Mastering the digital transformation of sales

Managerial and academic literature provide only limited guidance on how to drive the digital transformation of sales. This article presents a model for in-depth analysis of sales processes, goals for each process in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, and a structured set of digital responses. For managers, it provides actionable guidelines on how to drive the digital transformation of sales, a large set of inspiring examples, and an international benchmarking opportunity

A Comprehensive Model of Customer Trust in Two Retail Stores

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a comprehensive model of customer trust in a retail service setting. Three levels of the customer‐to‐store relationship are simultaneously taken into account: customer to sales associates, customer to store branded products, and customer to the store itself. Design/methodology/approach – Using partial least square (PLS) on a sample of 393 customers of an Italian supermarket retailer, a model linking customer trust (in the store, in store branded products and in sales associates) to overall perceived value and store loyalty intentions and behaviors is tested. Subsequently an expanded model to determine the influence of managerially controlled antecedent variables (salespeople\u27s trustworthiness, store environment, store assortment, and communications) is estimated on the various trust levels. Findings – Trust in the salesperson and trust in store branded products have positive effects on overall store trust. Store trust, in turn, increases perceived value and loyalty intentions. Looking at the drivers of the three levels of customer trust, salesperson trustworthiness positively affects only trust in the salesperson. Store environment has a positive impact only on overall trust in the store. Store communication fosters all three levels of customer trust, while store assortment increases both overall trust and trust in store branded products. Practical implications – Findings of the study suggest an alternative perspective to the dominant strategies in grocery retailing services. To foster store patronage, retailers have typically invested in price cuts, promotions and loyalty schemes. Store managers may rather use sales associates, the store environment, store assortment, store branded products, and communication to foster customer trust and increase customer loyalty. Managing store brands with the goal to build trust, as opposed to increase immediate profit margins, may call for a completely different approach to private labels. Similarly, the potential relevance of interpersonal trust may suggest retailers to devote more resources to selection, recruitment and training of sales associates, and may stimulate changes in evaluation criteria, incentive schemes and reward systems. Originality/value – The study aims at filling two important gaps in the literature: the scarcity of comprehensive store patronage models and the lack of exploration of the operational means of improving customer trust in retail services

Linking data-rich environments with service innovation in incumbent firms: a conceptual framework and research propositions

The impact of big data on innovation is not only driven by technology and analytics. It involves a transformation of the organizational culture, structures, processes, roles and capabilities that underpin the innovation process. Understanding these factors is particularly important for service innovators, given the strong interdependence between the organizational context and technology in service companies. Moreover, in many of these organizations, the innovation process is still deeply rooted in a non-digital past. This study answers the call to understand what are the key characteristics of a systematic process for service innovation in data-rich environments. In particular, the authors investigate the primary factors that enable existing service organizations to capture the innovation potential inherent in data-rich environments. To this aim, a two-step research design is implemented. First, the service innovation and information systems literatures are integrated in a unified conceptual framework that articulates the relationship between data-rich environments and service innovation from an organizational perspective. Second, the authors carry out 40 semi-structured interviews in seven large service firms, which allow them to refine and populate the initial framework with typologies, concepts, and examples from the field. A major contribution of this study is to articulate the concept of data density, as three distinct processes (pattern spotting, real-time decisioning and synergistic exploration) connecting data-rich environments with service innovation opportunities. Finally, the authors identify a set of organizational enablers that facilitate the links between technology, data density processes, and service innovation. The findings of this study offer a roadmap for service managers who need to align the service innovation process of their organizations with the opportunities offered by data-rich environments

AIRO Breast Cancer Group Best Clinical Practice 2022 Update

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common tumor in women and represents the leading cause of cancer death. Radiation therapy plays a key-role in the treatment of all breast cancer stages. Therefore, the adoption of evidence-based treatments is warranted, to ensure equity of access and standardization of care in clinical practice.Method: This national document on the highest evidence-based available data was developed and endorsed by the Italian Association of Radiation and Clinical Oncology (AIRO) Breast Cancer Group.We analyzed literature data regarding breast radiation therapy, using the SIGN (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network) methodology (www.sign.ac.uk). Updated findings from the literature were examined, including the highest levels of evidence (meta-analyses, randomized trials, and international guidelines) with a significant impact on clinical practice. The document deals with the role of radiation therapy in the treatment of primary breast cancer, local relapse, and metastatic disease, with focus on diagnosis, staging, local and systemic therapies, and follow up. Information is given on indications, techniques, total doses, and fractionations.Results: An extensive literature review from 2013 to 2021 was performed. The work was organized according to a general index of different topics and most chapters included individual questions and, when possible, synoptic and summary tables. Indications for radiation therapy in breast cancer were examined and integrated with other oncological treatments. A total of 50 questions were analyzed and answered.Four large areas of interest were investigated: (1) general strategy (multidisciplinary approach, contraindications, preliminary assessments, staging and management of patients with electronic devices); (2) systemic therapy (primary, adjuvant, in metastatic setting); (3) clinical aspects (invasive, non-invasive and micro-invasive carcinoma; particular situations such as young and elderly patients, breast cancer in males and cancer during pregnancy; follow up with possible acute and late toxicities; loco-regional relapse and metastatic disease); (4) technical aspects (radiation after conservative surgery or mastectomy, indications for boost, lymph node radiotherapy and partial breast irradiation).Appendixes about tumor bed boost and breast and lymph nodes contouring were implemented, including a dedicated web application. The scientific work was reviewed and validated by an expert group of breast cancer key-opinion leaders.Conclusions: Optimal breast cancer management requires a multidisciplinary approach sharing therapeutic strategies with the other involved specialists and the patient, within a coordinated and dedicated clinical path. In recent years, the high-level quality radiation therapy has shown a significant impact on local control and survival of breast cancer patients. Therefore, it is necessary to offer and guarantee accurate treatments according to the best standards of evidence-based medicine

The role of leadership in salespeople’s price negotiation behavior

Salespeople assume a key role in defending firms’ price levels in price negotiations with customers. The degree to which salespeople defend prices should critically depend upon their leaders’ influence. However, the influence of leadership on salespeople’s price defense behavior is barely understood, conceptually or empirically. Therefore, building on social learning theory, the authors propose that salespeople might adopt their leaders’ price defense behavior given a transformational leadership style. Furthermore, drawing on the contingency leadership perspective, the authors argue that this adoption fundamentally depends on three variables deduced from the motivation–ability–opportunity (MAO) framework, that is, salespeople’s learning motivation, negotiation efficacy, and perceived customer lenience. Results of a multi-level model using data from 92 salespeople and 264 salesperson–customer interactions confirm these predictions. The first to explore contingencies of salespeople’s adoption of their transformational leaders’ price negotiation behaviors, this study extends marketing theory and provides actionable guidance to practitioners

Competenze commerciali: cosa sono e come influenzano i risultati aziendali

In questo articolo si spiega perché le sales capabilities sono una delle competenze organizzative più importanti delle imprese, e con una ricerca su un campione di 214 imprese in Italia si individuano le principali classi di competenze commerciali e se ne analizzano gli impatti sui risultati aziendali. Lo studio distingue le competenze di personal selling da quelle di sales force management, distingue queste ultime in sei classi articolate su tre livelli interdipendenti, e mostra l’impatto che esse esercitano sulla crescita organica dell’impresa, da un lato, e sulla sua marginalità, dall’altro

Organizzazione e gestione della rete di vendita

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La trasformazione digitale delle vendite : innovare strategie e processi commerciali con le tecnologie

No abstract availabl