Digital transformation challenges successful enterprises – an exploration of the collaboration of marketing and sales department in German organizations

• Autor(a) principal: Hauer, Georg
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Naumann, Nadine, Harte, Patrick
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista de Administração e Inovação
• Texto Completo: https://www.revistas.usp.br/rai/article/view/188891
• topic: Marketing; Collaboration; Sales; Digital transformation; Digitalization; Generational conflict

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of digital transformation on theintersection of marketing and sales departments.Design/methodology/approach – This area has received little attention in academic literature whileconsiderable amount of research exists surrounding the marketing and sales integration, the influence of thetrend of digital transformation on both departments and how it affects their collaboration is not investigatedin-depth and is therefore studied by qualitative research via semi-structured interviews in six Germanorganizations.Findings – By considering the findings the collaboration between the marketing and sales departments inGerman organizations is perceived as good. However, generation-related conflicts occur due to differentdemographic structures of employees. The study provides evidence that the digital transformation affects themarketing and sales integration and thus, the overall organizational performance.Originality/value – Moreover, it is crucial that organizations face the challenges that occur in terms ofinterdepartmental relationships and be aware of the huge potentials which arise due to digital transformationto improve the marketing and sales collaboration.