Donald W. Barclay is an Ivey Eminent Teaching Professor Emeritus at the Ivey Business School. He currently designs, directs and teaches custom Executive Education Programs for Ivey clients such as Syngenta and Siemens. Before joining the Ivey Business School, he was Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Business at Memorial University in Newfoundland, where he taught marketing and management information systems. He earned a BSc (Hons.) in Chemistry from Bishop's University, an MBA from McMaster University, an MA in Psychology, and a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.
His research interests are in the area of business-to-business or industrial marketing. Specifically, he is interested in the dynamics of how organizations make buying decisions and how organizations can be more effective in their use of selling teams and how marketing and sales can work better together to create value. Articles related to his research have appeared e.g., in the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, and the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing.
Barclay has extensive experience in sales and account management with IBM Canada Ltd., where he received the Vice-President and General Sales Manager's Award for Marketing Excellence. Barclay has been a consultant in sales management, strategic account management and marketing strategy to such companies as Syngenta, Cargill Limited, Royal Bank and Siemens.
Abstract: There is a compelling need to improve the relationship between managers in marketing and sales departments. This paper argues that one critical way of enhancing individual managers' perceptions of relationship effectiveness between these departments is to view the issue as a matter of justice and suggests that perceived marketing-sales relationship effectiveness is positively influenced by managers' perceptions of organizational justice. Furthermore, it proposes that interfunctional communication has the potential to enhance the proposed positive effects of justice and hence needs to be considered and effectively managed when looking at marketing-sales relationship effectiveness. Data drawn from a survey of 203 marketing and sales managers in 38 consumer packaged goods companies are used to empirically test these predictions. The authors find that perceived sales-marketing relationship effectiveness is influenced by perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice. Greater interfunctional communication is found to further enhance the positive effects of distributive and procedural justice on perceived relationship effectiveness, but it does not contribute to the already strong positive effects of interactional justice. Furthermore, results reveal important differences in the effects of justice on perceived relationship effectiveness across the marketing and sales departments.
Abstract: Salesperson behavior aimed at improving internal company response to customer requests has received little attention in the industrial marketing literature in comparison to external, customer-directed behaviors. In this study, the phenomenon of 'salesperson navigation' (SpN) is developed within the context of a research model of selected antecedents and boundary-conditions that influence a primary form of navigational behavior, or 'exploratory navigation'. The research model's utility in predicting sales performance is tested empirically with data from two Fortune 500 sales forces. The findings show that the traits of competitiveness and expert power significantly enhance the salesperson's propensity to engage in exploratory navigation behavior. Exploratory navigation, in turn, is found to have a significant and positive association with salesperson job performance, contingent upon specific boundary conditions within the salesperson's own organization (i.e., sales management support and internal competitive climate). The article concludes by offering sales researchers and industrial marketing managers implications derived from the study as well as directions for further work.
Abstract: In response to the challenge issued by Narus and Anderson (1998) to rethink the role of business marketing in an MBA curriculum, we propose the rationale, methodology, and philosophy for integrating business marketing into the fabric of a graduate business program. There are many reasons for business marketing knowledge being important to MBA graduates, not the least of which is that the majority of them will work in firms whose primary customers are other organizations. In this article we demonstrate theoretical and marketplace rationale for repositioning business marketing in the MBA curriculum. We propose a template to guide the process including key business market and business marketing concepts that we believe should be part of the fabric. Finally, we detail the experiences of one school's journey in moving in this direction.
Abstract: Salespeople require the ability to navigate within their own organization to get what they need to be successful given today's demanding customers. The literature on personal selling provides little guidance on this dimension of the sales role and how it might impact selling performance. We develop the notion of Salesperson Navigation (SpN), embed SpN within a conceptual framework, and show how SpN works to impact individual sales performance. We develop both managerial and research perspectives around this phenomenon.
Abstract: More research on organizational buying behavior is required to develop dimensions of the decision-making process itself. We propose that one such dimension is process heuristics, or behavioral tendencies, decision strategies, or decision approaches invoked by the perception of various characteristics of the decision context. Process heuristics may drive more specific buying activities such as information search. Our study explores process heuristics and how they relate to aspects of the market and organizational context, and to the buying situation. Our study reveals two process heuristics, structuring and downgrading, for which we propose a model to explain the influences behind these heuristics being invoked.
Abstract: A proposed model, using data from both partners in selling alliances between organizations, substantiates that interdependence and asymmetry in relative influence between the selling partners impact relationship effectiveness through mutual trust and cooperation as mediators. Implications for marketing theory and sales management are derived from the findings, and research opportunities are proposed.
Abstract: Selling alliances that are formed to cooperatively develop and maintain customer relationships are among the new organizational forms that marketing managers utilize for competitive advantage. To be successful, these alliances require sales representatives from allied organizations to work effectively as selling partners. A trust-based model of effective selling partner relationships is developed and tested in the context of the computer industry. Partial Least Squares analysis of 103 dyadic relationships found that organizational differences were modest predictors of 3 dimensions of mutual perceived trustworthiness, which in turn differentially affected 3 trusting behaviors.
Abstract: Information systems strategic alignment - the fit between business strategic orientation and information systems (IS) strategic orientation - is an important concept. Business strategic orientation, IS strategic orientation, and IS strategic alignment are measured, and their implications for perceived IS effectiveness and business performance are investigated. Among the findings from analyses of data gathered in a mail survey of North American financial services and manufacturing firms are: 1. Business strategic orientation, IS strategic orientation, and IS strategic alignment are modeled best by utilizing holistic, systems approaches instead of dimension-specific, bivariate approaches, 2. Three generic IS strategic orientations can be detected, 3. User information satisfaction does not capture important strategic aspects of IS effectiveness.
Abstract: In this article we develop an integrated approach to microsegmentation in business markets. Segments of buyers, based on discernible buyer characteristics rationally chosen to be relevant to differences in response profiles, are derived empirically through cluster analysis and then conceptually enriched. A buying behavior model is then used to determine the differential impact of determinants of overt buying behavior across the segments of organizational buyers. The marketing implications of the differences in buying behavior observed across segments are subsequently derived. The approach is applied to the purchasing of automotive fleets demonstrating the feasibility of explicitly incorporating discernible buyer characteristics, indirectly accessible decision-oriented determinants, and actual decisions, into an integrated framework for microsegmentation in business-to-business marketing contexts. Pragmatic issues, generalizability, and research directions are also raised.
Abstract: A product entry strategy - the timing of entry, the magnitude of investment at entry, and the area of competitive emphasis at entry - affects long-term performance in the marketplace. The Entry Strategy Performance Model is developed and an encompassing framework for product entry strategy research is proposed. A research model that is derived from the performance model is tested through an examination and replication in the microcomputer software market. The findings are that initial competitive positioning and media coverage drive long-term performance.
Abstract: With the emergence of Team Selling, or Selling Centers, in complex business-to-business relationships, their effectiveness becomes a concern to sales managers. If we view the Selling Center as a "group," the rich multidisciplinary research into small groups can guide us in dimensionalizing Team Selling effectiveness and conjecturing its determinants. This article proposes a framework drawing from the group literature to do this. Examples from interviews with managers, sales representatives, and customers involved with Team Selling enhance the framework. The article also proposes directions for Team Selling research, and a set of specific hypotheses based on this perspective.
Abstract: In organizational buying, the outcomes of one purchase decision, and activities in the post-decision period, affect how the next related decision is approached. Here a taxonomy is developed to organize buying decision outcomes. Using an established conceptualization of the buying centre and buying decision process, a propositional inventory of how selected outcomes may impact aspects of subsequent organizational buying decisions is also suggested. This leads to implications for marketing managers and to directions for further research.
Abstract: Public sector R&D is an important source of new product technologies and concepts. If the transfer of these technologies to private sector manufacturers is viewed from a marketing perspective, manufacturing organizations can be analyzed as industrial "buyers." David Large and Donald Barclay report on case-based research that explores this technology buying process. Findings are induced that suggest: user value, patentproprietary position, prototype efficacy, and strategic fit are the more important attributes of the transfer proposal and business empathy and credibility are the most important attributes of the transfer agent. The R&D director is identified as a key influencer in the transfer decision and represented by a model of the director's attitude toward technology transfer proposals. The authors develop implications for public sector managersagents and suggest opportunities for further research.
Abstract: Drawing on theory and research in organizational behavior, a model of organizational characteristics that affect buying-related interdepartmental conflict is formulated. The model is tested by partial least squares structural equation modeling with key-informant data from purchasing and engineering departments. The results show that organizational characteristics, such as barriers to communication, the reward system, and the ambiguity of departmental responsibilities, explain a substantial portion of the variance in the manifestations of buying-related conflict. An encouraging outcome is the convergence of purchasing's and engineering's views of the organizational context and of the dyadic interaction associated with buying. This convergence is somewhat surprising given previous findings on key informants in marketing.
