Strategic intelligence activity: The management of the sales force as a source of strategic information

Abstract

SUM MARYEnvironmental information is very important to strategic management. Human sources are among the most commonly used sources of information and among them, boundary people, such as salesmen, hold a privileged position. One dimension which measures the quality of a strategic response is its speed of implementation. Recognizing this, to ensure a good (fast) strategic response, fast communication of information is imperative.This article focuses on factors which influence the speed of communication of environmental information. It is based on an exploratory research which has been carried out on a sample of salesmen of an industrial company. Management policies regarding the use of the sales force as an efficient source of strategic information are proposed in conclusion. 0 0 Comment' low speed of high speed of average speed of communication communication communication a 0: no significant relationship + : significant positive relationshipThe difference between groups' speeds is not statistically significant (Wilcoxon Z test) ( 5 ) Importance ofparticipation f o r the thirdgroup us un uctivutor of'u high spc.c.d qf communicution: participation is the only factor which tends to improve the speed of communication of the senior-blase group. The greater the participation in decision making related to the organization of Group 3's work, the faster the communication. ADAPTING THE INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITY POLICY T O INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICSAs Table 1 reveals, salesmen in the surveyed sample are different from each other and may be split into three main categories: follower-suspicious, participative-confident, and senior-blasC. As such, depending on the various individual characteristics of the sales force, considered as a source of strategic information, salesmen management should be different. For that purpose, Table 2 gives some insight into the way to manage such heterogeneous sales force. First, in conditions of uncertainty, reliance upon a group of

The impact of individual and managerial factors on salespeople's contribution to marketing intelligence activities

“…Prior research suggests the poor reliability of the salesforce in collecting and transmitting market information; information gathered through salespersons is imprecise and may reach decision makers only after considerable delay (Albaum, 1964;Thietart & Vivas, 1981). Also, information transmitted can be biased (Wotruba & Mangone, 1979) because salespeople receive incorrect and incomplete information from their customers (Fouss & Solomon, 1980), wish to transmit information that is favorable to them (Grace & Pointon, 1980), do not adequately estimate their customers' expectations (Lambert et al, 1990), or overestimate their sensitivity to price (Stephenson, Cron, & Frazier, 1979).…”

Leveraging HRM to enrich competitive intelligence

“…As noted, to date, salespeople are the only lower-level employees who have not been neglected altogether. In part, this is because they are in constant contact with both customers and the external environment (Thietart & Vivas, 1981). This is all to say that almost every company appears to have an obvious and plentiful, yet underutilized, competitive intelligence resource-its very own employees.…”

“…In the case of a company, this web is comprised of dispersed, but interconnected, employees (sensors), each of whom fulfills a specialized role in obtaining, processing, and appropriately distributing competitive intelligence information across the company in realtime. Accuracy and speed are essential in this, or any, network since information about the environment and competitors is a perishable good (Thietart & Vivas, 1981).…”

Motivating Salespeople to Contribute to Marketing Intelligence Activities: An Expectancy Theory Approach

“…Despite the successfully role of salespeople in the collect and transmitting of intelligence and in contribution to the marketing information system (Fouss et Solomon, 1980;Grace et Pointon, 1980;Lambert et al, 1990;Chonko et al, 1991), little research has been directed to understand and explain behavior salespeople's toward this specific task (Roberston, 1974;Wotruba et Mongone, 1979;Thiétart et Vivas, 1981;Evans et Schlacter, 1985;Festervand et al, 1988;Craven et al, 1993;Le Bon, 1997;Le Bon, 2006;Le Bon et Merunka, 2006).…”

“…Using the salesforce as strategic information source may present difficulties to mobilize the salesforce to engage in marketing intelligence activities (Darmon, 1992, Goodman, 1971, Thiétart et Vivas, 1981. In fact, the main problem lies in changing attitude and motivating the salesman's for looking and transmitting strategic information.…”