J. Brock Smith

The effects of organizational differences and trust on the effectiveness of selling partner relationships.

Selling alliances that are formed to cooperatively develop and maintain customer relationships are among the new organizational forms that marketing managers utilize for competitive advantage. To b...

Toward a Theory of Entrepreneurial Cognition: Rethinking the People Side of Entrepreneurship Research

The failure of past “entrepreneurial personality”—based research to clearly distinguish the unique contributions to the entrepreneurial process of entrepreneurs as people, has created a vacuum within the entrepreneurship literature that has been waiting to be filled. Recently, the application of ideas and concepts from cognitive science has gained currency within entrepreneurship research, as evidenced by the growing accumulation of successful studies framed in entrepreneurial cognition terms. In this article we reexamine “the people side of entrepreneurship” by summarizing the state of play within the entrepreneurial cognition research stream, and by integrating the five articles accepted for publication in this special issue into this ongoing narrative. We believe that the constructs, variables, and proposed relationships under development within the cognitive perspective offer research concepts and techniques that are well suited to the analysis of problems that require better explanations of the contributions to entrepreneurship that are distinctly human.

Customer Value Creation: A Practical Framework

Creation of value for customers is a critical task for marketers, particularly when developing new products and services or starting new businesses. This paper presents a new conceptual framework for marketers to ponder when exploring ways to distinguish themselves, in the eyes of the customer, from others in the marketplace. This framework is built on the strengths of existing frameworks. Possible applications of the framework in designing marketing strategy, recognizing new product opportunities, and enhancing product concept specifications are discussed.

The Central Question in Entrepreneurial Cognition Research 2007

In this article, we take note of advances in the entrepreneurial cognition research stream. In doing so, we bring increasing attention to the usefulness of entrepreneurial cognition research. First, we offer and develop a central research question to further enable entrepreneurial cognition inquiry. Second, we present the conceptual background and some representative approaches to entrepreneurial cognition research that form the context for this question. Third, we introduce the articles in this Special Issue as framed by the central question and approaches to entrepreneurial cognition research, and suggest how they further contribute to this developing stream. Finally, we offer our views concerning the challenges and opportunities that await the next generation of entrepreneurial cognition scholarship. We therefore invite (and seek to enable) the growing community of entrepreneurship researchers from across multiple disciplines to further develop the “thinking–doing” link in entrepreneurship research. It is our goal to offer colleagues an effective research staging point from which they may embark upon many additional research expeditions and investigations involving entrepreneurial cognition.

Buyer–Seller relationships: Similarity, relationship management, and quality

Trends of increased diversity in domestic markets and globalization require marketers to interact with dissimilar others. This study draws on similarity-attraction theory and examines the effects of similarity on relationship management behaviors and relationship quality. Similarity in buyer–seller work attitudes, sex, life stage, and personality are found to have differential effects in facilitating open communication, relationship investment, and relationalism. The effects of similarity on relationship quality are found to be primarily indirect, through facets of relationship management. Management implications are discussed.

Are Entrepreneurial Cognitions Universal? Assessing Entrepreneurial Cognitions across Cultures

In this study we examine three research questions concerned with entrepreneurial cognition and culture: (1) Do entrepreneurs have cognitions distinct from those of other business people? (2) To what extent are entrepreneurial cognitions universal? and (3) To what extent do entrepreneurial cognitions differ by national culture? These questions were investigated in an exploratory study using data collected from 990 respondents in eleven countries. We find, in answer to question one, that individuals who possess “professional entrepreneurial cognitions” do indeed have cognitions that are distinct from business non-entrepreneurs. In answer to question two, we report further confirmation of a universal culture of entrepreneurship. And in answer to question three, we find (a) observed differences on eight of the ten proposed cognition constructs, and (b) that the pattern of country representation within an empirically developed set of entrepreneurial archetypes does indeed differ among countries. Our results suggest increasing credibility for the cognitive explanation of entrepreneurial phenomena in the cross-cultural setting.

The Distinctive and Inclusive Domain of Entrepreneurial Cognition Research

Through mapping both distinctive and inclusive elements within the domain of entrepreneurial cognition research, we accomplish our task in this introductory article to Volume 2 of the Special Issue on Information Processing and Entrepreneurial Cognition: to provide a fitting backdrop that will enhance the articles you will find within. We develop and utilize a “boundaries and exchange” concept to provide a lens through which both distinctive and inclusive aspects of the entrepreneurship domain are employed to frame this special issue.

Selling alliances: Issues and insights

Abstract Selling alliances are one of the new organizational responses to the increased complexity faced by firms in high technology and other dynamic industries. This article draws on a series of in-depth interviews to uncover selling alliance management issues. The article then reports the results of an empirical investigation of one key issue: What differentiates effective from ineffective relationships between partner sales representatives? Results suggest that open communication, trust, and perceived interdependence are critical factors that differentiate high, medium, and low performing selling partner relationships; organization compatibility factors do not. The management implications of these findings are discussed.

Entrepreneurial Scripts and the New Transaction Commitment Mindset: Extending the Expert Information Processing Theory Approach to Entrepreneurial Cognition Research

In this study, we extend the expert information processing theory approach to entrepreneurial cognition research through an empirical exploration of the new transaction commitment mindset among business people in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Using analysis of covariance, multivariate analysis of variance, and hierarchical regression analysis of data from a cross–sectional sample of 417 respondents, our results provide a foundation for additional cross–level theory development, with related implications for increasing the practicality of expert information processing theory–based entrepreneurial cognition research. Specifically, this paper: (1) clarifies the nature of the relationship between entrepreneurial expert scripts and constructs that might represent an entrepreneurial mindset at the individual level of analysis; (2) identifies analogous relationships at the economy level of analysis, where the structure found at the individual level informs an economy–level problem; (3) presents a North American Free Trade Agreement–based illustration analysis to demonstrate the extent to which cognitive findings at the individual level can be used to explain economy–level phenomena; and (4) extrapolates from our analysis some of the ways in which script–based comparisons across country or culture can inform the more general task of making information processing–based comparisons among entrepreneurs across other contexts.

Comparative Entrepreneurial Cognitions and Lagging Russian New Venture Formation: A Tale of Two Countries

Changes in Russian government and economic systems over the last 15 years led to expectations of increased entrepreneurial activity. Yet potential entrepreneurs are deciding to venture at a much lower rate than anticipated. New venture creation in Russia is occurring at a rate that is considerably lower than that of the United States and Western Europe. This research examines cognitive similarities and differences among Russian and U.S. entrepreneurs and nonentrepreneurs to find a possible explanation. Multivariate analysis of variance and multiple discriminant analysis results found similarities between U.S. and Russian experts and U.S. and Russian novices with respect to arrangements, willingness, and ability scripts, but differences in these scripts were found between experts and novices, particularly in Russia. Implications for entrepreneurship cognition research and public policy are discussed.