Abstract
Customer value is the foundation upon which a customer value proposition is built. In business-to-business marketing, implementation of the customer value proposition (CVP) strategy is complex and involves many influential factors. Oftentimes, CVP implementation is not deemed a success. Despite the importance of sales execution (also known as implementation) to firm success, a gap was identified in the literature on both the antecedents and outcomes of CVP implementation. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with business-to-business sales representatives to extend the empirical literature on the topic and provide guidance to practitioners to aid in allocating the correct organizational resources toward improved CVP implementation. The research approach involved an in-depth literature review, a survey of business-to-business sales representatives, and conducting structural equation modeling (SEM) in Amos. The structural model intended to evaluate the influence of firm market orientation, sales management support, CVP training, and the salesperson’s customer orientation on the implementation of the customer value proposition. It also measured the influence of CVP implementation on the salesperson’s job satisfaction and organizational commitment. While the measurement model had acceptable fit levels, the SEM model was below the required acceptability levels and key findings are suspect. Given the rich data derived from the survey, additional exploratory data analysis was conducted. This may prove beneficial for future research endeavors.
Keywords: business-to-business, salesperson, customer value proposition, strategy implementation, market orientation, training, firm commitment, job satisfaction.