The Effects of Some Situational Variables on Sales Force Governance System Characteristics

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to put the recent outcome-based versus behavior-based control system research in a broader perspective. Through the development of a conceptual framework of sales force control, it is suggested that management should select the most appropriate control devices characterized along three main dimensions (centralized-decentralized, outcome-behavior-based, and quantitative-qualitative), depending on management's sales force selling and control objectives and on the availability and/or costs of relevant information. The proposed conceptual framework accounts for many aspects of the main control theories.