Improving relationships between sales and marketing: the relative effectiveness of cross-functional coordination mechanisms

The importance of effective sales and marketing working relationships is well known and this article examines the effectiveness of various coordination mechanisms used to improve this cross-functional relationship. Six coordination mechanisms are measured to identify their effect on sales and marketing conflict and collaboration, which in turn influence business performance. The results reveal that not all coordination mechanisms are equally effective. Structuring sales and marketing as a single unit and creating cross-functional project teams improve the interface, as do providing opportunities for job rotation and establishing cross-functional meetings. However, employing cross-functional training and co-locating sales and marketing do not influence this working relationship. Finally, reducing conflict and increasing collaboration between sales and marketing is shown to independently, and positively, influence business performance

Launching new global products into subsidiary markets: The vital role of sales and marketing collaboration

We examine how to encourage collaboration between local sales and marketing teams in multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries in order to successfully commercialize new product launches by creating integrated, locally adapted implementation plans. Empirical research within six subsidiaries of an MNE operating in southern Latin America found that centrally produced processes alone were insufficient for successfully launching new products in these subsidiary markets. However, devolving power, while using cross‐functional teams and formalized processes to encourage communication, led to the development of the types of trust that facilitate effective relationships between sales and marketing teams, which resulted in successfully adapted new product launches for each subsidiary market. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory and practice

What makes strategy making across the sales-marketing interface more successful?

Extant research on marketing strategy making (MSM) lacks process-based theoretical frameworks that elucidate how marketing strategies are made when sales and marketing functions are involved in the process. Using a grounded theory approach and data collected from (a) 58 depth interviews with sales and marketing professionals and (b) a focus group with 11 marketing professionals, we propose that MSM within the sales-marketing interface is a three-stage, multifaceted process that consists of Groundwork, Transfer and Follow-up stages. Our process-based model explicates the specific activities at each stage that are needed to develop and execute marketing strategies successfully, the sequence in which these activities may unfold, and the role sales and marketing functions may play in the entire process. Managerially, this paper highlights that successful strategy creation and execution requires marketing and sales functions to be equally invested in the entire proces