Revenue Operations (RevOps): An Integrative Device in the Business-to-Business (B2B) Technology Industry

Revenue Operations (RevOps): An Integrative Device in the Business-to-Business (B2B) Technology Industry

Revenue Operations (RevOps) has emerged as a prominent organisational response to the coordination challenges facing go-to-market (GTM) functions in the B2B technology industry, where the shift to as-a-service delivery and subscription-based revenue models has distributed value creation across the entire customer lifecycle. Despite rapid practitioner adoption, RevOps remains theoretically underdeveloped and inconsistently conceptualised. This dissertation examines RevOps as an integrative device through three interconnected studies moving from conceptual clarity to structural composition to stakeholder interpretation.

The first study employs a systematic literature review and semi-structured practitioner interviews to ground RevOps in structural contingency theory (Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967), demonstrating that it satisfies the six determinants of effective integrative devices, integrating GTM functions at the operational layer while keeping the functional layer unique. The second study uses a multivocal literature review and expert insights to identify six foundational pillars and propose a standardised definition specifying what RevOps is, what it does, how it does it, and the outcomes it delivers. The third study deploys a cross-functional survey of GTM stakeholders, using PLS-SEM to test a resource–driver–outcome value chain that explains up to 56.5% and 67% of variance in drivers and outcomes respectively.

The findings validate RevOps as an integrative device while revealing convergence around data, systems, and processes, and divergence around enablement and customer experience - surfacing the precise pillars where RevOps implementations most often fall short. The dissertation extends integrative device theory to multi-function B2B contexts and offers practitioners an evidence-based foundation for designing, implementing, and improving RevOps.

Keywords:Revenue Operations; Integrative Device; Interfunctional Coordination; Sales–Marketing Interface; Market Orientation; Structural Contingency Theory

Thesis director

Prof. Charlotte GASTON-BRETON, Full Professor of Consumer Psychology, ESCP Business School

Referees & Suffragants:

• Prof. Frederic JALLAT, Full Professor of Pricing and Customer Value Management, ESCP Business School
• Prof. Devarajan (Deva) RANGARAJAN, Full Professor of International Negotiation and Sales Management, IESEG School of Management

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