Tracking the Evolution of Theory on Marketing-Sales Relationship: Past, Present and Future

Marketing-Sales relationship is an important field of study as these two units are considered the customer-centric team. Scholarly, it was originally addressed in the 90s while today the relevant theory has its stance in the broader interdepartmental interactions literature. The purpose of this paper is to present a critical synthesis of the Marketing-Sales relationship theory and advance implications for future research and managers. A thorough search resulted in the identification of 13 conceptual and 30 empirical papers. Key arguments, methods and findings are classified under thematic areas and discussed critically. From the review it is evident that extant theory has addressed important aspects of this field; yet, various unanswered issues are identified. This paper provides the first systematic review of the extant literature on this topic and proposes a future research agenda.