IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v16y2002i1p47-65.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Technicization of Sales Work: an Ethnographic Study in the US Electronics Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Asaf Darr

    (University of Haifa, Israel darr@soc.haifa.ac.il)

Abstract

When do salespeople become technical experts, and when does sales work become technical in nature? To address these questions, this study presents a typology of markets and compares the impact of the structure of knowledge on the organization of sales practices in a mass and in a non-standard market in the electronic industry. A year-long ethnographic study in the United States shows that the technicization of sales occurs only in the non-standard market, in which buyers do not possess knowledge on products' quality and in which no common image of use exists. The technicization of sales is manifested in a larger percentage of engineers in the sales force, an infusion of engineering knowledge into initial sales interactions, and in a greater dependence on social and interactive skills. The technicization of sales is further compounded by the need to communicate contextual knowledge. Co-development and shared practice emerge as dominant forms of work organization in the non-standard market.

Suggested Citation

  • Asaf Darr, 2002. "The Technicization of Sales Work: an Ethnographic Study in the US Electronics Industry," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 16(1), pages 47-65, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:16:y:2002:i:1:p:47-65
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170222119245
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09500170222119245
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09500170222119245?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen R. Barley & Gideon Kunda, 2001. "Bringing Work Back In," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 76-95, February.
    2. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    3. Geertz, Clifford, 1978. "The Bazaar Economy: Information and Search in Peasant Marketing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(2), pages 28-32, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Haucap, Justus, 2017. "The rule of law and the emergence of market exchange: A new institutional economic perspective," DICE Discussion Papers 276, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    2. Aspers, Patrik & Darr, Asaf & Kohl, Sebastian, 2007. "An economic sociological look at economic anthropology," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 9(1), pages 3-10.
    3. Rohini Somanathan, 2016. "Group Inequality in Democracies: Lessons from Cross-National Experiences," Working Papers id:11335, eSocialSciences.
    4. Mark Granovetter, 2005. "The Impact of Social Structure on Economic Outcomes," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 33-50, Winter.
    5. Laurent Thévenot, 1989. "Équilibre et rationalité dans un univers complexe," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 40(2), pages 147-198.
    6. Bedi, Arjun S., 1999. "The Role of Information and Communication Technologies in Economic Development: A Partial Survey," Discussion Papers 279848, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    7. Jean-Bernard Boyabé, 1999. "« Marché informel » : une lecture critique du modèle d'Akerlof," Revue Tiers Monde, Programme National Persée, vol. 40(157), pages 169-186.
    8. John A. List, 2009. "The Economics of Open Air Markets," NBER Working Papers 15420, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Sik, Endre, 1997. "A kgst-piachely a mai Magyarországon," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(4), pages 322-338.
    10. Jeffrey J. Reuer & Ramakrishna Devarakonda, 2017. "Partner Selection in R&D Collaborations: Effects of Affiliations with Venture Capitalists," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(3), pages 574-595, June.
    11. Gaute Torsvik, 2000. "Social Capital And Economic Development," Rationality and Society, , vol. 12(4), pages 451-476, November.
    12. Jeffrey J. Reuer & Nandini Lahiri, 2014. "Searching for Alliance Partners: Effects of Geographic Distance on the Formation of R&D Collaborations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 283-298, February.
    13. Henrik Egbert, 2007. "The Culture of a Market: A Case Study of Open-Air Horse Markets," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 163(3), pages 493-502, September.
    14. Assaf Razin & Efraim Sadka & Chi-Wa Yuen, 1999. "An Information-Based Model of Foreign Direct Investment: The Gains from Trade Revisited," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 6(4), pages 579-596, November.
    15. Tisdell, Clem, 2014. "Information Technology's Impacts on Productivity, Welfare and Social Change: Second Version," Economic Theory, Applications and Issues Working Papers 195701, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    16. Janvier D. Nkurunziza, 2005. "Reputation and Credit without Collateral in Africa`s Formal Banking," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2005-02, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    17. Konduru, Srinivasa & Kalaitzandonakes, Nicholas G. & Magnier, Alexandre, 2009. "GMO Testing Strategies and Implications for Trade: A Game Theoretic Approach," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49594, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. König, Philipp J. & Pothier, David, 2018. "Safe but fragile: Information acquisition, sponsor support and shadow bank runs," Discussion Papers 15/2018, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    19. Andrea Attar & Thomas Mariotti & François Salanié, 2021. "Entry-Proofness and Discriminatory Pricing under Adverse Selection," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(8), pages 2623-2659, August.
    20. Reynolds, Travis & Kolodinsky, Jane & Murray, Byron, 2012. "Consumer preferences and willingness to pay for compact fluorescent lighting: Policy implications for energy efficiency promotion in Saint Lucia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 712-722.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:16:y:2002:i:1:p:47-65. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.