Maja Makovec Brenčič

Compulsive buying behavior

Consumer compulsive buying is an important area of inquiry in consumer behavior research. The importance of studying compulsive buying, stems, in part, from its nature as a negative aspect of consumer behavior. Specifically, exploring negative consumption phenomena could provide modified or new perspectives for the study of positive consumption behaviors. Moreover, research on negative facets of consumption is useful because it can potentially contribute to society’s wellbeing, an important criterion for usefulness of any research. This paper builds on earlier papers to propose a model of compulsivity antecedents. Gender, consumers’ tendency to make unplanned purchases, and their tendency to buy products not on shopping lists, serve to predict compulsive tendencies in a sample of Israeli consumers. The findings suggest that these antecedents affect compulsive tendencies.

Conceptualizing tourist satisfaction at the destination level.

Purpose – The purpose of the research is to conceptualize a model of tourist satisfaction at the destination level which can serve as a background for designing a universal, parsimonious, short and easily applicable measurement instrument.Design/methodology/approach – The conceptual model was developed on the basis of existing theoretical and empirical research in the fields of marketing and tourism.Findings – The model includes eight latent constructs, with tourist satisfaction being the central one. The analysis of the antecedents (quality, image, value, and costs and risks) of customer satisfaction provides insights into the processes underlying the creation of satisfaction, while the outcome constructs (complaint behavior and loyalty) indicate the consequences of (dis)satisfaction.Research limitations/implications – Designing a parsimonious and easily applicable measurement instrument imposes some limitations with respect to the number of constructs and measured variables included. The inclusion of ad...

International Standardization of Channel Management and Its Behavioral and Performance Outcomes

Most research on standardization examines it in the context of the marketing mix. In contrast, research on standardization of management processes/characteristics is rare. The authors examine standardization of such processes/characteristics in international management of channels of distribution and its performance consequences. They include characteristics of firms’ relationships with their foreign representatives (coordination, support, autonomy, communications, and control) and their impact on behavioral and performance outcomes. Data generated from a survey in Slovenia mostly support the research hypotheses.

Values, trust, and commitment in business‐to‐business relationships

Presents the results of an international marketing research, in which they integrate culture with manifestation of values, trust, and commitment as vital components of business‐to‐business relationships. Analyses trust, relationship commitment, and values in the context of business relationships in two former Yugoslav markets, Serbia and Croatia. The results from a survey of over 400 large‐ and medium‐sized companies show that Serbian firms evaluate trust and relationship commitment as more important than Croatian companies. Differences in evaluations of values, trust, and commitment for business‐to‐business relationships are explained as outcomes of culture and market situations. These findings provide companies with action menus of potential advantages to pursue for maintaining and developing business relationships.

Designing the marketing‐sales interface in B2B firms

Purpose – This paper explores the marketing‐sales interface in Dutch and Slovenian B2B firms.Design/methodology/approach – The study included 11 Dutch firms and ten Slovenian firms, with both samples as closely matched as possible. The firms were all manufacturers of physical products that operate internationally, but varied in terms of size and industry. Personal interviews with respondents from both marketing and sales were conducted, followed by interviews of a semi‐structured format.Findings – In some firms it was difficult to identify the marketing‐sales interface. For instance, in small firms marketing and sales would frequently be combined in one individual.Research limitations/implications – Since the paper is based on an exploratory investigation of 11 Dutch firms and ten Slovenian firms, the findings are only indicative. Follow‐up research might investigate a larger sample, different industries or different economic contexts. In addition, future research might study the relationship between mark...

Value, Price Consciousness, and Consumption Frugality

Abstract Recently, Lastovicka, Bettencourt, Hughner, and Kuntze (1999) studied consumer frugality and argued that frugal consumers tend to be less impulsive and more disciplined in how they spend money, compared to other consumers. The frugal are also resourceful users and re-users of products and tend to be more independent than other consumers are. Lastovicka et al. (1999) summarized by showing that frugality is a useful concept for consumer behavior studies. This study examines frugalitys relationships with price and value consciousness. Additionally, its impact on actual consumption is examined. Data from Israeli consumers mostly supports the studys hypotheses. The research and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

Managing in a time of crisis: marketing, HRM and innovation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between selected market orientation dimensions, HRM, and innovation, and their impact on organizational performance before and during the current economic crisis in Slovenia.Design/methodology/approach – The data for the analysis are drawn from a longitudinal cross‐sectional study of the 101 best Slovenian employers between 2008 and 2009. Altogether, over 15,000 respondents and more than 170 companies took part in the study, making it the largest of its kind in Slovenia and southeast Europe. The research method applied in the paper is exploratory and consists of simple paired comparisons of univariate and bivariate statistics, as well as factor analysis, regression analysis, and correlation analysis.Findings – The results show that customer expectations regarding trust and long‐term performance have a positive impact on HRM practices within a firm, that HRM positively impacts organizational performance, and that innovation unexpectedly impacts it ...

Antecedents and evolution of the Bartlett and Ghoshal transnational typology

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to systematically describe the evolution of Bartlett and Ghoshals transnational typology within an appropriate historical context, and to additionally review key antecedent works of other authors who contributed to its evolutionary nature.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a comprehensive review of the literature by combining an evolutionary perspective with a Chandlerian business history approach.Findings – The paper shows how Bartlett and Ghoshals transnational solution concept was developed in light of the global economic changes of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the managerial and strategic challenges faced by US MNCs. It shows how the transnational solution concept should not be seen as a single work, but rather the outcome of an academic discourse which lasted over a decade. The review of Bartlett and Ghoshals stream of work since the mid 1980s also shows how the transnational solution concept developed gradually into its present form and thro...

MARKET ORIENTATION, BUSINESS INNOVATION AND HRM IN TOP SLOVENIAN EMPLOYERS

Abstract The paper builds on a cross-sectional longitudinal study of 101 best Slovenian employers (firms) in a three-year period between 2008 and 2010. It employs both regression and power analysis (Cohen’s d effect size statistic). The paper analyzes the impact of internal and external marketing orientation, business innovation and HRM performance indicators on firm performance (added value per employee) in an economic crisis context. The effect size statistic further analyzes the Ii nk between the basic employee-firm relationship and the perceived importance of trust and long-term relationships with the firm in the “eyes of the customer” as evaluated by respondent firms’ managers. The results of our analysis confirm the increasing importance of relationship orientation in an economic crisis.the other hand, only the internal relationship orientation (internal marketing) seems to be directly linked to firm performance in our OLS regression model. This does not by imply that external market orientation is not important, but may indicate that is acts more as a buffer, not as a productive source of firm performance in an economic crisis. In addition, the results of our effect size estimation show how market oriented firms also display significantly higher scores on the basic employee-firm relationship; indicating a significant effect size relationship between the two constructs. More interestingly, this effect size is almost identical for 2008 and 2010, but considerably higher for 2009, when the economic crisis in Slovenia reached its climax. In the end, a series of implications for marketing and management theory and practice are discussed.

Integration Mechanisms as Enablers of International Standardized Strategies

This chapter aims to assess the relationships between standardization of international strategy and performance. Additionally, it aims to study the relationships of four integration modes with international strategies. A sample of Slovene exporters is used. Managers responded to a structured survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied. It was found that integration modes play a role in allowing standardized strategies to be developed and implemented successfully. This study is the first to assess the integration modes → standardization relationships. Its findings are useful to academia and international managers.