Bezaz, Nora

Digitalization of Cross-functional Marketing-sales Relationships: Which Practices are Companies Adopting? - 2022.


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• Research objectivesThe cross-functional relationship between marketing and sales departments is a recurrent managerial issue and the rise of digital technology is making this relationship more complex. The objective of this research is twofold. First, the objective is to determine the place of digital technology in the relationship between marketing and sales. Second, the objective is to identify the specific problems posed by digital and the resolution practices implemented in the management of the interface between marketing and sales.• MethodologyA content analysis conducted with three types of respondents (marketing managers, sales managers and consultancy managers) allowed us to identify the importance of digital at different strategic and operational levels.• ResultsThe digitalization of companies is changing the relationship between marketing and sales departments and creating new constraints in their coordination, new tensions, a restructuring of their missions and new needs (in terms of data, digital tools, training or recruitment).• Managerial/societal implicationsThese results lead us to recommend coordination mechanisms and methods to be used to manage the digitalization of cross-functional marketing-sales relations.• OriginalityThis research studies the effect of the digital boom on the marketing / sales relationship, a little explored subject, from the “marketing-as-practice” perspective. It enriches the literature and identifies the specific problems posed by digital by highlighting the resolution practices implemented in the management of the marketing/sales interface.