1e alinea column: Een van de opgaven voor de boardroom is het verbinden van strategie, ondernemerschap en uitvoerend vermogen. Deze drie perspectieven dienen ook nog in onderling verband gewogen te worden tegen de wensen en belangen van de verschillende stakeholders van de onderneming. Dit alles in de context van een dynamische markt. En al die lijnen komen uit in de boardroom.
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Much has been written on differences and similarities of B2B sales and procurement professionals. Sometimes these two types seem to come from two different planets, but then we hear talk of synergies and the need to cooperate more closely. Let’s first discuss the “Women Are from Venus; Men Are from Mars” perspective. The saying comes from a book title of John Gray (1992) who claimed that men and women are psychologically speaking fundamentally different. This then (according to Gray) has an impact on how the two sexes communicate and tackle problems. The webarticle discusses several aspects of procurement and sales and concludes that the two professions need each other in order to be successful.
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This article presents seven actions to owner-managers of SMEs about what they should do on the sales side to get their companies and their customers through the crisis. The overarching theme is not to wait but to get into action!
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Purpose: Preventing business failure remains a significant challenge for small businesses in the Netherlands. Given their importance for the Dutch economy, understanding the causes of business failure and equipping business owners with strategies for resilience is imperative. This dissertation seeks to address this challenge by examining the sales role of business owners, referred to as ‘Entrepreneurial Selling,’ within the context of small-scale Dutch businesses. The goal is to identify how business owners can develop effective sales behaviors to mitigate the risk of failure and enhance the long-term viability of their businesses. The research into Entrepreneurial Selling is rising, yet further advancements, including this dissertation, are required to better support business owners in their continuous sales responsibilities. The main research question, therefore, is: How do small-scale business owners in the Netherlands behave in their Entrepreneurial Selling role and how can they become more effective in their sales behavior? Methods: To address the research question, a multimethod research approach is utilized. The research design comprises a literature review, three progressively linked studies, and practical applications. The first study (Chapter 4) involves a content re-analysis of 55 interviews to underscore the pivotal nature of Entrepreneurial Selling in preventing business failure. The second study (Chapter 5) conducts 12 semi-structured interviews, employing thematic analysis to categorize business owners' sales behaviors based on their entrepreneurial motivations. In the third study (Chapter 6), quantitative methods are employed (N=276) to explore the relationship between Entrepreneurial Selling Role Orientation (ESRO) and effective sales behavior. These studies provide the foundation for the practical applications developed in collaboration with practitioners (Chapter 7).Findings: The first study found that Entrepreneurial Selling is a crucial activity for preventing business failure and one that business owners recognize. Reasons for underperformance can include business owners allocating inadequate time to selling, deficient sales skills, and procrastination of sales activities. The subsequent studies build on this foundation. The second study introduces an Entrepreneurial Selling typology, linking business owners' motivations with their sales role strategies, offering insights into how motivations influence sales behavior. The third study introduces the concept of ESRO and substantiates its impact on sales behavior. Furthermore, a positive connection is identified between sales training and effective sales practices. The findings of the studies are individually applied to Sarasvathy’s Bird-in-Hand principle of Effectuation theory and are synthesized within the Entrepreneurial Selling Matrix. Originality/Value: This dissertation contributes to the Entrepreneurial Selling field by advancing our understanding of the business owners’ sales role in enhancing business resilience. It underscores the connection between ineffective sales practices and business failure and delves deeper by investigating the interplay between entrepreneurial motives and ESRO on sales behavior. Additionally, this study bridges the gap between entrepreneurship- and sales research by applying the Bird-in-Hand principle to business owners' sales behavior. In practical terms, the research's outcomes are twofold. First, it refines the Entrepreneurial Selling Matrix, providing a pragmatic typology that aids sales training practitioners in guiding business owners toward aligning sales behaviors with entrepreneurial goals. Second, it introduces an Entrepreneurial Selling Training Program, accompanied by tools, facilitating sales trainers in evaluating and improving current and desired sales behaviors. This practical approach contributes directly to nurturing resilient and thriving businesses.
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Research on how music artists generate sales from their content through different platforms is scant. In this study, configuration theory is used to show that different market access configurations are viable simultaneously and that young musicians differ significantly in how they generate revenues. Using data on the media and sales performance of 338 young musicians in the Netherlands, we show that there is an ‘Emerging Star’ group (7–13% of artists depending on regional scope) and that record labels play an important role in this configuration providing broad media access on all platforms, both old and new. Digital age ‘Independents’ (14% of young artists), mostly without a record label, seem to benefit from the use of social media while exploiting synergies around live music. All artists in the remaining groups ‘Question Marks’ and ‘Hobbyists’ experience low to very low performance on all platforms. This study shows that configuration theory can provide detailed insight into viable and unviable marketing strategies. In particular, it shows that the globally declining music CD platform can still be very important for specific artists that exploit synergies between live performances, on-site CD sales and social media fan relationship management. The implications for marketing theory and young music artists are discussed. Om het artikel te kunnen lezen dient het gekocht te worden: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0267257X.2015.1034158
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Presented at the 14th 14th European Conference on Management, Leadership and Governance ECMLG 2018: From the article: "Online shopping in The Netherlands is rapidly becoming more popular and many web-shops are aiming to develop improved customer journeys. As a consequence pure play web-shops switch to an Omni-channel approach while conventional businesses add ‘online’ to their offline sales. In The Netherlands fast growth of online sales is made possible by industry organisations such as ‘Thuiswinkel.org’, an organisation that supports their over 12.000 retail-members with knowledge, development and information on all possible aspects of online shopping. In 2017 these members raised the question whether it is possible to mimic the ‘traditional sales conversation’ to online environments by deploying AI based conversation technology. To research this question the specific actual benefits for consumers need to be determined of the conventional ‘offline-shopping sales conversation’. Next, the current online shopping opportunities presented by the B2C market of The Netherlands were studied including the level of interaction (conversation) that is technically provided. With so many industries active in the online arena it was decided to focus on the following industries: Electronics, Clothing, Food, and Financial services. This selection was made based on levels of online sales (highest for these sectors) and interests of Thuiswinkel.org members. Subsequently, the offline sales conversation benefits that were found as ‘most important’ in these industries, were used to construct online customer journeys. These are then used to formulate requirements for the comparison and selection of conversation systems. With this insight in how to achieve true conversational commerce in the defined customer journeys of the four industry’s the retailers’ question is answered. The outcome shows differences per industry in importance of a limited number of ‘e-sales conversation’ benefits. An important conclusion is that the current available technology cannot deploy all complex aspects of the offline sales conversation benefits in an online shopping environment. The technology still needs to progress significantly to adopt offline sales conversation aspects. On the other hand pure substitution of offline benefits may not be required. Further, the maturity of the functionality within each conversation system appears to be of importance as requirements differ per company. Additional research is required to extend on the differences and first insight found in the options to develop ‘e-sales conversation’."
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1e alinea column: "Laat het streven naar volmaaktheid los; in alles zit een barst. Zo komt het licht naar binnen." Louise Penny. Internet brengt ons in de "personal age" zei ik ooit in mijn entreerede. Inderdaad, in andere woorden 'CEO over eigen leven en werk'. In die "age" hangt steeds meer af van persoonlijke keuzes die we als individu maken en ook kunnen maken, waarbij social media die persoonlijke keuzes ook zichtbaar maken voor de wereld.
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PurposeThis paper's aim is to determine whether shopping facilities in a waiting area influence customer behaviour and whether these behaviours positively influence their satisfaction and related sales of the displayed products.Design/methodology/approachThe approach used was a field experiment. At two sites patient behaviours were directly observed before a reconstruction of waiting areas during two weeks; at both sites a two‐week follow‐up was performed after the reconstruction. The responses of patients were surveyed in a convenience sample in the same periods of weeks and the data on sales were collected with desk research.FindingsIn comparison with waiting areas that were almost empty, customers in a waiting area with shopping facilities had more interaction with the physical environment, experienced a shorter wait, were more satisfied with the prompt taking of orders, and spent more money.Practical implicationsOrganizations seeking to positively influence patient behaviour during the wait should take into account the quality of facility design of waiting areas and, if well chosen, these facilities can also be used to positively influence satisfaction and sales.Originality/valueThis paper integrates theories from environmental psychology, marketing, and operations management in facility design to improve the properties of a waiting area, and by doing so, improve behaviour, satisfaction, and sales of customers. The study aims to inform marketers in the pharmacy shop sector allowing them to increase interaction with the shopping environment, improve customers' satisfaction, and raise customers' expenditures with facilities.
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Fashion is under scrutiny. Social activists raise the debate around animal welfare in the apparel industry. With shocking and disturbing images, they are campaigning to attract worldwide media attention in order to highlight serious animal abuse in production of fashion, and influence consumption. Our study addresses how this movement influences “meaning” that is given to related fashion products, and how seemingly similar campaigns sort different effects on consumer practices. Via a cross case discourse analysis of Dutch fashion texts, this paper sheds light on why this might be the case. It concludes with the notion that it is discourses which change first before shaping social reality.
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1e en 2e alinea column: Een beetje analyse over hoe ik denk dat het verder gaat in bedrijfsleven en politiek. Met accent op de interne logica van de ontwikkeling zodat je mijn redenering kan zien, eventueel overnemen en voorbereid bent op the next move. Om dit extra toe toelichten heb ik een figuur toegevoegd. Maatschappelijk, in de business en in de politiek zijn twee grote bewegingen aan de gang. Een van ‘top down’ naar ‘bottom up’ dingen regelen. En de ander, van aanbodsturing naar vraagsturing. Van schedule push naar reality pull. Het concept van één jaarlijks Business plan, met innovatieparagraaf, waarin je vastlegt welke leuke dingen je allemaal van plan in je business is typisch een aanpak links boven in het figuur. Daar ga je gaat uit van maakbaarheid en dingen doen vόόr de klant in plaats van met de klant. Rechtsonder heet co-creëren, community-based samen leuke dingen doen. Traditionele marketing, linksboven in de plaat, verdampt in hoog tempo ten gunste van slimme sales. Branding wordt steeds belangrijker want ‘wie niet gezien is is weg’. The rest of it is sales: iedereen wordt verkoper.
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