Sales-Marketing Integration in SMEs: An Exploratory Investigation of Marketing as a Sales Support Function

Improving collaboration between different business functions can be seen as a core priority for both large and small organisations. Indeed, Rouzies et al. (2005) have argued that breaking down barriers between functions and encouraging teamwork can be the key to building competitive advantage. One area of business where such integration would be particularly beneficial is the sales-marketing interface, where both functions are responsible for the cultivation of successful customer relationships. As a result, the integration of sales and marketing is receiving increased academic attention (Dawes and Massey, 2005), particularly since publication of the seminal article ‘Ending the War between Sales and Marketing’ (Kotler, Rackham, and Krishanaswamy, 2006) in the Harvard Business Review. However this remains an area in need of further exploration (Le Meunier-FitzHugh and Piercy, 2010).