research@hec - Issue #22 - (Page VI)

Managing International Sales Teams research Dominique Rouziès Impact of Cultural Performance Orientation Salespeople, the main tool to increase sales, are a force to be reckoned with in companies. Situated on the border between companies and customers, this population of employees plays a key role in business performance. “We don’t talk about it much, especially in France. However, without salespeople, in most cases, there is no business,” says Dominique Rouziès. And this group of people is even more interesting to study provided that it is caught between competing demands from sales management and customers, creating difficult to manage stress. “They are both ambassadors of their company for their customers and ambassadors of their customers within their company. They must not only meet growing customer expectations but also ensure that their own company honors its promises. And this must be done in a context where the number of people involved in the sales process has increased significantly and has also internationalized.” How can you optimize sales force control models (set of procedures to align, guide, evaluate, and pay)? force control models are largely influenced by national culture. As international sales forces increase, the question of standardized management becomes more pressing. The research of Dominique Rouziès, Vincent Onyemah, and Nikolaos Panagopoulos suggests, however, that the effectiveness of sales hec BIOGRAPHY Dominique Rouziès is a professor of marketing at HEC Paris. She is scientific director of the MS in Marketing Intelligence and the Executive Masters in Marketing and Sales Strategy Management. Her research focuses primarily on marketing strategy and sales force management. She holds a Ph.D. from McGill University, where she previously taught, and an accreditation to supervise research (HDR) from the University of Aix-Marseille. INTERNATIONAL SALES FORCES In this article, Rouziès, Vincent Onyemah, and Nikolaos Panagopoulos seek to determine the impact of control systems—which many companies standardize—on the behavior and performance of sales teams. “We looked at the management of sales- THE IMPORTANCE OF NATIONAL CULTURE The authors examine the influence of several national cultures on the way in which sales force control systems affect the behavior and satisfaction of salespeople. “You can go so far as to say that there are two philosophies: outcome control and activity/behavior control,” explains Rouziès. “In the first case, no matter how you work, the only thing that counts is achieving objectives. In the second case, no matter the objective, the only thing that counts is how you work.” They show that national culture has a strong effect on the way salespeople allocate their efforts. In particular, the results suggest that the more companies use behavior controls with their salespeople, the less attention they pay to customers and the more emphasis they place on their supervisors and administrative tasks. “Customers don’t evaluate salespeople; their supervisors do. Salespeople devote more effort to their relationship with their supervisor than to their customers, people in international environments because there are more and more companies with sales forces responsible for clients spread across the globe,” says Rouziès. “In general, there are significant differences from one country to another, which means when you try to standardize, you are confronted with numerous difficulties. This raises questions that existing research has yet to answer.” VI research@hec • August-September 2011 http://www.hec.edu/Faculty-and-Research/Faculty/ROUZIES

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of research@hec - Issue #22

Cover & Contents
Cost of Debt for Companies: The Influence of the Competitive Environment
Private Equity Investors: As Boosters of Corporate Performance
Managing International Sales Teams: Impact of Cultural Performance Orientation
HEC PARIS nEWS

research@hec - Issue #22