The Thought Worlds of Marketing and Sales: Which Differences Make a Difference?
研究营销与销售部门思维差异对合作质量及市场绩效的影响，发现某些差异（如客户与产品倡导、短期与长期视角）能直接提升绩效，而知识或人际差异则有害。
The literature is divided on whether differences between the thought worlds of marketing and sales are deleterious or beneficial. This article empirically investigates various facets of thought-world differences and their effects on various outcomes. It confirms that, in general, differences hamper the cooperation between marketing and sales, which leads to a lower market performance of the business unit. However, some facets of thought-world differences enhance the market performance of the business unit through a direct effect that outweighs the negative effect mediated by the quality of cooperation between marketing and sales. Market performance is enhanced if one side plays the customers' advocate while the other plays the products' advocate. Market performance is also enhanced if one side plays the advocate of short-term considerations while the other plays the advocate of long-term considerations. In contrast, differences between marketing and sales in regard to product knowledge and interpersonal skills are deleterious to market performance. Thus, the kind of difference makes a difference.