Abstract
When do salespeople become technical experts, and when does sales work become technical in nature? To address these questions, this study presents a typology of markets and compares the impact of the structure of knowledge on the organization of sales practices in a mass and in a non-standard market in the electronics industry. a year-long ethnographic study in the United States shows that the technicization of sales occurs only in the non-standard market, in which buyers do not possess knowledge on products' quality and in which no common image of use exists. The technicization of sales is manifested in a larger percentage of engineers in the sales force, an infusion of engineering knowledge into initial sales interactions, and in a greater dependence on social and interactive skills. The technization of sales is further compounded by the need to communicate contextual knowledge, Co-development and shared practice emerge as dominant forms of work organization in the non-standard market.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 47-65 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Work, Employment and Society |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2002 |
Keywords
- Customization work
- Sociology of work
- Technical sales work
- Technicization of sales
- Technology and work organization
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Accounting
- Sociology and Political Science
- Economics and Econometrics
- Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management