Exploring export sales management practices in small- and medium-sized firms

We investigate key salesmanagement aspects in relation to the export involvement stage of the firm. Specifically, an attempt is made to examine the presence of significant differences in export sales management control strategy, exportsales organization design and export sales management behavioral attributes between ‘active’ and ‘committed’ exporting firms. We identify several differences among these exporter groups with the main conclusion being that the sales management function is more effectively organized and managed at advanced levels of export involvement. These findings are discussed in the light of existing knowledge, and various conclusions and research implications are also derived

Managerial, organizational, and external drivers of sales effectiveness in export market ventures

The authors extend sales management theory by considering the role of export sales management in small- and medium-sized firms, and they develop an integrated model of export sales organization effectiveness. Specifically, the authors test 16 hypotheses that examine the relationships among export sales management control, export territory, psychic distance, export sales performance, and export sales organization effectiveness. Using a mail-survey approach, data were collected from U.K.-based export sales managers in 146 direct exporters of industrial products. Though certain anomalies are observed, the research findings support many of the hypothesized associations, confirming the robustness of existing sales management concepts and theories in an export-marketing context

Why people quit: explaining employee turnover intentions among export sales managers

Predictably, sales organizations invest substantial financial and human resources in developing effective salesforces and yet salespeople are among the highest ‘risk group’ in terms of staff turnover. For export sales settings, the organizational consequences of this form of turnover are even more severe. This study develops a comprehensive conceptual model of seventeen hypothesized relationships among key structural, supervisory-related, and psychological factors, and examines this nomological network that leads to explaining export sales managers’ intentions to quit. The findings reveal the favorable impact of formalization and the unfavorable impact of centralization upon both role ambiguity and role conflict. The study finds that both formalization and centralization relate positively to the export sales management behavior control system. Role stressors deleteriously affect export sales managers’ job satisfaction, which in turn affects negatively intentions to quit. The study also discovers moderation effects of psychic distance and export sales managers’ experience

Export Market Expansion Strategies of Direct-Selling Small and Medium-Sized Firms: Implications for Export Sales Management Activities

The authors use punctuated equilibrium theory as a framework to help explain potential differences in the export sales management arrangements between firms that adopt an export market expansion strategy of either market concentration or market spreading. On the basis of a thorough review of the extant literature, the authors identify certain export sales managers' characteristics and behavior, export sales behavioral control, and satisfaction with export sales territory design as potential discriminators between these two groups of direct exporting firms. Consistent with the hypotheses, in general, the authors find that the tenets of punctuated equilibrium theory hold for the sample of small and medium-sized U.K. exporters. In addition, the results indicate that export market expansion strategy has important implications for a firm's export sales management arrangements. The authors discuss the findings and outline implications for business practitioners and further research