Internal multi-channel conflict: An exploratory investigation and conceptual framework

Multi-channel distribution is an increasingly important phenomenon in marketing, and the internal organizational dynamics associated with its use are strategically critical in nature. In this study, we focus on conflict internal to the supplier firm among the groups and individuals responsible for managing the various channels. We utilize a research approach consisting of four in-depth case studies with business-to-business marketing organizations to develop a holistic conceptual framework of internal multi-channel conflict and fourteen propositions for research. Results indicate that the life cycle stage plays a moderating role in determining the functionality of multi-channel conflict, that the supplier firm's internal market orientation is a determinant of the extent to which it will engage in internal multi-channel integration behaviors (i.e., superordinate goals, internal coordination and internal communication) and that internal and external multi-channel conflict are closely interrelated constructs.     

Ameliorating food loss and waste in the supply chain through multi-stakeholder collaboration

We elaborate mechanisms through which multi-stakeholder collaboration can ameliorate food loss and waste (FLW) from the end-to-end supply chain. In this context, we integrate the discourse on collaborative relationships in supply chains with stakeholder theory (roles and orientations) and use a multi-method approach combining systematic literature review (SLR) and embedded case studies based on secondary data. We develop a conceptual framework that illustrates collective stakeholder orientation emerging from aligned vertical and horizontal stakeholder orientation across the supply chain towards reducing FLW. We explain how achieving such alignment requires these stakeholders to navigate various collaboration conditions (structural and sporadic) that otherwise spur individualism, culminating in FLW mitigation efforts across food supply chains. We develop propositions, motivate future research, and offer practical implications.     

Dynamics of the transition process towards partnership thinking in centralized public procurement

This research paper seeks to increase the knowledge of the transition process from transactional arm's length tendering towards partnership thinking in centralized public procurement. In centralized public procurement, the professional public purchaser forms a triadic partnership relationship with the public unit managing the procurement implementation and the private organization. A triadic partnership relationship in a home nursing procurement setting is investigated to further the understanding of the relationship dynamics related to the transitioning of public and private actors towards partnership thinking. The research shows how transactional procurement logic hinders the transition to partnering by establishing challenges for initiating and nurturing public–private partnerships (PPPs) and how partnership thinking changes this procurement logic. It illustrates the transactional procurement logic of single actor and the logic underlying the relationship of two actors to engender and intensify the problems of triad in the centralized public procurement process and vice versa; that is, a shared understanding from jointly agreed procurement goals between two actors is identified as promoting triadic partnering. Managerial implications are given for those public and private organizations engaging in PPPs and seeking to understand the ways of managing them in the context of centralized public procurement, particularly during the transition towards partnership thinking.     

Industrial marketing management digital media optimization for B2B marketing

The role of digital media in B2B marketing has gained traction with academics and practitioners in recent years. However, a comprehensive framework about the use and value of these media has not been developed, leaving B2B experts uncertain about their effectiveness. In fact, whether or not digital media can impact the business development and marketing processes to achieve higher performance remains vague. Additionally, there is a paucity of research related to the impact of different media towards the enhancement of processes and outcome of marketing to generate opportunities. To provide guidance for practitioners, we consider marketing processes in the global software industry by researching practitioner experiences. We develop an assessment tool to identify and align marketing processes and digital media. This research attempts to explore and explain how digital media impacts the B2B business development process cycle at the conjunction of marketing and sales. The research tests a conceptual model by means of a cross-sectional survey of more than 530 practitioners. Our novel framework provides several contributions to knowledge and practice, defining marketing-related processes, and determining a set of digital platforms. By acknowledging the perspectives of vendors, third-parties, and buyers in a simultaneous study, we ensure optimal alignment.     

Leveraging stakeholder networks with outside-in marketing

The theory of Outside-in marketing (OIM) emphasizes the importance of internal and external partners of a firm to drive strategies for value creation. OIM is based on four key tenets: market sensing and responses, segmentation and targeting, innovation, and employee's learning effort. With this commentary, we apply the theory of OIM to network analysis. By doing so, we identify key stakeholder networks as part of a firm's business ecosystem and discuss the value that can be extracted from different stakeholder networks. Most prior network research in marketing has mainly used customer or employee network data while neglecting other important stakeholder groups. We provide information about how network analysis of stakeholder data can fill gaps in the marketing literature and provide firms with essential knowledge, economic value, and influence over external partners, and improve the value generation process. We first describe each tenet and give examples of stakeholder networks that can be investigated within the realm of the tenet definitions. We then discuss different challenges that social network research can pose, and end with future research questions that can be explored for empirical research studies.     

营销价值观与组织绩效关系的实证研究:兼论企业所有制的影响

本文重点讨论了营销学中作为指导企业营销活动的价值观——市场导向与利益相关者导向的理论架构，并检验了利益相关者导向与组织绩效之间的关系。同时，还针对文献中欠缺的中国企业所有制的影响，进行了分析。研究结果发现，利益相关者导向对中国企业的组织绩效具有积极影响。但中国不同所有制的企业，在利益相关者导向和组织绩效上差异很大。     

Customer reference marketing: Conceptualization,measurement and link to selling performance

The use of customer references to facilitate marketing and sales in business markets has received growing interest among practitioners and academics. The importance of references has been highlighted in a wide range of contexts, such as customer relationship management, customer value management, sales, and marketing communications. Yet knowledge about the effective application of references in business remains scant, and studies have not addressed in-depth what constitutes customer reference marketing or studied its relation to firm performance. This study contributes to this important but underdeveloped business marketing topic by 1) conceptualizing customer reference marketing based on theory and an extensive qualitative field study, 2) building a measure for the construct using survey data, and 3) demonstrating its relevance by linking the construct to firms' selling performance with additional collected data. The results broaden and specify the current understanding of how to effectively deploy references in business markets and provide evidence of the hypothesized performance, as well as contingency effects. The established conceptual foundations for the phenomenon provide substantial opportunities for practitioners and theory-testing oriented business marketing research.     

University business models in disequilibrium – engaging industry and end users within university technology transfer processes

This article explores how greater engagement with industry and end users has influenced the University Technology Transfer Business Model. In order to achieve this, they adopted a qualitative methodology which draws upon case study evidence of two case universities located in a particular region. The findings, represented in a conceptual framework depict a hybrid University Technology Transfer Business Model which is in a state of permanent disequilibrium as a result of path dependency and organisational culture. This permanent disequilibrium was found to cause challenges in relation to scarce resource allocation and also impacted upon the willingness and ability of academics to engage with industry and end users throughout the technology transfer process. This article contributes to an emerging stream of research on hybrid business models by identifying the challenges of permanent disequilibrium where multiple and conflicting stakeholder goals compete for legitimacy and scarce resources. From a policy and practitioner viewpoint, this research draws attention to the complexities of university, government, industry and end user (Quadruple Helix stakeholders) engagement and the implications of such on university strategy where conflicting dominant logics can cause challenges with alignment of organisational processes and mechanisms.     

Coordination in inter-network co-opetitition: Evidence from the tourism sector

In this paper, we investigate whether and to what extent formal governance forms such as contracts are a necessary condition to manage coopetitive interactions among networks. We situate our analysis within the tourism sector where we gain insights from an in-depth exemplar case of co-opetition among nearby Italian tourism destinations conjointly developing and marketing an event, the Pink Night Festival. We suggest that coordination mechanisms with varying degrees of formality seem to play a crucial role to manage coopetitive interactions. Subsequently, we identify eight key drivers of formalization of coordination mechanisms in inter-network co-opetitition: 1) leadership; 2) brokerage and pivotal attitude; 3) power asymmetry; 4) focus on strategic thinking; 5) maturity of network management approach; 6) maturity and distance of the marketing approach; 7) past experience working together; 8) cultural, functional and organizational similarities. Last, we develop a conceptual framework highlighting that each stage of the evolution of an inter-network coopetitive relationship has key features in terms of the underlying coordination mechanisms.     

Determinants of social media adoption by B2B organizations

This study contributes to the current dearth of knowledge on the potential of social media as a marketing tool in industrial settings, by focusing on factors that determine social media adoption by B2B organizations. A conceptual model, which draws on the technology acceptance model and resource-based theory, is developed and tested using quantitative data from B2B organizations in the UK. Findings suggest that perceived usefulness of social media within B2B organizational contexts is determined by image, perceived ease of use and perceived barriers. Additionally, the results show that adoption of social media is significantly affected by organizational innovativeness and perceived usefulness. The moderating role of organizational innovativeness is also tested but no support is found. The findings of the study are further validated via nine qualitative interviews with B2B senior managers, yielding additional interesting and in-depth insights into the drivers of social media adoption by B2B organizations.     

The ‘visible hand’ behind cooperation in franchising: A model of franchisor practices that influence cooperation within social networks

Although scholars recognise that social networks within marketing channels can enhance cooperation (the implementation of joint goals), research provides a deficient understanding of how suppliers can efficiently manage them. Our study investigates the ‘visible hand’ behind franchising cooperation by asking: How do franchisors build cooperation within franchise systems? Using multiple case study research on retail franchises recognised for high-quality cooperation, our study builds a model of how franchisor practices maintain and increase cohesive ties that foster cooperation within the franchising community; a type of social network nested within the franchise system. This model is underpinned by social capital theory, self-categorisation theory, and the constructs relational norms and behaviour from research on marketing channels. Our study provides insight into the key organisational, social network, and individual agency drivers of cooperation within branding marketing channels. This provides an understanding of: 1) how centralised organisational practices interact with individual agency to maintain efficient cooperation, and 2) heterarchical processes to improve cooperation efficiency.     

Addressing the ‘Qualitative’ in fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis: The Generic Membership Evaluation Template

Fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) can help researchers to address causal complexity, especially in relation to the interactions between different conditions leading to the outcome in question. FsQCA helps investigate how alternative solutions (different configurations of conditions) make up the outcome, and considers the asymmetrical nature of social phenomena. An important challenge that researchers often face when they apply fsQCA to qualitative data is the lack of distinct and operationalizable anchor points for fuzzy set calibration. This study offers the Generic Membership Evaluation Template (GMET) to support the decision making about assigning fuzzy set values to conditions, and therefore improves the transparency of the qualitative calibration process. This paper aims to highlight why and how fsQCA can be carried out to obtain a more in-depth understanding of complex problems using qualitative data, to identify some core method issues involved in this analytical process, and to develop a conceptual and empirical framework that helps in managing some methodological issues, with special regard to the calibration process. For illustration of the method we scrutinize ways in which the customer firm can achieve attractiveness in the eyes of the supplier. Our study explores configurations leading to the Relational Attractiveness of the Customer (RAC) based on 28 in-depth interviews with senior managers on the supplier side. In the interest of methodological reflections and parsimony, it is assumed that the reader is familiar with the principles of fsQCA.     

Business actor engagement: Exploring its antecedents and types

Building on recent engagement research, this study contributes to a deepened understanding of business actor engagement (BAE) dimensions that includes both behaviors and emotions. Following a systematic combining approach, this study contextualizes and clarifies BAE. Through an analysis of dyadic data (providing firm and customers), we offer in-depth knowledge of the antecedents and types of BAE. This study identifies engagement disposition combined with engagement connectedness as the antecedents of an engagement initiative's overall BAE. Building on these dynamics, we propose a conceptual BAE framework with a set of testable propositions that links BAE with its proposed antecedents. Finally, we use the empirical and theoretical insights to derive a BAE taxonomy consisting of four types that offers guidance on how to manage customers with different engagement characteristics in practice.     

Formal control influence on franchisee trust and brand-supportive behavior within franchise networks

Although management scholars recognize that intention of formalization influences the manner in which formal controls are applied within organizations, this issue has been largely overlooked in research on strategic alliances including franchise networks. We investigate formalization intent (the way in which controls are initiated and executed) by asking: How do franchisor formal controls promote trust and brand-supportive behavior among franchisees? On the basis of case study research involving retail franchises, we develop a framework that explains how formal controls counter-intuitively promote franchisee brand-supportive behavior via trust-building. Our study contributes to understanding the complementary relationship between formal and social control on promoting partner trust and co-operation. These insights move research beyond the present preoccupation with the complementary influence of formalization degree and content.     

Strategic enablement investments: Exploring differences in human and technological knowledge transfers to supply chain partners

Business-to-business firms have a long history of investing in training their supply chain partners using primarily salespeople. However, advances in technology now allow for elements of sales enablement programs to be automated and run without human involvement. This paper examines how human and technology enablers are suited to transfer tacit and explicit knowledge respectively. It constructs a strategic enablement investment framework that, depending on the mix of investments in human or technology enablers, results in four types of learning environments: self-directed, collaborative, adaptive, and complex. We close by discussing the implications for future research and offer guidance for industrial marketing managers.     

How to develop great conceptual frameworks for business-to-business marketing

Robust conceptual frameworks are essential to building academic knowledge. Theory development involves high-quality conceptualization that integrates and builds on existing knowledge, possibly using a multi-disciplinary approach. Further, especially in an applied research area such as business-to-business marketing, the emerging theory will have meaningful implications for managerial decision-makers. Insightful conceptual framework development advances theory substantially, not incrementally. Theoretical development can be either purely conceptual or based on empirical data. Nevertheless, there are comparatively few guidelines for the process of conceptual framework development. This editorial discusses pathways to developing conceptual frameworks to support academic research, with emphasis on business-to-business marketing research. As guidelines and conventions are available for data-driven approaches such as grounded theory, we focus on theorizing processes in which existing theory plays a pivotal role.     

Product Design Innovation and Customer Value: Cross‐Cultural Research in the United States and Korea

Innovation is one of the key drivers of success that a firm must utilize to develop a competitive advantage. The ability to innovate is especially important for a firm's survival in dynamic, changing environments. Customer demands are constantly changing, and more purchases are made when a firm's product design incorporates what customers perceive as cutting‐edge innovations. Satisfying customer demands is a distinct challenge for product designers because firms must develop a clear understanding of what aspects of design the customer wants. Although the importance of design has increased, very little research has been done to explain the relationship between product innovation and product design. Studies indicate that design innovation may create greater customer value through improvements in design value. Previous research has been limited and has not provided a clear concept of design innovation or defined the relationship between design innovation and marketing competencies. This paper seeks to offer a conceptual definition of design innovation, and to define the link between design innovation and marketing competencies. This paper utilizes cross‐cultural research to discover how these concepts differ due to cultural differences between the United States and Korea. This research contributes substantially to our understanding of the relationship between design innovation and customer value.     

Assessing and strengthening internal alignment of new marketing units: An interpretative tool

Business-to-business (B2B) marketing is a complex field requiring companies to put in place organizational units that are able to handle multifaceted interaction processes at the customer interface. Moreover, B2B marketing is characterized by high levels of technological, institutional etc. change. As a consequence, and in order to adapt to new market conditions, companies create new organizational units to take over tasks such as key account management, category management or social media management. These new units are developed within the pre-existing organization. Typically, these new units also display a high degree of cross-functionality since their activities are interdependent with the activities of other units. Hence, the question of alignment is of major importance. In this conceptual paper, we provide a framework for both scholarly research and managerial application. It is based on the concept of frame alignment and offers a lens allowing analyzing internal aligning processes for new B2B marketing units.     

A process model of tacit knowledge transfer between sales and marketing

Although an ability to generate and transfer tacit knowledge provides the basis for competitive differentiation, organizations face two primary issues when attempting to achieve this task. First, tacit knowledge, which differs from explicit knowledge in that it can only be gained through experiences, deep interactions, and learning by doing, is highly complex and therefore difficult to transfer. Second, as challenging as tacit knowledge transfer may be under the most ideal circumstances, the issue is exacerbated by the fact that sales and marketing professionals oftentimes have a dysfunctional relationship. Addressing these issues, we present and examine a theoretical model which captures the process through which tacit knowledge transfer occurs across the two functions. Study results, derived from a sample of 215 salespeople, highlight the important role interfunctional communication quality and the development of a mutual understanding play in this process. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications arising from the study, and present opportunities for further research in the area.     

Spanning transnational boundaries in industrial markets: A study of Israeli entrepreneurs in China

This study investigates Israeli transnational entrepreneurs who provide B2B intermediation services in China. To understand the dynamic evolution of their profile and activity, we apply an interpretative framework that combines practice theory and boundary spanning models to analyze six case studies of Israeli transnational entrepreneurs in China. The findings indicate a gradual evolution of their personal and professional profile, determined by a dynamic interdependence between various forms of capital, entrepreneurial habitus, and circumstantial factors. They mobilize a combination of social, cultural, economic and symbolic capital to span organizational, country, cultural and stage boundaries between Israeli and Chinese individuals and organizations. We integrate these findings into a comprehensive model, presenting the various components and stages that led to the development of transnational profiles and activities. Our findings provide an original contribution both to industrial marketing theory and practice, and to transnational entrepreneurship literature, advancing academic understanding and offering a clear roadmap for entrepreneurs, organizations and policy-makers.