Research and Case Study Archives

DSEF maintains an online archive of academic research papers and case studies addressing relevant topics to the direct selling industry and business in general.

Research Archive

Research articles and reports on this web site were authored by an academician and meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Published or accepted for publication in a recognized, peer-reviewed academic journal;
• Submitted final report of a research project funded by DSEF.

The materials referenced herein are subject to copyright restrictions as specified on the original materials. Reprint permission must be attained from the publisher as warranted.

Case Study Archive

Case studies posted on this web site were completed by an academician and meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Published or accepted for publication in a recognized, peer-reviewed academic journal;
• Published in a current edition of a textbook used in college-level business courses;
• Final version of a case study funded by DSEF.

The materials referenced herein are subject to copyright restrictions as specified on the original materials. Reprint permission must be attained from the publisher as warranted.

• A Market-Based Approach to Understanding Communication and Teamworking
• A Profile of Urban In-Home Shoppers
• A Survey of Sales Incentive Programs
• An Appraisal of Computerized Life Insurance Estate Planning
• An Integrative Review of Material Possession Attachment
• Avon Products, Inc.: Developing a Global Perspective
• Avon Products, Inc.: A Case Narrative in Company Relations with Customers and Suppliers
• Case 26: Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.
• Channel Redistribution with Direct Selling
• China’s Consumer Revolution: Distribution Reform, Foreign Investment and the Impact of the WTO
• Cognitive Selling Scripts and Sales Training
• Comparisons of Salespeople in Multilevel vs. Single Level Direct Selling Organizations
• Consumers Who Buy from Direct Sales Companies
• Development of Market Orientation and Competitiveness of Ukrainian Firms
• Dimensions of Future Marketing
• Direct Sales Franchises in the UK: A Self-Employment Grey Area
• Direct Selling: Consumer Versus Salesman
• Direct Selling
• Direct Selling Ethics at the Top: An Industry Audit and Status Report
• Direct Selling in the United States: A Commentary and Oral History
• Direct Selling in the West and East: The Relative Roles of Product and Relationship
• Economic and Marketing Aspects of the Direct Selling Industry
• Electronic Marketing in the 1990s
• Encyclopedia Britannica International: Exploring Emerging Market Opportunities
• Ethical Issues Connected with Multi-Level Marketing Schemes
• Ethics Code Familiarity and Usefulness: Views on Idealist and Relativist Managers Under Varying Conditions of Turbulence
• Evaluating the FTC Cooling-Off Rule
• Extending the External Validity of the FITD Effect to the Industrial Marketplace
• Fraudulent Behavior by Consumers
• From the Practitioner’s Desk: A Comment on “What Is Direct Selling? Definition, Perspectives, and Research Agenda”
• Full-Time vs. Part-Time Salespeople: A Comparison on Job Satisfaction
• Giving Ethics the Business
• Identifying the Determinants of Internal Marketing Orientation
• Independent Contractors in Direct Selling: Self-Employed But Missing from Official Records
• Leaders in Sales and Sales Management
• Linking Perceived Service Quality and Service Loyalty: A Multi-Dimensional Perspective
• Longaberger Baskets: Changing Marketing in Changing Times
• Making the Market Work: Enhancing Consumer Sovereignty Through the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the Distance Selling Directive
• Managing Direct Selling Activities in China: A Cultural Explanation
• Marketing Fraud: An Approach for Differentiating Multilevel Marketing from Pyramid Schemes
• Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.: Corporate Planning in an Era of Uncertainty
• Measurement of Trust in Salesperson-Customer Relationships in Direct Selling
• Met Expectations and Turnover in Direct Selling
• Microcomputer Applications: An Electronic Bulletin Board System for the Sales Profession
• Multilevel Marketing and Antifraud Statutes: Legal Enterprises of Pyramid Schemes?
• Negotiating with a Customer You Can’t Afford to Lose
• Network Marketing in South Africa: An Exploratory Study of Consumer Perceptions
• Network Marketing Organizations: Compensation Plans, Retail Network Growth, and Profitability
• New Home-Shopping Technologies
• Non-Store Retailing in Japan: A Huge and Potentially Lucrative Market
• Optimizing Rhenania’s Mail-Order Business Through Dynamic Multilevel Modeling (DMLM)
• Potential Impact of ‘Cooling-Off’ Laws on Direct-to-Home Selling
• Prospecting by Telephone Prenotification: An Application of the Foot-in-the-Door Technique
• Reflections on Channels Research
• Research Note: A Study of Direct Selling Perceptions in Australia
• Sales Force Management: Planning, Implementation, and Control
• Shaklee Corporation: Sales Management
• Stereotype of the Salesman
• Strategies for Successful Penetration of the Japanese Market or How to Beat Japan at Its Own Game
• Students’ Perception of Personal Selling
• Techniques That Reduce Salesforce Frustration
• The Capabilities and Performance Advantages of Market-Driven Firms
• The Effect of Effort on Sales Performance and Job Satisfaction
• The Effect of Goal-Setting on the PErformance of Independent Sales Agents in Direct Selling
• The Impact of Ethics Code Familiarity on Manager Behavior
• The Mature Consumer: How Successful are Direct Marketing and Direct Selling in This Segment of the Population?
• The Relationship of Job Image, Performance, and Job Satisfaction to Inactivity-Proneness of Direct Salespeople
• The Role and Importance of the Salesperson in Creating a Competitive Advantage
• The Wheel of Retailing and Non-Store Evolution: An Alternative Hypothesis
• The Practice of Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning and Implementation
• Trade Shows Mean Bigger Business
• What Is Direct Selling? Definition, Perspectives, and Research Agenda