Understanding cross-cultural sales manager–salesperson relationships in the Asia-Pacific Rim region: a grounded theory approach

Abstract

As more organizations implement multinational strategies, sales managers leading sales forces encounter complex cultural challenges that affect relationships, processes, and outcomes. We undertake a qualitative study with the objective of understanding the sales manager–salesperson relationship when the sales manager is leading sales representatives located in other cultures. Because of the significant size and growth of Asian countries, we focus our study on the Asia-Pacific Rim region. In-depth interviews conducted with 21 sales managers working for a large multinational technology firm in our focal region provide the data for our analysis. Using a grounded theory approach, we identify five key themes: building and sustaining cross-cultural relationships, cross-cultural communication effectiveness, acquisition and maintenance of trust across cultures, language, and decision-making. From our findings, research propositions are offered and implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

Keywords:

• sales management
• cross-cultural relationships
• cultural adaptation
• trust
• communication effectiveness
• relationship quality
• Asia-Pacific Rim

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Special Issue editors and the reviewers for their helpful comments and guidance.

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Because our sample is skewed toward male respondents, care was taken to ensure that the female voices were fully represented in our sample. Of the comments eliminated due to outlier status, none belonged to a female respondent.