Establishing an appointment with a potential industrial or commercial client is typically an unnerving experience. In fact, this author believes it is the most important and the most difficult step in the entire sales process. One reason why it is so important is because it is the first sale in...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine sales as a management science and discusses ways to improve the sales profession based on recent research. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports the results of a global research study examining the different stages of sellers and...

This article describes a project and the resulting programme to help small businesses to survive and grow through the use of business coaching. It also describes the use of the programme in an actual case study of business coaching. The programme seeks to give the owner/managers of small...

Successful and unsuccessful companies adopt very different ways of managing change, competing and winning. Examining outcomes achieved enables the differing attitudes, approaches, behaviours and priorities of winners and losers to the integration of learning and working, partnering with...

Examines the connection between influencing and negotiation. Using data collected from self‐assessment instruments developed by them, the authors argue that it is useful to see negotiation as one type of influencing. The article is in two parts. This first part concentrates on influencing. It...

Globalisation and the technological revolution have transformed our world. It is exciting and offers abundant possibilities. For leaders it is hugely challenging. It is characterised by constantly shifting global competition, faster and faster change, increasing complexity, unpredictability,...

Purpose – This article aims to introduce organization development (OD) and its potential application in organizational environments by discussing core concepts, practice models and providing guidance on evaluation and development. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology includes...