implementation is outlined. Implications for theory and practice are discussed in detail. Keywords Industrial buying, Salespeople, CRM, Social network keywords Introduction The man who correctly understands how a particular structure works can prevent it from working or make it work differently with much less effort than a man who does not know these things. Bailey (1969, p. 108) Development of marketing strategies and tactics relies heavily on the ability of salespeople to understand buying organisations that they deal with and to bring that knowledge back to disseminate throughout the selling organisation for better customer relationship management (CRM). Managing customer relationships is the focus of successful business-tobusiness marketing...
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...649 Copyright 2005 by the American Psychological Association 0033-295X/05/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0033-295X.112.3.629 Toward a More Pragmatic Approach to Morality: A Critical Evaluation of Kohlberg’s Model Dennis L. Krebs and Kathy Denton Simon Fraser University In this article, the authors evaluate L. Kohlberg’s (1984) cognitive– developmental approach to morality, find it wanting, and introduce a more pragmatic approach. They review research designed to evaluate Kohlberg’s model, describe how they revised the model to accommodate discrepant findings, and explain why they concluded that it is poorly equipped to account for the ways in which people make moral decisions in their everyday lives. The authors outline in 11 propositions a framework for a new approach that is more attentive to the purposes that people use morality to achieve. People make moral judgments and engage in moral behaviors to induce themselves and others to uphold systems of cooperative exchange that help them achieve their goals and advance their interests. Keywords: moral development, cognitive development, cooperation, moral judgment After two decades of research on Kohlberg’s (1984) cognitive– developmental model of morality, we abandoned it in favor of a more pragmatic approach. In this article, we explain why. We identify problems with Kohlberg’s model, describe revisions aimed at solving them, and offer reasons why a new approach is necessary. We end with a new beginning, introducing a more pragmatic...
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...Role of peer group in the social behavior of an Individual Role of Groups in the Social Behavior of an Individual Secondary Group and Formal Group What is a social group? Primary and Informal Group According to Charles W. Cooley (1609.23) primary group has the following concept: that this particular group has members who enjoy intimate, personal and face-to-face relationship among themselves. A group is not a mere collection of individuals but an aggregate of personalities acting and interacting with one another in the process of living. To be a member of the group, one must participate in the common life and activities of the group (Hunt, et al., 1984:19). Social group refers to any number of persons who share a consciousness of membership and interaction (Horton and Hunt,1984:186). Various types of Social Group Primary and Informal Groups Secondary and Formal Groups Panopio et al. (1995) furthered explain that the primary group is the best educational milieu where the transmission of values can be done from adults to young. Hunt et al. (2000) cited significant roles of primary group: As an instruments of socialization As a source of Fundamental Social Ideas Informal group, like the primary, is an organization where there is specific structure to achieve specific goals and objectives. The informal group is concern with the personal relationships and agreement of group members than on defined role relationships. Secondary group does not involves face-to-face contact with each...
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...Telecom Business Research Center, Lappeenranta University of Technology and Sonera Research, P.O.BOX 20, 53851 LAPPEENRANTA, FINLAND e-mail: Kirsimarja.Blomqvist@lut.fi, mobile +358-40-755 1693 Pirjo Ståhle, Competence, Knowledge and Technology Management, Sonera Ltd, PL 116, 00051 SONERA, FINLAND e-mail: pirjo.stahle@sonera.com ABSTRACT In this paper we study the role of trust in enhancing asymmetric partnership formation. First we briefly review the role of trust. Then we analyze the state-of-the-art of the theoretical and empirical literature on trust creation and antecedents for experienced trustworthiness. As a result of the literature review and our knowledge of the context in praxis, we create a model on organizational trust building where the interplay of inter-organizational and inter-personal trust is scrutinized. Potential challenges for our model are first the asymmetry of organizations and actors and secondly the volatility of the business. The opportunity window for partnering firms may be very short i.e. there is not much time for natural development of trust based on incremental investments and social or character similarity, but so called “fast” or “swift” trust is needed. As a managerial contribution we suggest some practices and processes, which could be used for organizational trust building. These are developed from the viewpoint of large organization boundary-spanners (partner/vendor managers) developing asymmetric technology partnerships. Leveraging Complementary...
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...pros and cons to a joint venture along with some environmental factors that Moonglow needs to consider before deciding on a location. We are also going to explore different organization structures and give a recommendation on how to restructure Moonglow to succeed in the global market. Lastly, we will describe ways Moonglow can expand internationally while maintaining its eco-friendly practices and continue producing organic products. According to Jones (2011) a joint ventures is a “strategic alliance among two or more organizations that agree to establish and share the ownership jointly of a new business” (p. 342). Joint ventures are formal and bounded by a legal agreement with all parties’ rights and responsibilities spelled out. Joint ventures are considered one of the best methods for entering into foreign markets. As with any business venture, there are pros and cons that need to be considered (Jones, 2011). Many foreign markets have the potential to be closed to outside companies. Joint ventures make entering into closed markets easier. The pros to entering into a joint venture are access to limited capital resources, transfer of technology, bypass of legal restrictions, access to raw material, knowledge of regulatory climate, and investment incentives (Hall, 1984). In a joint venture, Moonglow will gain access to capital resources they would not normally have. Local investors are likely to invest with business partners they trust. Although...
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...CONTENT Abstract 2 Introduction 2 Mechanistic Role Formalization & Functional Specialization Increases Performance 3 Excess control often stifles innovation. 4 Employee motivation: The crisis of bureaucratic control 5 Summary 8 Reference 10 Abstract In this paper I will critically evaluate the statement “Organizations seek to control” from both mechanistic and culture perspective, using my own placement experience in Great Eastern Life Assurance (Singapore) as an example to examine the extent of compatibility and conflict between these two perspectives in the sense of control. Introduction Control is a set of activities to determine an actual state of affairs, compare it to appropriate models, and then formulate conclusions which should contribute to assure efficient and effective functioning of an organization. A mechanistic view of organizations assumes that organizations operate in a consistent machine-like manner. Control in mechanisms perspective, primarily aimed at detecting irregularities. A culture view of organizations treats organizations as mini societies which have a system of strongly-held shared value among members. Control by corporate culture views people as emotional, symbol-loving, and needing to...
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...Eastern Asian Enterprise Structures and tlie Comparative Analysis of Forms of Business Organization Richard D. Whitley Abstract Richard D. Whitley Manchester Business School, Manchester, U.K. The economic success of different forms of business organization in East Asian countries emphasizes the variety of viable enterprise structures and suggests the need for a comparative analysis of how they develop and operate in different societal contexts. Major differences between East Asian business 'recipes' include the range of activities that are authoritatively coordinated, their pattems of development, the ways in which they are organized and controlled and the organization of inter enterprise relations. These differences suggest eight major dimensions on which dominant enterprise structures in different societies can be compared and how their development can be linked to major social institutions. Introduction Organization Studies 1990,11/1:047-074 © 1990 EGOS 0170-8406/90 0011-0003 $1.00 The economic success of Japanese firms over the past 40 years has emphasized the viability of alternatives to United States management structures and practices, as well as highlighting the limited generality of the business strategy-structure relationships identified by Chandler (Alford 1976; Kagono et al. 1985: 99-110; Maurice et al. 1986). Whereas it may have seemed reasonable in the 1960s and 1970s to regard Japanese organizational practices and forms as temporary stepping stones...
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...when he defends himself against those who try do the action for him”. I firmly believe in Montessori’s principles, which respect and liberate the child - have utmost faith the child will reach his/her own potential if given the freedom to do so. Her methods enable the child to reach self-worth through success and self-mastery by teaching him/herself, and to achieve internal discipline through self-control. The child is prepared for life and equipped as a self-reliant, motivated individual. Montessori designed the ‘favorable environment’ (MCI, 2013) to meet the child’s individual needs, with the aim of developing his/her true potential. In this essay I will seek to describe Montessori’s model of the favorable environment, including the role of the adult, and explain how it supports children’s developing independence. Psychological research shows that autonomy is a basic need in people - the ability to have choice and control are optimal for learning and wellbeing (Ryan & Deci 2000 in...
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...states there are six stages to the development of morals and those six levels are divided into three levels: the pre-conventional stages of moral development, the conventional stage of moral development, and the post-conventional stage of moral development. Other psychologists have claimed that there are no specific stages to the development of morals. Psychologists believe that because people make moral decisions at one age in their life and tend to make the same moral decision later in their life that moral judgment does not develop in stages like Kohlberg theorized. “With respect to stages, we recognize that age-related trends exist in the types of moral judgments people make, and we acknowledge that cognitive development plays a role in determining them. However, because the evidence suggests that different aspects of moral cognition may change in different ways, that people do not relinquish their old ways of thinking when they acquire new forms of thought, and that different forms of thought can be activated by different experiences, we believe characterizing these phases as stages is misleading (Krebs & Denton, 2006 pg. 673)”. Kohlberg’s theory is centered on the theory that moral development comes in stages and therefore, others have found his theory of moral development to be limiting. Another factor...
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...Agenda-setting Weaver D H, Graber D, McCombs M, Eyal C 1981 Media Agenda Setting in a Presidential Election: Issues, Images and Interest. Praeger, New York M. McCombs Agendas: Political The political agenda is the set of issues that are the subject of decision making and debate within a given political system at any one time. Significant research specifically on the topic of agenda setting, as opposed to decision making, dates mostly from the 1960s. Early studies of agenda setting were quite controversial because they were often presented as critiques of the pluralist studies of the 1950s and 1960s. Truman (1951) mostly ignored the issue of who set the agenda of political debate. Dahl (1956) discusses the matter in mentioning that ensuring that no group have control over the range of alternatives discussed within the political system is a requisite for democracy. In his study of New Haven he explicitly raises the question of agenda setting, noting that with a permeable political system virtually all significant issues would likely come to the attention of the elites. ‘Because of the ease with which the political stratum can be penetrated, whenever dissatisfaction builds up in some segment of the electorate party politicians will probably learn of the discontent and calculate whether it might be converted into a political issue with an electoral pay-off’ (Dahl 1961, p. 93). In Dahl’s view, then, any issue with a significant potential following in the public would likely find...
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...27 collective effectiveness. This finding illustrates how the impact of social ties on individuals’ perceptions manifests itself in different ways. Moreover, it shows that there is a privileged path (highlighted with bold arrows in Figures 1 and 2) leading to strong participation in social movements. Of all perceptions, individual effectiveness is the factor in the decision process that most closely influences the level of participation in both the Bern Declaration and the WWF. Prospective members with a strong feeling that if they engage in protest, their participation will serve at least to a certain extent to bring about social change will actualize their potential for mobilization at the highest level of involvement. Individual effectiveness is also one of the perceptions of the model that is most influenced by social networks, directly but also indirectly via interest in the political issue and the perception of the organization’s effectiveness . This last result highlights the close interweaving between social ties and individual effectiveness. In other words, it stresses the interconnectedness of relational factors and human agency, and demonstrates that both structuralist and rationalist accounts are indispensable to explanation of individual participation. Conclusion Social networks matter, but they do so by performing various functions in the process of individual participation. They intervene at least three different ways. First, they intervene in the socialization...
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...How does class influence identity in contemporary society? Economic structures are related to social class. Our occupation and income (paid work) are related to our identity as an individual along with a collective identity through work colleagues and the organisation we work for. Employment and distribution of our income is important and they are some of the structures that shape our identity. Class therefore can be demonstrated as groups that share an economic relationship; this relationship is influenced by how we see what others have and how they see what we have. Identities however, can be constrained by income in terms of poverty or living below the bread line. This can be defined by a shared view about which goods and services are seen as necessary to people in any specific time and place (Kempson p83) For example 96% of households in the United Kingdom had television in 1994 this is now seen as a necessity and the lack of television constitutes relative deprivation. (Maureen Mcintosh ad Gerry Mooney p 84) Wealth can bring security, self-determination and control over those less wealthy and this can be a source of class distinction. Wealth tends to be not as visible as poverty as there is little or no reliance on state funded benefits such as education, health and transport. As wealth is concentrated in ten percent of the United Kingdom population social networks tend not to be visible to those outside that arena. Let us briefly look at two theories of class;...
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...The Connection between National Culture and Organizational Culture Kyb Fugfugosh San Francisco State University IBUS 681 (01) Date 12/10/2012 2 The Connection between National and Organizational Culture The term “culture” is generally ascribed to societies in a country, or ethnic and regional clusters within a nation, but can also be assigned to organizations, institutions, and family. Social organizations, whether national cultures, or institutional cultures develop because members’ behavior is not arbitrary, and can sometimes be anticipated and calculated. Organizations are bound by culture, which includes the individual behaviors of members and the collective purpose of the organization. In his frequently referenced book, Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values (1984), Geert Hofstede provided a methodology for the cross-cultural studies of nations, and the organizations that develop based on cultural values. Cultural concepts, as they relate to organizational studies, are borrowed from anthropology, in which views vary, and there is no consensus. Therefore the application of the “cultural perspective” to organizational studies also varies, and is based on assumptions about the nature of both “culture” and “organizations” (Smircich, 1983). Pettigrew (1979) advocated the use of cultural concepts borrowed from sociology and anthropology in the examination of organizational behavior. He advanced “longitudinalprocessual” studies of organizations...
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...A Theory-Based Approach to the Relationship between Social Capital and Communities of Practice El-Sayed Abou-Zeid John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada el-sayed@jmsb.concordia.ca Abstract: There is almost a consensus that tacit component of organisational knowledge is of critical strategic importance because, unlike explicit knowledge, it is both inimitable and appropriable. Because of its characteristics, organisational tacit knowledge is usually created and shared through highly interactive conversation and shared experience, i.e., through a socialisation process. At the firm’s level, the effectiveness of the socialisation process depends on the firm’s social capital. At group level, it has been argued that communities of practice form the basis of a firm's ability to create and share tacit knowledge. Therefore, investigating the relationship between social capital, communities of practice and individual human action is crucial in understanding the dynamic of cross level knowledge creation and utilisation and in understanding organisational learning process. In order to study this relationship Giddens’ theory of structuration is used as it provides an integrating meta-theory that recognises social reality as constituted by both subjective human actors and by objective institutional properties and attempts to articulate a process-oriented approach that relates the realm of human action and institutional realm. Based on Giddens’ theory a model...
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...Journal of Business Research 60 (2007) 277 – 284 Hofstede's dimensions of culture in international marketing studies Ana Maria Soares a,⁎, Minoo Farhangmehr a,1 , Aviv Shoham b,2 a School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal b Graduate School of Management, University of Haifa, Haifa, 31905, Israel Received 1 March 2006; received in revised form 1 August 2006; accepted 1 October 2006 Abstract Growth of research addressing the relationship between culture and consumption is exponential [Ogden D., Ogden J. and Schau HJ. Exploring the impact of culture and acculturation on consumer purchase decisions: toward a microcultural perspective. Academy Marketing Science Review 2004;3.]. However culture is an elusive concept posing considerable difficulties for cross-cultural research [Clark T. International Marketing and national character: A review and proposal for an integrative theory. Journal of Marketing 1990; Oct.: 66–79.; Dawar N., Parker P. and Price L. A cross-cultural study of interpersonal information exchange. Journal of International Business Studies 1996; 27(3): 497–516.; Manrai L. and Manrai A. Current issues in the cross-cultural and cross-national consumer research. Journal of International Consumer Marketing 1996; 8 (3/4): 9–22.; McCort D. and Malhotra NK. Culture and consumer behavior: Toward an understanding of cross-cultural consumer behavior in International Marketing. Journal of International Consumer Marketing...
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