The Marketing-Sales-Finance Triangle: An Empirical Investigation of Finance-Related Interactions & Managerial Challenges among Marketing, Sales, and Finance Actors

227 Pages·2009·0.7 MB·English

by  Dirk Weissbrich (auth.)

Dirk Weissbrich
The Marketing-Sales-Finance Triangle
GABLER RESEARCH
Dirk Weissbrich
The Marketing-Sales-Finance
Triangle
An Empirical Investigation
of Finance-Related Interactions
& Managerial Challenges among
Marketing, Sales, and Finance Actors
With a foreword by Prof. Dr. Harley Krohmer
RESEARCH
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung der Würde eines Doctor rerum
oeconomicarum der Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der
Universität Bern.
Die Fakultät hat diese Arbeit am 16.10.2008 auf Antrag der beiden Gutachter Prof. Dr. Harley
Krohmer und Prof. Dr. Ove Jensen als Dissertation angenommen, ohne damit zu den darin
ausgesprochenen Auffassungen Stellung nehmen zu wollen.
1st Edition 2009
All rights reserved
© Gabler | GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden 2009
Editorial Office: Claudia Jeske | Britta Göhrisch-Radmacher
Gabler is part of the specialist publishing group Springer Science+Business Media.
www.gabler.de
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-
copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
copyright holder.
Registered and/or industrial names, trade names, trade descriptions etc. cited in this publica-
tion are part of the law for trade-mark protection and may not be used free in any form or by
any means even if this is not specifically marked.
Umschlaggestaltung: KünkelLopka Medienentwicklung, Heidelberg
Printed on acid-free paper
Printed in Germany
ISBN 978-3-8349-1921-2
Dedication
To Mum & Dad, Olaf, and Daniela.
Foreword
This thesis addresses important research gaps in the literature on the marketing-finance
interface. While there have been considerable research activities on marketing-finance
topics such as marketing assets or marketing metrics, only few scholars have looked at
the organizational interface between marketing and finance. We know surprisingly
little about how marketing, sales, and finance units actually work together within
organizations.

In his PhD thesis Dirk Weissbrich chooses a qualitative research design to gain insight
into this unknown organizational phenomenon. Drawing on 78 face-to-face interviews
with managers from marketing, sales, and finance in 42 companies, the author
develops a better understanding of the organizational link between marketing, sales,
and finance units. Specifically, Dirk Weissbrich makes three major research
contributions. First, the author introduces the idea of the marketing-sales-finance
triangle and explores eight finance-related key interaction fields and decision areas: (1)
Plans & Budgets, (2) Reports & Analyses, (3) Cost Optimization, (4) Calculations &
Investment Management, (5) Financial Accounting, (6) Debtor Management, (7)
Compliance & Risk Management, and (8) Pricing. The author describes in detail how
marketing, sales, and finance cooperate in each key interaction field and decision area.

Second, the author discusses each function’s value added to the respective interaction
field and decision area in the marketing-sales-finance-triangle. On the basis of these
interaction field specific insights, a more general picture on the role of each function in
the marketing-sales-finance triangle is developed. In exploring the roles of marketing,
sales, and finance in the triangle the author makes a considerable contribution to the
state of knowledge in this complex research area. The findings are very insightful and
underscore the importance of cross-functional cooperation between marketing, sales,
and finance.

Third, the author contributes to the literature by exploring fundamental developments
in management practices in the marketing-sales-finance triangle. The detailed
descriptions of those dynamic changes and their determinants are exciting and
inspiring for managers and academics alike. The author then explains with
VII
methodological rigor why an increased finance orientation of marketing and sales as
well as an increased business orientation of finance emerge as a general theme of this
research.

Dirk Weissbrich’s PhD thesis is a very creative and innovative work that makes a
main contribution to our understanding of the important marketing-finance interface.
The findings of this research are of high academic and managerial relevance. The
thesis is hence recommended to both scholars and practitioners.

Harley Krohmer
Professor of Marketing
Chair of the Marketing Department
Director of the Institute of Marketing and Management
University of Bern, Switzerland
VIII
Acknowledgements
This dissertation, which I hope you will enjoy reading, is the result of more than three
years of intense research as a PhD Candidate at University of Bern’s Institute of
Marketing and Management. The time at the Marketing Department of the institute has
been very inspiring to me. It’s been a very exciting mix of research, education,
consulting, and fun! I am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to make this
priceless experience.

Several people have strongly supported me during the last three and a half years. First
and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. Krohmer who has greatly
influenced me. I have experienced Prof. Dr. Krohmer as a scholar with outstanding
conceptual skills and terrific ideas. I am grateful for the trust he has given me from the
first day on. I do very much appreciate Prof. Dr. Krohmer’s constructive, always
positive attitude and his sense of humor. It’s been a privilege to have Prof. Dr.
Krohmer as a mentor. Thank you for your ongoing support, your continuous
challenging, and the valuable contributions you made to this research project!

Besides Prof. Dr. Krohmer, Prof. Dr. Ove Jensen has greatly influenced my approach
to research. Being a vital part of this research project, Prof. Dr. Jensen’s research
expertise, his passion for theoretical and methodological details and his brilliant ideas
truly impressed me. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Jensen for the many challenging
discussions and the considerable time investments he has made to bring this research
project to a higher level. In addition, thank you very much indeed for reviewing this
dissertation.

I would also like to thank all managers that have supported this research project
through their willingness to participate in face-to-face interviews. Those interviews
have increased my understanding of the MSF-triangle tremendously and have in
general been highly rewarding to me.

I have been very lucky to have worked with great people at the institute. Especially, I
would like to thank my former colleague Dr. Felix Weispfenning who has become a
good friend of mine in the course of time. Felix, it’s been a pleasure to write the ECR
IX
pricing paper with you and to present it with you in Stockholm, Sweden. It’s also been
a great experience to cooperate closely with you on several consulting projects. In
addition, I would like to thank my colleague and friend Klaus Miller for his
contributions to a preliminary study on the Marketing-Finance-Interface that we have
presented together at the AMA conference in Washington D.C., USA, in 2007.

At the institute we have a fantastic team: My thanks go to my fellow PhD colleagues,
Bettina, David, Katja, Lucia, Reto, and Tay. In particular, thank you for the excellent
cooperation during our challenging textbook project and thank you for the great time
during the EMAC conferences in Athens, Greece, and Reykjavik, Iceland! Also, I
would like to thank Prof. Dr. Alexander Haas for his helpful input and the pleasant
cooperation at the institute. In addition, I would like to thank Arrigo, Martina, Nadine,
Philip, and Sarah for their research support. Last but not least, I would like to thank the
“institute’s soul” Regina for bringing so many smiles on my face over the last three
and a half years. I will miss this great team!

There are people in my life that have been supporting me for an even longer time span.
Those people were not directly involved in this research project but nevertheless
played a crucial role by bringing a lot of joy and fun to my life. This is why I want to
thank all my friends and my family for their important indirect contribution to the
successful completion of this challenging dissertation project. Specifically, I would
love to thank four special persons:

From my first day on, I could always count on my older brother Olaf. Thank you Ojo!

Daniela, thank you for your incredible love.

Mama und Papa, ihr wart in meinem Leben immer für mich da, wenn ich euch
gebraucht habe. Danke für eure bedingungslose Unterstützung und Liebe!

Dirk Weissbrich
X
Table of Contents
1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................1
1.1 Relevance of Research on the Link Between Marketing, Sales and Finance...............3
1.2 Research Objectives and Structure of the Thesis........................................................10
2 Conceptual Foundations...............................................................................................14
2.1 Literature Review........................................................................................................14
2.1.1 Studies on the Organizational Interface Between Marketing and Finance........14
2.1.2 Studies on the Organizational Interface Between Marketing and Sales.............22
2.1.3 Studies That Tap Marketing’s Organizational Interface with Finance or Sales
as a Side Issue.....................................................................................................27
2.1.4 Summary.............................................................................................................33
2.2 General Outline of Theories Related to the Marketing-Sales-Finance Triangle........35
2.2.1 Social Identity Theory........................................................................................35
2.2.2 Boundary Theory................................................................................................37
2.2.3 Resource Based View.........................................................................................37
2.2.4 Resource Dependency Theory............................................................................39
2.2.5 Agency Theory...................................................................................................40
2.2.6 Summary.............................................................................................................41
3 Methodology...................................................................................................................43
3.1 General Research Approach........................................................................................43
3.2 Sample Procedure, Sample Characteristics, and Interview Guideline........................44
3.3 Qualitative Data Analysis Process..............................................................................49
4 An Organizational Design Perspective on the MSF-Triangle...................................53
4.1 Identification of Organizational Actors......................................................................53
4.2 Identification of Structural Marketing-Sales-Finance Configurations........................62
5 Interaction Fields and Decision Areas in the MSF-Triangle.....................................71
5.1 Plans & Budgets..........................................................................................................71
5.2 Reports & Analyses.....................................................................................................76
5.3 Cost Optimization.......................................................................................................84
5.4 Calculations & Investment Management....................................................................89
5.5 Financial Accounting..................................................................................................98
5.6 Debtor Management..................................................................................................105
5.7 Compliance & Risk Management.............................................................................106
XI