Abstract

In the marketing literature, the proper designing of the relationship between the marketing and sales departments has been called an essential challenge before the organizations. In the present article, borrowing from the literature on the organizational strategy and theory, a novel conceptual framework has been offered for designing the relationship between the marketing and sales departments and elaboration of the strategic outcomes resulting from such a relationship. In the literature on strategy, the actualization of organizational ambidexterity, bearing the meaning of paying simultaneous attention to exploration and exploitation, has been described as the most important factors at the base of organizations’ survival and growth. It will be demonstrated in the present article that designing the relationship between marketing and sales departments can be an effective mechanism in the actualization of organizational ambidexterity. The sales department causes the corroboration of the exploitation and the marketing department can bring about a strengthening of exploration in an organization. Moreover, according to the literature on the organizational theory, the proper designing of the cross-functional relationships of the various departments entails the acceptation of the structural differentiation, on the one hand, and the application of integration mechanisms, on the other hand. Creating structural differentiation between the marketing and sales departments can cause the enhancement of the capabilities of each of these two sectors and eventually the elevation of the exploration and exploitation levels. In the meanwhile, in order to actualize the organizational ambidexterity, certain mechanisms should exist in line with easing the cooperation between these two departments as well as parallel to providing for the mutual support of the two departments of one another’s activities.