Satish Jayachandran

Market Orientation: A Meta-Analytic Review and Assessment of Its Antecedents and Impact on Performance

The authors conduct a meta-analysis that aggregates empirical findings from the market orientation literature. First, the study provides a quantitative summary of the bivariate findings regarding the antecedents and the consequences of market orientation. Second, the authors use multivariate analyses of aggregate study effects to identify significant antecedents of market orientation and the process variables that mediate the relationship between market orientation and performance. In addition, using regression analysis, the authors find that the market orientation–performance relationship is stronger in samples of manufacturing firms, in low power-distance and uncertainty-avoidance cultures, and in studies that use subjective measures of performance. The authors also find that the market orientation–performance correlation is stronger for both cost-based and revenue-based performance measures in manufacturing firms than in service firms. On the basis of the findings, the authors conclude with a discussion of the implications for practice and further research.

The Role of Relational Information Processes and Technology Use in Customer Relationship Management

Drawing on the relationship marketing and market information processing literature streams, the authors conceptualize and measure relational information processes, or organizational routines that are critical for customer relationship management (CRM). The authors examine the key drivers and outcome of relational information processes and the role of technology in implementing CRM using data collected from a diverse sample of firms. The results show that relational information processes play a vital role in enhancing an organizations customer relationship performance. By moderating the influence of relational information processes on customer relationship performance, technology used for CRM performs an important and supportive role. The study provides insights into why the use of CRM technology might not always deliver the expected customer relationship performance outcome.

Customer response capability in a sense-and-respond era: The role of customer knowledge process

An organization’s customer response capability, its comptence in satisfying customer needs through effective and quick responses, is critical for sustained success. In this article, the authors examine how customer knowledge process influences customer response capability. They highlight two dimensions of customer response capability, customer response expertise and customer response speed. It is observed that apart from its direct positive association with customer response expertise and speed, the customer knowledge process also diminishes the positive association between risk propensity and these dimensions of customer response capability. The influence of customer response expertise and speed on performance is also examined. The hypotheses are tested using survey data collected from a sample of retailing firms and the findings triangulated using qualitative data collected through depth interviews with managers. The results highlight the importance of customer knowledge in enhancing customer response capability.

The Impact of Customer Relationship Management Implementation on Cost and Profit Efficiencies: Evidence from the U.S. Commercial Banking Industry

The impact of customer relationship management (CRM) implementation on firm performance is an issue of considerable debate. This study examines the impact of CRM implementation on two metrics of firm performance—operational (cost) efficiency and the ability of firms to generate profits (profit efficiency)—using a large sample of U.S. commercial banks. The authors use stochastic frontier analysis to estimate cost and profit efficiencies and employ hierarchical linear modeling to assess the effect of CRM implementation on cost and profit efficiencies. They find that CRM implementation is associated with a decline in cost efficiency but an increase in profit efficiency. A firm-level factor, CRM commitment, reduces the negative effect of CRM implementation on cost efficiency. The authors also find that two adoption-related factors, time of adoption and time since adoption, influence the relationship between CRM implementation and cost and profit efficiencies. Early adopters benefit less from CRM implementation than late adopters. However, time since adoption improves the performance of firms that implement CRM. By demonstrating the different ways CRM implementation influences cost and profit measures, the study provides valuable insights to CRM researchers and managers.

Choice of cause in cause-related marketing

Spurred by the consumer demand for companies to be socially responsible, cause-related marketing (CM), in which fund raising for a cause is tied to purchase of a firms products, has become popular in recent years. The authors demonstrate the conditions in which CM campaigns that allow consumers to choose the cause that receives the donation lead to greater consumer support than those in which the company determines the cause. They show that choice in this context is helpful as long as it increases consumers’ perception of personal role in helping the cause. Specifically, allowing consumers to select the cause in a CM campaign is more likely to enhance perceived personal role and, thus, purchase intentions (1) for those consumers who are high (vs. low) in collectivism and (2) when the company and causes have low (vs. high) perceptual fit. Finally, the authors show that under certain conditions, choice may have a negative impact on perceived personal role and consumer support of CM campaigns.

Strategic Interdependence in Organizations: Deconglomeration and Marketing Strategy

Although strategy exists at multiple levels in a firm (corporate, business, and functional), there is a dearth of research in marketing literature that focuses on the dependency among strategy at different levels. The authors address this issue by examining the relationship between deconglomeration and marketing strategy. Deconglomeration refers to the divestiture behavior of a conglomerate firm and the transformation of its business portfolio from one that is largely composed of several unrelated businesses to one composed of fewer and related businesses. Drawing on multiple theoretical perspectives, the authors propose a conceptual model delineating the environmental and organizational drivers of deconglomeration and its outcomes for marketing. The authors suggest that after deconglomeration, (1) a firm can be expected to be more competitor and customer oriented, (2) multimarket contact with competing firms and seller concentration will increase, (3) businesses retained by the firm will be more innovative and place greater emphasis on advertising compared with sales promotion, and (4) the firms culture may become more externally oriented. Furthermore, the locus of decision making for marketing strategy may shift more toward senior management levels. In summary, changes in a firms corporate strategy could lead to significant changes in the marketing strategy of its business units.

Does Success Diminish Competitive Responsiveness? Reconciling Conflicting Perspectives:

Previous research provides conflicting evidence of the association between the past performance of a business and its competitive responsiveness, with researchers observing both positive and negative relationships. To clarify this issue, the authors test a model using survey data from the retailing industry. The model delineates direct and indirect mediated paths through ability to respond, motivation to respond, and awareness of competitors’ actions to show how past performance can have both positive and negative influence on competitive responsiveness. However, the overall impact of past performance of an organization on its competitive responsiveness is positive. The implications of these findings for research, practice, and theory are discussed.

Does it pay to recall your product early? An empirical investigation in the automobile industry

Defective products are often recalled to limit harm to consumers and damage to the firm. However, little is known about why the timing of product recalls varies after an investigation is opened. Likewise, there is little evidence on whether recall timing affects stock markets. This study tests the effect of problem severity on time to recall, the role of brand characteristics in moderating this relationship, and the stock market impact of time to recall. The authors test the hypotheses on a sample of 381 recall investigations in the automobile industry between 1999 and 2012. The results show that although problem severity increases time to recall, this relationship is weaker when the brand under investigation (1) has a strong reputation for reliability and (2) has experienced severe recalls in the recent past. However, the relationship between problem severity and time to recall is stronger when the brand is diverse. Importantly, the results reveal that stock markets punish recall delays. The study suggests that time to recall has significant implications for managers and policy makers.

Brand Licensing: What Drives Royalty Rates?

In brand licensing, the brand owner (the licensor) grants another firm (the licensee) the right to use the brand. This differs from franchising, in which a contractual arrangement between a franchisor and a franchisee exists to run a business based on the franchisors business model. Brand licensing helps generate revenues and protect the brand from misappropriation. In such contractual arrangements, agency theory suggests that when parties to the contract engage in moral hazard (i.e., opportunistic behavior), suboptimal outcomes may result. The authors examine how concerns of moral hazard affect royalty rate, a popular form of compensation in brand licensing. From an agency theory perspective, they discuss how market and contract characteristics influence the risk of moral hazard and shape royalty rates in international brand licensing. The results obtained using data from international licensing contracts indicate that a countrys intellectual property rights protection enables licensees to benefit from lower royalty rates and market size enables licensors to demand higher royalty rates. The authors also examine impact of other contract characteristics, such as contract duration and exclusivity, on royalty rate. The results imply that concerns of opportunistic behavior on the part of both the licensor and the licensee influence royalty rates.