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Sales Force Competence Management: Its Relevance
and Framework

Asiegbu, Ikechukwu F. Ph.D, MNIMN, MAMN
Senior Lecturer
Department of Marketing,
Faculty of Management Sciences
University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria
[anonimizat].

Ogbuji, Chinedu N. Ph.D, MNIMN, MAMN
Department of Marketing,
Faculty of Management Sciences
University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria
[anonimizat]

Ubani, Vincent OJ. Ph.D
Director, Business Research Centre
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
[anonimizat] .
Abstract

This paper recognizes the importance of sales force competence management in creating value for custom ers and achieving
business goals. It argues that sales force can only be useful in this regard, if it possesses the dime nsions and levels of sales
job competence, that can enable it adapt to the tur bulent global business environment. The paper maint ains that a firm can
enable its sales force acquire and improve its know ledge, skills and behavior, through the way its sal es force competences are
managed. It presents a sales force competence manag ement framework that can enable a firm have, at all times, an effective
and competent sales force required for successful d omestic and global marketing.

Keywords : Competitive Advantage, Sales Force Competence Mana gement, Competent Sale Force, Sales Force
Competence, Resource-Based Theory.
1. Introduction
The concept of core competence advanced by Prahalad and Hamel (1990) has prompted many organizations
throughout the world to identify, and develop their own core competences (Scarbrough, 1998). Core
competences are defined as the collective knowledge and capabilities that are embedded in the organiza tion; they
are central determinants of the organization’s comp etitiveness due to their centrality to customers’ v alue, their
resistance to imitation, and their ability to exten d to new business applications (Hamel and Prahalad, 1994). The
core competence perspective of strategic management reflects the resource-based view of the organizati on (Von
Krogh and Roos, 1995), which argues that an organiz ation’s competitive advantage derives from the valu able,
rare, and inimitable resources that it can marshal (Barney, 1991). With its focus on organizational kn owledge as
a key strategic resource, the resource-based view i n general, and the core competence perspective in p articular, is
well-suited to strategy formulation and management in knowledge-intensive organization (Conner and Pra halad,
1996). It is a widely held premise that people provide org anizations with an important source of sustainable
competitive advantage (Prahalad, 1983; Pfeffer, 199 4; Wright, McMahan, McWilliams, 1994) and that the
effective management of human capital, not physical capital, may be the ultimate determinant of organi zational
performance (Adler, 1998; Reich, 1991). The value o f human capital may be especially apparent in moder n
manufacturing industries that have invested heavily on production innovations such as advanced manufac turing
technology, statistical process control and compute r numerically controlled machine, tools and equipme nt. Such
initiatives tend to depend heavily on employee skil ls, abilities and commitment as key components in t he
customer value creation process (Snell & Dean, 1992 ). Accordingly, it is imperative for firms to harne ss the
productive potential of their sales force in order to achieve sales superior performance (Youndt, Snel l, Dean &
Lepak, 1996).
The world has become a global village as a result o f dizzying pace of technological innovations, short ened
product life cycles, increase in competition, and g lobalization. Consequently, a firm’s competitive ab ility and
survival are dependent on its distinctive capabilit ies and core competences, and on how these resource s are
managed. Firms can generate competitive advantage f rom the way they manage their internal resources. T he

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society depends on the marketing performance of bus iness organizations for its living standard, and th ese
organizations, in turn depend on the sales performa nce of their sales force to achieve competitive adv antage
(Asiegbu, 2009). Thus, incompetence of sales force affects the organizations marketing performance in
particular and human society economic well-being in general. It becomes apparent that the effect of po or sales
force performance in sales job, is not limited to t he firms alone but also to the economy by extension .
Organizations view sales force ineffectiveness and incompetence with grave seriousness and concern. Fo r
example, in associating corporate performance with sales force management, Mallin and Mayo (2006) have
observed that “Accounting for sales loss is importa nt to managing the sales force as well as helping t o ensure
corporate profitability”. This no doubt, stresses t he relevance of sales force competence in organizat ions’ pursuit
of their corporate goals. Management of sales force competence is critical in improving the sales perf ormance of
the firm. Many scholars have been suggesting contin ued research on dynamic and innovative competence
systems management (Lindgren & Henfridsson, 2002; S andberg, 1994; Stenmark, 2002; Walter, 2003). This
informs our interest in having some reflections on and showing the practical relevance of sales force competence
management and framework. It is our view that effec tive management of sales force knowledge, skills, a nd
behavior can make organizations occupy better compe titive positions, and also enable human society enj oy
higher living standards; thus our interest in this dimension of the discourse.
2. The Relevance of Sales Force Competence Manageme nt
In this study, we define sales force competence as those observable knowledge, skills, and behavior, w hich
differentiate between superior and other performers in the context of sales job (Asiegbu, 2009). Sales job
competence is a demonstration to building and susta ining superior marketing exchange relationships wit h
customers and the total commitment and willingness to exhibit appropriate behavior in a specific selli ng context.
Sales job requires competent sales force. Sales for ce competence is important in several ways. First, there is an
increasing quest among firms to garner rent-yieldin g intangible or tacit assets on the basis of distin ctive
competence to achieve above-normal marketing perfor mance (Prahalad & Hamel, 1990). Sales force compete nce
contributes to a firm’s distinctive competency and thus, knowing its management is critical in this re gard.
Second, for an organization to achieve consistently above-normal marketing performance, it must create a
Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA) (Aaker, 198 9:91; Porter, 1985:15). That is, it must create sus tainable
superior value for its customers (Narver & Slater, 1990:21). Competitive advantage stems from propriet ary
assets that are not easily purchased, stolen, imita ted or substituted for (Dierickx and Cool, 1989; Ba rney, 1991;
Peteraf, 1993). Human capital is the most potent of these assets, and competency-based human resources
management involves operational structures and proc esses, which are based on the concept and results o f the
management of core competences and tacit individual competences of employees (Ahiauzu, 2006; Armstrong ,
2001) such as sales force. Third, many people have misconceptions about the selling process, sales for ce
activities and the personal characteristics necessa ry for a successful sales career. Various selling j obs can involve
very different tasks and require different knowledg e, skills and abilities (Johnston and Marshall, 200 3:8). It
makes sense therefore, to examine the management of sales force competence and its consequences.
Fourth, market orientation consists of three behavi oral components – customer orientation, competitor
orientation, and inter-functional coordination, and two decision criteria – long-term focus and profit ability
(Aaker, 1988, Anderson, 1982; Day, 1984; Kotler, 19 77; Levitt, 1980, Porter, 1985; Narver & Slater, 19 90).
These, in no small measure, require competent and w ell-managed sales force to carryout these functions and
achieve these objectives, thus, the growing need fo r a good framework for managing sales force compete nce for
better performance in sales job. Fifth, today, the most prevalent formalization of a customer-centric culture is
Customer-Relationship Management (CRM). Central to achieving CRM objectives is the pivotal role of the sales
force, as the boundary spanner between the firm and its customers. The sales force can only be effici ent and
effective in this regard if it acquires some knowle dge, skills and behavior. It then becomes imperativ e to have a
sales force competence management system, which sal es managers can use in developing the sales force t o make
it effective in performing this onerous task.

Furthermore, Bagozzi (1978) outlines several key wa ys in which selling job differ from other occupatio ns. He
observed that the salesperson is faced with more de manding interactions, conflicting pressures, to ser ve and
satisfy both company and customer (role conflict), and performance evaluation based on almost entirely on
his/her efforts and abilities. Bagozzi concluded th at as a result of these features, the occupation is characterized
by vulnerability. Given the nature of the sales job , it is not surprising that many sales organization s have
recorded high levels of sales force turnover and su b-optimal marketing performance. It therefore stand s to reason

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that to obtain top brash sales force and curb the u gly incidences of frustrated sales force that choos e abandoning
the selling job, their competences need to be enhan ced using an appropriate framework that is designed with the
peculiar nature of their job in mind.
Finally, sales force competence is one of the crite ria used to evaluate enterprise for some Internatio nal Awards
on competitive strengths. For example, in 2006, Hit achi Data Systems repeated as winner of the 2 nd edition of
Diogenes Lab-Storage Magazine Quality Awards. For t hat award, a firm is evaluated on five categories o f
criteria, namely: Sales force competence, Product f eatures, Initial product quality, Product reliabili ty, and
Technical support. This stresses the importance fir ms should attach to the management of their sales f orce
competences.
Today, the sales force’s most vital role is creatin g, building and sustaining profitable marketing exc hange
relationships between its firm and the firm’s custo mers. Relationship marketing predicates intimacy be tween the
firm and its customers (Morgan and Hunter, 1994; Sh eth & Parvatigar, 1995). Owing to their boundary-sp anning
role, the field sales force of a company has tradit ionally been a vital link between the firm and its customers
(Cravens et al, 1992) and a prime platform for communicating the f irm’s marketing message to its customers and
the voice of the customers to the firm. The most si gnificant difference between selling and other elem ents in the
marketing effort is the personal contact. The need for this personal contact will vary depending on su ch factors
as the scale of risk, size of investment, type of c ustomer, frequency of purchase, newness of product and many
other factors (Encyclopedia of Marketing, 2001:519) . The greater the need for personal contact in sell ing, the
more important it becomes to engage competent sales force, and hence, sales force competence managemen t.

3. Our Proposed Sales Force Competence Management M odel
What is meant by salesforce competences and which a re appropriate for customer care and thus, relation ship
marketing? According to Hymes (1972:16), competence is understood to be dependent on two things: “taci t
knowledge” and ability “to use”. Weimann (1977:198) defines competence as the” ability of an interacta nt to
choose among available specific behaviors in order that her/she may successfully accomplish his/her ow n
personal goals during an encounter while maintainin g the face and line of his/her fellow interactants within the
constraints of the situation”. Larson, et al (1978:16) hold, that “competence is the ability of an individual to
demonstrate knowledge of the appropriate behavior i n a given situation”.

Scheffler (1965:92) divides ability into subclasses of “facility” and “critical skill”. He sees facilities as automatic
behavior that is not processed cognitively and argues that critical skills are acquired through training and are
improved by practice requiring strategic judgments . This means that critical skills require conscious knowledge
while facilities do not. Scheffler (1965), therefor e, concludes that skills are the connections between knowledge
and behavior . We propose that proficiency in skills, as describ ed by Scheffler, is what is required for the
manifestation of a specific competence. It makes se nse to argue that both knowledge and skill allow on e to
“function”. Wiemann and Backlund (1980:190) assert that if the level of knowledge and skill is suffici ently high,
then one may be able to infer that the person is co mpetent, that is, the person can perform effectively . Therefore,
for an individual to possess a particular competenc e, he/she needs both to know (knowledge) and know-how .
These two aspects of knowing may exist both at the overt and covert levels.
The individual salesperson possesses competence at a number of different levels. Four competence level s have
been identified in the literature: basic knowledge, standardized application, complex application, and expertise
(Ley, et al , 2007:6). These levels reflect the fact that a com petence usually is composed of knowledge in a
certain domain as well as skills needed for applica tion. It presupposes that the development of a comp etence in a
certain domain follows an inherent order. It implie s that basic declarative knowledge is developed fir st (i), skills
in the form of contextualized rules are developed l ater and lead to increasing flexible forms of appli cation (ii),
and (iii) (Anderson, 2000). Expertise then refers t o the highest stage of application using highly con textualized
and implicit skills in the particular situation. Th is study is of the opinion that sales force, which attains and
maintains its competence at the expertise level is most likely to contribute maximally to marketing
performance, ceteris paribus .
Knowledge is the capacity for effective action. Thi s is information accumulated in a particular area o f expertise
(e.g., closing sales). It comprises facts and proce dures – to do. Nielson (1997, 1998) conceives a com petence as
consisting of three different types of knowledge – specific, integrative (or integration), and deploym ent
knowledge. According to him, specific knowledge is knowledge about specific areas or knowledge domains ,
such as technology or a scientific discipline. Howe ver, a competence will (in most cases) be dependent on the

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integration or combination of several (many) areas of specific knowledge. Integrative knowledge can be seen as
a representation of the knowledge underlying the ab ility to integrate the different domains of specifi c knowledge.

Deployment knowledge is an expression of the abilit ies in the company to derive value from its stock o f
knowledge through effective commercialization. Acco rdingly, salespeople need to have specific knowledg e in
areas such as, knowledge about the 4Ps of marketing , competitors, customers, marketing intermediaries, the
company itself, government regulations and others. They must integrate these specific knowledge and ut ilize
them in establishing and sustaining marketing excha nge relationships with the organization’s valued cu stomers.
It should be emphasized that a competence is depend ent on the existence of all three types of knowledg e and the
development of competence is dependent on the exist ence of all three types of knowledge and the develo pment
of competence will require that all three types of knowledge are developed in conjunction.

Skill (techne in Greek) is used to denote expertise development in the course of training and experien ce (Clark,
2004). Skills mean to carryout in performance – to do. Sales force skill is therefore the demonstratio n of
expertise (e.g., ability to make effective sales pr esentations or negotiate successfully). A sales for ce skill is the
ability to exhibit a sequence of selling behavior t hat is fundamentally related to attaining a perform ance
objective. Being able to identify the cause of the failure of a new product is a skill because it requ ires the ability
to identify a sequence of actions, which will accom plish a specific objective. It also involves being able to
identify potential obstacles and sources of help in overcoming them.

Salesperson behavior is his or her actions with reg ard to his or her sales job (cf., Solomon, 2002). T hese actions
depend on the sales person’s self-concept, motive a nd traits. Sales force Self-concepts consist of attitudes, values
and self-image. Sales force self-image is the under standing a salesperson has of his or her self and a n assessment
of where he/she stands in the context of values hel d by others in his/her environment. A trait is a ge neral
disposition to behave in certain ways (e.g., flexib ility). A salesperson trait is a characteristic or quality that the
salesperson has, like efficiency, which is the trai t of believing ‘you are in control of your future a nd fate’. When
a salesperson encounters a problem at work, he or s he then takes an initiative to resolve the problem, rather than
wait for someone else to do it. Sales force Motive is another component of behavior motives are recurrent
thoughts driving behaviors (e.g., drive for achieve ment, affiliation). A sales force motive is a drive or thought
related to a particular goal, like achievement, whi ch is a need to improve and compete against a stand ard of
excellence, high energy level, ability to take init iative, result orientation, tenacity, integrity, ad aptability,
resilience, ability to deal with detailed informati on and lateral thinking (Encyclopedia of Marketing, 1999:558).
The list can be inexhaustible in terms of human tra its.
In this paper, we define sales force competence man agement as the process of analyzing, planning,
developing, and evaluating the knowledge, skills, a nd behavior of an organization’s sales force member s
for superior performance in sales job (Figure 3.1). The model proposes that sales force competence
management starts with the analysis of the current status of sales force knowledge, skills, and behavi or
dimensions and levels. The next step is the plannin g of how to reduce the identified short falls in th e sales force
competences. The third step is to make the sales fo rce pass through some skills development programs. The
fourth step is to evaluate the effectiveness of the ir skills development program.

3.1 Sales Force Competence Analysis
Sales force competence analysis involves three dist inct tasks (i) the first activity is ascertaining t he dimensions
and levels of competences a firm needs to be effect ive in responding to competitive, and indeed, envir onmental
challenges at any particular point in time. Some ch allenges in sales job require varying dimensions an d levels of
competences on the part of sales force. At this sta ge, the grades of knowledge, skills, attitudes, mot ives,
temperaments, responsiveness, expected of a salespe rson and deemed appropriate for effective performan ce in
sales job in a particular situation are established . (ii) The second activity is determining the curre nt state of sales
force competences. This involves identifying the kn owledge, skills, and behavior dimensions and levels of which
sales people already possess. (iii) The third activ ity is assessing the gap between the firm’s require d sales force
competences (given the current environmental challe nges) and the competences already acquired by the f irm’s
sales force.

Competence gap analysis determines how skilled or p roficient individual sales people are on these comp onents,
how much individuals differ from desired performanc e and whether or not they need training (Wentling, 1992).
The required performance minus the present performa nce equals the competence gap. A competence gap thu s,
compares the sales person’s already acquired compet ences with the competences required for the job in order to
identify future competence improvement opportunitie s (Intuition, 2008). The competence needs analysis provide

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many things to a trainer. The analyses determine th e training contents, and how deficient the sales pe ople are in
these contents.

It is thus, apparent that without clearly identifyi ng the competence gap, the entire competence manage ment has
no focus. It would rather be a waste of resources o r frustrating to the trainers and trainees to desig n and deliver
training topics and skills where the sales persons are already able and proficient. Competence gap ide ntification
can thus, enable management to avoid waste and make cost effective decisions in the development of sal es force
competence. Hence, competence analysis is essential in the transformation of sales people into compete nt sales
force.

3.2 Sales Force Competence Planning
Competence planning is putting in details how the f irm intends to fill the identified competence gaps, and
involves as its activities personal development pla n and competence sourcing. Asiegbu (2009) observes that
personal development plan involves ascertaining ind ividual sales person’s expressed and selected actio n plan as
well as various development sources/alternatives in cluding tools and resource person available for the individual
development plan to be actualized. Generally, devel opment plans do the following. (i) They describe in dividual
sales person action plan which is an expression and a selection of knowledge, skill and level and beha vior
ambitions and/or new interest domain. Assist salesp eople make informed choices in this regard is criti cal. (ii)
They link competences to training resources. (iii) They create project teams based on skill requiremen ts. (iv)
They determine training progress tracking technique . (v) They make automatic recommendations based on the
result of competence gap analysis. Since personal d evelopment plan allows the individual salesperson t o set his
or her own targets and select means of achieving th em, he or she would be committed to the development
program and thus close the earlier identified compe tence gaps by becoming competent at the end of the
development program.

Competence sourcing involves identify learning reso urces that can be utilized during development to mi nimize
the individual competence gaps (cf. Avilar, 2005). It focuses on determining the techniques and materi als that
are appropriate for the development program. Firms can lease personnel or in-source a consultant to be engaged
in the competence development (Johansson and Hurria , 2003). Sourcing training contents, procedures and other
resources are usually planned at this stage in orde r to choose or guide the development of instruction al aids and
strategies (Halim and Ali, 2000). Thus, it is appar ent that sales force competence planning provides a ground
work for sales force competence development.

3.2 Sales Force Competence Development
Sales force competence development is the activity of broadening the competence dimensions and levels of
individual salespeople, which will help achieve the sales and marketing objectives and meet its needs (Johansson
and Hurria, 2003). It involves building the knowled ge and skills of sales person with the aim of prepa ring them
take on new responsibilities and challenges. This e ntails making sale people acquire new horizons, tec hnologies,
or view points with the goal of being able to do mo re with less and increase creative problem-solving abilities.
Sales force competence development can be achieved through training, coaching and mentoring (Developme nt
Zone Document –HR, 2008).

Training is a process of acquiring specific skills and knowledge to perform a job better (Jucious, 196 3). It helps
people to become qualified and proficient in doing some jobs (Dahama, 1979). Training focuses on using
appropriate techniques to transfer knowledge and sk ills, which are intended to change a sales person’s current
behavior to desired sales job behavior. This paper views training as the effort put forward to provide job-related
culture, skills, knowledge, and behavior that resul t in optimal performance in selling environment.

Coaching is the transfer of wisdom from a wise and trusted teacher. It is about increasing an individu al’s
knowledge and thought processes with a particular t asks or process. Coaching creates a supportive envi ronment
that develops critical thinking skills, ideas, and behaviors about a subject. Coaching is performed on the job, that
is it is done real time. The coach uses real tasks and problems to help the learner increase his or he r performance.
In this case, amore experienced sales person can co ach a fresh graduate on sales job by taking him or her through
a number of selling processes.

Mentoring is the transfer of wisdom from a wise and trusted teacher. Thus, it relies on the mentor’s s pecific
knowledge and wisdom. According to Fine and Pullin, (1998) mentoring is the support and guidance that an
experienced person (mentor) provides to a less expe rienced person project. Mentoring sales people has the

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tendency to make them minimize or close their compe tence gaps and become more effective and competent in
their sales job.

3.4 Sales Force Competence Evaluation
Competence evaluation is a process to determine the relevance, effectiveness, and impacts of developme nt
methods and programs in light of their objectives. Training evaluation is a systematic process of coll ecting
information for and about a training activity, whic h can then be used for guiding decision-making and for
assessing the relevance and effectiveness of variou s training components. Sales force competence evalu ation is
an assessment of the efficacy of the competence dev elopment techniques and materials. Once an organiza tion
implements a sales force competence development pro gram, it must evaluate the program’s success. Sales force
competence evaluation thus, involves a re-assessmen t of the sales person’s competences after he or she received
training, coaching, and mentoring to ascertain his, or her current competence status. It assesses the extent the
learning resources have enabled the salesperson eli minate or reduce his or her performance gap, earlie r identified
at the competence analysis stage.

Evaluation thus, focused on monitoring and assessin g sales force competence level improvement or other wise on
the sales job (Johnston and Marshal, 2003). A numbe r of scholars have proposed methods of evaluating t he
result of training programs (Canevale and Schutz, 1 990; Holcomb, 1993; Rossi et al , 1979; McEvoy and Buller,
1990). This paper adopts the techniques suggested b y Kirkpatrick (1959, 1976) for evaluating training programs:
(i) reaction measures (ii) learning measures (iii) behavior measures; and formative evaluation and (ii i)
summative evaluation. Reaction measures are how the trainees liked the pr ogram in terms of content, techniques,
duration, trainers, facilities, and management. Lea rning measures assess the trainees’ knowledge and s kills,
which they were able to absorb at the time of train ing. Behavior measures concerned with the extent to which the
trainees were able to apply their knowledge to real field situations. It measures hoe appropriate the training was
in changing the knowledge, skills and behavior of p articipants. Formative evaluation involves the coll ection of
relevant and useful data while the training program , is being conducted. This information can identify the
drawbacks and unintended outcomes and is helpful in revising the plan and structure of training progra ms to suit
the needs of the situation. Summative evaluation is done at the end of its effectiveness in relation t o achieving
the objectives and goals.

Figure 3.1: Sales force Competence Management Framework
Source: Authors’ Desk Research (2011)

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In summary, sales force competence analysis focuses on identifying the competences an organization req uires
for effective and efficient performance of sales jo b, identifying the competences, which a salesperson is already
possessing, and an assessment of the gaps between t hese required and acquired competences. The differe nce is
the sales force competence gap, which needs to be a lready closed. Competence planning is a focus on
determining the competence development needs based on the identified competence gaps; sourcing experts and
training materials for competence and enabling sale speople set their personal development plans based on
development materials and methods, which are within the reach of the organization. Competence developm ent is
a focus on the improvement and upgrading of the kno wledge, skills, behaviors of salespeople through pr oject
team staffing, training, coaching and mentoring to enable them exhibit superior performance in sales j ob.
Competence evaluation is a reassessment of the know ledge, skills and behavior of salespeople both in t he course
of and, after their competence development program, to ascertain the extent to which the identified co mpetence
gaps have been closed. Feedback from evaluation gui des the organization to determine the effectiveness and
efficiency of the development programs and material s. It is therefore, expected that with this sales f orce
competence management approach; companies will poss ess more versatile salespeople who will be able to
perform more effectively and efficiently (Avilar, 2 005:7). The ultimate aim of producing competent sal es force
is to guarantee that customers receive a high stand ard of care (Dixon et al, 2003), hence the importance of
putting in place a good sales force competence mana gement system. This competence when applied effecti vely
will help the organization transform their sales pe ople into competent sales force.
4. Discussion, Conclusion, and Implication
The primary thrust of competence management thinkin g centers around providing the organization with a time-
and-resource accurate charted representation of its members’ existing competences. This information ca n then be
used, for example, to survey how well the members’ competences correspond to the competence demands of
existing needs or “roles” in the organization (Lind gren & Henfridsson, 2002). Document repositories an d data
warehousing are examples of how static competence i nformation can be stored and made retrievable, and by so
doing, functions as the organization’s memory (Acke rman, 1994). This argumentation or supplementation of an
organization’s existing learning strategies or know ledge mechanisms has been the focus of numerous res earch
studies (Lingdren et al, 2007). However, organizational approaches to compe tence management still rely heavily
on a rationalistic ad-hoc view of competence (Lindg ren & Wallstrom, 2000; Lindgren & Stenmark, 2002). Sales
force competence must be seen as dynamic, emergent, and situated in constantly changing practice and i s
therefore difficult to predict or define precisely (Stenmark, 2002). Communication and collaboration, then,
become vital processes in an organization’s quest t o capture, manage, and utilize organizational sales force
competences. Berio and Harzallah (2005) argue that the primary objective of competence management is t o
define, and continuously maintain competences, acco rding to the objectives of the firm. Schooner, et al., (2000)
indicate that the three most prevalent purposes for competence interventions, in rank order, included:
enhancement of performance expectation, provision o f an integrated HR process, and alignment of behavi ours
with core values.
In today’s rapidly changing world, companies of all sizes are undergoing challenges and facing the pro blem of
how to manage change. Practically, in the knowledge economy, knowledge-workers such as salespeople hav e
become the rising power (Drucker, 1995, 1999) and H uman Resource (HR) is taking on an important strate gic
role (Thurow, 1996, 2000), so numerous companies ar e increasingly focusing on human capital as a sourc e of
competitive advantages. Also, in order to enhance t heir competitive advantages and achieve business su ccess,
many companies are expecting their employees to per form at higher levels. To accomplish these objectiv es,
companies must help their employees to identify and cultivate their competences. It is now a leading c ompany
strategy to apply competences in all major human re source fields, including recruitment, selection, as sessment,
development, appraisal, and rewards (Schoonover, et al ., 2000; JPC-SED, 2002; Sinnott, et al ., 2002).

Competent sales force is essential in establishing, building, and sustaining exchange relationships be tween a
company and its valued customers. Sales force compe tence can be assessed in terms of the dimensions an d levels
of sales knowledge, skills, and behavior exhibited in selling contexts. However, sales force competenc e can only
be achieved if an organization puts in place an app ropriate sales force competence management framewor k. This
paper proposes a sales force management system, whi ch involves activities such as sales force competen ce
analysis, sales force competence planning, sales fo rce competence development, and sales force compete nce
evaluation. It is the opinion of the paper that wit h this sales force competence management framework, an
organization is most likely to have, at all times, a stock of sales people that is highly knowledgeabl e, skilled in
sales job, and can readily adapt and respond to the vagaries of the dynamic global business environmen t. The

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implication, therefore, is that rent-yielding strat egy is very possible with the way sales force compe tence is
managed. A good sales force competence management s ystem will enable firms leverage and transform thei r
sales force competence into competitive advantage. It is therefore, our strong belief that our propose d sales force
competence management model is handy in this regard .
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