Sales enablement: conceptualizing and developing a dynamic capability

Peterson, Robert M.; Malshe, Avinash; Friend, Scott B.; Dover, Howard F.

doi:10.1007/s11747-020-00754-y

Cited by 33 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…By integrating practice theories (e.g., Feldman & Orlikowski, 2011 ), knowledge transfer (e.g., Garud, 1997 ), and strategic enablement literatures (e.g., Peterson et al, 2021 ; Plangger et al, 2020 ), this article deconstructs the fundamental dimensions and contexts for enabling practice materialities, competencies, and meanings. Through the integration of these theoretical lenses, we illustrate how practice co-evolution coupled with enablement strategies scaffold the competences required for AI implementation that leads to successful integration within existing retail practices.…”

Section: Theoretical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practice co-evolution: Collaboratively embedding artificial intelligence in retail practices

Bonetti

Montecchi

Plangger

et al. 2022

J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci.

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Many retailers invest in artificial intelligence (AI) to improve operational efficiency or enhance customer experience. However, AI often disrupts employees’ ways of working causing them to resist change, thus threatening the successful embedding and sustained usage of the technology. Using a longitudinal, multi-site ethnographic approach combining 74 stakeholder interviews and 14 on-site retail observations over a 5-year period, this article examines how employees’ practices change when retailers invest in AI. Practice co-evolution is identified as the process that undergirds successful AI integration and enables retail employees’ sustained usage of AI. Unlike product or practice diffusion, which may be organic or fortuitous, practice co-evolution is an orchestrated, collaborative process in which a practice is co-envisioned, co-adapted, and co-(re)aligned. To be sustained, practice co-evolution must be recursive and enabled via intentional knowledge transfers. This empirically-derived recursive phasic model provides a roadmap for successful retail AI embedding, and fruitful future research avenues. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11747-022-00896-1.

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Section: Theoretical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practice co-evolution: Collaboratively embedding artificial intelligence in retail practices

Bonetti

Montecchi

Plangger

et al. 2022

J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci.

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show abstract

“…employees) and external (e.g. suppliers, consultants) partners to improve their sales performance (Keeling et al, 2020;Peterson et al, 2020). Strategic sales enablement EJM 56,9 requires coordinated transfers of explicit and tacit organisational knowledge (Plangger et al, 2020).…”

Section: Substantive Problem Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Strategic sales enablement EJM 56,9 requires coordinated transfers of explicit and tacit organisational knowledge (Plangger et al, 2020). While knowledge transfers can be impactful in developing sales capabilities (Peterson et al, 2020), practitioners and academics struggle to understand how organisationally directed knowledge transfers (i.e. dissemination of organisational knowledge to employees) can be orchestrated to achieve optimal results.…”

Section: Substantive Problem Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Creating discursive channels: generating and disseminating impactful research insights into the strategic sales enablement of retail technology

Montecchi

Bonetti

Plangger

et al. 2022

EJM

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Purpose To meet the complex technology needs of retail clients, technology providers must work in a close partnership with their clients and co-envisage a strategic vision for the role that technology should play in the client’s value chain. However, many providers lack the sales capabilities needed to do this. This study aims to examine the need for providers to transition from transaction-oriented to solution selling-oriented approaches. To do so, this study explores the impact outcomes of a knowledge-exchange intervention co-designed with a partner from industry. Design/methodology/approach Building on empirical insights from an ongoing research programme that examines retail technology implementations, this study developed a knowledge exchange intervention consisting of planning discursive channels, co-defining the scope, co-developing knowledge, executing the intervention and assessing impact outcomes. Discursive channels – multi-lateral communication channels that allow researchers to work collaboratively with the research partner and other stakeholders – emerge as a critical knowledge-exchange mechanism to generate impact outcomes. Findings The knowledge-exchange intervention provides impact by enabling the industry partner to establish cross-functional solutions teams, assess retail clients’ technological needs, aid decision-making, define barriers to implementation and develop a coaching approach to support clients’ technological investments. Impact outcomes vary in magnitude, intensity, scope and duration and can also be unintentional where unplanned changes are embedded into practice. Originality/value This impact framework offers a roadmap to orchestrate impact outcomes that emerge from academic enquiries.

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“…Additionally, our finding that provision of technical support is critical to reduce the negative impact of anxiety on salesperson commitment to WFH suggests that sales managers should ensure that the right support is provided to the right salesperson at the right time. The increased focus on sales enablement tools to help salespeople deal with these situations is gaining traction in the practitioner as well as the sales literature (Peterson et al , 2021; Rangarajan et al , 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Left to their own devices? Antecedents and contingent effects of workplace anxiety in the WFH selling environment

Rangarajan

Badrinarayanan

Sharma

et al. 2022

JBIM

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Purpose The main purpose of this research is to understand how the sudden shift to work from home (WFH) after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has caught several sales organizations underprepared and ill-equipped to combat emergent challenges. In this research, the authors provide initial evidence into how the WFH arrangement impacts salespeople and sales organizations. Specifically, this research is guided by two objectives: to understand how the shift to WFH environment is affecting salespeople, and to explore how organizations can mitigate dysfunctional effects of the shift to WFH practices and enhance salespeople’s commitment toward this new reality. Design/methodology/approach The authors did preliminary in-depth interviews with 13 executives operating in the business-to-business (B2B) space to identify themes that reflected the reality faced by B2B sales organizations when transitioning to WFH. The authors then conducted a quantitative study involving a survey with 130 B2B salespeople. Findings The findings from the qualitative research suggested that the WFH situation is quite different from the more traditional remote selling situations that B2B salespeople are used to. More specifically, salespeople experienced more anxiety because of the WFH situations. This finding was supported in the empirical study done by the authors where stress associated with WFH and job insecurity had a significant impact on salesperson anxiety. Research limitations/implications The study primarily used subjective responses of salespeople with no objective measures. Furthermore, this study is cross-sectional in nature. Future research should build on the present work to understand the long-term consequences of WFH and factor in customer responses to the same. The impact of increased use of technology in the sales process will need further attention, including the sales management implication for the same. Originality/value Given the unforeseen nature of the COVID pandemic and how unprepared salespeople and sales organizations were to deal with it, this study is one of the first studies that documents the impact of WFH situations on salespeople.

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Sales enablement: conceptualizing and developing a dynamic capability

Cited by 33 publications

References 73 publications

Practice co-evolution: Collaboratively embedding artificial intelligence in retail practices

Practice co-evolution: Collaboratively embedding artificial intelligence in retail practices

Creating discursive channels: generating and disseminating impactful research insights into the strategic sales enablement of retail technology

Left to their own devices? Antecedents and contingent effects of workplace anxiety in the WFH selling environment

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