Although the role of the sales force and sales management mix can be significant in influencing successful new product launch, the impact of specific sales management programs and tactics has not been examined in detail. This study explores whetherfirms that introduce new products were more successful in achieving their objectives when the new product introduction was accompanied by associated changes in sales management mix variables. Firms that were more successful in achieving their new product objectives accompanied their new product launches with significantly more changes in sales force quotas than did firms whose achievement of new product objectives was less successful. However; no significant differences in the number of changes in sales force structure, training, or sales support were found betweenfirms with more successful versus less successful new products.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Avlonitis, George J.
and Kevin A. Boyle. 1989. "Linkages Between Sales Management Tools and Practices: Some Evidence From British Companies."Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science17 (Spring): 137-145.
2.
Booz, Allen
, and Hamilton. 1968. Management of New Products. New York: Author.
3.
Booz, Allen
, and Hamilton. 1982. New Product Management for the 1980's. New York: Author.
4.
Campbell, Donald
and Cynthia Lee. 1988. "Self-Appraisal in Performance Evaluation: Development versus Evaluation."Academy of Management Review13 (April): 302-314.
5.
Choffray, J. M.
and GaryL. Lilien. 1984. "Strategies BehindSuccessful New Industrial Product Launch."Business Marketing69 (November): 85-94.
6.
Churchill, Gilbert A., Jr
., Neil M. Ford, Steven W. Hartley, and Orville C. Walker, Jr. 1-985. "The Determinants of Salesperson Performance: A Meta-analysis."Journal of Marketing Research11 (May): 103-118.
7.
Comer, James M.
and Alan J. Dubinsky. 1985. Managing the Successful Sales Force. Lexington, MA: Lexington.
8.
Cooper, Robert G.1981. "The Myth of the Better Mousetrap: What Makes a New Product a Success?"Business Quarterly48 (Spring): 69-81.
9.
Cooper, Robert G.1987. "Defining the New Product Strategy."IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management34 (August): 184-193.
10.
Cooper, Robert G.
and Elko J. Kleinschmidt. 1988. "Resource Allocation in the New Product Process."Industrial Marketing Management17 (August): 249-262.
11.
Cooper, Robert G.
and Elko J. Kleinschmidt. 1993. "Uncovering the Keys to New Product Success."IEEE Engineering Management Revietv21 (Winter): 5-18.
12.
Crawford, C. Merle
. 1979. "New Product Failure Rates: Facts and Fallacies."Research Management22 (September): 9-13.
13.
Crawford, C. Merle
. 1980. "Defining the Charter for Product Innovation."Sloan Management Review27 (Fall): 3-12.
14.
Dubinsky, Alan J.
and Thomas E. Barry. 1982. "A Survey of Sales Management Practices."Industrial Marketing Management11 (April): 133-141.
15.
Dubinsky, Alan J.
and Thomas E. Barry and Richard W. Hansen. 1981. "The Sales Force Management Audit."California Management Review24 (Winter): 86-95.
16.
Dunnette, Marvin D.
, Richard D. Arvey, and Paul A. Banas. 1973. "Why Do They Leave?"Personnel50 (May-June): 25-39.
17.
Griffin, Abbie
and Albert L. Page. 1993. "An Interim Report on Measuring Product Development Success and Failure."Journal of Product Innovation Management10 (September): 291-308.
18.
Guiltinan, Joseph P.1993. "AStrategic Framework for Assessing Product Line Additions."Journal of Product Innovation Management10 (March): 136-147.
19.
Gupta, Nina
and Terry A. Beehr. 1982. "A Test of the Correspondence Between Self-Reports and Alternative Data Sources About Work Organizations."Journal of Vocational Behavior20 (February): 1-13.
20.
Henry, Porter
. 1975. "Manage Your Sales Force as a System."Harvard Business Review. 53 (March-April): 85-95.
21.
Hultink, Erik Jan
and Jan P. L. Schoormans. 1993. "How to Launch a High-Tech Product Successfully: An Analysis of Marketing Managers' Strategy Choices." Working paper, Delft University of Technology.
22.
Jackson, Donald W., Jr
., Janet E. Keith, and Richard K. Burdick. 1987. "The Relative Importance of Various Promotional Elements in Different Industrial Purchasing Situations."Journal of Advertising16 (4): 25-33.
23.
Jackson, Donald W., Jr
, Janet E. Keith, and John L. Schlacter. 1983. "Evaluation of Selling Performance: A Study of Current Practices."Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management3 (November): 43-51.
24.
Jobber, David
, Graham J. Hooley, and David Shipley. 1993. "Organizational Size and Salesforce Evaluation Practice."Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management13 (Spring): 37-48.
25.
Johne, F. Axel
and Patricia A. Snelson. 1988. "Success Factors in Product Innovation: A Selective Review of the Literature."Journal of Product Innovation Management5 (June): 114-128.
26.
Konrath, Jill
. 1992. "Why New Products Fail."Sales and Marketing Management144 (November): 48-56.
27.
Mabe, Paul A.
and Stephen G. West. 1982. "Validity of Self Evaluations of Ability: A Review and Meta-analysis."Journal of Applied Psychology67 (June): 280-296.
28.
Mikes, Patricia S.
and Charles L. Hulin. 1968. "Use of Importance as a Weighting Component of Job Satisfaction."Journal of Applied Psychology52 (October): 394-398.
29.
Miller, Rupert G., Jr
. 1966. Simultaneous Statistical Inference. New York: McGraw-Hill.
30.
Moriarty, Rowland T., Jr
. and Robert E. Spekman. 1984. "An Empirical Investigation of the Information Sources Used During the Industrial Buying Process."Journal of Marketing Research21 (May): 137-147.
31.
Morris, Michael H.
, Duane L. Davis, Jeffrey W. Allen, Ramon A. Avila, and Joseph Chapman. 1991. "Assessing the Relationships Among Performance Measures, Managerial Practices, and Satisfaction When Evaluating the Salesforce: A Replication and Extension."Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management11 (Summer): 25-35.
32.
Myers, Sumner
and Donald G. Marquis. 1969. Successful Industrial Innovations: A Study of Factors Underlying Innovation in Selected Firms. Washington, DC: National Science Foundation.
33.
Parasuraman, A.1981. "The Relative Importance of Industrial Promotion Tools."Industrial Marketing Management10 (October): 277-281.
34.
Patti, Charles H.1977. "Buyer Information Sources in the Capital Equipment Industry."Industrial Marketing Management6 (October): 259-264.
35.
Podsakoff, Philip M.
and Dennis W. Organ. 1986. "Self-Reports in Organizational Research: Problems and Prospects."Journal of Management12 (December): 531-544.
36.
Rink, David R.
and H. Robert Dodge. 1980. "Industrial Sales Emphasis Across the Life Cycle."Industrial Marketing Management9 (October): 305-303 10.
37.
______and John E. Swan. 1987. "Fitting Business Strategic and Tactical Planning to the Product Life Cycle." In Strategic Planning and Management Handbook. Eds. William R. King and David I. Cleland. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 352-373.
38.
Rochford, Linda
and Thomas R. Wotruba. 1993. "The Use of the Sales Management Mix in New Product Introductions." In Teamwork: Keystone for Getting High Quality Products to Market Quickly. Eds. Richard N. Cardozo, Kenneth J. Roering, and Allan D. Shocker. Bloomington, IN: Product Development & Management Association, 142.
39.
Viswanathan, Madhubalan
and Eric M. Olson. 1992. "The Implementation of Business Strategies: Implications for the Sales Function."Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management12 (Winter): 45-57.
40.
Wotruba, Thomas R.
and Linda Rochford. 1995. "The Impact of New Product Introductions on Sales Management Strategy."Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management15 (Winter): 35-51.
41.
Wotruba, Thomas R.
, Linda Rochford and Edwin K. Simpson. 1992. Sales Management: Text and Cases, Second Ed.Boston: PWS Kent.
42.
Youngblood, Stuart A.
, William H. Mobley, and Bruce M. Meglino. 1983. "A Longitudinal Analysis of the Turnover Process."Journal ofApplied Psychology68 (August): 507-516.
