John W. Cadogan

The performance impact of marketing resources

Recently, there has been much interest in the role of marketing resources in contributing to the creation of competitive advantage and subsequently firm performance. Most of this work to date, however, has been conceptual or theoretical in nature, and there has been little empirical research into the nature and impact of marketing resources. Drawing on literature from both the marketing and strategic management disciplines, the authors develop and empirically test scales for measuring marketing resources and assess their impact on performance outcomes. The findings indicate that marketing resources impact on financial performance indirectly through creating customer satisfaction and loyalty and building superior market performance.

Narver and Slater, Kohli and Jaworski and the market orientation construct: integration and internationalization

Recent developments in marketing theory have resulted in two conceptualizations of the market orientation construct and preliminary evidence provides support for the often assumed relationship between market orientation and company performance. However, there is hardly any research regarding the potential consequences of market orientation for internationally active organizations. Current measures of the construct are biased towards domestic operations and do not explicitly consider factors specific to an international context. The present study proposes a framework integrating the two dominant conceptualizations of market orientation and introduces an international dimension to its study. The framework enables the specification of an expanded market orientation construct which, it is hoped, will be both valid and of practical use to organizations operating at an international level.

Relationship selling and customer loyalty: an empirical investigation

Examines how customers’ loyalty is influenced by their relationship with the firm at two distinct levels: the specific relationship customers have with their salesperson; and the overall relationship customers have with the firm. The findings highlight the importance of strong customer‐salesperson relationships in the development of customers’ overall evaluations of the supplier firm. Furthermore, both types of relationship were found to impact positively on the probability of customers exhibiting behavioral loyalty.

Export Market-Oriented Behavior and Export Performance: Quadratic and Moderating Effects Under Differing Degrees of Market Dynamism and Internationalization

In general, findings in the market orientation research stream indicate that market orientation has a positive linear relationship with business success, and managers have been urged to be more market oriented, regardless of the firms current market orientation level. The authors develop a theory that predicts that the relationship between market orientation and business performance is an inverted U shape, such that high levels of market orientation may reduce performance. The authors’ empirical study of firms’ export market-oriented (EMO) activities in their export operations finds support for the hypothesized inverted U-shaped relationship between EMO behavior and export sales performance. They show that the inverted U-shaped relationship becomes greater in magnitude (more pronounced) as market dynamism increases and that the optimal value of EMO behavior (i.e., the value that generates the highest performance return) decreases as market dynamism increases and increases as exporting firms’ internationalization increases. Therefore, they conclude that managements task is not to aim for ever-increasing levels of market orientation but to manage market orientation so that its level is optimal given the firms environment and the international diversification strategy being pursued.

Export market-oriented behavior and export performance: the moderating roles of competitive intensity and technological turbulence

This study examines the issue of how export market‐oriented behaviors influence export success. Using survey data obtained from Hong Kong based manufacturing exporters, our findings suggest that export market‐oriented behaviors are important predictors of several dimensions of export performance. In particular, it appears that this behavior is most important for exporters operating under conditions of high environmental turbulence. The export market‐oriented behavior – export performance relationship for these firms, was generally positive and strong. However, under conditions of low environmental turbulence, the costs of developing and implementing high levels of export market‐oriented behavior may outweigh the benefits accrued.

The service quality construct on a global stage

The eagerness of global marketers to establish a competitive advantage based upon service quality excellence within emerging markets displays a degree of naivete in respect to the influence of environmental factors upon consumption behaviour. An example of this is the global application of Parasuraman, Zeithamal and Berry’s conceptualisation of service quality (SERVQUAL) in 1988 without consideration of the possible influence of the variety of cultures found in international markets. This paper takes a cautionary stance to such global application, and proposes that cultural values endow consumers with rules that guide their evaluation of service quality. Field research was conducted within Taiwan to ascertain whether the dominant service quality model holds in this “foreign” environment. The results indicate that not only do cultural values influence the hierarchy of service quality dimensions, but also that Parasuraman et al.’s SERVQUAL conceptual model does not capture the breadth of criteria utilised by Taiwanese consumers. Interpersonal relations are highlighted as a dimension of service quality that is not adequately addressed by SERVQUAL.

Internationalizing the market orientation construct: an in-depth interview approach

While the market orientation construct has received considerable attention in the recent literature, no systematic research has examined the nature of market orientation as applied to an export setting. Based on in-depth interviews with British exporters, this exploratory study offers insights into how a market orientation is manifested in such a setting and investigates possible factors influencing firms’ ability to implement a market orientation in their export operations. The results reveal that there are different patterns of export market orientation, determined largely by organizational and environmental influences.

Export marketing, interfunctional interactions, and performance consequences

Firms with export operations have internal environments that are often geared toward serving the home market. As a result, export marketing and other business functions compete for resources, which thus increases the likelihood of conflict between them. Using survey responses from more than 700 exporting firms, the authors test a model of the antecedents and consequences of two important interaction variables: exporting’s interfunctional connectedness and conflict. The model explains 52 percent and 49 percent of variance in exporting connectedness and conflict, respectively. The authors identify the key drivers of successful interactions as follows: management commitment, organizational training and reward systems, relative functional identification, centralization, and export employee job satisfaction and commitment. The authors also demonstrate that connectedness is most critical for export success when export markets are in a state of turbulence, whereas conflict is most detrimental when the firm’s export environment is stable.

Entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation as drivers of product innovation success: A study of exporters from a developing economy

This paper explores how two specific market-based resources, export entrepreneurial-oriented and export market-oriented behaviours, act to drive the performance of firms’ product innovations in their export markets. Drawing upon data from 164 Ghanaian exporters, the results indicate that both export entrepreneurial-oriented behaviour and export market-oriented behaviour drive export product innovation success. Entrepreneurial-oriented behaviour is more likely to be a driver of product innovation success when market-oriented behaviour is strong. This joint effect is more substantial when market dynamism is strong Individually, entrepreneurial-oriented and market-oriented behaviours are more likely to be related to export product innovation success when market dynamism is high. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Firm Innovativeness and Export Performance: Environmental, Networking, and Structural Contingencies

Much scholarly work has explored the benefits firms accrue from innovation activities. Although some research has shown that firm innovativeness is associated with enhanced export success, the conditions under which firm innovativeness activities are most and least beneficial are not well understood. The authors take a contingency perspective and use social capital theory to investigate how internal channel networking capability and structural factors as well as external environment factors affect the innovativeness–export performance relationship. Analysis of samples of exporting firms from Ghana and Bosnia and Herzegovina indicates that innovativeness is most beneficial for firms operating in competitive and dynamic export markets; those in less competitive and static markets do not benefit from their innovation activities to the same extent. Stronger networking capabilities and a more organic structure also enhance the innovativeness–export performance relationship. The findings imply that the management of firm innovativeness is not a straightforward task in which greater emphasis on innovation activities is always beneficial for firms; rather, exporting organizations must match firm innovativeness levels to external environmental conditions and internal capabilities and structures.