Drivers of business-to-business sales success and the role of digitalization after COVID-19 disruptions
Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing
ISSN: 0885-8624
Article publication date: 24 October 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the drivers of business-to-business (B2B) sales success and the role of digitalization, in a selling and sales management landscape being disrupted by COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology follows a discovery-oriented grounded theory approach, which consists of a two-stage qualitative study with sales professionals in Chile, and a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).
Findings
This research shows that interfunctional coordination, agility in the selling process and business customer engagement are critical determinants of B2B sales success, whereas digitalization moderates these relationships.
Originality/value
This research responds to a call for more research on the impact of digitalization on business relationships in different contexts and perspectives. The authors study the Chilean context, through a two-stage qualitative study, and a fsQCA analysis, which constitutes a novel combination in this stream of research.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Since acceptance of this article, the following authors have updated their affiliations: Rodrigo Guesalaga is at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Santiago, Chile; Pablo J. López-Tenorio is at the Facultad de Ciencias Sociales Aplicadas y de la Comunicación, UNI Universidad, Madrid, Spain.
Citation
Guesalaga, R., Ruiz-Alba, J.L. and López-Tenorio, P.J. (2023), "Drivers of business-to-business sales success and the role of digitalization after COVID-19 disruptions", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-12-2022-0576
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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