D. Eric Boyd

When Do Chief Marketing Officers Affect Firm Value? A Customer Power Explanation

Recent discussions in academic literature and the business press often paint an unflattering picture of the contributions of chief marketing officers (CMOs) to the financial value of their firms. Some even suggest that CMOs, despite being the marketing leaders in firms, have little or no effect on firm performance. However, formal empirical research on the impact of CMOs on financial performance is scarce. This article presents conceptual arguments and empirical evidence about this controversial issue. The authors suggest that CMOs are far from irrelevant to the financial performance of firms. However, the impact of CMOs on financial performance is highly contingent on the managerial discretion available to them. Focusing on the role of customer power in limiting the managerial discretion available to CMOs, this study identifies individual and firm-specific conditions in which CMOs contribute more or less to firm value. Analyses of abnormal stock returns associated with the appointment of CMOs provide support for the hypothesized effects of customer power and managerial discretion.

Internet Usage within B2B Exchange Partnerships: A Concecptual Model and Research Propositions

The Internet has been described as a major disruptive technology that has changed the face of B2B exchanges. This paper considers the Internet relative to its ability to support value creation within business-to-business exchange partnerships. The paper oudines four key characteristics that describe the Internet–s attributes relative to value creation and proposes that the Internet–s effect depends upon properly aligning these attributes with the economic and relational factors driving value creation. In particular, the paper proposes a contextual relationship between Internet usage, joint action and the resources shared between exchange partners. The paper concludes with implications regarding the importance of aligning Internet usage for both managing B2B exchange relationships and designing Internet-based B2B exchanges.