An emprical examination of customer value proposition implementation

Abstract

In business-to-business (B2B) marketing, implementation of the customer value proposition (CVP) is complex and involves many factors. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with B2B sales representatives (n = 251) to extend the literature and provide guidance to practitioners about allocating organizational resources to improve CVP implementation and organizational commitment. We tested a structural model that evaluates the influence of market orientation, management support, CVP training, and salesperson customer orientation on CVP implementation. We also assessed the influence of CVP training, salesperson customer orientation, and CVP implementation on salesperson organizational commitment. We found that a firm's market orientation and management support play a key role in effective CVP implementation. Also, CVP training, while not an indicator of CVP implementation, enhances salesperson organizational commitment. We also found CVP implementation to be significantly related to salesperson organizational commitment. Finally, salesperson customer orientation has a positive effect on organizational commitment, but a significant negative relationship with CVP implementation. Implications of these results and directions for future research also are offered.