Bulent Menguc

Creating a Firm-Level Dynamic Capability through Capitalizing on Market Orientation and Innovativeness

Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, this study addresses the dynamic capability-generating capacity of market orientation on firm performance. Whereas prior literature has examined environmental turbulence as a contextual condition shaping the market orientation-firm performance relationship, this study takes an internal approach by focusing on existing stocks of resources within the firm while controlling for environmental conditions. A conceptual model is developed that explains how market orientation can be transformed into dynamic capability when complemented by transformational (reconfig-urational) constructs, such as innovativeness. The empirical results support the authors— theory that the effect of market orientation on firm performance is strengthened when market orientation is bundled together with internal complementary resources, such as innovativeness. The authors discuss the findings in the context of varying stages of the product life cycle and at different levels of market development.

The employee-organization relationship, organizational citizenship behaviors, and superior service quality

Abstract This study proposes a model of customer-contact service employee management that examines organizational citizenship behaviors as critical links between aspects of the employee-organization relationship (perceived organizational support, organizational identification) and customers’ perceptions of service quality. In addition, it investigates the role of job autonomy in providing the necessary behavioral discretion for employees to be able to perform citizenship behaviors. The hypothesized model was partially supported. Theoretical and managerial implications are explored.

Just entrepreneurial enough: the moderating effect of entrepreneurship on the relationship between market orientation and performance

Within the literature of marketing and management, researchers have explored different models that examine the relationships between market orientation, entrepreneurship, and performance. In this paper, we offer a new model that includes curvilinearity in the moderating effect of entrepreneurship on the relationship between market orientation and performance. Utilizing structural equation modeling, we test our proposed model using a sample of 231 not-for-profit hospitals. The proposed model produces the best fit. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

When customers disappoint: A model of relational internal marketing and customer complaints

The objective of this study is to examine internal marketing relationships and their influence on salesperson attitudes and behaviors in retail store environments. The authors investigate the moderating role of customer complaining behavior on the nature of these relationships. Specifically, they examine the relationship between organization-employee and supervisor-employee relationships and their association with salesperson job motivation and commitment to customer service. Customer complaints are expected to have differential moderating effects on the relationship between organizational and supervisory support and these salesperson outcomes. Our hypotheses were tested using a sample of 392 retail employees within 115 stores of a national retail organization. The model was partially supported. Theoretical and managerial implications are explored.

Revisiting Firm Characteristics, Strategy, and Export Performance Relationship:: A Survey of the Literature and an Investigation of New Zealand Small Manufacturing Firms

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine differences between low vs. high-performance exporters. For this purpose, the effects of selected firm-related and export strategy-related variables on three selected measures of export performance (i.e., annual export sales, export growth, and percentage of total sales from export) are tested. The results of discriminant analysis demonstrate significant differences between low- vs. high-performance exporters.

Organizational Consequences, Marketing Ethics and Salesforce Supervision: Further Empirical Evidence

This study comparatively examines supervisory reactions of Turkish sales managers to potentially ethical and unethical salesperson behaviors while replicating Hunt and Vasquez-Parraga (1993). Four scenarios representing ethical and unethical conditions of over-stating plant capacity utilization and over-recommending expensive products were presented to the managers. As a result of this comparative study, it is empirically demonstrated that Turkish managers primarily rely on the inherent rightness of a behavior with a focus on the individual (i.e., deontological evaluations) in determining whether a salespersons behaviors ethical or unethical, but the moral worth of a behavior (i.e., teleological evaluations) also play a role. Turkish managers rely both on the deontological and teleological evaluations in determining their intention to intervene through discipline and rewards. Furthermore, the results are consistent with Hunt and Vitell (1986), Etzionis moderate deontology and inconsistent with the P-utility theory and ethical egoism.This study comparatively examines supervisory reactions of Turkish sales managers to potentially ethical and unethical salesperson behaviors while replicating Hunt and Vasquez-Parraga (1993). Four scenarios representing ethical and unethical conditions of over-stating plant capacity utilization and over-recommending expensive products were presented to the managers. As a result of this comparative study, it is empirically demonstrated that Turkish managers primarily rely on the inherent rightness of a behavior with a focus on the individual (i.e., deontological evaluations) in determining whether a salespersons behaviors ethical or unethical, but the moral worth of a behavior (i.e., teleological evaluations) also play a role. Turkish managers rely both on the deontological and teleological evaluations in determining their intention to intervene through discipline and rewards. Furthermore, the results are consistent with Hunt and Vitell (1986), Etzionis moderate deontology and inconsistent with the P-utility theory and ethical egoism.

A Test of Strategic Orientation Formation versus Strategic Orientation Implementation: The Influence of Tmt Functional Diversity and Inter-Functional Coordination

The authors argue that strategic orientation formation and strategic orientation implementation are different. The authors also assert that they require different levels of the same antecedents. More specifically, the proposed model posits that strategic orientation formation and implementation are a function of top management team’s (TMT) functional diversity and interfunctional coordination. This two-stage model of strategic orientation suggests that on the one hand strategic orientation formation is about consensus making based on diverse views. Strategic orientation implementation underscores the significance of efficient and seamless operationalization of the strategic orientation formed in the first stage of the model. Data obtained from TMTs support our empirical results in that moderate to high TMT functional diversity and high inter-functional coordination are important in the strategic orientation formation stage while low to moderate TMT functional diversity and inter-functional coordination are critical in the implementation stage.

Re‐examining field sales unit performance

Purpose – Drawing on the resource‐based view of the firm and the dynamic capabilities perspective, this paper sets out to argue that salespeoples selling skills and their inter‐ and intra‐unit collaborative skills are valuable, rare, socially complex, and inimitable knowledge‐based resources embedded in the human and social capital of field sales units (FSUs). Salespeoples selling and collaborative skills, both directly and interactively, should help field sales units generate greater economic rents. This paper also aims to explore the effect of salespeoples selling and collaborative skills on the level of total compensation through the mediating role of sales unit performance.Design/methodology/approach – The data were obtained from a sample of managers of FSUs in 102 large Canadian organizations. The proposed model and its hypotheses were tested using hierarchical moderated regression analysis.Findings – Collaborative skills, but not selling skills, are directly related to FSU performance; the effect...

Extending the Vision of Social Marketing through Social Capital Theory: Marketing in the Context of Intricate Exchange and Market Failure

Broadening the conceptual boundaries of marketing in the late 1960s led to a significant paradigm shift. Social marketing emerged under the auspices of this extended concept. It is not surprising, therefore, that social marketers have tended to apply conventional marketing tools, albeit within a vastly different context. Thisarticle argues that social marketers, operating in an environment that is characterized by amplified market failure brought about by externalities, may be ill-equipped to foster change utilizing conventional marketing tools. The article proposes that social capital is a useful and appropriate theory to supplement traditional notions ofmarketing to further enhance the field of social marketing.

Managerial practices to sustain service quality: an empirical investigation of New Zealand service firms

A firm’s success in the marketplace is not confirmed by attaining the goal of market leadership, but in sustaining that leadership through the consistent delivery of superior quality service. This research examines three groups of strategies (service quality control practices, service measurement practices and service maintaining practices) adopted by service firms in New Zealand as a means to promote a sustainable and superior quality of service. Also considered in this research is the impact of a number of independent variables, in particular, number of years in business, firm size and type of sector (public or private) on the implementation of such strategies. Empirical findings from this study clearly indicate that sustaining service quality is identified by managers of service firms as one of the most important strategic agenda. However, many of the success proven practices are not utilized by smaller firms.