Cultural frames that drive sales and marketing apart: An exploratory study

Despite the necessity of close integration between marketing and sales, managers report less than satisfactory results in this area. This paper aims to examine what keeps the two functions apart. It propses going beyond surface level behaviour to examine the different sub-cultural mental frames that characterize the two functions. A total of 44 salespeople and marketers across four different organizations in different industries were interviewed. The research finds that conflicts between marketing and sales are driven by differences in beliefs about the valid scope and focus of activity, time focus, valid sources of knowledge, differences in percieved status, and the relationship to the business environment. Managers need to focus on removing implied status barriers between sales and marketing, provide sales with a strategic voice, and atttend to structural issues that drive the two functions apart. Research on the sales-marketing interface remains scarce. The paper examines this from a cultural point of view and identifies a number of basic cultural frames that explain behavioural differences between the two functions. Critically, it also identifies significant points of difference on which to build greater understanding between the two functions

Do relationship and suppliers really have collaborative category management relationships? Category management relationships in the UK and Australia

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:9350.9363(9712) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

What Do We Really Know About What We Know? The Nature of Relationship Governance in the Reverse Supply Chain

Inter-organizational relationships have received significant attention in the marketing channels literature (Anderson and Weitz, 1992; Mohr and Spekman, 1994; Morgan and Hunt, 1994). More recently, the supply chain literature has emphasized the importance of cooperative inter-firm relationships for achieving competitive advantage (Mentzer et al., 2001; Rogers and Leuschner, 2004). While understanding supply chain relationships is important in the forward supply chain, relationships are important in the reverse supply chain as well. This exploratory research identifies two themes of inter-organizational governance that warrant further research for managing the reverse flow of goods through a supply chain. Research directions are provided