Nirmalya Kumar

The effects of perceived interdependence on dealer attitudes

Channels research has consistently argued that asymmetric channel relationships are more dysfunctional than those characterized by symmetric interdependence. The authors propose that the degree of ...

A meta-analysis of satisfaction in marketing channel relationships

The authors advance a conceptual model of channel member satisfaction that distinguishes between economic and noneconomic satisfaction. The resulting model then is tested using meta-analysis. Meta-...

Learning orientation, working smart, and effective selling

Learning and performance goal orientations, two motivational orientations that guide salespeoples behavior, are related to working smart and hard. Working smart is defined as the engagement in act...

Make, Buy, or Ally: A Transaction Cost Theory Meta-Analysis

Since the publication of Williamsons Markets and Hierarchies, many empirical articles have investigated the tenets of transaction cost theory. Using meta-analytic techniques, we quantitatively syn...

Assessing reseller performance from the perspective of the supplier

The objective of the authors’ study was to develop a reliable and valid scale to assess reseller performance from the perspective of the supplier. To specify the domain of reseller performance, fou...

Do suppliers benefit from collaborative relationships with large retailers? An empirical investigation of efficient consumer response adoption

Collaborative manufacturer–retailer relationships based on efficient consumer response (ECR) have become ubiquitous over the past decade. Yet academic studies of ECR adoption and its impact on marketing relationships are relatively scarce. Inspired by the relational view of competitive advantage, the authors empirically investigate whether the extent to which suppliers of a major retailer adopt ECR has a beneficial impact on their outcomes. The results demonstrate that whereas ECR adoption has a positive impact on supplier economic performance and capability development, it also generates greater perceptions of negative inequity on the part of the supplier. However, retailer capabilities and supplier trust moderate some of these main effects. The overall results are robust with respect to differences in supplier size as well as between branded and private-label suppliers.

From market driven to market driving

Firms are constantly exhorted to become more market driven. However, our study of 25 pioneering companies (e.g. Body Shop, IKEA, Tetra Pak) whose success has been based on radical business innovation indicates that such companies are better described as market driving. While market driven processes are excellent in generating incremental innovation, they rarely produce the type of radical innovation which underlies market driving companies. Market driving companies, who are generally new entrants into an industry, gain a more sustainable competitive advantage by delivering a leap in customer value through a unique business system. Market driving strategies entail high risk, but also offer a firm the potential to revolutionize an industry and reap vast rewards. Although established companies face four major obstacles in developing and launching radical market driving business ideas, we offer several recommendations to help established companies overcome these obstacles and become more market driving.

Interdependence, punitive capability, and the reciprocation of punitive actions in channel relationships

Using data from automobile dealers in the Netherlands, the authors find that dealers’ punitive actions toward their key suppliers are affected by their perceptions of their own and their suppliers...

The revolution in retailing: from market driven to market driving

Abstract The first image aroused by ‘retailing’ for many of us, especially those of us who are somewhat older, is that of the corner grocery store. Not so long ago retailing was, and it still is in some parts of the world, a fragmented, local, unsophisticated, traditional business run by vulnerable owner-operators. Yet, here we are talking about a revolution in retailing. Why? What has changed? Fundamentally retailers have grown up over the past 25 years into large, global, technology-intensive, powerful, fast-growth corporations managing their own brands. Several retailers have become the darlings of their stock markets. Hennes and Mauritz, the specialty clothing retailer, has been the top performer on the Stockholm Stock Exchange over the past 10 years. Royal Ahold in the Netherlands, Home Depot and Wal-Mart in the Uni`ted States, Carrefour in France and Marks and Spencer in the United Kingdom have generated spectacular returns for their stockholders. How have they done this? The leading retailers through consolidation, global expansion, technology push and innovative formats, among other approaches outlined in Figure 1, have been ‘ market driving ’ rather than ‘market driven.’ They have shaped consumer behavior, transformed the market place, and redefined the rules of engagement with their competitors and suppliers.

The Indian mystique

The rise of global business means that Western companies will increasingly encounter Indians as customers, competitors and collaborators. Nirmalya Kumar profiles how best to collaborate with Indian business leaders.