Examining Business Strategy, Sales Management, and Salesperson Antecedents of Sales Organization Effectiveness

Abstract

The antecedents of sales organization effectiveness are examined in two European countries—Austria and the United Kingdom—adding to the limited international sales management research. Sales management behavior based control strategy, sales territory design, and company strategic orientation are conceptualized as antecedents to salesperson performance and sales organization effectiveness. The strategy dimensions customer value and product-market scope are incorporated into the conceptual model to examine the role of strategic orientation. The results indicate a strong direct relationship between salesperson outcome performance and sales organization effectiveness, as well as important indirect impacts on effectiveness for sales management control strategy, territory design, and salesperson behavior performance. However, the study findings indicate a weak relationship between the strategy dimensions, salesperson performance, and sales organization effectiveness. These findings identify important implications for managers in considering the effectiveness of strategy implementation through sales operations, as well as suggesting a number of important new research directions.