Environmental marketing strategy and firm performance: Effects on new product performance and market share

Recent studies on marketing and the natural environment have called for research that links environmental marketing strategies to the performance of the firm. This research operationalizes the enviropreneurial marketing (EM) construct and examines its relationship with firm performance. It is the first empirical research to operationalize the EM construct. The new scale, albeit a first attempt, demonstrates encouraging psychometric properties. According to the resource-based view of the firm, a resource such as EM should directly influence firms’ capabilities (e.g., new product development success) but not competitive advantage (e.g., change in market share). A nationwide study of top-level marketing managers supports this perspective. In addition, although market turbulence also affects new product development success, it does not have an impact on EM. This suggests that EM formation is driven by internal rather than external forces. William E. Baker (william.baker@sdsu.edu) is an associate professor of marketing at San Diego State University. His research interests lie primarily in advertising effectiveness, new product success, organizational learning, and market orientation. He has published in leading scholarly journals including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Product and Innovation Management, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Advertising, Psychology & Marketing, and theJournal of Market Focused Management. He has also served as the head of research in a major communications firm and is actively involved in consulting. James M. Sinkula (james.sinkula@uvm.edu) is John L. Beckley Professor of Marketing in the School of Business Administration at the University of Vermont. His research interests lie primarily in the areas of organizational learning, market orientation, product innovation, environmental marketing strategy, and organizational performance. He has published in the leading scholarly journals, including theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Product and Innovation Management, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Advertising Research, theJournal of Market Focused Management, theJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing, theJournal of International Marketing, and others.     

The relationship of learning and memory with organizational performance: The moderating role of turbulence

Extensive research has documented how firms’ learning orientation and memory are related to organizational performance. The objective of this study is to examine the moderating role of turbulence on the relationships between firms’ learning orientation and memory and their organizational performance and innovativeness. The study also provides insight into the differential relationships of firms’ learning orientation and memory to their performance and innovativeness. Using survey data collected from 200 supply management professionals, the results suggest that the extent to which learning and memory are associated with organizational performance is contingent on the level of environmental turbulence. Specifically, under low environmental turbulence, learning orientation and organizational memory appear to be related to performance and innovativeness; however, under high environmental turbulence, only learning orientation is a useful predictor. Sangphet Hanvanich (hanvanich@xavier.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing at Xavier University. She received her PhD from Michigan State University. She has published in various journals including theJournal of Service Research andStrategic Management Journal. Her primary research interests are in the areas of marketing strategy, marketing alliances, international business, and international marketing. K. Sivakumar (k.sivakumar@lehigh.edu) (PhD, Syracuse University) is the Arthur Tauck Professor of International Marketing and Logistics, chairperson, and a professor of marketing in the Department of Marketing at Lehigh University. Before joining Lehigh in 2001, he spent 9 years as a faculty member with the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research interests include pricing, global marketing, and innovation management. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Marketing, theJournal of International Business Studies, Decision Sciences Journal, Marketing Letters, the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Interactive Marketing, theJournal of International Marketing, International Marketing Review, theJournal of Product Innovation Management, Pricing Strategy & Practice: An International Journal, Psychology & Marketing, Marketing Science Institute’s Working Paper Series, and other publications. He has won several awards for his research (including the Donald Lehmann Award) and is on the editorial review board of several scholarly journals. He has won outstanding reviewer awards from two journals. Home page: www.lehigh .edu/~kasg. G. Tomas M. Hult (nhult@msu.edu) is a professor of marketing and supply chain management and director of the Center for International Business Education and Research at Michigan State University. He serves as executive director of the Academy of International Business. He is associate editor of theJournal of International Business Studies, Decision Sciences, and theJournal of Operations Management. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, theJournal of Marketing, Decision Sciences, theJournal of Operations Management, theJournal of Management, and theJournal of Retailing, among others.     

Intelligence generation and superior customer value

It has become conventional wisdom that an organization's ability to continuously generate intelligence about customers' expressed and latent needs, and about how to satisfy those needs, is essential for it to continuously create superior customer value. However, intelligence generation typically has been treated as a generic firm activity. The authors propose that there are four distinct modes of intelligence generation, each of which is part of a welldeveloped intelligence-generation capability. The article reports the results of an exploratory study that supports this proposition. Stanley F. Slater is the vice chancellor for academic affairs and a professor of business administration at the University of Washington, Bothell. His research interests lie primarily in the areas of market-based organizational learning and market strategy implementation. He has published more than 30 articles in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theStrategic Management Journal, and theJournal of Management, among others. He has won “Best Paper” awards from the International Marketing Review and from the Marketing Science Institute. He currently serves on five editorial review boards including those of theJournal of Marketing and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. John C. Narver is a professor of marketing in the Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Washington, Seattle. His general research interests lie in the area of strategic marketing. His current research is primarily concerned with the creation and effects of a market orientation in an organization. His work has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theStrategic Management Journal, theAcademy of Management Journal, and theJournal of Market-Focused, Management, among other scholarly journals. He has won the “Best Paper” award from the Marketing Science Institute.     

Re-examining salesperson goal orientations: Personality influencers, customer orientation, and work satisfaction

Several scholars have noted the importance of relationship marketing and the critical role that salesperson knowledge plays in the formation of buyer-seller relationships. However, research on salesperson learning motivations has been relatively scarce compared with research on firm-level learning orientations. One promising stream of research in this area is salesperson goal orientation. Drawing from previous work in control theory, the authors extend previous research in this area by proposing relationships between personality influencers, goal orientations, customer/selling orientation, and overall work satisfaction. Their hypotheses are tested using data obtained from a sample of 190 real estate agents. The results provide support for their hypothesized model. Specifically, learning orientation is shown to positively influence customer orientation, while performance orientation is shown to positively influence selling orientation. Eric G. Harris (eharris@lklnd.usf.edu Ph.D., Oklahoma State University) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of South Florida. His current research interests include goal orientation, customer orientation, and personality models applied to consumer and employee behavior. He has published articles in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Psychology & Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Marketing, theJournal of Business & Psychology, Services Marketing Quarterly, theJournal of Services Marketing, and theJournal of Marketing Management. John C. Mowen (jcmmkt@okstate.edu) Ph.D., Arizona State University) is Regents Professor and holds the Noble Chair of Marketing Strategy at Oklahoma State University. He has published articles in numerous leading journals, including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, Decisions Sciences, theJournal of Applied Psychology, theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychology and Marketing, and theJournal of Consumer Psychology. He is a past president of the Society for Consumer Psychology. His teaching and consulting interests focus on consumer behavior and motivating the workforce. His research focuses on the factors that motivate and influence the decisions of consumers and employees. Tom J. Brown (tom.brown@okstate.edu; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin) is Ardmore Professor of Business Administration and an associate professor of marketing at Oklahoma State University. His articles have appeared in leading marketing journals, including theJournal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His current research interests include causes and effects of corporate reputation and the customer orientation of service workers. He is cofounder of the Corporate Identity/Associations Research Group. Teaching interests include marketing research, services marketing, and corporate communications. He is coauthor (with Gilbert A. Churchill Jr.) ofBasic Marketing Research (5th ed.). Consulting interests include marketing research, corporate reputation, and the customer orientation of service workers.     

Brand portfolio, corporate image, and reputation: Managing brand deletions

Brand portfolio management addresses, among other issues, the interrelated questions of what brands to add, retain, or delete. A small number of brands in a firm’s brand portfolio can often have a disproportionately large positive or negative impact on its image and reputation and the responses of stakeholders. Brand deletions can be critical from the standpoint of a firm being able to free up resources to redeploy toward enhancing the competitive standing and financial performance of brands in its portfolio with the greatest potential to positively affect its image and reputation. Against this backdrop, the authors focus on the organizational and environmental drivers of brand deletion propensity, the predisposition of a firm to delete a particular brand from its brand portfolio. The authors propose a conceptual model delineating the drivers of brand deletion propensity and suggest directions for future research, including the related concept of brand deletion intensity. Rajan Varadarajan (varadarajan@tamu.edu) is Distinguished Professor of Marketing and holder of the Ford Chair in Marketing and E-Commerce in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. His primary teaching and research interest is in the area of strategy. His research on strategy has been published in theJournal of Marketing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theAcademy of Management Journal, theStrategic Management Journal, and other journals. Rajan served as editor of theJournal of Marketing from 1993 to 1996 and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science from 2000 to 2003. He currently serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of International Marketing, theJournal of Interactive Marketing and other journals. He is a recipient of a number of honors and awards, including the Academy of Marketing Science Distinguished Marketing Educator Award (2003), the American Marketing Association Mahajan Award for Career Contributions to Marketing Strategy (2003), and the Texas A&M University Distinguished Achievement Award in Research (1994). Mark P. DeFanti (mdefanti@tamu.edu) is a doctoral student in marketing at Texas A&M University. He received his M.B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin and his B.A. from Amherst College. His current research interests include brand portfolio management, corporate name changes, and business-to-business branding. His teaching interests include advertising, brand management, and marketing strategy. Paul S. Busch (p-busch@tamu.edu) is a professor of marketing in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. He received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Decision Sciences, theJournal of Business Research, andBusiness Horizons. He serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Business-to-Business Marketing, theAsian Journal of Marketing, andMarketing Management. His research interests include buyer-seller relationships, business-to-business branding, and brand portfolio management. His teaching interests include promotional strategy and new product development.     

Managing culturally diverse buyer-seller relationships: The role of intercultural disposition and adaptive selling in developing intercultural communication competence

Given the increase in cultural diversity within marketing organizations as well as within current and potential customer bases, possessing the appropriate communication skills becomes crucial to success in managing culturally diverse relationships. Although marketing researchers have recognized the importance of adaptive selling behavior for successful buyer-seller relationships, the exploration of the intercultural aspects of these relationships has only recently begun. This article examines how adaptive selling behaviors and intercultural dispositions of marketing executives contribute to their perceived intercultural communication competence. Results show that in addition to being adaptive, the intercultural disposition of a marketer is of key importance in developing intercultural communication competence. Theoretical and practical implications for incorporating intercultural communication into the development of successful buyer-seller relationships are discussed. Victoria D. Bush (Ph.D., University of Memphis) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. Her research has appeared in such journals as theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Advertising Research, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, theJournal of Business Ethics, and theJournal of Services Marketing. Her research interests are in diversity, advertising, and ethics. Gregory M. Rose (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. His research interests include consumer socialization and cross-cultural consumer behavior. He has published or has forthcoming articles in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Marketing, and other journals and proceedings. Faye Gilbert (Ph.D., University of North Texas) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. She has published in theJournal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing, theJournal of Health Care Marketing, theJournal of Research in Pharmaceutical Economics, theJournal of Applied Business Research, theJournal of Marketing Management, theJournal of Marketing Theory and Practice, and theJournal of Marketing Education, among others. Her work emphasizes the application of consumer behavior theory to health care and to channel relationships. Thomas N. Ingram (Ph.D., Georgia State University) is a professor of marketing at Colorado State University. He has been honored as the Marketing Educator of the Year by Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI) and as a recipient of the Mu Kappa Tau National Marketing Honor Society Recognition Award for Outstanding Scholarly Contributions to the Sales Discipline. He has served as the editor of theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management and is the current editor of theJournal of Marketing Theory and Practice. His primary research is in personal selling and sales management. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, among others. He is the coauthor of three textbooks:Professional Selling: A Trust-Based Approach, Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making, andMarketing: Principles and Perspectives.     

Export marketing,interfunctional interactions,and performance consequences

Firms with export operations have internal environments that are often geared toward serving the home market. As a result, export marketing and other business functions compete for resources, which thus increases the likelihood of conflict between them. Using survey responses from more than 700 exporting firms, the authors test a model of the antecedents and consequences of two important interaction variables: exporting’s interfunctional connectedness and conflict. The model explains 52 percent and 49 percent of variance in exporting connectedness and conflict, respectively. The authors identify the key drivers of successful interactions as follows: management commitment, organizational training and reward systems, relative functional identification, centralization, and export employee job satisfaction and commitment. The authors also demonstrate that connectedness is most critical for export success when export markets are in a state of turbulence, whereas conflict is most detrimental when the firm’s export environment is stable. John W. Cadogan (j.w.cadogan@lboro.ac.uk), Ph.D., is a professor of marketing in the Business School at Loughborough University, United Kingdom. His primary areas of research interest are international marketing, marketing strategy, and sales management. He has published on these issues in theJournal of International Business Studies, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, theInternational Marketing Review, theJournal of Marketing Management, theJournal of Strategic Marketing, and other academic journals. He received his degree from the University of Wales (United Kingdom). Sanna Sundqvist (sanna.sundqvist@lut.fi), Ph.D., is a professor in international marketing in the Department of Business Administration at the Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland). Her research interests deal with the international diffusion of innovations, market orientation (especially in an international context), and consumers’ adoption behavior. She has published in theJournal of Business Research, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, theCanadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, and theAustralasian Marketing Journal. She received her degree from the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Risto T. Saiminen (risto.salminen@lut.fi), Ph.D., is a professor of industrial engineering and management, especially marketing, in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. His primary areas of research interest are customer relationships and networks in business marketing, pedagogy in industrial engineering and management, and international marketing. He has published on these issues in theJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Management, theEuropean Journal of Engineering Education, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, and theAustralasian Marketing Journal. He received his degree from Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Kaisu Puumalainen (kaisu.puumalainen@lut.fi), Ph.D., is a professor in technology research in the Department of Business Administration at Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Her primary areas of research interest are innovation, international marketing, and small businesses. She has published on these issues in theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, R&D Management, theCanadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, theJournal of International Entrepreneurship, theAustralasian Marketing Journal, and theInternational Journal of Production Economics. She received her degree from the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland.     

Customer value,satisfaction, loyalty,and switching costs: An illustration from a business-to-business service context

Although researchers and managers pay increasing attention to customer value, satisfaction, loyalty, and switching costs, not much is known about their interrelationships. Prior research has examined the relationships within subsets of these constructs, mainly in the business-to-consumer (B2C) environment. The authors extend prior research by developing a conceptual framework linking all of these constructs in a business-to-business (B2B) service setting. On the basis of the cognition-affect-behavior model, the authors hypothesize that customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between customer value and customer loyalty, and that customer satisfaction and loyalty have significant reciprocal effects on each other. Furthermore, the potential interaction effect of satisfaction and switching costs, and the quadratic effect of satisfaction, on loyalty are explored. The authors test the hypotheses on data obtained from a courier service provider in a B2B context. The results support most of the hypotheses and, in particular, confirm the mediating role of customer satisfaction. Shun Yin Lam (asylam@ntu.edu.sg; fax: 65-6791-3697) is an assistant professor of marketing and international business in the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Lam received his Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario and has research interests in a number of areas including retail marketing, customer loyalty, and customers’ adoption and usage of technology. His work has appeared inMarketing Science, theJournal of Retailing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, andAdvances in Consumer Research. Venkatesh (Venky) Shankar (vshankar@rhsmith.umd.edu) is Ralph J. Tyser Fellow and an associate professor of marketing in the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. His areas of research are e-business, competitive strategy, international marketing, pricing, new product management, and supply chain management. His research has been published or is forthcoming in theJournal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theStrategic Management Journal, theJournal of Retailing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, andMarketing Letters. he is co-editor of theJournal of Interactive Marketing; associate editor ofManagement Science; and serves on the editorial boards ofMarketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, and theJournal of Academy of Marketing Science. He is a three-time winner of the Krowe Award for Outstanding Teaching and teaches Marketing Management, Digital Business Strategy, Competitive Marketing Strategy, and International Marketing (http://www.venkyshankar.com). M. Krishna Erramilli (amkerramilli@ntu.edu.sg) is an associate professor of marketing and international business in the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He has undertaken many studies on marketing strategy issues in service firms, particularly in an international context, and has published his work in journals like theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of International Business Studies, theColumbia Journal of World Business, and theJournal of Business Research. He has presented numerous papers at international conferences. His current research interests center on the international expansion of Asia-based service firms. Bvsan Murthy (abmurthy@ntu.edu.sg) is an associate professor of marketing and international business in the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Prior to turning to the academe a decade ago, he had 20 years of international industry experience. He has published in journals likeThe Cornell H.R.A. Quarterly and theInternational Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and has also written industry white papers/monographs and chapters in books. His current research interests center on strategic services marketing/management and customer value management.     

A refinement and validation of the MARKOR scale

In this article, the authors attempt to develop an improved market orientation scale built on Kohli, Jaworski, and Kumar’s market orientation scale (MARKOR). The modified scale is then compared with the MARKOR scale in a validation study. The authors argue that the scale improves operationalization of the market orientation construct, and the results indicate that the psychometric properties of the new scale are superior to those of the MARKOR scale. Implications of the results are discussed, and a future research agenda is offered. Ken Matsuno is assistant professor of marketing at Babson College. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee. His research interests include marketing strategy formulation process and its outcomes and business-to-business marketing issues. His work can be found in theJournal of Marketing, theInternational Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, and several academic conference proceedings. John T. Mentzer is the Harry J. and Vivienne B. Bruce Excellence Chair of Business Policy in the Department of Marketing, Logistics, and Transportation at the University of Tennessee. He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State. He has published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Logistics International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, Transportation Journal, Columbia Journal of World Business, Industrial Marketing Management, Research in Marketing, and other journals. Joseph O. Rentz is associate professor of marketing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. His research interests include cohort analysis, measurement issues in marketing, generalizability studies, and itnerfunctional effectiveness. He has published articles in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, andJournal of Marketing Research among others.