Aviv Shoham

Export performance and market orientation: establishing an empirical link

Abstract This study examines the export performance consequences of a market orientation and the potential moderating impact of the competitive, technological, and market environment. Market orientation was positively related to three dimensions of export performance: change in export sales, export profits, and change in export profits. The impact of market orientation on export profits and change in export profits was stronger in a technologically turbulent environment. Overall, this study synthesizes two important streams of research, assesses the moderating impact of the environment, and empirically establishes a relation between market orientation and export performance.

Entrepreneurial, market, and learning orientations and international entrepreneurial business venture performance in South African firms

Purpose – This study examines the interrelationships between aspects of entrepreneurial, market, and learning orientations, and international entrepreneurial business venture (IEBV) performance.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 396 entrepreneurs and 143 senior managers from early stage, growth‐oriented firms in the Republic of South Africa. These firms had an international focus in that 20 per cent began exporting from their inception and the remaining 80 per cent either began exporting within three years of inception or planned to export within three years of inception. Given the multidimensional nature of IEBV performance, structural equation modeling (AMOS) was used to test the measurement and substantive models.Findings – Results indicate that IEBV performance is positively related to the innovativeness component of an entrepreneurial orientation (EO), a market orientation, and a learning orientation. Contrary to expectations, the communications aspect of EO is inversely related t...

Market orientation and performance: a meta‐analysis

Purpose – To assess quantitatively the impact of market orientation on the performance of the firm. While much empirical work has centered on market orientation, the generalizability of its impact on performance has been under‐researched.Design/methodology/approach – A substantive meta‐analysis quantitatively summarizes the results of empirical studies of the direct and indirect impact of market orientation on three outcomes. A second, methodological meta‐analysis assessed the influence of methodological variables on explained variance in performance.Findings – The direct, indirect, and total impacts of market orientation on performance were all significant. Additionally, the geographic location of the study and the performance measure used (but not the scale) affected explained variance.Research limitations/implications – First, across study contexts, market orientation affects performance. Second, its impact might be stronger than previously thought due to the indirect paths not considered in previous r...

Animosity on the Home Front: The Intifada in Israel and Its Impact on Consumer Behavior

International animosity significantly affects the purchase of foreign products. However, domestic conflicts are also rampant in many countries, giving rise to similar issues. October 2000 marked the beginning of the second Arab Intifada (uprising) in Israel. In contrast to the first Intifada of the late 1980s and early 1990s, this time, Israeli Arabs joined the Palestinians in violent demonstrations in Israeli locations with large Arab concentrations. This research studies Jewish Israelis’ reactions to Arab Israelis in the context of purchases and consumption of products and services produced or marketed by Arab Israelis. It examines animosity, its antecedents, and its consumption consequences within the large Jewish majority of the population in Israel. The authors find that dogmatism, nationalism, and internationalism affect animosity, which in turn predicts willingness to buy and actual changes in purchase behavior for goods and services produced or marketed by Israeli Arabs. In contrast to previous research, animosity also predicts product judgments.

Market Orientations in the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector: A Meta-Analysis of Their Relationships With Organizational Performance:

In their effort to improve performance, many voluntary and nonorofit organizations (VNPOs) have turned to market mechanisms, hoping to learn and implement innovative ideas and methods that proved useful in the private sector. This article adopts the businesslike concept of “marketing” into the arena of VNPOs by offering a meta-analysis to assess the marketing orientation (MO) in the VNPO sector. The article attempts to answer three questions: (a) What is the theoretical grounding and rationality for using MO strategies in the VNPO sector? (b) Can the VNPO sector benefit from an MO approach? (c) Is the MO perspective applicable for organizations without “profit” as a main goal? The findings were compared with findings in the for-profit sector and were found to be stronger. Finally, using a second, methodological meta-analysis, boundary conditions on the MO-performance link were assessed. The implications for VNPOs are discussed and directions for future research are outlined.

Entrepreneurial orientation and international entrepreneurial business venture startup

Purpose – This study seeks to examine the interrelationships among three elements of an entrepreneurial orientation (proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk‐taking), age and education of the entrepreneur, and the international entrepreneurial business venture (IEBV) start‐up decision.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from a sample of 539 individuals from dynamic internationally focused South African firms. Since the dependent variable is non‐metric and the independent variables associated with the IEBV new entry decision are metric, multiple discriminant analysis was used to test new entry decisions.Findings – Results indicate that the start‐up decision is positively related to the proactiveness and risk‐taking components of an entrepreneurial orientation and the age of the lead entrepreneur and negatively related to the education of the lead entrepreneur. As predicted, the innovativeness component of entrepreneurial orientation is not a factor in the start‐up decision.Practical implicatio...

Compulsive buying behavior

Consumer compulsive buying is an important area of inquiry in consumer behavior research. The importance of studying compulsive buying, stems, in part, from its nature as a negative aspect of consumer behavior. Specifically, exploring negative consumption phenomena could provide modified or new perspectives for the study of positive consumption behaviors. Moreover, research on negative facets of consumption is useful because it can potentially contribute to society’s wellbeing, an important criterion for usefulness of any research. This paper builds on earlier papers to propose a model of compulsivity antecedents. Gender, consumers’ tendency to make unplanned purchases, and their tendency to buy products not on shopping lists, serve to predict compulsive tendencies in a sample of Israeli consumers. The findings suggest that these antecedents affect compulsive tendencies.

He said, she said … they said: parents' and children's assessment of children's influence on family consumption decisions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to examine the impact of Israeli children on family decision making.Design/methodology/approach – Two studies were used, replicating two different approaches that have been used to measure childrens influence with US children. In study one, a survey was given to each parent, whereas, in study two, a survey was given to each parent and their child.Findings – Findings indicate that Israeli children have a similar influence to US children, suggesting that, overall, Israeli children exercise quite strong influence on family decision making. This was the case when rated by children, as well as by both mothers and fathers.Research limitations/implications – Two main ways to improve on this kind of research in the future are using a non‐convenience sample and collecting data from multiple countries for cross‐cultural comparisons.Practical implications – One important implication of the findings is that children across cultures tend to have higher influence for products th...

Family communication and children's purchasing influence: a cross-national examination

Abstract This study examines the effect of family communication patterns on the purchasing influence of children aged 3–8 in the US and Japan. Overall, family communication processes, as well as childs age, influence both the direct and indirect purchasing power of children. Concept-oriented communication, which encourages children to develop an independent consumption perspective, increases the direct and indirect purchasing influence of children. Socio-oriented communication, which encourages deference to parental standards, is related to increased consumption dependence.

Competitive determinants of organizational risk‐taking attitude: the role of strategic reference points

A growing body of literature has emphasized the importance of innovative strategy as a source of competitive advantage. Drazin and Shoonhoven summarized the literature using multilevel theoretical perspectives (community, population, and organization) that affect organizational innovative behavior. In parallel, Fiegenbaum et al. developed an organizational level theory, based on prospect theory, to explain how risky strategies are determined within organizations. They argued that organizational reference points delineate organizational attitudes toward risk‐taking into two polarized regimes: risk‐aversive whereas below it is risk‐assertive. They described the organizational mechanism that converts attitudes toward risk‐taking into actual risk‐aversive and risk‐assertive strategic behavior. A three‐dimensional space is provided that illustrates the spectrum of strategic reference points (SRP). The current study extends SRP theory. It is proposed that the nature of the industry, organizational strategy, and performance impact the kind of reference points used, which, in turn, impact risk‐taking behavior towards innovative strategy.