Chinese MBA Student Attitudes and Perceptions as They Relate to Personal Selling

In the United States entry-level sales positions are often filled by graduates from universities and colleges. However, a challenge faced by recruiters seeking these college graduates to fill sales positions has been that many college graduates have a negative perception of the role of the salesperson in today’s economy. Thus, many businesses discover that they have to overcome the biases and stereotypes held by students as they attempt to recruit exceptional individuals into sales positions. Given the growth and size of the Chinese economy, it seems that determining how Chinese students perceive the role of sales and their attitudes toward sales careers could be significant to both businesses and academics. Based on this perception a survey designed to assess the attitudes toward personal selling was administered to 182 Chinese MBA students enrolled in graduate courses conducted in the US. The findings indicate that many of the attitudes possessed by Chinese students in terms of both the positive and negative attitudes toward sales generally reflect attitudes found in studies in other nations. The research concludes with recommendations for future studies and conclusions relevant to organizations recruiting salespeople and universities that are involved in educational activities

Self-Efficacy and its Relation to Sales Outcomes

This research evaluates the relationships existing between salesperson self-efficacy and that individual\u27s performance and customer-orientation. The study uses scales specifically designed to measure the salient variables and then statistically analyzes the degree to which these variables relate to desired sales outcomes

An Analysis of Marketing Student Perceptions of Proper Organizational Behaviors

As the millennial begins to make the exodus from universities to the workplace a critical question relates to their preparation – “do millennials have an understanding of the attitudes, values and behaviors (the organizational citizenship behaviors – OCBs) necessary to succeed in the business environment?” The millennial generation is often perceived as ill-prepared to enter the traditional workplace by virtue of the fact that this generation has been perceived as being insulated from the demands consistent with full-time employment. Thus, the purpose of this research was to empirically assess millennials’ perceptions of the importance of specific OCBs and the likely sanctions that might occur when these OCBs are violated. To accomplish the purpose of the research, data were collected from university students as they relate to these students’ attitudes and perceptions of commonly accepted workplace norms and standards. The findings indicate that millennials may find that their effective integration into the workplace is limited by their inability to appreciate numerous standards of behavior which exist in today’s work environment. These results suggest that educators may need to recognize the importance of reinforcing the importance of OCBs to their students and the need to emphasize that while these individuals may have escaped sanctions during their educational years that new behaviors and attitudes will be expected in the workplace. Further, the research is important for practitioners, as they seek to assimilate millennials into their workforce that this assimilation may require training on commonly accepted workplace behaviors and attitudes

A Comparative Analysis of Retail Store Image: Wal-Mart and Dillards

The research in this manuscript reports on analyses of retail image which compares the images of two well- known U.S. retailers. The scale used is the research is one that has been specifically designed to evaluate consumers\u27 perceptions of retailers. The results indicate that differential scale items are required to meaningfully assess different varieties of retail establishments. Specifically, the findings indicate that consumers assess retailers in a manner which seems consistent for retail store type. The study offers conclusions and insights based upon the differential items used to assess discount retailers and traditional department stores

Developing the buyer-friendly transportation salesperson: an empirical analysis of the most important seller traits and behaviors from the transportation buyer’s perspective

The research reported in this manuscript provides several insights regarding the specific behaviors and traits of transportation salespersons as sought by a sample of shippers. Shippers in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries were asked to evaluate the importance of 30 potential salesperson characteristics. Overall, dependability, ethical conduct, honesty, provision of regular service, and solution selling were ranked as the most important (“must have”) characteristics. In addition to the overall rankings, t-tests were used to compare the manufacturing and non-manufacturing groups and ANOVA tests were used to compare the responses of shippers which were grouped by number of contacts from salespersons

Truckload transportation requirements: in anticipation of Y2K with epilogue

This article investigates the impact of the much-hyped Y2K phenomenon on truckload transportation requirements in the United States, as a result of year-end inventory build-ups. The article reports the results of a Y2K Truckload Transportation Survey of truckload shippers conducted in August of 1999. Additionally, the article takes a post-hoc look at what actually occurred in an effort to completely document the impact of the Y2K phenomenon in the dry van, temperature controlled, and flatbed segments of the truckload transportation industry