Abstract
Despite the importance and the numerous benefits of sales-marketing integration, a significant gap between sales and marketing still exists. The literature has recently suggested that digital content marketing (DCM) might play a role in the sales-marketing integration in B2B companies. Notwithstanding the growing academic interest on DCM and its potential for the sales-marketing integration, we lack a thorough understanding of how the implementation of a DCM strategy triggers the mechanisms behind such an integration. We conduct a single case study to investigate the role of a DCM strategy in a B2B SME. The findings indicate that the DCM strategy enhances information sharing, structural linkages, customer orientation and power mechanisms. In doing so, we contribute to the literature by showing that a DCM strategy can effectively play a supporting role in the sales-marketing integration.
References
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Biemans, W. G., & Brencic, M. M. (2007). Designing the marketing-sales interface in B2B firms. European Journal of Marketing, 41(3-4), 257-273. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560710728327
Biemans, W. G., Brenčič, M. M., & Malshe, A. (2010). Marketing–sales interface configurations in B2B firms. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(2), 183-194. DOI: https://doi.org/0.1016/j.indmarman.2008.12.012
Carpenter, P. (1992). Bridging the gap between marketing and sales. Sales and Marketing Management, 144(3), 28-31.
Cedrola, E., Ferrero, G., & Gregori, G. (2011). Marketing & Sales oltre la crisi: i cambiamenti in atto nelle medie imprese. Mercati e competitività, 2, 9-28. DOI: 10.3280/MC2011-002002
Cespedes, F. V. (1993). Co‐ordinating sales and marketing in consumer goods firms. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 10 (2) 37-55. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/07363769310039111
De Massis, A., & Kotlar, J. (2014). The case study method in family business research: Guidelines for qualitative scholarship. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 5(1), 15-29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.007
Dewsnap, B., & Jobber, D. (2000). The sales-marketing interface in consumer packaged-goods companies: a conceptual framework. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 20(2), 109-119. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08853134.2000.10754230
Dougherty, D. (1992). Interpretive barriers to successful product innovation in large firms. Organization Ccience, 3(2), 179-202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.3.2.179
Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of management review, 14(4), 532-550. DOI: 10.2307/258557
Giamanco, B., & Gregoire, K. (2012). Tweet me, friend me, make me buy. Harvard Business Review, 90(7), 89-93. DOI: https://hbr.org/2012/07/tweet-me-friend-me-make-me-buy
Guenzi, P., & Troilo, G. (2006). Developing marketing capabilities for customer value creation through Marketing–Sales integration. Industrial Marketing Management, 35(8), 974-988. DOI: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2006.06.006
Halligan, B., & Shah, D. (2009). Inbound marketing: get found using Google, social media, and blogs. John Wiley & Sons.
Holliman, G., & Rowley, J. (2014). Business to business digital content marketing: marketers’ perceptions of best practice. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing.
Hollebeek, L. D., & Macky, K. (2019). Digital content marketing's role in fostering consumer engagement, trust, and value: framework, fundamental propositions, and implications. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 45, 27-41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2018.07.003
Holliman, G., & Rowley, J. (2014). Business to business digital content marketing: marketers’ perceptions of best practice. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 8(4), 269-293. DOI: doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-02-2014-001.
Homburg, C., Jensen, O., & Krohmer, H. (2008). Configurations of marketing and sales: A taxonomy. Journal of Marketing, 72(2), 133-154. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1509%2Fjmkg.72.2.133
Homburg, C., & Jensen, O. (2007). The thought worlds of marketing and sales: which differences make a difference?. Journal of Marketing, 71(3), 124-142. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.71.3.124
Järvinen, J., & Taiminen, H. (2016). Harnessing marketing automation for B2B content marketing. Industrial Marketing Management, 54, 164-175. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.07.002
Jaworski, B. J., & Kohli, A. K. (1993). Market orientation: antecedents and consequences. Journal of Marketing, 57, 53−60.DOI https://doi.org/10.1177%2F002224299305700304
Juntunen, M., Ismagilova, E., & Oikarinen, E. L. (in press). B2B brands on Twitter: Engaging users with a varying combination of social media content objectives, strategies, and tactics. Industrial Marketing Management. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.03.001
Jönsson, S. and Lukka, K. (2007), “There and back again: doing interventionist research in management accounting”, in Chapman, C.S., Hopwood, A.G. and Shields, M.D. (Eds), Handbook of Management Accounting Research, Vol. 1, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 373‐98. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/S1751-3243(06)01015-7
Kahn, K. B. (1996). Interdepartmental integration: a definition with implications for product development performance. Journal of product innovation management, 13(2), 137-151DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5885.1320137
Keszey, T., & Biemans, W. (2017). Trust in marketing’s use of information from sales: the moderating role of power. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 32 (2), 258-273 DOI: 10.1108/JBIM-09-2015-0169
Kotler, P., Rackham, N., & Krishnaswamy, S. (2006). Ending the war between sales and marketing. Harvard Business Review, 84(7/8), 68.
Lawrence, P. R., & Lorsch, J. W. (1967). Differentiation and integration in complex organizations. Administrative science quarterly, 1-47.
Le Meunier‐FitzHugh, K., & Piercy, N. F. (2007). Exploring collaboration between sales and marketing. European Journal of Marketing. 41 (7/8), 939-955. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560710752465
Lorge, S. (1999). Marketers are from Mars, Salespeople are from Venus. Sales & Marketing Management, 151(4), 27-32.
Lukka K. (2005). Approaches to case research in management accounting: the nature of empirical intervention and theory linkage, in Jönsson S., Mouritsen J; (a cura di) Accounting in Scandinavia – The northern lights, Liber & Copenaghen Business School Press, Malmö, 375-399.
Malshe, A. (2011). An exploration of key connections within sales‐marketing interface. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. 26 (1), 45-57. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/08858621111097201
Malshe, A., Friend, S. B., Al-Khatib, J., Al-Habib, M. I., & Al-Torkistani, H. M. (2017). Strategic and operational alignment of sales-marketing interfaces: Dual paths within an SME configuration. Industrial Marketing Management, 66, 145-158. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2017.08.004
Maltz, E., & Kohli, A. K. (1996). Market intelligence dissemination across functional boundaries. Journal of marketing Research, 33(1), 47-61.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F002224379603300105
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook, 2ndEdition, Sage, Newbury Park (CA).
Montgomery, D. B., & Webster, F. E. (1997). Marketing's interfunctional interfaces: the MSI workshop on management of corporate fault zones. Journal of Market-Focused Management, 2(1), 7-26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009709931194
Pascucci F., Bartoloni S., Marinelli L., Ancillai C. (2019). La digital transformation, in Gregori G.L. e Perna A. (a cura di), BtoB Marketing. Il business marketing tra teoria e managerialità, Egea, Milano.
Pascucci F., Cardinali S., Ancillai C. (2018). Exploring antecedents of social media usage in B2B: a systematic review. Management Research Review, 18(6), 629-656. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-07-2017-0212
Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods. 2nd Edition , Sage, Beverly Hills (CA).
Pencarelli, T., Cioppi, M. (2008). I processi di vendita e il marketing nelle PMI, in Tunisini A., Teorie e applicazioni di business marketing, F. Angeli, Milano.
Piercy, N. F. (1989). The power and politics of sales forecasting: uncertainty absorption and the power of the marketing department. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 17(2), 109-120. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02723369
Rouziès, D., Anderson, E., Kohli, A. K., Michaels, R. E., Weitz, B. A., & Zoltners, A. A. (2005). Sales and marketing integration: a proposed framework. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 25(2), 113-122. DOI: 10.1080/08853134.2005.10749053
Rowley, J. (2012). Conducting research interviews. Management Research Review, 35 (3/4), 260-271. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/01409171211210154
Sleep, S., Lam, S. K., & Hulland, J. (2018). The sales–marketing integration gap: a social identity approach. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 38(4), 371-390. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08853134.2018.1513796
Smith, T. M., Gopalakrishna, S., & Chatterjee, R. (2006). A three-stage model of integrated marketing communications at the marketing-sales interface. Journal of Marketing Research, 43(4), 564-579. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.43.4.564
Stake R.E. (1998). Case studies, in Denzin N.K.; Lincoln Y.S. (a cura di) Strategies of qualitative inquiry, Sage, Thousand Oaks (CA).
Strahle, W. M., L. Spiro, R., Acito F. (1996), Marketing and Sales: Strategic Alignment and Functional Implementation, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 16, (1) 1-20. DOI: www.jstor.org/stable/40471609
Taiminen, K., & Ranaweera, C. (2019). Fostering brand engagement and value-laden trusted B2B relationships through digital content marketing. European Journal of Marketing, 35 (9) 1759-1781. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-10-2017-0794
Wang, W. L., Malthouse, E. C., Calder, B., & Uzunoglu, E. (2019). B2B content marketing for professional services: In-person versus digital contacts. Industrial Marketing Management, 81, 160-168. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2017.11.006
Wiersema, F. (2013). The B2B agenda: The current state of B2B marketing and a look ahead. Industrial Marketing Management, 4(42), 470-488. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2013.02.015
Yin R.K. (2003). Case study research: designs and methods, 3rd edition, Sage, Thousan Oaks (CA).
Beverland, M., Steel, M., & Dapiran, G. P. (2006). Cultural frames that drive sales and marketing apart: an exploratory study. The Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 21(6), 386-394. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/08858620610690146
Biemans, W. G., & Brencic, M. M. (2007). Designing the marketing-sales interface in B2B firms. European Journal of Marketing, 41(3-4), 257-273. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560710728327
Biemans, W. G., Brenčič, M. M., & Malshe, A. (2010). Marketing–sales interface configurations in B2B firms. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(2), 183-194. DOI: https://doi.org/0.1016/j.indmarman.2008.12.012
Carpenter, P. (1992). Bridging the gap between marketing and sales. Sales and Marketing Management, 144(3), 28-31.
Cedrola, E., Ferrero, G., & Gregori, G. (2011). Marketing & Sales oltre la crisi: i cambiamenti in atto nelle medie imprese. Mercati e competitività, 2, 9-28. DOI: 10.3280/MC2011-002002
Cespedes, F. V. (1993). Co‐ordinating sales and marketing in consumer goods firms. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 10 (2) 37-55. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/07363769310039111
De Massis, A., & Kotlar, J. (2014). The case study method in family business research: Guidelines for qualitative scholarship. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 5(1), 15-29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.007
Dewsnap, B., & Jobber, D. (2000). The sales-marketing interface in consumer packaged-goods companies: a conceptual framework. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 20(2), 109-119. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08853134.2000.10754230
Dougherty, D. (1992). Interpretive barriers to successful product innovation in large firms. Organization Ccience, 3(2), 179-202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.3.2.179
Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of management review, 14(4), 532-550. DOI: 10.2307/258557
Giamanco, B., & Gregoire, K. (2012). Tweet me, friend me, make me buy. Harvard Business Review, 90(7), 89-93. DOI: https://hbr.org/2012/07/tweet-me-friend-me-make-me-buy
Guenzi, P., & Troilo, G. (2006). Developing marketing capabilities for customer value creation through Marketing–Sales integration. Industrial Marketing Management, 35(8), 974-988. DOI: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2006.06.006
Halligan, B., & Shah, D. (2009). Inbound marketing: get found using Google, social media, and blogs. John Wiley & Sons.
Holliman, G., & Rowley, J. (2014). Business to business digital content marketing: marketers’ perceptions of best practice. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing.
Hollebeek, L. D., & Macky, K. (2019). Digital content marketing's role in fostering consumer engagement, trust, and value: framework, fundamental propositions, and implications. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 45, 27-41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2018.07.003
Holliman, G., & Rowley, J. (2014). Business to business digital content marketing: marketers’ perceptions of best practice. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 8(4), 269-293. DOI: doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-02-2014-001.
Homburg, C., Jensen, O., & Krohmer, H. (2008). Configurations of marketing and sales: A taxonomy. Journal of Marketing, 72(2), 133-154. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1509%2Fjmkg.72.2.133
Homburg, C., & Jensen, O. (2007). The thought worlds of marketing and sales: which differences make a difference?. Journal of Marketing, 71(3), 124-142. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.71.3.124
Järvinen, J., & Taiminen, H. (2016). Harnessing marketing automation for B2B content marketing. Industrial Marketing Management, 54, 164-175. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.07.002
Jaworski, B. J., & Kohli, A. K. (1993). Market orientation: antecedents and consequences. Journal of Marketing, 57, 53−60.DOI https://doi.org/10.1177%2F002224299305700304
Juntunen, M., Ismagilova, E., & Oikarinen, E. L. (in press). B2B brands on Twitter: Engaging users with a varying combination of social media content objectives, strategies, and tactics. Industrial Marketing Management. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.03.001
Jönsson, S. and Lukka, K. (2007), “There and back again: doing interventionist research in management accounting”, in Chapman, C.S., Hopwood, A.G. and Shields, M.D. (Eds), Handbook of Management Accounting Research, Vol. 1, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 373‐98. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/S1751-3243(06)01015-7
Kahn, K. B. (1996). Interdepartmental integration: a definition with implications for product development performance. Journal of product innovation management, 13(2), 137-151DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5885.1320137
Keszey, T., & Biemans, W. (2017). Trust in marketing’s use of information from sales: the moderating role of power. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 32 (2), 258-273 DOI: 10.1108/JBIM-09-2015-0169
Kotler, P., Rackham, N., & Krishnaswamy, S. (2006). Ending the war between sales and marketing. Harvard Business Review, 84(7/8), 68.
Lawrence, P. R., & Lorsch, J. W. (1967). Differentiation and integration in complex organizations. Administrative science quarterly, 1-47.
Le Meunier‐FitzHugh, K., & Piercy, N. F. (2007). Exploring collaboration between sales and marketing. European Journal of Marketing. 41 (7/8), 939-955. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560710752465
Lorge, S. (1999). Marketers are from Mars, Salespeople are from Venus. Sales & Marketing Management, 151(4), 27-32.
Lukka K. (2005). Approaches to case research in management accounting: the nature of empirical intervention and theory linkage, in Jönsson S., Mouritsen J; (a cura di) Accounting in Scandinavia – The northern lights, Liber & Copenaghen Business School Press, Malmö, 375-399.
Malshe, A. (2011). An exploration of key connections within sales‐marketing interface. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. 26 (1), 45-57. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/08858621111097201
Malshe, A., Friend, S. B., Al-Khatib, J., Al-Habib, M. I., & Al-Torkistani, H. M. (2017). Strategic and operational alignment of sales-marketing interfaces: Dual paths within an SME configuration. Industrial Marketing Management, 66, 145-158. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2017.08.004
Maltz, E., & Kohli, A. K. (1996). Market intelligence dissemination across functional boundaries. Journal of marketing Research, 33(1), 47-61.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F002224379603300105
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook, 2ndEdition, Sage, Newbury Park (CA).
Montgomery, D. B., & Webster, F. E. (1997). Marketing's interfunctional interfaces: the MSI workshop on management of corporate fault zones. Journal of Market-Focused Management, 2(1), 7-26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009709931194
Pascucci F., Bartoloni S., Marinelli L., Ancillai C. (2019). La digital transformation, in Gregori G.L. e Perna A. (a cura di), BtoB Marketing. Il business marketing tra teoria e managerialità, Egea, Milano.
Pascucci F., Cardinali S., Ancillai C. (2018). Exploring antecedents of social media usage in B2B: a systematic review. Management Research Review, 18(6), 629-656. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-07-2017-0212
Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods. 2nd Edition , Sage, Beverly Hills (CA).
Pencarelli, T., Cioppi, M. (2008). I processi di vendita e il marketing nelle PMI, in Tunisini A., Teorie e applicazioni di business marketing, F. Angeli, Milano.
Piercy, N. F. (1989). The power and politics of sales forecasting: uncertainty absorption and the power of the marketing department. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 17(2), 109-120. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02723369
Rouziès, D., Anderson, E., Kohli, A. K., Michaels, R. E., Weitz, B. A., & Zoltners, A. A. (2005). Sales and marketing integration: a proposed framework. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 25(2), 113-122. DOI: 10.1080/08853134.2005.10749053
Rowley, J. (2012). Conducting research interviews. Management Research Review, 35 (3/4), 260-271. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/01409171211210154
Sleep, S., Lam, S. K., & Hulland, J. (2018). The sales–marketing integration gap: a social identity approach. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 38(4), 371-390. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08853134.2018.1513796
Smith, T. M., Gopalakrishna, S., & Chatterjee, R. (2006). A three-stage model of integrated marketing communications at the marketing-sales interface. Journal of Marketing Research, 43(4), 564-579. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.43.4.564
Stake R.E. (1998). Case studies, in Denzin N.K.; Lincoln Y.S. (a cura di) Strategies of qualitative inquiry, Sage, Thousand Oaks (CA).
Strahle, W. M., L. Spiro, R., Acito F. (1996), Marketing and Sales: Strategic Alignment and Functional Implementation, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 16, (1) 1-20. DOI: www.jstor.org/stable/40471609
Taiminen, K., & Ranaweera, C. (2019). Fostering brand engagement and value-laden trusted B2B relationships through digital content marketing. European Journal of Marketing, 35 (9) 1759-1781. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-10-2017-0794
Wang, W. L., Malthouse, E. C., Calder, B., & Uzunoglu, E. (2019). B2B content marketing for professional services: In-person versus digital contacts. Industrial Marketing Management, 81, 160-168. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2017.11.006
Wiersema, F. (2013). The B2B agenda: The current state of B2B marketing and a look ahead. Industrial Marketing Management, 4(42), 470-488. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2013.02.015
Yin R.K. (2003). Case study research: designs and methods, 3rd edition, Sage, Thousan Oaks (CA).
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