Research note: Selected factors influencing marketers’ deontological norms

This paper focuses on deontological norms of professional marketers. The data were obtained from a mail survey of American Marketing Association members. The results generally indicate that deontological norms are a function of Machiavellianism and locus of control. That is, as hypothesized, those high in Machiavellianism and with an “external” locus of control tend to be “lower” in their deontological norms than their counterparts. This study, however, found no relationship between organizational culture and deontological norms. Nevertheless, to a certain degree, an organization, by means of its codes of ethical enforcement, can affect its employees’ deontological norms in a positive way. The results also indicate that business experience positively correlate with deontological norms and that there was no significant relationship between gender and deontological norms.     

Influencing consumers’ selection of domestic versus imported products: Implications for marketing based on a model of helping behavior

Recent marketing campaigns have urged American consumers to “Buy American.” Marketers can improve the success of their campaigns if they understand the network of influences that lead American consumers to help threatened domestic workers. Consumers’ cooperation in purchasing domestic products may be viewed as a form of help for American workers whose jobs are threatened by the success of imported products. This study presents a model designed to explain consumers’ willingness to help these workers. Survey data were subjected to structural equation analysis to test the model. Results confirmed willingness to help is influenced by the salience of the problem, identification with the workers, inequity of the situation, felt similarity with the workers, empathy with the workers, and the costs of helping. These findings suggest ways to market the Buy American theme. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Utah. Her research interests include international marketing and channels of distribution. Her work has appeared in theJournal of Business Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Retailing, and other marketing journals. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. His research interests include the fitness market, consumer logistics, helping behavior, and marketing channels. His research findings have been reported in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science and in various other business and social science journals and proceedings. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Houston. Dr. Biswas’s work has been published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Psychology and Marketing, andJournalism Quarterly, as well as other refereed journals.     

Developing global products and marketing strategies: A construct and a research agenda

The U.S. trade deficit brings to question the effectiveness of international marketing strategies of American firms. Multinational corporations must develop better international products and improve their performance in their international marketing efforts. They must know when to globalize or localize their marketing practices. This article incorporates learning, involvement, diffusion/adoption and culture context as dimensions of a global product and marketing strategy development decision model. The model developed is “be global, act local.” The interrelationship of consumer behavior models in the context of a multinational product development decision is emphasized. This article raises research issues which need to be addressed for future success in multinational and/or multicultural markets.     

Strategic fit to resources versus NPD execution proficiencies: what are their roles in determining success?

This research examines the roles of strategic ‘fit’ versus execution proficiency in creating superior performance for new products. Specifically, we compare main effects versus moderation effects models of execution proficiency within a resource-based view (RBV) framework. Four new product success dimensions are outcomes. Marketing ‘fit’ and technological ‘fit’ are viewed as resource fit advantages and are antecedents in the model; marketing versus technical execution proficiencies relate to the project’s execution. The results show that the proficiencies-as-moderators model is the better fitting one; marketing but not technical proficiency is the key moderator. The results regarding resource fit advantage show that (1) both marketing fit and technological fit were positively related directly to profitability and to new product advantage; (2) marketing fit had direct positive effects on customer need met; and (3) neither marketing fit nor technological fit predicted speed. Concerning execution proficiencies: (1) technical execution proficiencies led to higher profitability and customer needs met, as well as speed; and (2) marketing execution proficiency was the only construct that led directly to increased success on all four dimensions examined in this research. Overall, support was found for the general premise that both marketing and technological resource fit advantages and marketing and technical execution proficiencies are significant predictors of new product success factors, with marketing proficiencies having additional moderating effects on the relationship of resource fit to performance.

Alliance competence, resources, and alliance success: Conceptualization, measurement, and initial test

This research examines the effect of an alliance competence on resource-based alliance success. The fundamental thesis guiding this research is that an alliance competence contributes to alliance success, both directly and through the acquisition and creation of resources. Using survey data gathered from 145 alliances, empirical tests of the hypotheses provide support for the posited explanation of alliance success. The findings indicate that an alliance competence is not only antecedent to the resources that are necessary for alliance success but also to alliance success itself. C. Jay Lambe (Ph.D., The Darden School at University of Virginia) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. For 10 years prior to entering academe, he was engaged in business-to-business marketing for both Xerox and AT&T. His research interests include business-to-business marketing, relationship marketing, marketing strategy, and sales management. He has publications in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Product Innovation Management, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, theInternational Journal of Management Reviews, theJournal of Business-to-Business Marketing, and theJournal of Relationship Marketing. He also serves as a reviewer for theJournal of Business-to-Business Marketing. Prior to joining the faculty at Virginia Tech, he was one of five Texas Tech University faculty members chosen in 1999 from the entire university for the annual Outstanding Faculty Member Award by the Mortar Board and Omicron Delta Kappa (Texas Tech University student organizations that recognize excellence in teaching). Robert E. Spekman is the Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School at the University of Virginia. He was formerly a professor of marketing and associate director of the Center for Telecommunications at the University of Southern California. He is an internationally recognized authority on business-to-business marketing and strategic alliances. His consulting experiences range from marketing research and competitive analysis, to strategic market planning, supply chain management, channels of distribution design and implementation, and strategic partnering. He has taught in a number of executive programs in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Europe. His executive program experience ranges from general marketing strategy, to sales force management, to channels strategy, to creating strategic alliances, to business-to-business marketing strategy, to a number of single-company and senior executive management programs. He has edited and/or written seven books and has authored (coauthored) more than 80 articles and papers. He also serves as a reviewer for a number of marketing and management journals, as well as for the National Science Foundation. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Southern California, he taught in the College of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. During his tenure at Maryland, he was granted the Most Distinguished Faculty Award by the MBA students on three separate occasions. Shelby D. Hunt is the J. B. Hoskins and P. W. Horn Professor of Marketing at Texas Tech University, Lubbock. A past editor of theJournal of Marketing (1985–87), he is the author ofModern Marketing Theory: Critical Issues in the Philosophy of Marketing Science (South-Western, 1991) andA General Theory of Competition: Resources, Competences, Productivity, Economic Growth (Sage, 2000). He has written numerous articles on competitive theory, macromarketing, ethics, channels of distribution, philosophy of science, and marketing theory. Three of hisJournal of Marketing articles—“The Nature and Scope of Marketing” (1976), “General Theories and Fundamental Explananda of Marketing” (1983), and “The Comparative Advantage Theory of Competition” (1995) (with Robert M. Morgan)—won the Harold H. Maynard Award for the best article on marketing theory. His 1985Journal of Business Research article with Lawrence B. Chonko, “Ethics and Marketing Management,” received the 2000 Elsevier Science Exceptional Quality and High Scholarly Impact award. His 1989 article, ”Reification and Realism in Marketing: in Defense of Reason,” won theJournal of Macromarketing Charles C. Slater Award. For his contributions to theory and science in marketing, he received the 1986 Paul D. Converse Award from the American Marketing Association, the 1987 Outstanding Marketing Educator Award from the Academy of Marketing Science, and the 1992 American Marketing Association/Richard D. Irwin Distinguished Marketing Educator Award.     

Developing global products and marketing strategies: A rejoinder

In this issue of JAMS, Dr. Lyn Amine presents a “comment and an extension” to our previously published article. Such efforts are often constructive, and in this spirit, we present a discussion responding to Dr. Amine’s comments. Our response, combined with Dr. Amine’s comments, hopefully will provide constructive research avenues in international product and marketing strategy development. He has published extensively in the areas of international marketing and retailing. His research and publication areas include international marketing, high tech marketing, and advertising management. His research and publication interests include sales management, international marketing, and retail management.     

Correlates of decision making autonomy in marketing units: A study of Canadian advanced technology manufacturing companies

The appropriate structure and design of marketing units is important in achieving a company’s long term strategic goals. This research addresses this issue by examining the design of marketing decision making structures (level of decision making decentralization) in a sample of 30 advanced technology manufacturing companies located in Canada. Respondents were asked to report for each of seven marketing decisions whether authority to make those decisions was with the senior marketing manager, above, or below the senior marketing manager. The results show that while marketing decision making is to a considerable degree a general management responsibility, autonomy of marketing managers is related to market, product, and overall organizational characteristics of the companies studied. Key words: decision making autonomy, marketing manager, advanced technology, marketing success.     

Marketing controls and employee responses: The moderating role of task characteristics

A key concern in implementing organizational controls is that little is known about when controls lead to “negative” employee responses. Previous research has suggested that lower levels of negative responses will be observed only if the controls that are being employed “fit” the characteristics of the tasks being controlled. The two task characteristics usually referred to include performance (outcome) documentation and procedural (cause-effect) knowledge. Unlike previous studies, however, this study assumes that the two task characteristics should have a joint, rather than independent, influence on employee responses to controls. The reason is that knowledge of how well one is doing is not sufficient for expecting lower levels of negative responses if information on procedures that may lead to better performance is not available. Knowledge of procedures, likewise, is not sufficient for lower levels of negative responses if performance documentation is not available. Results of an empirical study provide general support for the above line of reasoning. He obtained his Ph.D. at the Ohio State University. His research interests include the areas of international marketing and sales management. He has previously published inAdvances in International Marketing, International Trade Journal, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and contributed to several national and international conference proceedings. He obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include sales management, marketing strategy, and international marketing. He has previously published inInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, International Trade Journal, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Technology Forecasting and Social Change, and contributed to numerous conference proceedings.     

Expanding our understanding of marketing in society

The Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science was started 40 years ago, at a time when “marketing in society” issues were capturing much attention from marketing scholars. Since that time both the field and this journal have grown and matured, but the marketing in society area has become somewhat removed from the dominant perspectives of marketing scholarship. This paper provides an historical perspective on these developments and offers an examination of the fundamental role of societal interests in our field. Six basic topics are explored: (1) the hundred years of history of marketing thought development, as reflected in the “4 Eras” of marketing thought; (2) the ebbs and flows of attention to marketing in society topics during these 4 Eras; (3) two illustrations of difficulties brought about by this area’s move to sideline status in the field; (4) our concept of the “aggregate marketing system” as a basis for appreciating the centrality of this research area for the field of marketing; (5) the nature of marketing in society research today; and (6) a discussion of several research challenges and opportunities for the future.     

“Learning” and grade expectations: A study of instructor evaluations

This study examines instructor evaluations as used in introducing marketing classes. The report attempts to see if a student's increase in the knowledge of marketing is related to his/her eveluation of the instructor. “Learning” does not appear to be related to the student's evaluation of the instructor, but expected grades for the course and changes in anticipated grades are related to the student's perception of the instructor's effectiveness.     

Exploring CRM effectiveness: an institutional theory perspective

This study identifies the potential contribution that institutional theory can make to understanding the success of marketing practices. Based on institutional theory, we argue that the effectiveness of marketing practices decreases when firms are motivated to adopt such practices under the influence of institutional pressures originating in firms’ environments. However, alignment between a practice and a firm’s marketing strategy may buffer against these negative effects. We apply these insights to the case of customer relationship management (CRM). CRM is considered an important way to enhance customer loyalty and firm performance, but it has also been criticized for being expensive and for not living up to expectations. Empirical data from 107 organizations confirm that, in general, adopting CRM for mimetic motives is likely to result in fewer customer insights as a result of using this practice. Our study suggests that institutional theory has much to offer to the investigation of the effectiveness of marketing practices.     

Materialism, status signaling, and product satisfaction

The consumer satisfaction literature has not, for the mos part, integrated individual values into the product evaluation process. Yet a comprehensive understanding of consumer satisfaction can best be attained by including both consumer and product factors. To demonstrate the usefulness of including individual values, this research focuses on one consumer value, namely, materialism. The authors empirically explore how this individual value is linked to consumers’ evaluations of products they have purchased. Using surveys, the authors collected data from a sample of college students (n=211) and a sample of adults (n=270). Across these two studies, using divergent samples and products, they find consistent evidence that materialism is negatively related to product satisfaction in product categories with high potential for status signaling, but unrelated to product satisfaction in product categories with lower potential for status signaling. The consumption goals that produce these product evaluations are empirically addressed Jeff Wang (jianfeng76@yahoo.com; PhD, City University of Hong Kong) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Faculty of Business at the City University of Hong Kong. This work was conducted when he was a doctoral student of marketing in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. His research interests include social networks and consumer behavior, consumer satisfaction and well-being, materialism and consumption meanings, and consumer interests and public policy issues. His dissertation studies credit card debt as a socially embedded phenomenon and investigates how consumers leverage their interpersonal ties as they accumulate and repay their debt. Melanie Wallendorf (mwallendorf@eller.arizona.edu) is Soldwedel Professor of Marketing in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. She holds an MS in sociology and a PhD in marketing from the University of Pittsburgh. Her articles on the sociocultural aspects of consumption have been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Advertising and Society Review, Addiction, Journal of Macromarketing, andAmerican Behavioral Scientist, among others. Her coauthored article on “The Sacred and Profane in Consumer Behavior” won theJournal of Consumer Research Best Article Award in 1992. Her research has been featured in theWall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, American Demographics, andFortune, and has been funded by the Marketing Science Institute, the Arizona Disease Control Research Commission, and the Office of Earth Science at NASA.     

Macroenvironmental forces,marketing strategy and business performance: A futures research approach

A method of futures research is used to empirically test a structure-conduct-performance (SCP) model in a marketing setting. It is proposed that within the macroenvironment there exist, varying levels of resource constraints and structural fluctuations which are positively correlated. Increased resource constraints and structural fluctuations, which are characteristics of a turbulent environment, are expected to increase the competitive intensity is an industry. This higher level of competitive intensity is hypothesized to result in increased use of nonprice marketing strategies. Nonprice marketing strategies are also expected to increase business performance because of the contingency relationship between conduct (strategy) and performance. The possible role of “blind” luck or stochastic processes in determining success is also discussed.     

A provider-cost/patron-effort schema for classifying products

Since the commodity-oriented thinkers of marketing’s early history, marketers have sought a valid schema for classifying products. Currently, the marketing literature is dominated by two types of schemata for classifying products: product-based and consumer cost-based. Despite marketing tenets such asexchange is the focal notion of marketing andgood marketing theory integrates the perspectives of firms and consumers, no existing schema embodies either exchange or a dual firm/consumer perspective. After reviewing the existing classificational schemata, one such schema is proposed and evaluated. The two classifying dimensions of this schema are providers’ relative variable costs (PRVC) and patrons’ relative effort (PRE). Crossing high and low levels of PRVC and PRE yields four product categories: low cost/effort, patroneffort heavy, provider-cost heavy, and high cost/effort. His work has appeared inJournal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, Business Horizons, Business Ethics: A European Review, and other journals. His current research interests include marketing theory, advertising, and ethics. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Purdue University. will soon receive his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of North Texas. His work has appeared inAcademy of Management Journal, as well as the proceedings of the American Marketing Association, the Decision Science Association, and the Society of Franchising. His research interests include building and testing models in international marketing, consumer behavior, and marketing management. His current research interests include self-referent processing of advertisements and consumer satisfaction.     

Establishing human brands: determinants of placement success for first faculty positions in marketing

Based on primary data spanning 5 years, we examine factors that influence the entry-level placement of marketing doctoral candidates at U.S. universities and colleges. Contributing to the emerging research on human brands, we identify marketing doctoral candidates’ intrinsic and extrinsic brand cues that influence their number of AMA interviews, campus visit offers, and starting base salary. The strongest brand cue is the research productivity of candidates’ doctoral degree-granting departments. A related cue that also predicts initial salary is the candidates’ advisors’ research record. Further, when beginning the job search, doctoral students who have a top research publication, who have a dissertation proposal defended with data, and who have attended the AMA-Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium receive a substantial entry salary premium. Based on branding frameworks and theories of academic rewards, this study adds to the emerging knowledge on both the concept of human brands as well as the growing literature on issues relating to marketing academia.     

Rethinking the effect of perceived fit on customers’ evaluations of new products

Prior research has demonstrated that customer evaluations of a new product are directly related to the degree to which a company’s skills are perceived to “fit” with those required to provide the new product. This finding has led to recommendations that firms focus on perceptually close new product areas. However, many firms have successfully entered perceptually distant markets. We reconcile this apparent contradiction by proposing that the effect of perceived fit on new product evaluation is not direct, but is mediated by the certainty a customer has that a company can deliver the proposed new product. Our findings indicate that, by itself, perceived fit has a positive impact on industrial product evaluations. However, the relationship between fit and new product evaluations, previously held to be direct, is instead mediated by customer certainty. That is, when the effect of customer certainty is considered, the direct effect of fit disappears. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. His research interests include management of brand equity, and competitive analysis. His research has been published inJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Advertising Research, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Services Marketing andPlanning Review. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests are in “marketing creativity,” and the management of mature products. Her research has been published in theJournal of Services Marketing and in the proceedings of the American Marketing Association. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.     

Interimistic relational exchange: Conceptualization and propositional development

Research on relational exchange has focused primarily on long-term, or “enduring,” relational exchange. The evolutionary model of relationship development that is the foundation for much of the research on enduring relational exchange lacks applicability for short-term, or “interimitic,” relational exchange. Interimistic relational exchange is defined as a close, collaborative, fast-developing, short-lived exchange relationship in which companies pool their skills and/or resources to address a transient, albeit important, business opportunity and/or threat. Because interimistic exchange relationships must quickly become functional and have a short life, these relationships have less time to fully develop the relational governance mechanisms assumed in the evolutionary model. There-fore, interimistic relational exchange appears to relymore on nonrelational mechanisms than does enduring relational exchange. This article (1) examines how interimistic relational exchange governance differs from that of enduring relational exchange and (2) develops propositions for further research on interimistic relational exchange. C. Jay Lambe received his doctorate from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. He is an assistant professor of marketing at Texas Tech University. Prior to entering academe, he was engaged in business-to-business marketing for both Xerox and AT&T. His research interests include business-to-business marketing, relationship marketing, marketing strategy, and sales management. He has publications in theJournal of Product Innovation Management, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and theInternational Journal of Management Reviews. In 1999, he was one of five Texas Tech University faculty members chosen by the students for the annual Outstanding Faculty Member Award. Robert E. Spekman is the Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School. He was formerly a professor of marketing and associate director of the Center for Telecommunications at the University of Southern California (USC). He is a recognized authority on business-to-business marketing and strategic alliances. His consulting experiences range from marketing research and competitive analysis to strategic market planning, supply chain management, channels of distribution design and implementation, and strategic partnering. He has taught in a number of executive programs in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Europe. He has edited/written seven books and has authored (coauthored) more than 80 articles and papers. He also serves as a reviewer for a number of marketing and management journals as well as for the National Science Foundation. Prior to joining the faculty at USC, he taught in the College of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. During his tenure at Maryland, he was granted the Most Distinguished Faculty Award by the MBA students on three separate occasions. Shelby D. Hunt is the J. B. Hoskins and P. W. Horn Professor of Marketing at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas. A past editor of theJournal of Marketing (1985–1987) and author ofModern Marketing Theory: Critical Issues in the Philosophy of Marketing Science (South-Western, 1991), he has written numerous articles on competitive theory, macro marketing, ethics, channels of distribution, and marketing theory. Three of hisJournal of Marketing articles, “The Nature and Scope of Marketing” (1976), “General Theories and the Fundamental Explananda of Marketing” (1983), and “The Comparative Advantage Theory of Competition” (1995) won the Harold H. Maynard Award for the “best article on marketing theory”. He received the 1986 Paul D. Converse Award from the American Marketing Association for his “outstanding contributions to theory and science in marketing”. He received the 1987 Outstanding Marketing Educator Award from the Academy of Marketing Science and the 1992 American Marketing Association/Richard D. Irwin Distinguished Marketing Educator Award. His new and provocative book is titledA General Theory of Competition: Resources, Competences, Productivity, Economic Growth (Sage, 2000).     

When customers are members: Customer retention in paid membership contexts

This article seeks to gain an understanding of how members’ characteristics relate to lapsing behavior in paid membership contexts. Literatures such as social identity theory are used to propose hypotheses that are tested using a hazard rate model on archival data pertaining to 7,798 members of an art museum. The results indicate that the hazard of lapsing is lowered with increasing duration, participation in special interest groups whose goals are related to those of the focal organization, gift frequency, and increasing interrenewal times. Conversely, members who have downgraded their membership level in the past, those who have participated in special interest groups whose goals are unrelated to those of the focal organization, and those who received their membership as a gift are more likely to lapse. C. B. Bhattacharya is an assistant professor of marketing at the Goizueta Business School of Emory University. His Ph.D. in marketing is from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. His research interests include brand loyalty and brand health, customer retention, and organizational identification and disidentification. He has published in theJournal of Marketing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Marketing Letters, and other journals. During the past few years, students in his marketing research course have addressed real problems for over 30 nonprofits. In 1995, he received The Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award, which is the highest teaching honor conferred by Emory University.     

Leveraged high-variety strategies: From portfolio thinking to platform thinking

Summary Barbara Kahn correctly points out the importance of creating dynamic relationships with customers and adopting high-variety strategies to succeed in today’s fiercely competitive world. However, high variety is also often high cost and high complexity. In this commentary, I propose that platform thinking is a powerful way to manage these contradictions in becoming a high-variety provider. Platform thinking relies on a simple insight—understand the common strands that tie your firm’s offerings, markets, and processes together, and exploit these commonalities to create leveraged growth and variety. Platform thinking should permeate all aspects of the firm’s strategy and should guide all strategic decisions on diversification and growth. Marketers who master platform thinking may find the 21st century to be a somewhat more inviting prospect. Mohanbir S. Sawhney is an assistant professor of marketing in the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. His research interests include strategic marketing in technology-based industries, marketing decisions for experiential products, and cross-functional integration in new product development. His research has been published inManagement Science andMarketing Science, and his modeling work in the motion picture industry has been widely cited in the trade press. He is a consultant for several large technology firms as well as small Internet start-up firms. His current research projects include strategic planning for market-driving firms, cross-functional product line management, and strategy formulation for digital opportunity arenas.