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J·BJon BishopIndependent growth marketer

B2B growth and sales · Empirical model/analysis of new-product sales-force outsourcing

When to outsource the sales force for new products

Valerie Good, Roger J. Calantone (2019). When to outsource the sales force for new products. Industrial Marketing Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.02.010.

Industrial Marketing Management · 2019DOI: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.02.010 ↗

Plain-English take

Identifies contingencies under which outsourcing the sales force for new products is advantageous. For your marketing: Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.

How much weight to give this

2.5/5 Evidence needs cautious interpretation

The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.

Design · 1/2

Empirical model/analysis of new-product sales-force outsourcing

Sample · 0.5/1

Firms launching new products and choosing internal versus outsourced sales forces

Comparison · 0.5/1

Judged from the publisher-described design and comparison; inspect the paper for complete analysis.

Can we check it? · 0.5/1

Publisher page and abstract were retrieved directly; full text was not assumed open.

Double-blind? Blinding was not established from the retrieved publisher record.

Research question

What the authors investigated

Under what conditions should firms outsource new-product sales?

Design

Empirical model/analysis of new-product sales-force outsourcing

Sample and setting

Firms launching new products and choosing internal versus outsourced sales forces

Reported result

What the study found

Identifies contingencies under which outsourcing the sales force for new products is advantageous.

This is a paraphrase of the source. Check the original paper for definitions, estimates, statistical uncertainty and analysis details.

Scope and transfer

Limitations to keep in view

New-product outsourcing decisions are context dependent; observational evidence limits causal generalization.

Possible founder application

Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.

Evidence access

Publisher record and abstract retrieved; consult the linked paper for full methods and tables.

Publisher DOI landing page identifies the exact title, authors, journal record and empirical-design sections/abstract: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.02.010 Direct publisher-page retrieval was recorded on 2026-10-09; this profile uses the publisher abstract/metadata and does not claim independent review of unavailable full text.

If only an abstract or metadata was available, the profile is limited to claims supported there. A paper's paywall does not change its evidentiary status, but it limits what we can substantiate from accessible text.

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