Impact of humor on survey responses

This study reports the results of an investigation of the use of humor to stimulate response rates in a mail survey of sales executives in 1000 firms. Results indicate that humor has little effect on response rate, response speed, or response bias and completeness.     

解析服装设计中的复古元素

在渴望个性化的时代,人们追求一种返璞归真,复古服饰的出现使得人们对其的关注度不断提高。选取复古元素为主要研究对象,对服装上的复古元素进行解析,从服装的廓形、色彩、面料三要素上进行详细的阐述。试图通过对复古元素在服装中应用表现的分析,找出复古元素在服装中的应用手法和技巧,得出其在服装设计中流行的现实意义。     

New Product Development Processes and New Product Profitability: Exploring the Mediating Role of Speed to Market and Product Quality

In new product development, faster is not always better. Conceptually, being faster to market should improve financial performance by improving product quality and reducing development expenses. Empirical support is mixed, however, demonstrating that higher speed to market exhibits an inverted U‐shaped relationship with product profitability. Conventional wisdom and empirical research suggest managers make speed to market–product quality–development expense trade‐offs. A particular concern regarding speed to market is that extreme speed may jeopardize product quality. Some researchers suggest that speed to market improves product quality while others suggest firms must balance both speed to market and product quality. Also, shorter lead times may be associated with reduced development expenses, but empirical evidence is conflicting. This research attempts to reconcile conflicting results regarding the speed to market–product quality relationship, their joint impact on product profitability, and their mediation role in the effects of development expenses and cross‐functional integration on product profitability. Partial least squares (PLS) is used to analyze multiplexed archival and survey data collected from NPD managers for 1115 different NPD projects in several firms. The results support the hypothesized equations, explaining 27% of speed to market variance, 35% of product quality variance, and 45% of product profitability variance. This study makes two contributions. First, because speed to market and product quality are related, simultaneous consideration of both factors enhances insight into their joint effect. Second, it provides evidence that speed to market and product quality jointly mediate development expense by NPD phase and cross‐functional integration effects on product profitability. Key results from the large sample data analysis include the following. Speed to market and product quality both enhance product profitability, but the impact of speed to market is larger than that of product quality. Speed to market and product quality partially mediate the impact of fuzzy front end phase expenses on product profitability, while expenses in the latter phases exhibit no impact on the mediators or profitability. Thus, the results suggest that trade‐offs are made not only between time, quality, and expense (i.e., if additional expenses are incurred at all), but also that trade‐offs relate to when (i.e., in which NPD phase) additional development expenses are incurred. Finally, cross‐functional integration (both internal and external) substantially impacts product profitability through a mix of direct and mediated effects.     

The impact of service worker personal resources on relationship quality in business solutions

Service workers are vital in business solution implementations due to their importance to customer outcomes. However, service workers face time and resource constraints that limit their ability to address the multiple requirements of individual customer firm members. Therefore, achieving relationship quality can be stressful. Surprisingly little research exists in this area, so it is, therefore, the focus of the present study. Drawing on the results of a survey of 220 members of customer firms, the study first explores the impacts of three types of personal resources (flexibility, reputation and empathy) on relationship quality. The results suggest all three personal resources have positive effects. The study also considers the mediating effects of task alignment (i.e. when personal resources are appropriate for specific job demands) and the moderating effects of team membership (customer delivery team versus customer management team). The results suggest task alignment dampens the effects of the three personal resources on relationship quality, which implies that specific tasks do not necessarily affect relationship quality as a whole. Team membership moderates all hypothesized effects, suggesting a more operational focus for customer delivery team members and a more strategic focus for customer management team members.     

Flexibility and quality in logistics and relationships

This research focuses on supplier-buyer relationships in a distribution channel. It uses a contingency theory to claim that, under different environmental conditions, logistics flexibility and relationship flexibility for a focal firm (a manufacturer in this study) will have distinct effects on logistics service quality (when treated as a controllable mediator) and the firm's satisfaction in its relationship with its key downstream account. Using data from a survey of manufacturers in China, it uses structural equation modeling to test the main effects and moderated regression together with moderated path analysis to examine the contingent effects of environmental uncertainty. The results show that, as distinctive capabilities, both logistics flexibility and relationship flexibility have significant positive effects on the level of logistics service quality that the manufacturer offers, which, in turn, enhance how much it values and is satisfied with its relationship with its key account. However, the direct effect of logistics flexibility on relationship satisfaction is stronger under an uncertain environment, while the direct and total effect of relationship flexibility on relationship satisfaction is stronger under a stable environment.     

Speed to Market for Innovative Products: Blessing or Curse?

The relationships among speed to market, quality, and costs are important to managers as they attempt to best establish incentives and set goals for new product development teams, allocate resources for new product development, or create positional advantage in the market. The existing literature suggests that the economic consequences of being late to the market are significant, including higher development and manufacturing costs, lower profit margins, and lessening of the firm's market value. Therefore, traditional logic has held that new product development managers need to manage the trade‐offs among speed to market, quality, and costs. While both scholars and managers have often acquiesced to performance trade‐offs among “faster, better, and cheaper,” this research attempts to improve understanding of the interrelationships between these objectives, and ultimately profit. Based on a survey of 197 managers, faster speed to market is shown to be related to better quality and lower costs; it is not necessary to sacrifice one of these outcomes. Further, the moderating roles of two dimensions of innovativeness (innovativeness to the firm and to the market) are examined on the relationships between speed and quality, as well as speed and profit. Both dimensions of innovativeness positively moderate the relationship between speed to market and quality. For more innovative products (both to the firm and the market), there is a stronger positive relationship between speed and quality than for less innovative products. Further, innovativeness to the firm negatively moderates the relationship between speed and profit. Thus, speed has a less positive impact on profit for highly innovative‐to‐the‐firm products compared with less innovative‐to‐the‐firm products. By being conscious of the projects’ levels of innovativeness (along with prioritizing various performance measures), managers can more rationally decide when to emphasize speed to market based on this study's findings.     

The joint impact of quality and innovativeness on short-term new product performance

In the last decade a number of conceptualizations of product quality and innovativeness have been suggested, and academics as well as managers have begun to understand that the relationships between quality, innovativeness and new product performance are more complicated than they may initially seem to be. While an innovation-oriented strategy depends on the exploration of new possibilities through search, risk-taking and experimentation, a high quality strategy requires the exploitation of existing certainties through efficiency, standardization and control. In this research, we demonstrate that the interaction effects of quality (objective and subjective) and innovativeness (for the firm and for the customer) on new product performance are different than the isolated impact of these variables. In addition, by focusing on the main and joint impact of these variables on short-term new product performance, we provide valuable recommendations for new product launch decisions.“The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.”—Oscar Wilde     

Technology versus Design Innovation's Effects on Sales and Tobin's Q: The Moderating Role of Branding Strategy

This research investigates the impacts on firm performance of (1) technology versus design innovation and (2) their potentially synergistic interaction. Synergies could arise from complementarities, in particular the utilization of technology innovation as a platform for design innovations. Both sales and Tobin's q are examined as dependent performance variables, with sales tapping consumer responses and Tobin's q reflecting investor responses. Moderation by branding strategy (i.e., Corporate Branding versus Mixed Branding versus House of Brands) is analyzed because innovation may impact performance differently depending on branding strategy. Advertising effects, the number of new product introductions, their interaction, R&D expenditures, operating margins, and firm size are also modeled as covariates. The results show that all main and interaction effects are significant in at least one of the branding groups, and that moderation of model paths by branding strategy was pervasive. Overall, except for technology innovation → Tobin's q, Corporate Branding coefficients for technology innovation, design innovation, and their interaction were almost always significantly different from Mixed Branding and House of Brands coefficients, which were not significantly different from each other. Since Mixed Branding and House of Brands proved very similar, these groups were combined under “Non‐Corporate.” First, for technology innovation, the impact on both sales and Tobin's q for Corporate Branding was less than or equal to Noncorporate. Noteworthy was that the technology innovation → Tobin's q relationship was equal across all branding strategies; technology innovation appears to be key for investors. Second, for design innovation, the impact for Corporate Branding was positive while for Noncorporate it was null; the same pattern was observed for sales and Tobin's q. Third, for the interaction, the impact for Corporate Branding was significantly less than the positive impacts for Noncorporate. For Noncorporate, the marginal impact of design innovation on sales or Tobin's q increased with the level of technology innovation. For Corporate Branding however, there was no interaction in the case of sales and a negative interaction for Tobin's q. Thus, the marginal impact of design innovation on Tobin's q decreased with increasing levels of technology innovation. These decreasing marginal effects could reflect limits to corporate brand name extensions, as perceived by investors.     

Direct mail response factors for an industrial service

This article addresses the lack of quantitative research on industrial services marketing communications by providing a quantitative study of a direct mail promotion for an industrial service. Prenotification, the structure of the letter, the ethnic background of the signatory, personalization, and prequalifying the respondent were tested as factors influencing the response rate in the direct mail promotion. The results are useful as baseline information for current practitioners and to provide insights for the future development of theories of marketing communications for industrial services.     

Outcomes of service encounter quality in a business-to-business context

Service encounter quality is an area of growing interest to researchers and managers alike, yet little is known about the effects of face-to-face service encounter quality within a business-to-business setting. In this paper, a psychometrically sound measure of such service encounter quality is proposed, and consequences of this construct are empirically assessed. Both a literature review and a dyadic in-depth interview approach were used to develop a conceptual framework and a pool of items to capture service encounter quality. A mail survey of customers was undertaken, and a response rate of 36% was obtained. Data analysis was conducted via confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings reveal a four-factor structure of service encounter quality, encompassing professionalism, civility, friendliness and competence dimensions. Service encounter quality was found to be directly related to customer satisfaction and service quality perceptions, and indirectly to loyalty. The importance of these findings for practitioners and for future research on service encounter quality is discussed.     

Breakeven Time on New Product Launches: An Investigation of the Drivers and Impact on Firm Performance

The ability to break even faster on new product projects is becoming increasingly critical for firms in fast‐moving industries where continually reinvesting in research and development efforts matters greatly for survival. However, most research to date has focused on studying the impact of two primary innovation outcomes: sales and profits. The exclusive emphasis on sales and profit may be warranted for certain types of goods such as durable goods, but when examining the effects of new products in fast‐moving consumer goods or in the entrepreneurial sphere, where cash to cash matters greatly for survival, it is critical for both researchers and practitioners to not only consider the profits and sales generated by the new product but also the time to breakeven. This paper develops a theoretical framework using the competency‐based literature to examine the effects of innovation drivers (customer idea source, speed to market, product quality, and product newness) on breakeven time (BET) and project profits, and their subsequent impact on firm performance. A three‐stage least square estimation method was employed using longitudinal data on 945 new product development projects and launches in the morning (breakfast) foods category. The results clearly pinpoint that for successful product innovation, managers need to consider the time taken to breakeven on new product development. Specifically, the results demonstrate that speed to market and product quality shorten BET, but customer idea source extends BET. Second, the analysis also empirically demonstrates that BET is an equally effective predictor of firm performance as project profits in the short run, but significantly a stronger predictor of firm performance in the long run (t + four years), suggesting that BET should be regarded as a superior leading indicator of firm performance versus product profitability for fast‐moving consumer goods segment. This is an important finding that suggests firms that recoup their cash investments more quickly experience greater short‐term and significantly more long‐term success.     

Direct intervention or indirect support? The effects of cooperative control measures on farmers’ implementation of quality and safety standards

In recent years, labor-intensive agricultural products from developing countries have exhibited inferior performance in international trade due to quality and safety incidents, among which pesticide residue is a major issue. Aiming to improve food quality and safety in the context of cooperatives, we introduced three categories of control measures: outcome control, process control and social control. Based on the Pre-Harvest Interval Standard (PHIS), we selected three indices, farmers’ implementation rate of PHIS, absolute distance to PHIS and relative distance to PHIS, to evaluate appropriateness of pesticides use, reduction of pesticide residue and safety improvements of agricultural products. By using random sampling survey data, we empirically analyzed the marginal effects of control measures and their combinations on food quality and safety standards. The empirical results show that implementing process control, namely, unified production standards or supply of unified agricultural inputs, can comprehensively improve farmers’ implementation rate of PHIS, absolute distance and relative distance to PHIS respectively by 34.9%, 3.2 days and 46.0% on average. While the effects of outcome control (safety inspection) and social control (bonus-penalty incentive or training) are restricted to other measures. Therefore, we suggest cooperatives should take farmers’ features, implementation conditions and the effects of control measures into consideration in order to make a sustainable management plan for improving food quality and safety and enhancing competitiveness in international markets.     

Firm and destination-specific export costs: The case of the Swedish food sector

This paper focuses on sunk export costs in the Swedish food and beverage sector. Its purpose is threefold. First, it investigates whether the estimation of the importance of sunk costs is sensitive to persistence bilateral (firm-destination) effects such as specific market knowledge compared to firm-specific effects such as managerial skills or product quality. Second, it analyses the effects of firm and market characteristics on firms’ export decisions. Third, it tests whether the importance of sunk costs varies with destination as well as firm characteristics. The main results are: (1) that firm-destination effects are more important than general, unobserved firm characteristics, (2) that more productive and larger firms are more likely to export and that firms’ expectations from exporting increase with market size and exchange rate stability, and (3) that the importance of sunk export costs varies with firm and market characteristics.     

Strategic intelligence activity: The management of the sales force as a source of strategic information

Environmental information is very important to strategic management. Human sources are among the most commonly used sources of information and among them, boundary people, such as salesman, hold a privileged position. One dimension which measures the quality of a strategic response is its speed of implementation. Recognizing this, to ensure a good (fast) strategic response, fast communication of information is imperative. This article focuses on factors which influence the speed of communication of environmental information. It is based on an exploratory research which has been carried out on a sample of salesmen of an industrial company. Management policies regarding the use of the sales force as an efficient source of strategic information are proposed in conclusion.     

质量经营：供电企业的现实选择

针对制约供电企业质量经营的诸因素,提出了质量经营必须实行标准化与个性化的统一.在此基础上,文章还例举了供电企业质量经营的一些基本策略.     

The Impact of Product Innovativeness on the Link between Development Speed and New Product Profitability*

A review of the literature reveals that the relationship between development speed and new product profitability is not as strong and straightforward as conventional wisdom suggests. A number of studies show positive results, others show mixed results, and some present no evidence of a relationship. In other words, the valence of the link between development speed and new product profitability is unclear at this time. Therefore, this study investigates whether or not speeding new products to market has positive or negative effects on new product profitability. Prior research shows that product innovativeness influences both development speed and new product profitability. This raises the question of whether increasing speed is equally successful in improving profitability across new products that differ in their degree of innovativeness. Therefore, this study also investigates the moderating effect of product innovativeness on the relationship between development speed and new product profitability. The results from a survey‐based study of 233 manufacturers of industrial products in the Netherlands reveal an inverted U‐shaped relationship between development speed and new product profitability. The findings also show that the optimal point is different for two new product types—product improvements and line additions—that vary in their innovativeness. These results provide an onset for the development of a decision tool that helps managers to determine how much to spend on accelerating the development of individual new products and how they should allocate that spending across products in their new product portfolio.     

Knowledge creation capability,absorptive capacity,and product innovativeness

This study focuses on the impact of knowledge creation capability and absorptive capacity on product innovativeness. Capabilities contribute through their uniqueness, their integration into effective configurations, and their deployment in response to external environment changes. Therefore, this study examines the individual (uniqueness) and interactive (integration) effects of knowledge creation capability and absorptive capacity on product innovativeness as well as how these effects vary in differing technologically turbulent contexts (deployment). Based on a survey of 212 Chinese firms, this study finds that in addition to their individually positive effects, knowledge creation capability and absorptive capacity have a synergistic effect on product innovativeness. Moreover, the individual effect of knowledge creation capability and the synergistic effect become stronger as technological turbulence increases, whereas the impact of absorptive capacity tends to be dampened by technological turbulence.     

提高产品质量管理 增强企业竞争力

随着经济社会的发展以及顾客对产品个性化的追求,产品质量越来越成为产品要素的重点,因此提高产品质量成为提高企业产品竞争力的有效手段。PDCA质量管理环为企业提供了可行的质量提升手段。本文对公司实施PDCA的过程和方法进行研究,分析表明,PDCA质量控制工作是一个循环往复的递升过程,对于企业不断提高产品质量将产生积极作用。     

Differences between odd number and even number response formats: Evidence from mainland Chinese respondents

Scholars have speculated that the Chinese may be more reluctant to express their opinions strongly and that this may be reinforced if the odd number response format with a mid-point option of “no opinion” or “neither agree nor disagree” is provided. This may undermine the quality of survey data because less variances or even inaccurate information will be collected. This study provides empirical evidence from 532 mainland Chinese employees in Beijing to test this speculation. These employees were randomly assigned to complete either an odd number or even number response format questionnaire. In contrast to the speculation, in a wide variety of measures that are relevant to the area of organizational behavior (OB) and human resource management (HRM), it appears that the odd number response format does not show systematic differences when compared with the even number response format. This result holds even for some sensitive measures of personal beliefs, evaluation of and judgments about employing organizations, supervisors, and colleagues. Given the increasing number of studies surveying Chinese and other Asian respondents, we call for further research on this issue.     

Behavior based price personalization under vertical product differentiation

We study price personalization in a two period duopoly with vertically differentiated products. In the second period, a firm not only knows the purchase history of all customers, as in standard Behavior Based Price Discrimination models, but it also collects detailed information on its old customers, using it to engage in price personalization. The analysis reveals that there exists a natural market for each firm, defined as the set of customers that cannot be poached by the rival in the second period. The equilibrium is unique, except when firms are ex-ante almost identical. In equilibrium, only the firm with the largest natural market poaches customers from the rival. This firm has highest profits but not necessarily the largest market share. Aggregate profits are lower than under uniform pricing. All consumers gain, total welfare is higher herein than under uniform pricing if firms’ natural markets are sufficiently asymmetric. The low quality firm chooses the minimal quality level and a quality differential arises, though the exact choice for the high quality depends upon the cost specification.