The Oxford Handbook of Strategic Sales and Sales Management

The Oxford Handbook of Strategic Sales and Sales Management is an unrivaled overview by leading academics in the field of sales and marketing management. Sales theory is experiencing a renaissance driven by a number of factors, including building profitable relationships, creating/delivering brand value, strategic customer management, sales and marketing relationships, global selling, and the change from transactional to customer relationship marketing. Escalating sales and selling costs require organizations to be more focused on results and highlight the shifting of resources from marketing to sales. Further the growth in customer power now requires a strategic sales response, and not just a tactical one. The positioning of sales within the organization, the sales function, and sales management are all discussed.

The Handbook fills a gap in the existing literature through consolidating the current academic research in the sales area. The Handbook is structured around four key topics. The first section explores the strategic positioning of the sales function within the modern organization. The second considers sales management and recent developments. The third section examines the sales relationship with the customer and highlights how sales is responding to the modern environment. Finally, the fourth section reviews the internal composition of sales within the organization. The Handbook will provide a comprehensive introduction to the latest research in sales management, and is suitable for academics, professionals, and those taking professional qualifications in sales and marketing.

David W. Cravens is Emeritus Professor of Marketing in the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University. He previously held the Eunice and James L. West Chair of American Enterprise Studies and was Professor of Marketing. Formerly, he was the Alcoa Foundation Professor at the University of Tennessee, where he chaired the Department of Marketing and Transportation and the Management Science Program. He has a Doctorate in Business Administration and MBA from Indiana University. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from MIT. Before becoming an educator, he held various industry and government management positions. He is internationally recognized for his research on marketing strategy and sales management and has contributed over 150 articles and 25 books.

Kenneth Le Meunier-FitzHugh is a Lecturer in Marketing at the University of East Anglia UK and obtained a PhD in Marketing and Strategic Management from Warwick Business School, the University of Warwick. Prior to undertaking an academic career, he spent 20 years working in sales and marketing at senior levels for a range of organizations. His research interests focus on exploring the interface between sales and marketing. He has a number of publications in academic journals and won the Marvin Jolson award for the best contribution to sales management practice by the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management 2008.


Nigel F Piercy is Professor of Marketing and Strategy and Associate Dean (Masters Programme) at Warwick Business School, the University of Warwick, UK. He has published articles in journals such as the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of World Business, and the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. His most recent books are: Market-Led Strategic Change: Transforming the Process of Going to Market, 4th ed. (Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2009) and with Nikala Lane, Strategic Customer Management: Strategizing the Sales Organization (OUP, 2009). He is also co-author with David Cravens of Strategic Marketing, 9th ed. (Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2009).