William K. Darley

African culture and business markets: implications for marketing practices

Purpose – This paper seeks to focus on the key underpinnings of African culture and its implications for business marketing practices.Design/methodology/approach – Using Kluckholn and Strodtbecks and Hofstedes conceptualizations as a backdrop, the paper provides a synoptic view and modal focus of African culture. Covered are the cultures implications for organizational behavior, buyer‐seller interactions, collaborative partnerships and negotiations.Findings – The study shows that African culture promotes the principle of reciprocity. In buyer‐seller interaction, respect for the elderly is an important guiding principle. In collaborative partnerships, preference is for the terms of the collaboration to be reached through consultation and consensus. The foreign company needs to pay attention to the softer issues surrounding the relationship and to send a high‐ranking employee‐team. In negotiations, long‐term relationship and win‐win outcome are preferred and encouraged.Research limitations/implications –...

Culture and International Marketing: A Sub-Saharan African Context

ABSTRACT The authors review and extend the culture literature in international marketing by discussing some of the cultural underpinnings pertaining to the sub-Saharan African context. With the use of inductive reasoning, the authors offer several key normative suggestions for international marketing practices. Marketers should focus not only on the end user but also on those who significantly influence the final decision. Sub-Saharan African culture is characterized by long, drawn-out negotiation processes and by contracts and overall sales targets that likely will be dissimilar to those from countries with a linear view of time. Age is relevant when selecting people for negotiation assignments and hiring sales and managerial staff. Because of the importance of “respect,” messages should focus on an individuals need for belongingness rather than on the individual striving for achievement. The authors advocate that advertising appeals should focus on the society and on the individual as a member of the society and not on individual self-enhancement. Context and nonverbal communications are important in personal selling. It is better to establish social trust first in negotiations, personal selling, and buyer–seller interaction.

Effect of Early-Late Stage Entrepreneurial Activity on Perceived Challenges and the Ability to Predict Consumer Needs: A Saudi Perspective

The authors examine the relationship between challenges faced by the female Saudi entrepreneurs and their ability to predict consumer needs in the context of the stage of entrepreneurial activity (early-late stage). The results from hierarchical regression show that early-late stage entrepreneurial activity moderates the relationship between challenges faced and the ability to predict customer needs. The pattern of the relationships was negative within the early-stage group and positive within the late-stage entrepreneurial group. Also, the relationship was slightly more sensitive for the late group than for the early group. The article ends with a discussion of the results, implications, and suggestions for future research.

Marketing Practices of Rural Micro and Small Businesses in Ghana: The Role of Public Policy

Using social identity theory and social capital theory as a backdrop to understand the context of subsistence marketplaces, this study investigates how rural micro and small businesses engage in marketing practices and how poverty reduction policies affect micro and small business activities and growth. The results show that rural micro and small businesses weave morality and religiosity into their commercial activities and survive in a competitive subsistence marketplace by engaging with social networks, relationships with customers, and relationships with staff. The interdependence among these relationships contributes to the competitive positioning of the business and its intelligence gathering. Despite the existence of government programs to fund micro and small business startups, most owner-managers use social networks to initially fund and grow their businesses. The paper ends with implications and future research directions.

A study of female Middle Eastern entrepreneurs: a resource-based view

Purpose Using the resource-focused view of the firm as a theoretical backdrop, this study aims to examine the relationships between entrepreneurial perceptions and two dependent measures (i.e. customer satisfaction outcomes and firm performance). Specifically, the study tests the boundary conditions of the resource-based view (RBV) performance relationship in a Middle Eastern context. Design/methodology/approach The data from 171 female Saudi entrepreneurs are analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings The research results revealed that marketing capability and financial capability (i.e. financial capital access) have a positive significant effect on both dependent measures. Labor shortage also has a negative significant effect on both dependent variables, whereas operations capability does not show a significant effect on the two dependent measures. To a large extent, the results show that the RBV holds true in the Saudi context. Originality/value The study contributes to the knowledge about the effects of specific human and financial capital, as well as illuminates how marketing capability, financial capital access and labor shortage impact these dependent variables in the unique context of Saudi Arabia among female entrepreneurs, thereby extending the knowledge of the RBV in different contexts. Furthermore, it extends knowledge of the entrepreneurship literature, especially in the area of gender-based entrepreneurship research in developing countries.

Market orientation, innovation commercialization capability and firm performance relationships: the moderating role of supply chain influence

Purpose The study aims to explore supply chain influence (SCI) on the linkages among market orientation, innovation capabilities and firm performance (FP), using the resource-based view as a theoretical backdrop. Design Survey data from 182 top managers who are involved in strategy formulation and innovative direction of their companies was collected and analyzed using moderated multiple regression analysis. Findings Results revealed a moderating role of the SCI in that the proactive market orientation (PMO) and FP relationship is stronger when SCI is high, and innovation commercialization capability (ICC) and FP relationship is stronger when SCI is low. Practical implications Firms pursuing high PMO strategy must collaborate with supply chain function to achieve the full effect of PMO. Additionally, as supply chain is critical to meeting customers’ needs, these firms should allow supply chain to exert greater influence to enjoy the positive effects of PMO in addition to ensuring full integration into marketing strategy implementation. Also, firms with high ICC need to limit SCI to maximize the benefit of ICC on FP, just as innovation management needs to be cognizant of other functional areas. Originality/value The study investigates the potential moderating role of SCI on the relationships among market orientation, ICC and FP. The study fills a gap in the understanding of the nature and role of supply chain in the marketing–supply chain interaction, and the impact on FP.