eThesis - Kauppakorkeakoulun sähköiset gradut

The focus of this research is on sales and marketing collaboration in a solution-oriented organization. The thesis investigates aspects of understanding the importance of sales and marketing relationship within a case company, analysing current situation, defining the key players and activities involved in a collaboration process. Academic literature review incorporates key findings about organizational transformation from a product reseller towards a solution provider and the reasons that have initiated that shift. The three main functions that enable successful solution-oriented business operations: management, sales and marketing, are examined in the literature review. Special attention is paid to sales and marketing collaboration and its impact of business performance. Based on the academic literature review, the thesis framework is designed in order to examine and enhance sales and marketing collaboration in a solution-oriented organization.

The primary data collected through individual interviews with the representatives of the three target groups of the organization is core of the qualitative research conducted in this thesis. The current sales and marketing relationship is captured with the use of a pre-interview questionnaire. The formulation of research questions as well as interview questions take into consideration the most important aspects of sales and marketing collaboration researched in the literature review: an overall solution-oriented strategy of the organization, the management role in solution-oriented organization, sales and marketing collaboration and the impact on business performance of a solution-oriented organization.

The research results reveal that a solution-oriented focus needs to be integrated into business operations with the goal to carefully plan internal activities. It is essential to consider both collaborative activities as well as the solutions offered by an organization. For the latter, related information needs to be integrated into the internal processes of a company. Employee empowerment, organizational learning and knowledge sharing needs to be initiated through cross-functional activities. It is essential to eliminate challenges that negatively affect the collaboration process by redesigning internal processes in order to enhance information and communication flow. As a consequence, enhanced sales and marketing relationships have a beneficial impact on business performance of the entire organization.