Carmen Otero-Neira

Low‐tech, small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises and the practice of new product development

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the new product management practices adopted by low‐tech small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the context of design‐intensive products.Design/methodology/approach – The results are based on a multi‐case comparative setting covering SMEs in furniture industry in three countries, Italy, Spain and Finland.Findings – The study shows considerable differences in performance that occur in terms of the degree of design and innovation, goal orientation and the systematics by which a single furniture business is managed. Proactiveness and freedom in design and innovation together with systematic new product development (NPD) and goal orientation enhances NPD performance. As to the new product uniqueness, innovative design is applicable in furniture industry much as in a similar way as new technological knowledge is in technology industries. The management education and/or interests which are closely related to furniture design and decoration have a clear imp...

Market Orientation and Entrepreneurial Proclivity: Antecedents of Innovation

Purpose: Innovation has been traditionally considered as a generator of competitiveness. Despite the increasing importance of innovation in the literature, there is no agreement about its antecedents. This clearly makes difficult and risky for the managers to choose suitable strategies to promote and develop successful innovations. The present research attempts to contribute to this important area by providing some critical insights on the origins of the innovative behaviour of the firms; namely: market orientation and entrepreneurial proclivity. Design/methodology/approach: To reach our goal we used in-depth case research methodology in furniture firms from Italy, Spain and Finland. Findings: The article contributes to the understanding of why some firms are more innovative than others. The study shows some evidence that market orientation and the entrepreneurship can be considered as antecedents of innovation. Research limitations/implications: We provide evidence that the furniture industry shows a tendency to innovate based on its market orientation along with its entrepreneurial proclivity probably due to the fact that it is a traditional, non-globalized low-tech sector. Future studies might also address other variables related to different competitive settings. Practical implications: This work presents direct implications for companies aiming at improving their innovation capabilities. First, it is recommended that entrepreneurial firms should promote a market orientation philosophy, and second, they also need the top management commitment in terms of people and financial resources to achieve its goals. Originality/value: This article offers an insight to explain why some companies are more successful at starting and developing innovation than others. The finding that a successful innovation profile is related to entrepreneurship and the market orientation of the company represents an interesting contribution to the management of firms.

Exploring the relationship among servant leadership, intrinsic motivation and performance in an industrial sales setting

Purpose – Although servant leadership (SL) improves the overall effectiveness of individuals and teams, it remains understudied. The aim of this paper is to provide insight into the mediating mechanisms through which perceived SL affects salespersons’ proactive and adaptive behaviors. Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered from 145 industrial salespeople and their supervisors across a variety of businesses and sectors in Spain. Findings – SL enhances salespeople’s adaptivity and proactivity by positively affecting their self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, SL directly shapes the development of adaptive behaviors among salespeople, although this direct influence is not significant when considering proactivity. Additionally, the use of outcome-based control mechanisms enhances the positive effects of SL on salespeople’s intrinsic motivation. Practical implications – The results demonstrate that sales managers can promote more proactive and adaptive behaviors among sales staff by re...

New aspects of research to assess and manage critical incidents in service encounters: Teleological actions, interactive interface and perceptual gaps

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to describe the teleological actions needed to assess and manage critical incidents that cause negative emotions in service encounters. Teleological actions are movements into the future that are believed to be move either towards a predictable/known or unpredictable/unknown state or condition. The authors distinguish between, define and apply three categories: transformative – ad hoc and present-based actions; formative – pre-determined and past-based actions; and rationalist – goal-directed and future-based actions. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative study, based upon a two-phase approach applying convenience and judgemental sampling, was used. Focussing on one teleological theory, a process of abductive matching was applied throughout the study. Abductive matching refers to recurring themes, patterns and categories that are uncovered through the iterative processes of analysis. The teleological framework structured and guided the data collection and emp...

Competitive reaction to the introduction of a new product: an exploratory market signalling study

Firms are in constant need of improving their competitive position. To do so, they employ a variety of marketing strategies such as introducing new products, price cutting of existing products and increasing marketing budgets. Reactions from competitors partly determine the success or failure of such marketing strategies and whether or not they result in competitive advantages. To expand upon the signalling theory, this study examines: first, the relationships between product innovativeness, competitive intensity and market signals, and second, the relationships between market signals, rival knowledge and type of competitive reaction. Using a sample of 93 key informants, the research primarily suggests that product innovativeness influences the signals of consequences and commitment, whereas competitive intensity has only a positive impact on the consequences signal. Furthermore the signals of consequences and commitment are negatively related to simple (or similar) reaction. Lastly, the responding firms knowledge of its rivals also has an influence on simple reaction. The study concludes with the implications of findings on future research and managerial practice.

Understanding the probability of response to competitive actions

Purpose – The interdependence of firms in the marketplace implies that the effectiveness of an action cannot be valued without considering potential reactions. Therefore, the main objectives of this paper are to analyse the effect of the initiating company characteristics on the perceived attributes of its action and to understand the effect of these dimensions on the number of companies that respond to it.Design/methodology/approach – Based on action‐reaction dynamics, a series of hypotheses was theoretically justified inking the characteristics of the actor with the dimensions of its action, and these dimensions with the probability of response from rivals. Their validity with data obtained from a survey of marketing managers of Spanish companies was checked, using a variety of statistical techniques.Findings – Results indicate that the probability of reaction is influenced by the level of visible threat of action. Further findings indicate that the leadership position of the actor has an indirect influ...

Supervisory servant leadership and employee’s work role performance: A multilevel mediation model

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore whether employee’s perceived organizational support and organizational identification (OID) have a mediating role in the relationship between supervisor’s servant leadership and employee’s organization member performance. Design/methodology/approach The sample used in this study consists of 181 salespeople and 83 sales managers. The model entails a cross-level mediation process that was tested using dyadic data and multilevel structural equation modeling. Findings Findings show that sales managers’ servant leadership is directly and positively related to salespeople’s organization member performance. In addition, sales managers’ servant leadership is indirectly related to salespeople’s organization member performance through the salespeople’s perceived organizational support – salespeople’s OID chain. Practical implications In order to increase employee’s organizational member performance, employees with a “we” mentality and who feel the need to serve should be selected for and promoted to supervisors. To enhance employees’ perceived organizational support and OID is also important, as these factors will encourage employees to behave in the best interest of the organization. Originality/value This is the first study to provide evidence for the relationship between servant leadership and organization member performance, as well as the mediating roles of employee’s perceived organizational support and OID on this relationship.

Impression Management Tactics and Performance Ratings: A Moderated-Mediation Framework

ABSTRACT Purpose: The objective of this study is to contribute to the sales management literature by analyzing whether self-monitoring dimensions (the ability to adjust the presentation of one’s self and the sensitivity to the expressive behaviors of others) play a moderating role in the use of impression management—supervisor liking—performance rating nomological network. Methodology/approach: Empirical analysis is based on dyadic data from 122 industrial salespeople and their sales managers in 9 different industries. Structural equation modelling was used to analyze the psychometric proprieties of the measurement scales, and conditional process analysis was used to test the proposed hypotheses. Research implications: The results obtained indicate that the use of supervisor-focused impression management tactics is an indirect antecedent of a salesperson’s performance rating through sales manager liking, but not the self-focused tactics. Results also show that a self-monitoring dimension i.e., the ability to adjust the presentation of one’s self, moderates the “impression management—supervisor liking—performance rating” chain. These results provide an increased understanding of the processes involved in sales managers—salespeople’s interactions. Practical implications: The main implication for salespeople is that the use of impression management tactics to influence performance ratings only is effective when they use supervisor-focused tactics because attempts to influence via self-focused tactics will not have any effect. The most important implication for sales managers’ is that not all impression management tactics are successfully executed and that the identification of combinations of impression management tactics and the levels of salespeople’s self-monitoring can positively influence performance appraisals by generating evaluative biases. Given that evaluative biases can produce inequitable behaviors by sales managers in the task assignments and support provided to the salespeople, it is important that sales managers are aware of when they can occur (i.e., when salespeople with a moderate ability to adjust their self-presentation use supervisor-focused tactics). Originality/value/contribution of the article: This article contributes to the existing knowledge by two important means. First, this study proposes a model and presents an empirical test of constructs that mediate (i.e., supervisor liking) and moderate (i.e., self-monitoring dimensions) the “use of impression management tactics—sales manager liking—performance appraisal” relation. This model responds to calls for studies that analyze how impression management tactics are related to performance appraisal and when the relation between the use of these tactics and performance rating occurs. Two, this study uses data from both salespeople and their sales managers, which minimizes any risk of common method variance bias.

Teleological Actions in Negative Service Encounters

Teleological actions are movements into the future that are believed to be move either towards a predictable/known or unpredictable/unknown state or condition. The authors distinguish between, define and apply three categories: (1) transformative—ad hoc and present-based actions; (2) formative—pre-determined and past-based actions; and (3) rationalist—goal-directed and future-based actions.

Negative emotions in Mexican, Puerto Rican and Spanish hospitals: A multinational assessment of service settings

Purpose – This paper aims to assess negative emotions in Mexican, Puerto Rican and Spanish service settings in the hospital industry. The paper also attempts to validate previous findings in existing theory and previous studies across three national samples and describes the similarities and differences in negative emotions between Mexican, Puerto Rican and Spanish service settings. Design/methodology/approach – The current study comprised Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Spaniards who experienced a service failure (i.e. critical incident) in hospital settings within the past year. A descriptive research design was followed, and a self-administered questionnaire was applied to gather the data from respondents. Findings – The three-dimensional construct of negative emotions commonly identified in existing theory and previous studies of negative emotions turned out to be four in the current multinational study. Research limitations/implications – The four-dimensional construct of negative emotions thus revealed ...