Complex and Strategic Decision Making in Organizations:: Implications for Personal Selling and Sales Management

This article seeks to understand complex or strategic decision making and suggest personal selling and sales management strategies to enable organizations to effectively sell in complex decision-making environments. To understand complex and strategic decision making, we conducted an in-depth examination of the manufacturing location selection decision-making process of five organizations. We propose sales management guidelines and directions for future theoretical investigations based on the decision-making processes. Specifically, implications for sales force selling complex and strategic products and services (e.g., location and technology platforms) are addressed. The results suggest an adaptation of national or key accounts may be the best sales strategy for selling products and services that entail complex and strategic decision making.