Re‐examining field sales unit performance

Purpose – Drawing on the resource‐based view of the firm and the dynamic capabilities perspective, this paper sets out to argue that salespeople's selling skills and their inter‐ and intra‐unit collaborative skills are valuable, rare, socially complex, and inimitable knowledge‐based resources embedded in the human and social capital of field sales units (FSUs). Salespeople's selling and collaborative skills, both directly and interactively, should help field sales units generate greater economic rents. This paper also aims to explore the effect of salespeople's selling and collaborative skills on the level of total compensation through the mediating role of sales unit performance.Design/methodology/approach – The data were obtained from a sample of managers of FSUs in 102 large Canadian organizations. The proposed model and its hypotheses were tested using hierarchical moderated regression analysis.Findings – Collaborative skills, but not selling skills, are directly related to FSU performance; the effect...

[1]  Shawn L. Berman,et al.  Tacit Knowledge as a Source of Competitive Advantage in the National Basketball Association , 2002 .

[2]  M. Porter.  Towards a dynamic theory of strategy , 1991 .

[3]  Patrick M. Wright,et al.  Strategy , Core Competence and HR Involvement as Determinants of HR Effectiveness and Refinery Performance , 2000 .

[4]  L. James,et al.  Mediators, Moderators, and Tests for Mediation. , 1984 .

[5]  Liam Fahey,et al.  The resource-based view and marketing: The role of market-based assets in gaining competitive advantage , 2001 .

[6]  Paul Busch,et al.  Knowledge bases and salesperson effectiveness: A script-theoretic analysis. , 1989 .

[7]  D. Teece.  Profiting from technological innovation: Implications for integration, collaboration, licensing and public policy , 1993 .

[8]  S. West,et al.  Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions. , 1994 .

[9]  K. Boal,et al.  Strategic resources: Traits, configurations and paths to sustainable competitive advantage , 2007 .

[10]  Karl G. Jöreskog,et al.  Lisrel 8: User's Reference Guide , 1997 .

[11]  S. Hunt,et al.  The Comparative Advantage Theory of Competition , 1995 .

[12]  David W. Gerbing,et al.  An Updated Paradigm for Scale Development Incorporating Unidimensionality and Its Assessment , 1988 .

[13]  V. Govindarajan,et al.  PROFIT CENTER MANAGER COMPENSATION: AN EXAMINATION OF MARKET, POLITICAL AND HUMAN CAPITAL FACTORS , 1992 .

[14]  Clifford E. Young,et al.  Behavior-Based and Outcome-Based Salesforce Control Systems , 1993 .

[15]  Roger C. Mayer,et al.  The trusted general manager and business unit performance: empirical evidence of a competitive advantage , 2000 .

[16]  D. W. Barclay,et al.  The Effects of Organizational Differences and Trust on the Effectiveness of Selling Partner Relationships , 1997 .

[17]  Sundar G. Bharadwaj,et al.  Sustainable competitive advantage in service industries: A conceptual model and research , 1993 .

[18]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage , 1998 .

[19]  R. Coff,et al.  Dynamic Capabilities, Social Capital, and Rent Appropriation: Ties that Split Pies , 2003 .

[20]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[21]  Robert D. Smith,et al.  Managing organizational knowledge as a strategic asset , 2001, J. Knowl. Manag..

[22]  M. Rouse,et al.  MORE THINKING ON RESEARCH METHODS FOR THE RESOURCE-BASED PERSPECTIVE , 2002 .

[23]  Barton A. Weitz,et al.  Salesforce Compensation: An Empirical Investigation of Factors Related to Use of Salary versus Incentive Compensation , 1989 .

[24]  G. Milkovich,et al.  Relationships Among Risk, Incentive Pay, and Organizational Performance , 1998 .

[25]  G. Hult,et al.  Does market orientation matter?: a test of the relationship between positional advantage and performance , 2001 .

[26]  Richard L. Priem,et al.  Is the Resource-Based “View” a Useful Perspective for Strategic Management Research? , 2001 .

[27]  J. Bettman,et al.  Knowledge Structure Differences between More Effective and Less Effective Salespeople , 1988 .

[28]  Barton A. Weitz.  Effectiveness in sales interactions: A contingency framework. , 1981 .

[29]  P. M. Podsakoff,et al.  Self-Reports in Organizational Research: Problems and Prospects , 1986 .

[30]  J. Coleman,et al.  Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital , 1988, American Journal of Sociology.

[31]  David J. Miller,et al.  The Resource-Based View of the Firm in Two Environments: The Hollywood Film Studios From 1936 to 1965 , 1996 .

[32]  John C. Narver,et al.  The Effect of a Market Orientation on Business Profitability , 1990 .

[33]  R. Hall.  The strategic analysis of intangible resources , 1992 .

[34]  J. Neter,et al.  Applied linear statistical models : regression, analysis of variance, and experimental designs , 1974 .

[35]  George T. Milkovich,et al.  Organizational Differences in Managerial Compensation and Financial Performance , 1990 .

[36]  Karel Cool,et al.  Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage , 1989 .

[37]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Market orientation: Antecedents and consequences , 1993 .

[38]  James William Coleman,et al.  Competition and the Structure of Industrial Society: Reply to Braithwaite , 1988, American Journal of Sociology.

[39]  Douglas N. Behrman,et al.  Measuring the performance of industrial salespersons , 1982 .

[40]  Claus W. Langfred.  Too Much of a Good Thing? Negative Effects of High Trust and Individual Autonomy in Self-Managing Teams , 2004 .

[41]  G. Pisano.  Knowledge Integration and the Locus of Learning: An Empirical Analysis , 1994 .

[42]  J. Barney.  Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[43]  William S. Schulze,et al.  A social capital model of high growth ventures , 2003 .

[44]  R. Reed,et al.  Causal Ambiguity, Barriers to Imitation, and Sustainable Competitive Advantage , 1990 .

[45]  Tasadduq A. Shervani,et al.  Market-Based Assets and Shareholder Value: A Framework for Analysis , 1998 .

[46]  Barton A. Weitz,et al.  Knowledge, motivation, and adaptive behavior : a framework for improving selling effectiveness , 1986 .

[47]  R. Grover,et al.  From Embedded Knowledge to Embodied Knowledge: New Product Development as Knowledge Management , 1998 .

[48]  James C. Anderson,et al.  STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING IN PRACTICE: A REVIEW AND RECOMMENDED TWO-STEP APPROACH , 1988 .

[49]  Thomas W. Leigh,et al.  Mapping the Procedural Knowledge of Industrial Sales Personnel: A Script-Theoretic Investigation , 1989 .

[50]  R. Grant.  Toward a Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm,” Strategic Management Journal (17), pp. , 1996 .

[51]  M. Hitt,et al.  Direct and Moderating Effects of Human Capital on Strategy and Performance in Professional Service Firms: A Resource-Based Perspective , 2001 .

[52]  Paul C. Godfrey,et al.  THE PROBLEM OF UNOBSERVABLES IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT RESEARCH , 1995 .

[53]  Jeffrey B. Arthur,et al.  Effects of human resource systems on manufacturing performance and turnover , 1994 .

[54]  D. Teece,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1997 .

[55]  Ajith Kumar,et al.  Knowledge structures and retail sales performance: An empirical examination. , 2000 .

[56]  J. Hulland,et al.  Redeployment of Brands, Sales Forces, and General Marketing Management Expertise following Horizontal Acquisitions: A Resource-Based View , 1999 .

[57]  D. Shepherd,et al.  Knowledge‐based resources, entrepreneurial orientation, and the performance of small and medium‐sized businesses , 2003 .

[58]  Jagdip Singh,et al.  Boundary role ambiguity: Facets, determinants, and impacts. , 1993 .

[59]  G. Day.  The Capabilities of Market-Driven Organizations , 1994 .

[60]  R. Grant,et al.  Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration , 2022 .

[61]  S. Snell,et al.  Human resources and the resource based view of the firm , 2001 .

[62]  Gabriel Szulanski.  Exploring internal stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm , 1996 .

[63]  R. M. Hall,et al.  A framework linking intangible resources and capabilities to sustainable competitive advantage , 1993 .

[64]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  On the evaluation of structural equation models , 1988 .

[65]  L. Gómez-Mejia,et al.  Reframing executive compensation: An assessment and outlook , 1997 .

[66]  P. Schoemaker,et al.  Strategic assets and organizational rent , 1993 .

[67]  Kathleen M. Eisenhardt,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES, WHAT ARE THEY? , 2000 .

[68]  M. Hitt,et al.  The Essence of Strategic Leadership: Managing Human and Social Capital , 2002 .

[69]  E. Autio,et al.  SOCIAL CAPITAL, KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION, AND KNOWLEDGE EXPLOITATION IN YOUNG TECHNOLOGY-BASED FIRMS , 2001 .

[70]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital and Value Creation: The Role of Intrafirm Networks , 1998 .

[71]  Mason A. Carpenter,et al.  Bundling Human Capital with Organizational Context: The Impact of International Assignment Experience on Multinational Firm Performance and CEO Pay , 2001 .

[72]  Margaret A. Peteraf.  The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource‐based view , 1993 .

[73]  B. Wernerfelt,et al.  A Resource-Based View of the Firm , 1984 .

[74]  J. Barney,et al.  On becoming a strategic partner: The role of human resources in gaining competitive advantage , 1998 .

[75]  Michael A. Hitt,et al.  The Importance of Social Capital to the Management of Multinational Enterprises: Relational Networks Among Asian and Western Firms , 2002 .