Firms using a direct selling (DS) distribution channel delegate selling and sales management responsibilities to an independent-contractor distributor force. The DS firm’s inability to directly control distributors’ efforts, and the fact that most active distributors choose to work part-time rather than full-time at their DS business, makes an examination of the drivers of DS performance outcomes important for academic study and managerial insight.

In light of scarce resources, firms strategically weigh off between investments in value creation and value appropriation. They do so by placing more emphasis on one of the two strategic orientations which defines their strategic emphasis. So far, literature has relied on accounting data – specifically on reported investments in R&D and advertising – to operationalize reported strategic emphasis and studied its association with a firm’s financial performance. Previous studies suggest that firms benefit from emphasizing value appropriation.

Another great achievement by the Marketing Center Münster:

The paper entitled "What is happening to my nearby stores? The own- and cross-effect of a radical store transformation on existing customers" co-authored by Professor Manfred Krafft and former Chair of Marketing Management team members Dr. Mirja Kroschke and Dr. Felix Lehmkuhle has been published in print in the prestigous Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS).

Within the last few years, the use of technology has become an indispensable factor in sales. At the same time, the level of complexity in the selling environment is constantly increasing, as customers become more demanding, and new business models in sales focus on the creation of value for customers by providing individualized offerings.

As part of a multinational research team around Vijay Viswanathan, Tammo Bijmolt and Javier Sese, Professor Manfred Krafft and Dr.

Due to increased international competitive pressure, supplier companies in the B2B sector are transforming from product providers to solution providers. In the solutions business, suppliers provide their customers with individual offerings with the aim of improving customer processes by solving strategically important customer problems. However, solutions can only be successful if customers actively participate in the different phases of the solutions process, namely the definition of requirements, the implementation as well as the review of the offering.