Improving the Effectiveness of Field Sales Organizations: A European Perspective Abstract For companies competing in rapidly changing business environments, the sales force can be an important source for improving organizational effectiveness. The results of a study of 159 field sales managers in 79 Austrian companies point to higher effectiveness in organizations utilizing sales management directing and evaluating activities to a greater sales extent than managers in less effective organizations. Moreover, the effective sales organizations place more emphasis on their sales territory design, and, additionally, their sales forces show significant differences in both personal characteristics and performance dimensions. Salespeople in the more effective sales units display higher levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, sales support orientation, and customer orientation. Both salesperson behavior and outcome performance were rated higher by managers in the organizations with more ...
Innovation in Emerging Markets: The Role of Management Consulting Firms Abstract Firms in emerging markets are often reluctant to invest in innovation because of the institutional voids endemic to such markets. Addressing the gap in the literature concerning the role of consultancy firms in emerging markets, we argue that management consultancy firms can fill institutional voids and thus help firms implement innovation initiatives. We buttress our main argument by combining strands of institutional theory with the resource-based view. Acknowledging the tensions inherent in the use of consultancy firms, we also examine two contextual variables that may mitigate their positive effects. We explore the critical aspects of the firms' internal and external environments and posit that well-functioning national institutions and a high level of firm competency attenuate the positive roles of management consulting firms because there are few voids that management consultancy can effectively add ...
Insights on strategic management practices in Nepal Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how managers in Nepalese business organizations and non‐profit non‐government organizations understand and practice strategic management and to what extent such understanding and practices differ from those in western countries. Design/methodology/approach – In‐depth case studies of eight business organizations and non‐government organizations (NGOs) were prepared based on multiple data collection such as interviews and review of reports and the cases were analyzed to identify several themes for discussion of similarities and differences in the views and practices of strategic management. Findings – Managers in Nepal have developed some shared understanding of key aspects of strategic management and practice some important aspects of strategic management; much remains to be done in order for them to develop a clear strategic focus so that they could develop their ab ...