M.T.G. Meulenberg

Market Orientation, Innovativeness, Product Innovation, and Performance in Small Firms

Most research on market orientation, innovation and performance is related to big enterprises and small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). In this study a model is developed to investigate the combined effect of market orientation and innovativeness on product innovation and company performance, for small firms. A specific feature of our research is that we use an objective measure for product innovation in contrast to the self‐reported measures commonly used in research on innovation. To test our model data from 152 rose growers were used. This studys results show that the owners innovativeness permeates all variables in the model and has a positive influence on market orientation, innovation, and performance. An interesting research result is also that customer market intelligence influences product innovation positively or negatively, depending on whether the innovativeness of the owner in the new product domain is weak or strong.

A Note on Modeling Consumer Reactions to a Crisis: The Case of the Mad Cow Disease

What drives the behavior of consumers when faced with a product-related crisis, such as that involving food contamination or life-threatening design flaws? For both consumers and companies, these crises have become of increasing importance because of the globalization of markets and an increased coverage by the media. Marketers need to understand why and how consumers react to a crisis. We show that by decoupling risk response behavior of consumers into the separate components of risk perception and risk attitude, a more robust conceptualization and prediction of consumers’ reactions is possible. Such a framework helps provide answers on how marketers can deal with such types of crises. The merits of this conceptualization are illustrated in two field studies that examine the reactions of German, Dutch, and American consumers to the BSE (mad cow disease) crisis. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Hedging efficiency: A futures exchange management approach

INTRODUCTIONIn studies of futures markets muchattentionhasbeenpaidtothehedgingeffectiveness of futures contracts because it is an important determinantin explaining the success of futures contracts [Johnston, Tashjian, andMcConnell (1989)]. The authors who have proposed measures of thiseffectiveness include Chang and Fang (1990), Ederington(1979),Gjerde(1987), Hsin, Kuo, and Lee (1994), Lasser (1987), and Nelson and Col-lins (1985). These measures all try to determine to what extent hedgersare able to reduce cash price risk by using futures contracts. In thesestudies hedging effectiveness refers to returns on portfolios. A particularfutures contract can have different values with respect to hedging effec-tiveness, depending on which measure is used and on the hedger utilityfunction. Futures contracts, themselves, introduce risks for hedgers.Therefore, the extent to which a futures contract offers a reduction inoverall risk is an important criterion for the management of the futures

Marketing and consumer behaviour with respect to foods

Except for some food production for private consumption, most food products are purchased in the market. This is the domain of food marketing. Broadly speaking, marketing as a scientific discipline is concerned with the exchange processes that occur between a firm or organization that offers products or services to the market, and the target group(s) of potential buyers in its environment. Marketing focuses on policies and strategies which firms adopt to satisfy the needs and wants of the target groups more effectively and efficiently than competitors do. The basic assumption is that the organization that can do so most effectively and efficiently will be most successful in achieving its organizational objectives.

The Hedging Performance in New Agricultural Futures Markets: A Note

Agribusiness companies and farmers must cope with the risk of price changes when buying or selling agricultural commodities. Hedging price risk with agricultural commodity futures offers a way of minimizing this risk. Information is needed on the hedging effectiveness of these futures. Because many new agricultural futures markets, especially those in Europe, are thin markets, hedgers face liquidity risks which have to be taken into account when evaluating hedging effectiveness.

The Price Path Due to Order Imbalances: Evidence from the Amsterdam Agricultural Futures Exchange

The lack of sufficient market depth particularly in many newly initiated futures markets results in relatively high hedging costs, and this inhibits the growth of futures contract volume. In this article the price path due to order imbalances is analyzed and a two-dimensional market depth measure is derived. Understanding the underlying structure of futures market depth provides the management of the futures exchange with a framework for improving their market depth and gives hedgers a better understanding of market depth risk. The managerial implications of our findings are demonstrated empirically using data from the Amsterdam Agricultural Futures Exchange.

The marketing-finance interface towards financial services with special reference to the new services provided by futures exchanges

The financial services industry is one of the fastest growing service industries. The financial services industry includes financial derivatives markets such as options and futures markets. In order to ensure survival, firms providing financial services show a rapid product innovation. However, for financial services the risk of failure is considerable. Argues that a synthesis between the financial approach and the marketing approach towards financial services provides a conceptual framework for analysing the possible success or failure of futures contracts. The synthesis is illustrated by an empirical study of a new futures contract that might possibly be introduced.

Buyer social responsibility: a general concept and its implications for marketing management

Abstract The inclusion of sustainability concerns in consumer decision-making poses new challenges to marketing. The existing literature contains a variety of concepts and definitions that pertain to social issues in consumption but lacks an overarching conceptualisation of buyer social responsibility (BSR) that identifies its basic features. This article proposes a general BSR concept as a problem-solving consumer-decision process. It draws from the social dilemma and social issue literature streams to develop a conceptual framework on consumers’ consideration of social issues in purchase decisions, its potential consequences and boundary conditions. The article formulates propositions and elaborates on how companies, governments and non-governmental organisations can strengthen BSR and draw on it to relieve social issues and create profitable market offerings.

The Dimensions of Rights: A Classification of Environmental Rights and Production Rights

The literature on rights has paid much attention to the description of rights and the performance of systems of rights. Less has been published on identifying the underlying dimensions of rights, even though such identification seems important for understanding the different types of rights and for classifying them so as to facilitate the process of development that occurs when introducing rights (Miller, 1995). In this article a theoretical framework, which sheds light on the structure of rights, is developed. After examining the characteristics of rights, a correspondence analysis is carried out on existing rights and on a hypothetical ideal right in order to find similarities between them and to identify their underlying structure.

A new method of measuring the adoption of soil conservation practices: theory and applications

Abstract This paper presents a new methodology for measuring the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices that attempts to integrate positive features of earlier approaches. It measures the degree of sustainability observed by the farmer and, at the same time, is straightforward and efficient in field-by-field appraisals. The methodology proposed starts with the identification of all available soil conservation practices in the area. The practices are then grouped into activity categories and are ranked within each category on the basis of their expected soil conservation effect on the plot system. The resulting ranking system is applied to each plot included in the analysis. Non-linear principal component analysis is carried out on the plot rankings to extract a limited number of major metric components. The method is applied to the Cabuyal watershed in Colombia. The analysis shows that soil management strategies of Cabuyal farmers consist of different combinations of basic soil conservation practices: soil disturbance control, soil protection practices and run-off control. A cluster analysis of the plot scores on these three combinations revealed that the different strategies of soil management are related to the institutional, economic, physical and personal-social factors affecting farms and farmers. The results from the cluster analysis show the usefulness of the proposed methodology for policy purposes.