Segmentation of both reviewers and businesses on social media

Employing online consumer reviews, this research develops a market segmentation procedure that is feasible to businesses present on social media. Because online reviews typically encompass large numbers of both reviewers and businesses, this data structure allows for both reviewer segmentation and business segmentation. This two-side segmentation approach segments not only reviewers in the preferences expressed in their reviews, but also businesses in their business practices specified in the reviews. Whereas common existing segmentation approaches predominantly use survey and transaction data, the proposed procedure uses publicly available and detailed consumption information in such reviews. A large number of product features elicited from such reviews lead to rich and detailed profiling of both reviewer segments and business segments. Using restaurant reviews on Yelp, this research demonstrates how the proposed procedure can help businesses develop segmentation strategies on social media.     

Market orientation,product innovation and export performance: evidence from Chinese manufacturers

Based on resource-based view (RBV), this study examines the impact of marketing-related resource (market orientation) and innovation-related resources (innovation orientation and innovation resources) on exporters' performance (new product performance and overall export performance), as well as moderating role of environmental turbulence in the market orientation and export performance link. The questionnaire survey conducted among 220 manufacturing exporters reveals that there exist positive relationships among the constructs in question. This research departs from the majority of past research investigating the relationship among market orientation, product innovation and business performance in three aspects: (1) it examines the impact mechanism how market orientation improves new product performance and export performance through innovation orientation and innovation resources based on RBV, (2) it distinguishes among three constructs involved in product innovation activity, and (3) it extends the research from domestic markets to export markets. We conclude by discussing our contributions, the implications, and possible future extensions.     

Market Model-Based Channel Selection in B2B E-Commerce: Exploring a Buyer's Adoption Decisions

Companies that seek to exploit the cost advantages of business-to-business (B2B) e-Commerce face a variety of strategic options. By analyzing the demand and cost functions for sellers, intermediaries, and buyers, this research develops an economic framework that clarifies the relative advantages of four common B2B e-Commerce channels: private exchange, web-based procurement, public aggregation, and public exchange. This research focuses on addressing two important questions: (1) How does a buyer select a suitable B2B e-Commerce channel (or an e-Marketplace structure) given a variety of market conditions, different levels of product substitution, and a range of purchasing patterns? (2) How does a buyer successfully manage a B2B e-Commerce channel for gaining the highest transaction-level buyer surplus? The analytic and numeric results of our study show that a company's product offerings, the market conditions it faces, and the purchase patterns it implements are all important determinants in the selection of B2B e-Commerce setting. For custom products, private networks (such as the private exchange or web-based procurement models) are more attractive than the public aggregation or exchange models. However, taking market conditions and purchasing behavior into consideration, the web-based procurement model is more suitable for spot purchasing, while the public exchange model is more suitable for systematic purchasing and fragmented markets. On the other hand, the aggregation model is preferable in concentrated markets while the exchange model is more suitable in fragmented markets. These results provide important implications for industrial development of B2B e-Commerce.     

Competitive Arena Mapping: Market Innovation Using Morphological Analysis in Business Markets

Purpose: The authors argue that (1) marketing strategy should focus more on where to compete (rather than on how to compete); (2) making subjective market definitions or market innovations may be the key to growth; and (3) a starting point for business marketers wishing to outgrow their competitors is to increase the granularity of market definition to identify competitive arenas that are growing. The authors illustrate the use of morphological analysis for competitive arena mapping in a market definition and innovation context.

Methodology: Using action research, involving a group of twleve firms of various sizes from different industries over a period of three-and-a-half years, we applied morphological analysis in a competitive arena mapping procedure, which enables firms to systematically plot possible competitive arenas and use managerial judgment to select those which are growing and for which the firm has exploitation capabilities.

Findings: Competitive arena mapping allows firms to identify and investigate a large set of possible competitive arena configurations. The developed mapping method has certain characteristics: (1) it specifically focuses on the market boundaries and adjacencies, (2) it incorporates both exchange value and use value, and (3) it acts as a learning process that accelerates the practical application of the arenas in business strategy and practice.

Contribution: The article builds a bridge between the market definition literature in strategic management and the industrial market segmentation literature, by introducing a novel method for increasing the granularity of market definition, using morphological analysis. Furthermore, the paper responds to the lack of research addressing strategic segmentation processes by developing a six-step market definition process.     

Management framework guiding strategic thinking in rapidly changing markets

Developing a management framework to guide strategic thinking in changing markets is increasingly critical for researchers and executives in coping with the complex and rapidly changing global business environment. Conventional training and practices have too often led strategy researchers and executives to assume a stable competitive box around existing businesses, not recognising the effects of radical and increasingly disruptive change on markets and competitive space. New strategic thinking logic and initiatives require a conceptual framework to guide obtaining information, perceptive interpretation of strategic issues and trends, and choice of the right strategic initiatives. The conceptualisation begins by determining the market-based strategic capabilities needed to identify the nature and scope of determinants of market changes. These changes must be identified, driven by new competition, new business models, and creativity and innovation. Understanding fast changing markets requires identifying new market space, conducting strategic segmentation analysis, and determining customer value requirements. Finally, this knowledge guides strategic vision and formulation and implementation of market-driven strategies for changing markets. The framework is based on conceptual logic and empirical findings from multiple disciplines including marketing strategy and strategic management     

Servbrand Framework: A Business-To-Business Services Brand Equity Framework

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The research reported on here set out to develop a tailored branding model for business to business (B-to-B) services by applying the brand resonance pyramid to a selected B-to-B services context.

The brand resonance pyramid was developed based on research that was predominantly consumer product or individual brand oriented, though one of the objectives when the model was developed was that “the model had to be versatile and applicable to all possible kinds of brands and industry settings. As more diverse applications of branding continued to emerge for products, services, organizations, people, places, and so forth, the model needed to have far-ranging relevance”. The brand resonance pyramid therefore had to be applicable to any context, including B-to-B services contexts. However, consumer goods branding strategies are not directly transferable to B-to-B or services markets and there are documented differences between the B-to-B and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets and products and services contexts. There is also doubt regarding the validity of the contention that the brand resonance pyramid should be applicable to the B-to-B sector.

Methodology: Using an interpretivist qualitative research approach and an exploratory research strategy, the Servbrand framework was developed empirically by applying the brand resonance pyramid to a selected B-to-B services context. Fourteen useful in-depth interviews were obtained from appropriate and information rich participants that represented more than 14 of the 89 organization that were included in the selection frame. Some of the participants were responsible for the relevant decisions of more than one organization.

Findings: The results from the study reported on here (summarized as Figure 5) prompted the inclusion of a people dimension and elevated the importance of relationships in an amended B-to-B services brand equity framework. The people brand-building block includes the dimensions of attitude and demeanor, personality and values, personableness, product knowledge and client knowledge. Relationships, as the ultimate aim of the framework, concern both interpersonal relationships and partnerships.

The article presents a conceptual framework to guide effective brand building strategies in a selected B-to-B services context. Researchers can use the framework to test its applicability in other contexts, which will contribute to the amendment of a significant brand equity management framework.

The Servbrand framework can assist marketing practitioners to improve the effectiveness of strategic brand management for B-to-B services.

Contribution: The empirical research contributes to three areas of brand equity research, namely: 1) the offering type – by investigating service offerings rather than product offerings; 2) the brand level – by investigating organization-level brands rather than product-level brands; and 3) context – by investigating a B-to-B context rather than a B2C context. A revised brand resonance pyramid is proposed and called the Servbrand framework.     

Implementing Marketing Strategy Through a Market Orientation

The adoption of specific marketing strategies is related to several factors in an organization including the organization's mission, objectives, resources, and market orientation. We report an exploratory study in which we define relationships between market orientation and marketing strategy in a high technology environment - the telecommunications industry in the United States. Market orientation is defined as a culture that influences how employees think and act. Our results indicate that a market orientation provides a context for the implementation of specific marketing strategies by serving as a moderator of operational marketing strategy. For example, those organizations who possess a strong market-oriented culture (high-spirited cultures) engage in value creation strategies such as market segmentation, developing new products/services for new markets, and product or service customisation. Those organizations possessing low market orientations (ineffectual cultures) generally practice less aggressive and internally focused strategies such as charging lower prices, providing limited customer service, product/service standardization, and undertake limited market research.     

Exploring the Role of Product Development Capability for Transforming Marketing Intelligence into Firm Performance

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This study examines the role of product development capability for transforming marketing intelligence activities into firm performance on industrial markets.

Methodology/Approach: The authors apply structural equation modeling to analyze survey data from 342 industrial manufacturing companies.

Findings: Results reveal that sales integration and holistic macroeconomic view are particularly important features of the marketing intelligence capability on industrial markets to gain additional insights in order to develop products successfully. Results also reveal that product development capability transforms the marketing intelligence activities into firm performance on industrial markets.

Research Implications: This study offers new insights on marketing theory by extending and concretizing the concept of market orientation to a broader concept of the marketing intelligence capability for industrial markets. Further, this research reveals that the product development capability serves as a mediator to business performance.

Practical Implications: This study’s systematic and tangible outline of the dimensions of marketing intelligence and its link to the product development capability helps firms to better understand how to capitalize on market orientation’s potential values.

Originality/Value/Contribution: This research (a) reveals the relevant dimensions of marketing intelligence on industrial markets and (b) shows how the product development capability tranforms marketing intelligence activities into firm performance on industrial markets.     

Bridging Industrial Segmentation Theory and Practice

Purpose: Segmentation is seen today as a core concept within mainstream marketing. While industrial segmentation has received considerable attention within academic literature, there have been many reports on companies having problems using, applying, and implementing the principles of segmentation. Authors criticize the literature on segmentation for giving too little attention to implementation, providing marketers little help and guidance on how to make segmentation work in a practical environment. This article addresses some of these problems.

Methodology/Approach: The objective of this article is to design a process with methods and activities for segmentation by building on action research case study data from a large Danish industrial company.

Findings: Along with important considerations, this article presents the process of segmentation using a build-up approach based on qualitative market data. The process is practical and easily approachable for companies. The purpose behind segmentation is strategic—identify target segments and facilitate the planning of future product offers. It is argued that segmentation should be dedicated to the purpose and context of the company. This case illustrates how the company adapted segmentation theory to their particular needs.     

Multinational corporate website strategies and influencing factors: A comparison of US and Korean corporate websites

This study, using a content analysis method, explored whether and to what extent multinational corporate websites targeting different markets are standardized. It also tested three organizational factors – country of origin, company size, and product type – for their potential influence on the level of corporate website standardization. A sample of 52 top US-based multinational companies and 52 Korea-based multinational companies was drawn and a total of 104 pairs of websites for these companies were content-analyzed. Overall, the degree of website standardization was not significantly different between companies based in the two countries. The results suggest that both US and Korean multinational corporations tend to maintain their websites in a similar way when targeting the home and foreign markets. Among the three organizational factors, only product type – B2B versus B2C products and durables versus non-durables – was found to be significantly associated with the level of website standardization. This study makes important contributions to the research literature by offering new information on the current state of multinational corporate website strategies and advancing our knowledge about international marketing communications on the Internet and influencing factors.     

Market integration in developed and emerging markets: Evidence from the CAPM

Beta, as measured by the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), is widely used for pricing stocks, determining the cost of capital, and gauging the extent to which markets are integrated. The CAPM model assumes that equilibrium conditions prevail. The choice of which market portfolio to use in the regression – the home country or global index – depends on the level of global market integration. We present several new empirical observations on the pricing of stocks and market integration. We provide guidance on how practitioners should calculate beta on securities in various developed and emerging markets.     

Subsidiary Capacity Building in Emerging Markets: How Japanese MNEs Sequence Market Entry and Development Strategies in India

This paper asks the pragmatic question of how and to what extent firms build subsidiary competitiveness over time. By merging international business and international marketing theory, we integrate the unconnected discourses on market entry, development, product sequencing, and diffusion. The context of our research questions is marketing and entry strategies of four Japanese firms in India. All have had to learn the sequencing of both entry and product diversification. While strategies vary between the firms, the cases exhibit that entry and product diversification decisions are interlinked. Market entry configurations are central for developing market‐led solutions in large emerging markets. This study offers insights into how Japanese MNEs build subsidiary competitiveness when faced with the early stages of the Indian consumer market take‐off. Second, through the integration of international business and international marketing theory, we find that new product performance and international diversification interact in specific ways, and this contributes to future theoretical developments. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Country-of-origin effects and antecedents of industrial brand equity

Does the country-of-origin effect matter to industrial brand equity in international business-to-business (B2B) markets? The effect of a product's country-of-origin (COO) on both industrial buyers' and consumers' perceptions and evaluations has been one of the most widely studied phenomena in the fields of international business, marketing, and consumer behavior since the 1960s. Although many country-of-origin studies focus on consumer behavior in developed countries and acknowledge that the processes and stages of economic development by which consumers use COO information may differ in developing countries, the fact that there has been little research to investigate the effects of COO could explain the variations in international buyers' evaluations of industrial brand equity in the newly-industrialized economies, such as Taiwan. Taiwanese firms are now formidable global B2B market players by successfully transforming themselves from manufacturing mainly low-value and labor-intensive goods to producing many high value-added products that require advanced technology, equipment and significant business expertise. With the adoption of advanced technology and equipment, an important question is whether unique and innovative fastener products from Taiwan have generated the country-of-origin effects in international B2B buyers' minds. The main finding is that the country-of-origin of fasteners has not yet become an important antecedent of industrial brand equity in the case of the fastener industry in Taiwan.     

D公司VMS产品STP营销战略应用研究

通过以D公司VMS产品为研究对象,运用STP理论,以地区作为市场细分变量对VMS产品市场进行市场细分,并对各细分市场的需求属性、容量及增长性等情况加以分析,得出结论:在日益竞争激烈的市场竞争中,D公司只有不断地深入研究市场细分,结合自身特点及实际情况,从市场规模、增长性、吸引力等方面找到相应的目标市场,发挥技术优势,定位好自己的产品特色,才能使企业在市场中做大做强。     

Segmenting buyers on the basis of their business strategies

This article considers evidence from a study of 16 firms manufacturing test and measurement equipment in the UK which suggests that the product innovation strategies of buyers of advanced electronic components are worthy of consideration as a segmentation variable. Using the variable for this purpose relies on accurately interpreting the business strategies of original equipment manufacturers with respect to the end-user markets where the components will find their real application. An interpretative schema is advanced and its application for macro and micro market segmentation purposes is discussed.     

The influence of customer loyalty on small island economies: an empirical and exploratory study

There is growing consensus that companies' long-term success is reliant on building and sustaining strong customer relationships. This study explores the antecedents of loyalty in business to business (B2Bs) using Guernsey's telecommunication industry as a case study. It examines how these influence customer loyalty orientation and factors that help service providers improve loyalty rates. Extant literature pays little attention to the antecedents of loyalty in small island economies. Prior research focuses on cultural, environmental and macro-economic issues. Drawing on Dick and Basu's (Customer loyalty: Toward an integrated conceptual framework. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 22(Spring), 99–113, 1994) loyalty model, this research explores loyalty antecedents that are cognisant of distinct market conditions that can impact customer loyalty within the telecommunications sector of a small island economy. It seeks to advance understanding of loyalty in B2B relationships in this context and identify factors that contribute towards converting passively loyal customers to being actively loyal customers.     

Alibaba: Entrepreneurial growth and global expansion in B2B/B2C markets

The purpose of this case-based research is to analyze and discuss Alibaba Group (hereafter Alibaba) and its entrepreneurial growth and global expansion in B2B/B2C markets. The paper uses company and industry-specific data and surveys to analyze a fast growing Chinese B2B/B2C firm and its internationalization and expansion in global markets. Findings of the work reveal that in a short time, Alibaba has become a major entrepreneurial icon and global player and continues to grow worldwide because of its well-planned business initiatives and B2B/B2C-based business models. The paper also provides implications in the area of international entrepreneurship and its related areas. International entrepreneurs need to learn from Alibaba’s fast growing business model and dynamic growth because of its competitive platforms and Web-based strategies which helped the company to target small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in global markets. Within the areas of international entrepreneurship and international business, the paper also provides discussion which deals with the changing e-commerce industry and its future growth and developments.     

Provenance as a filtering and framing device in the qualification of wine

This research examines how provenance – where a product was produced, by whom, how and when – features in the work of cultural intermediaries in the Australian premium wine market, at two different stages in the career of a wine. First, evaluations of provenance attributes (in terms of sincerity, tradition and transparency) serve as filters through which wine promoters identify market-worthy wines; second, those attributes are strategically deployed to frame the wine as a worthy choice for consumers (focusing on the use of the winemaker as a framing device). The article offers a distinctive account of the qualification of wine, and makes the case for a cultural economic conceptualization of provenance as a negotiated, accomplished quality. In foregrounding wine promoters’ emotional attachments to provenance attributes of wines they choose to promote, the research highlights the affective dimensions of markets, which are made, in part, through the consuming passions of cultural intermediaries.     

Foreign market entry mode of service firms: The case of U.S. MBA programs

While international expansion has become an important strategic imperative on the part of knowledge intensive service firms such as U.S. business schools, little empirical support is available on how these business schools enter foreign markets. If U.S. based business education programs are expected to prosper in light of the potential onslaught of international competition, expansion to overseas markets will be one of the most sought after options available. A poor choice in market entry strategy, or the lack of international market entry, can result in a negative impact on the educational institution. This research focuses on developing, measuring, and empirically testing a framework of key factors influencing international market entry mode choice of U.S. business schools by using primary data from faculty and administrators of U.S. Master of Business Administration (MBA) schools.     

Product Differentiation,Industry Concentration and Market Share Turbulence

Building on the current theory of industrial concentration, we analyze the relation between market size and product differentiation, and show how product differentiation impacts market share turbulence. We first propose that in markets where vertical product differentiation dominates, firms will have an incentive to escalate investment in advertising and/or R&D as market size increases. Secondly, such (firm‐specific) investments will make competitive advantage more sustainable as the firm is less imitable. This will not be the case if the market is primarily characterized by homogeneous products or horizontal product differentiation. Our predictions are tested using an original EU dataset for 1987 and 1997. Our results strongly support our predictions – the degree of market share turbulence increases with market size. However, this relation is weakened by competitive investment in advertising and R&D.