How Agency-Theoretic Factors Affect the Delegation of Pricing Authority to the Sales Force: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Here we (1) empirically test a framework of important drivers of price delegation based on agency-theoretic (2) investigate the impact of price delegation on firm performance. The study data's collected from a sample of 180 companies from the industrial home appliances and structural equipment industry in Iran. Result show that, risk-aversion of salespeople is negatively and customer heterogeneity positively related to the degree of price delegation. Also we find that information asymmetry has no relationship with price delegation. Furthermore, we find a positive effect of price delegation on firm performance, which is amplified when market-related uncertainty is high and when salespeople possess better customer-related information than their managers. Hence, our results clearly show that rigid, "one price fits all" policies are inappropriate in many B2B market situations. sales managers should grant their salespeople sufficient leeway to adapt prices to changing customer requirements.

Διερεύνηση Των Εκπαιδευτικών Αναγκών Παραγωγών Προϊόντων Βιολογικής Καλλιέργειας, Ολοκληρωμένης Διαχείρισης Και Συμβατικής Γεωργίας Στην Κεντρική Μακεδονία

“…Anderson, 1988• Kline, 1983: 49). Η τεχνική έχει χρησιμοποιηθεί σε μεγάλη κλίμακα σε επιστημονικούς κλάδους όπως το μάρκετινγκ (Fazlzadeh et al, 2011• Silva, 2011, η επιχειρησιακή έρευνα (Kaynak, 2003• Knight, 1997, η διοίκηση ολικής ποιότητας (Collier andBienstock, 2006• Brady et al, 2002), τα πληροφοριακά συστήματα (Segars and Grover, 1998), ενώ έχει βρει εφαρμογές και στην μαθησιακή και εκπαιδευτική έρευνα (Lopez et al, 2004• Wang, 2003, καθώς και στην έρευνα της γεωργικής εκπαίδευσης .…”