Sharon V. Thach

Exploring channel internalization among Spanish exporters

The internalizing of export operations inside the firm is examined with data from 2,264 Spanish exporters. An interpretive framework for understanding the channel integration decision is designed and tested. Results confirm that a higher proportion of firms decide to externalize their export marketing activities in the marketplace versus keeping them inside the firm. Additionally, some hypotheses related to the selection of the optimal level of channel integration in the international arena are also empirically tested. The results also suggest some potentially fruitful areas for future research.

Antecedents, Outcomes, and Moderating Influences on Industrial Distributors’ Satisfaction with Supplier Relationships

A nationwide survey of U.S. industrial distributors showed that expectations of benefits from a relationship with a core supplier and the outcomes of that relationship are important antecedents of distributor satisfaction with a relationship. The underlying outcome dimensions -- tangible and intangible benefits -- affect satisfaction levels. However, among the expectation dimensions, only price benefits influence satisfaction. The impact of expectations and outcomes on relationship satisfaction are moderated by relationship style and distributor size.

Pricing and Financing Practices of Industrial Exporting Firms

This article reports the findings of an investigation into pricing and financing practices of exporting firms. The research addressed the relationship between commitment to exporting and level of export achievement with the uses of various tactical options in the area of pricing and finance. Firms in the machine tools industry in two countries were studied so that country of origin effects could be examined. Results show that commitment and success are strongly associated while there is some variability in the use of pricing and financing practices by the country of origin of the exporting firms. Commitment is shown to have some influence on relationships between (1) country of origin and financing practices and (2) financing practices and success.

Patent Standards Under TRIPS and the Pharmaceutical Industries in Brazil and India

ABSTRACT The legal and economic environment of the pharmaceuticals industry is analyzed in the context of the development of national and international legal standards for the protection of intellectual property. Empirical studies on the relationship between intellectual property laws and economic growth are used to examine the actual outcomes under differing approaches to legal protections for the industry in two countries.

Intangible Resources and Export Marketing Strategy as Determinants of Export Performance: An Empirical Analysis from the Resource-based View

In this chapter, a resource-based model has been developed for analyzing the effect of several firm resources, more concretely those of an intangible character, on the development of both export capability and more appropriate export-marketing strategies in order to improve export performance. Then, this model has been empirically tested among a representative sample of Spanish exporting manufacturers. Results seem to confirm that either human, organizational, technological or relational capital resources of these firms have a significant impact on exportcapability creation which, in turn, moderates both export-marketing strategic choices by management and export performance. Relevant conclusions and implications for future researchers in this field, as well as export policy makers and international managers, are derived from these findings.

An Illustration of Opaque Markets: High End Fine Art

Pricing is one of the more difficult aspects of marketing management and poses interesting problems for economists seeking to explain product valuations from the buyer perspective. Developed models and processes work best for standardized products but are problematic when the products are non-standard, unique goods and services and buyer knowledge is uncertain. In such cases, buyers are dependent upon and vulnerable to representations of quality and value made by marketing intermediaries. Markets characterized by such conditions may be termed “opaque markets” in that product valuations and quality are unclear and based on subjective factors. The objective of this paper is to identify market risks associated with opaque markets through consideration of the market for high end fine art. Findings include that the opacity of the fine arts market demonstrates that opacity market characteristics create conditions for overvaluation, fraud, and risks of low investment returns. The market characteristics include uncertainty in assessing true market demand for legitimate products, in assessing product authenticity, dependency on marketing intermediaries and facilitators who have monetary interests in over-valuation and vulnerability to arbitrary extrinsic market conditions. Such conditions may constrain market demand for newly established products whose social valuation has not been established, thus placing both producers and buyers in vulnerable positions, and so constraining both the development of maker demand and producer creativity.