The Impact Of Management Commitment Alignment On Salespersons\u27 Adoption Of Sales Force Automation Technologies: An Empirical Investigation

Marketing and information systems scholars have explored several factors that affect sales force automation (SFA) technology adoption. In this study, we introduce a new antecedent to the SFA adoption model, management commitment alignment (MCA). We show that alignment between top management and immediate supervisors\u27 commitment to the SFA technology is an important factor in influencing SFA adoption. Results show that while commitment from both leadership levels (perfect alignment) is the most conducive to SFA adoption, misaligned commitment conditions have differential effects on adoption. Specifically, even when supervisors are committed to sales technology, lack of top management commitment can hurt SFA adoption. Managerial implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed. © 2009 Elsevier Inc

Collaboration with higher education institutions for successful firm innovation

Firms need to open up their boundaries to attain valuable knowledge from external partners because external partners can support their innovation activities by providing knowledge and resources. In this context, higher education institutions (HEIs) are an important source of innovation. Yet, despite the importance of universities, this topic has received scant academic attention. Thus, this research examines the effect of specific activities supported by universities on the innovation outcomes of firms. The study also investigates the moderating role of a firm\u27s absorptive capacity in the relationship between universities\u27 involvement and firm innovation outcomes. The findings show that specific types of HEI activities positively affect a firm\u27s innovation performance, while absorptive capacity has differential effects on the relationships between HEI activities and firm innovation outcomes

Supplier and customer involvement in new product development stages: Implications for new product innovation outcomes

This paper investigates the relationships among supply chain participants\u27 involvement at various stages of new product development (NPD) and a firm\u27s innovation outcomes in terms of number of new product introduction and new product radicalness. A total of 107 questionnaires were collected from a cross-sectional survey of NPD managers. Results show significant impacts of suppliers\u27 and customers\u27 involvement on the firm innovation outcomes in the various NPD stages. Suppliers\u27 involvement in the firm NPD process influences negatively or is not related to firm innovation success in the various NPD stages. However, customers\u27 involvement affects positively or is not related to firm innovation success in the various NPD stages. This indicates that the distinct features of the various NPD stages make customer or supplier involvement more or less appropriate at each stage. Therefore, this paper provides significant managerial implications for supply chain practitioners regarding with whom, when, and how they set up supply chain strategy to improve their innovation performance

Commitment and Replacement of Existing SaaS-Delivered Applications: A Mixed-Methods Investigation

As the highest level of cloud computing delivery model, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has gained considerable popularity in the industry as a new way of deploying IT solutions, due to its low cost and high elasticity. However, the new business model associated with SaaS highlights the importance for SaaS vendors to understand how to retain customers in a hyper-competitive market. In particular, increasing customer retention and preventing customers from replacing the adopted SaaS applications has become a crucial task for all SaaS vendors. In this study, using a mixed-methods approach, and drawing on the cognitive–affective–conative– action (CACA) framework, we investigate the IS replacement phenomenon in the context of SaaS-delivered applications. Our qualitative study allows us to develop an IS-centric view of customer commitment by differentiating between organizations’ commitment to the SaaS application and to the cloud computing technology in general, while the subsequent quantitative study validates the difference between the two types of commitment and helps understand how they together influence organizations’ intentions to replace a SaaS application. Our results generate important theoretical implications for research on IS replacement and clarifies the concept of customer commitment. We also offer practical guidelines to SaaS vendors on how to retain customers so as to survive/thrive in this competitive market

Brand Extensions Via Complements Or Substitutes: The Moderating Role Of Manufacturing Transferability

In this short paper, we demonstrate the computation of certain Glaisher-type products over the primes by differentiation of the Euler product identity. We are able to give a formula for the logarithmic derivative of ζ(x) in terms of this product, in addition to some other interesting identities. © 2012 World Scientific Publishing Company

Information Technology, Learning, and Sales Performance

Although organizations strive to improve performance of their employees by encouraging them to exploit what they have learnt (exploitative learning) and explore new knowledge (exploratory learning), scant research examines how organizations can enable employees with information technology (IT) to help them leverage exploitative and exploratory learning for improved employee performance. This study examines the role of employee-focused IT-enablement and customer-focused IT-enablement in helping employees leverage exploitative and exploratory learning to improve their performance. We theorize that employee-focused IT enablement positively moderates the effect of exploitative learning on employee performance, whereas customer-focused IT enablement positively moderates the effect of exploratory learning on employee performance. Empirical analysis of a multi-sourced matched-pair dataset gathered from 181 salespersons and their managers in a biotechnology medical devices company supports our theory. This study uncovers differential moderating effects of employee-focused and customer-focused IT enablement on the influence of exploitative and exploratory learning on individual employee performance

The Social Buyer: A Framework for the Dynamic Role of Social Media in Organizational Buying

Social media plays a central role in information and knowledge management to support business-to-business (B2B) buying decisions. To date, research has yet to delineate the mechanisms through which social media information relates to B2B buying and subsequent organizational outcomes. To describe this process, we build on social media\u27s ability to facilitate conveyance and convergence processes within the buying unit enabling knowledge discovery, knowledge sharing, and knowledge interpretation. Based on an organizational knowledge framework, we derive propositions about the role of social media in B2B buying and delineate boundary conditions for its influence within the B2B buying unit and the organization. This research sets the foundation for future empirical work at the intersection of B2B and social media