Sales force automation use and salesperson performance [Elektronische Ressource] / by Murat Serdaroglu

Mserdaroglu

Sujets

• Management

Informations

• Publié par: universitat_paderborn
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 31
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

SALES FORCE AUTOMATION USE AND
SALESPERSON PERFORMANCE

by

MURAT SERDAROGLU


DISSERTATION

submitted to the Faculty of Business Administration and
Economics of
University of Paderborn


in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Ph.D. of Management (Dr. rer. pol.)


June 2009


Sales Force Automation Use and
Salesperson Performance

Murat Serdaroglu

Abstract
Understanding how technology investments create business value is a
research priority in today's technology-intensive world. Drawing on a
literature review as well as a qualitative study in the pharmaceutical
industry, this research suggests that sales technology can support both:
externally focused tasks towards managing customer relationships and
internal administrative tasks. Building on this distinction, our quantitative
analysis reveals that sales technology impacts salesperson performance
directly when used as a customer relationship tool. In contrast, it has a
perfectly mediated impact when used for internal coordination purposes. To
unleash its real potential, sales technology should be designed to enable
customer relationships rather than being perceived as a cost cutting tool. In
addition, the motivational structure for using sales technology differs
between two SFA-use dimensions. While the customer relationship
dimension is driven by factors that trigger voluntary usage, the internal
coordination dimension is predominantly explained by factors imposed from
outside. Management should not impose technology usage. Rather, they
should support self-initiating factors that stimulate technology usage for
improving customer relationships. Combining upstream research focusing
on the drivers of SFA-usage with downstream research shedding light on its
performance impact, the study offers important implications for maximizing
the pay-back from SFA-technology investments.
Sales Force Automation Einsatz und
Außendienstmitarbeiter Leistung

Murat Serdaroglu

Zusammenfassung
In der heutigen Technologie-intensiver Wirtschaft ist es wichtig zu
verstehen, wie Informationstechnologie Unternehmenswert schafft. In einem
ersten Schritt unserer Forschung wurden eine Literaturrecherche sowie eine
qualitativen Studie in der pharmazeutischen Industrie durchgeführt. Diese
zeigen, dass Vertrieb orientierte Informationstechnologie (Sales Force
Automation, SFA) sowohl nach außen fokussierte Aufgaben zum
Management von Kundenbeziehungen als auch interne administrativen
Aufgaben unterstützen kann. In einem zweiten Schritt wurde eine
quantitative Studie, basierend auf diese Unterscheidung zwischen zwei
Dimensionen, durchgeführt. Diese bestätigt, dass SFA Technologie die
Außendienstmitarbeiterleistung direkt beeinflussen kann, wenn es als
Customer-Relationship-Tool verwendet wird. Im Gegensatz hat SFA nur
eine voll vermittelte Auswirkung, wenn es für interne Koordination und
Verwaltung verwendet wird. SFA soll als Kundenbeziehungsmanagement
Tool wahrgenommen werden, um sein eigentliches Potential zu enthüllen.
Darüber hinaus wird die „Customer-Relationship“ Dimension von
innerlichen Faktoren beeinflusst, die die freiwillige Akzeptanz auslösen. Die
zweite Dimension, „Internal Coordination“, wird eher durch externe
Faktoren bestimmt. Unsere Studie kombiniert die Einflussfaktoren des SFA-
Einsatzes mit den Folgen solcher Anwendung und bietet dadurch
signifikante Implikationen für die Maximierung der Rentabilität von SFA-
Technologie-Investitionen. Acknowledgements
This dissertation is the result of a research effort that started just about four
years ago. In this part, I would like to take the opportunity to thank to those
people who have contributed to its development and refinement in one way
or another.
First of all, I would like to express my greatest appreciation to my advisor,
Prof. Dr. Andreas Eggert, for his continuous support, encouragement, and
valuable ideas during the entire research process. His remarks and
suggestions were always stimulating and constructive. His mentorship has
equally great influence on my thesis and on my future research career.
Thank you again, Andreas.
Secondly, I am very grateful and honored for having Prof. Dr. Bettina
Schiller, Prof. Dr. Hartmut Holzmüller, Prof. Dr. Klaus Rosenthal and Prof.
Dr. Bernd Frick in the dissertation committee. Their valuable comments and
questions on my dissertation have provided me a deeper insight into my
research work.
Furthermore, I greatly appreciate my mentor Nils at the company
sponsoring my research. He believed in me with enthusiasm and stayed
behind me since the beginning of our work. Our constructive discussions
have been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for me. It was my great
opportunity to work together with you. I am also greatly indebted to the
head of marketing department François for his financial support and
recognition. I value Christine equally for her great mentoring at later stages
of the study.
Also, I would like to thank to the head of sales department in Brazil for
permitting me to collect data in Brazil. My special thanks here are for
Antonio, who supervised the pilot and actual data collection in Brazil. I
thank also to the heads of sales departments in Germany, Belgium, Austria,
India and the U.K. for their remarks and suggestions which helped me shape
and position our research problem. The same holds for the head of sales
force effectiveness and his team. Moreover, I am most grateful to Prof. Dr. Gary Hunter from Illinois State
University for providing me with detailed comments and suggestions aimed
at improving the quality of our study. In addition, I wish to express my
sincere thanks to the members of the marketing chair, Dr. Ina Garnefeld,
Franziska Weis, Sabine Hollmann, Eva Münkhoff and Lena Steinhoff. With
their continuous support I never felt as an external Ph.D. candidate.
Last but not least, I am indebted to Maria Leonor Alvarenga, a best friend
who has also double-checked the translation of our questionnaire into
Portuguese.
Finally, I thank my Mother, my Father and my Brother for making me who I
am. Without you I could never come so far. Thank you.
Murat Serdaroglu
Frankfurt, 1st of February 2010