Kjell Toften

Export market information use, organizational knowledge, and firm performance

Building on prior research in organizational knowledge, learning, and memory, this paper suggests that export market knowledge may provide a deeper understanding of the relationships between export market information use and export performance. Specifically, a conceptual model is developed linking different dimensions of information use to different dimensions of organizational knowledge as well as to export performance. This is then used to generate research propositions that provide insights into how export market knowledge integrates with export market information use and affects export performance.

The influence of export information use on export knowledge and performance

Purpose – To test empirical relationships between export market information use and export knowledge and export performance.Design/methodology/approach – Confirmatory factor analysis, using LISREL 8.50, based on a postal survey. The setting selected was the Norwegian seafood industry, mainly consisting of a number of small and medium‐sized firms with a strong export dependency.Findings – The results indicate that “instrumental/conceptual” use of information positively affects both export knowledge and export performance, while “symbolic” use does not affect either. Export knowledge is found to have no direct influence on export performance in this study.Research limitations/implications – For generalisation purposes, longitudinal studies in multiple settings would be preferable to this cross‐sectional survey in a specific setting.Practical implications – Firms accumulate knowledge and expertise by integrating and incorporating information that has been processed, interpreted and used. This study underscor...

Niche firms and marketing strategy

Purpose – This paper aims to explore how internationally oriented niche firms define and choose their markets and customers and how they position their products, and thereby add to the limited research knowledge regarding niche marketing.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents exploratory research based on structured in‐depth interviews of key informants in five firms.Findings – Niche firms do not seem to follow the STP‐process. The selection of customers and markets is the result of tradition, chance or the firms production philosophy, and the firms make few attempts to position their products. The firms rely on resource‐based advantages, high‐quality products and personal relationships when competing in the market.Research limitations/implications – The selected methodology makes these results alone unfit for generalising to a larger population. Improved theoretical models are needed for generating more knowledge about niche firms and their efforts in crafting marketing strategies, possibly by...

The Relationships Among Quality, Cost, Value, and Use of Export Market Information: An Empirical Study

Building on prior research in export market information use, consumer behavior, and industrial marketing, this study tests relationships among quality, cost, value, and use of export market information. The results show that perceived value of information is the main impetus for use of export market information, whereas perceived quality and cost function best as indicators of value. This implies that value of information captures the essence of the assessment of information-specific factors, which again provides guidelines for predictive purposes as well as clues for increasing the perceived value of information for customers.

Niche marketing research: status and challenges

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a concise status of niche marketing research and thereby provide a basis for further scholarly enhancement and insights for practitioners.Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes the form of a literature review.Findings – Reasons for why and when to pursue niche marketing, key success factors for implementing niche marketing and the potential problem areas are identified. Avenues for advancing knowledge about niche marketing are discussed.Research limitations/implications – Practitioners benefit from this comprehensive review of findings and insights from previous research. Scholars benefit from this review, as it summarizes and identifies key areas for future niche marketing research.Originality/value – There has be no known scholarly article assessing the status of niche marketing research since Dalgic and Leeuws seminal work.

Value‐creation initiatives in buyer‐seller relationships

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore important value‐creation initiatives in buyer‐seller relationships (BSRs).Design/methodology/approach – Following a literature review and the presentation of an appropriate conceptual framework, an exploratory study of 14 BSRs in a variety of European industries is undertaken using in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with key informants.Findings – The findings justify a distinction being drawn between two types of value‐creation initiatives: those that are important in transaction‐based arrangements (in which efficiency is paramount); and those that are important in interaction‐based relationships (in which effectiveness is paramount). Of the ten value‐creation initiatives identified in the literature review, seven were found to be of importance in the BSRs of the present sample.Research limitations/implications – Despite genuine attempts to select a heterogeneous sample, most of the data did come from sellers. Future studies could look more d...

Attributes of information quality of export market assistance: an exploratory study

Purpose – To explore the perceived attributes of export information quality provided by export assistance sources, in order to provide some guidelines for how these information suppliers can improve the quality of their offered information.Design/methodology/approach – Twelve in‐depth personal interviews of export managers were used as the data collection method. The setting selected for this research is the Norwegian seafood industry, which mainly consists of a number of small and medium‐sized firms with a strong export dependency, and thus well positioned to address export‐specific issues.Findings – Four service aspects are important: reliability (delivery within agreed deadline), responsiveness (rapid feedback and good communication flow), assurance (credibility and honesty) and empathy (able and willing to serve individual needs). Six aspects related to outcome are important: form and comparability (concrete, specific, precise, comparable and up‐to‐date), infrastructure (distribution, logistics and st...

Strategic orientation of niche firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to better understand how strategic orientation guides the marketing strategy and marketing efforts of niche firms, by addressing the questions of which strategic orientation niche firms apply and how managers in niche firms handle the potential problems associated with different strategic orientations. Based on these findings, managerial implications are discussed.Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative research in terms of in‐depth interviews of key informants in six niche firms in the seafood and wine industries.Findings – The niche firms appear to be product oriented and customer oriented at the same time. They overcome the potential problems related to the respective strategic orientations by focusing on their product‐related strengths, while benefiting from their close and few customer relationships.Practical implications – Managers in niche firms should focus on high‐quality products, specific product concepts and the continuous improvement of these. In addit...

International market selection and growth strategies for niche firms

The purpose of this study is to investigate international market selection processes and strategic growth directions of niche firms, by studying the bases for selecting new international markets and which strategic directions niche firms follow in their pursuit of growth. The methodology was based on qualitative research with in-depth interviews of key personnel, and data from six niche firms in the wine and food industries are analysed. The findings suggest that niche firms expand internationally by developing and exploiting long-term relationships with downstream channel partners, such as importers. Furthermore, the strategic directions for expansion are based on penetration, product development, and market development.

Niche Firms and Partnerships in International Food Supply Chains

This study applies the partnership model to explore how internationally oriented niche firms organize and develop partnerships with their supply chain members, and how these niche firms are benefiting from these partnerships. This exploratory study uses semistructured in-depth interviews of key informants in four supply chains to obtain qualitative data. The findings include observations of the drivers, facilitators, components, and outcomes of niche partnerships in supply chains. The results suggest that niche firms are able to overcome some of the weaknesses, without losing the advantages of being small, by forming channel partnerships.