Tage Koed Madsen

Market Orientation in Food and Agriculture

Part I: Introduction. 1: Market orientation, product development and competitive advantage. Part II: Generating market intelligence. 2: The systematic generation of market intelligence. 3: Analysing consumers at the aggregate level. 4: Analysing consumers at the individual level. 5: Analysing distributors at the aggregate level 6: Analysing distributors at the organisational level. 7: Case: The generation of market intelligence in a medium-sized food company. Part III: Developing market responsiveness and profitability. 8: A framework for understanding market responsiveness. 9: Short- and medium-term product and process development. 10: Long-term development of firm and industry. 11: Developing supplier and customer relations. Part IV: Conclusion. 12: Market orientation and agriculture: summary, implications and research perspectives. References. Index.

Successful Export Marketing Management: Some Empirical Evidence

This article shows the main results of a survey of 134 export activities in manufacturing firms in Denmark. It analyses the association between export performance on the one hand and export marketing policy, firm characteristics and market characteristics on the other hand. Bivariate and multivariate analyses are performed with the purpose of identifying critical export marketing success factors. Links to previous research are discussed and implications for export marketing management considered. The article concludes by discussing future research on successful export marketing management.

An inquiry into born‐global firms in Europe and the USA

Companies that internationalise at or near their founding, “born globals,” are emerging in great numbers world‐wide. Characterised by a specific Gestalt of marketing‐related competencies, they are playing an increasing role in international trade. Born globals are investigated using data from case and survey‐based studies in Denmark and the USA. First introduces and describes the born‐global phenomenon. Then, hypotheses are developed and tested via a structural model that represents key factors in the international success of this important breed of firm. Results suggest that born‐global international performance is enhanced in the wake of managerial emphasis on foreign customer focus and marketing competence. Product quality and differentiation strategy also play important roles, particularly in the US firms. These and additional findings are discussed in light of their theoretical and practical implications.

The founding of the Born Global company in Denmark and Australia: sensemaking and networking

Attempts to consider how a founder has reduced equivocality in relation to support networks and reducing risks, especially in an international environment. Presents the case studies of five Danish and Australian born global companies. Considers different global models and their limitations. Presents the findings of recent surveys in this area. Concludes that internationalization has not been the primary objective in the founding process and gives direction for further research.

Differences and Similarities Between Born Globals and Other Types of Exporters

This paper examines the characteristics of the so called Born Globals and compares them with other types of exporting companies. Born Globals are defined as firms that were established after 1976 and have reached a share of foreign sales of at least 25% after having started export activities within three years after their birth. A total of 272 Danish exporting, manufacturing companies are analyzed out of which 47 can be categorized as Born Globals according to these criteria. The contribution of the paper is empirical and descriptive; the literature has not yet shown a large scale study with similar comparisons. As shown below, Born Globals have a distinctive profile: they have a high share of foreign sales (almost 70%) and resemble the most internationally oriented exporters with respect to internal capabilities and competitive platform (specialized production) as well as their geographical scope. However, because of their small size and limited resources they often operate at arms length in foreign markets, sometimes even more so than very inexperienced exporters.

A review of the foundation, international marketing strategies, and performance of international new ventures

Purpose – This review aims to focus on the phenomenon of infant firms that operate internationally right from or close to inception, so‐called international new ventures (INVs) or born global firms. It also aims to provide a comprehensive review of the literature on INVs from the time when such firms emerged in the literature in the early 1990s up until today.Design/methodology/approach – The study is a systematic review of top journals within entrepreneurship, marketing and management over the years 1992‐2004. The focus is primarily on studies with empirical evidence and the review is narrative in nature. The study presents and discusses findings related to the founding of the firm, organizational features, environmental factors, and their influence on market strategy and firm performance.Findings – The study finds great heterogeneity on the factors examined within this relatively narrow defined group of firms. This leads the study to conclude that normative linear models of international expansion rende...

Export strategy: : a dynamic capabilities perspective

It is argued here that traditional export strategy research (encompassing the study of internationalization processes and export performance) is characterized by weak theoretical foundations and could benefit from a reorientation towards a dynamic capabilities perspective (DCP). We seek to draw on insights from DCP in order to devise a theoretical basis that could enrich export strategy research. Although our development of DCP insights builds on previous work, it also adds a crucial distinction between knowledge stocks and informational architecture. Changes in architecture are of greater importance. Following this elaboration of the dynamic capabilities perspective, we outline some implications and guidelines for future export strategy research.

The importance of the internet in international business‐to‐business markets

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the actual use and market performance effects of information and communication technologies (ICT) with regard to international business‐to‐business marketing activities of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on survey data from 635 Danish and Norwegian SMEs with international marketing activities. The two primary research questions regarding actual use and performance effects are addressed by descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling, respectively.Findings – Findings suggest that, contrary to expectation, Norwegian and Danish international SMEs are not heavy users of ICT. Rather, ICT is predominantly used for market information search and to develop long‐term customer relationships. In both those areas the use of ICT is positively associated with the firms satisfaction with its development of new market knowledge. The use of ICT for sales purposes is limited and...

Rapidly internationalizing ventures: how definitions can bridge the gap across contexts

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to develop a contextualized definition of the phenomenon of rapidly internationalizing ventures (RIVs) ‐ such as born globals or international new ventures ‐ building upon the commonly noted dimensions of internationalization: speed, degree and scope.Design/methodology/approach – The study builds on a theory informed review of 62 empirical studies on RIVs from the USA and the European Union and an empirical survey among 103 academics in the field of international entrepreneurship.Findings – After specifying the core characteristics of RIVs (speed, degree, and scope of internationalization), it is shown that the discrepancies in definitions result in a dysfunctional fragmentation of empirical results. Thus, research on the phenomenon of RIVs urgently needs contextualized definitions because the three core characteristics are context‐sensitive, and will therefore manifest themselves differently across contexts.Research limitations/implications – The paper contributes...

Small Manufacturing Firms’ Involvement in International E-business Activities

E-business is an important business tool, and the increasing presence on the internet reflects this fact. For small- and medium-sized firms (SMEs) interested in internationalizing, their internet offers some advantages, because, with e-business, borders between countries are becoming less relevant, and more direct interaction between business entities is made possible. In this article, we unravel the use of internet usage of different types of firms. First, we present a categorization of different local and international firms, and, second, we focus on the internet usage by born global firms compared to the other types of firms. We conclude that born global firms use the internet to convey their market presence, but only to a limited extent do they sell their products via the internet. Instead, they use the internet to support the already existing relationships by describing their products on web pages, offering services related to their products via the internet, facilitating product development via the internet, and building and maintaining relations to foreign customers. We also stress the importance of further research on how born global firms adapt to the internet in practice.