Collaborative Communication between Sales and Logistics and Its Impact on Business Process Effectiveness: A Theoretical Approach

Abstract

Logistics functions have played a critical role in cementing organizational efficiency and price control. At the same time, sales has become more than closing the deal, as value can be created throughout the sales process, including post-purchase activities. Therefore, sales and logistics must come together to create value for the firm as well as customers. Building on the marketing-channel communication strategy viewpoint, we conceptualize the integration between sales and logistics. We propose a framework centering on sales-logistics integration and develop propositions that uncover how a collaborative communication between these two functions may impact specific business processes. Finally, we discuss implications of these predictions and provide a future research agenda for theory and practice.

Keywords:

• channels
• collaborative communication
• customer relationship
• logistics
• management
• sales
• supply chain management

Notes

¹Consumer packaged goods (B2C) sales differs from industrial (B2B) sales, particularly in regard to demand fluctuation. We focus on industrial (B2B) sales in this study.