How does financial performance affect marketing? Studying the marketing-finance relationship from a dynamic perspective

In this article, the authors provide a dynamic framework for understanding the relationship between marketing and financial performance. They suggest that firms market to financial markets as well as to consumption markets and that some mixture provides superior long-term performance. The authors discuss the potential pitfalls of overemphasizing one market to the detriment of another and then provide a theoretical model of the factors that influence the extent of marketing to financial markets. This is followed by a discussion of implications for theory, practice, and future research. Mitchell J. Lovett (mitchell.lovett@duke.edu) is a Ph.D. student in the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. His current research interests include consumer and seller learning in dynamic environments, competitive and dynamic marketing strategies, and the role of marketing in innovation. Jason B. MacDonald (jmacdona@boisestate.edu) is an associate professor of marketing in the College of Business and Economics at Boise State University. His current research interests include the role of marketing in investor relations and Internet marketing strategy.     

Determinants of sports sponsorship response

Despite the growing role of sponsorship in the marketing activities of firms worldwide, academic research in this area has been limited. Adopting a classical conditioning framework, this research examines the effects of consumers’ attitudes about a sports event, their perceptions of sponsor-event fit, and their attitudes about the sponsor on a multidimensional measure of sponsorship response. The results suggest that sponsor-event fit, perceived sincerity of the sponsor, perceived ubiquity of the sponsor, and attitude toward the sponsor are key factors in generating a favorable response from sponsorship. Liking of the event and perceived status of the event have differing significance depending on how response is measured. Sponsorevent fit also has interaction effects with perceived status of the event and personal interest in the event. The implications of these findings for sponsors and event managers are examined, and future research directions are outlined. Richard Speed is an associate professor of marketing in the Melbourne Business School at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. He received his Ph.D. from the Loughborough University of Technology, United Kingdom. In addition to sponsorship, he researches and publishes on decision-making for marketing strategy and the use and management of brands. Peter Thompson is principal of Et² Sponsorship Strategy and a visiting research fellow of the Melbourne Business School at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. He holds a B.D.Sc. and an MBA from the University of Melbourne. His reserch of sports marketing, personality management, and sports broadcasting.     

The synergistic effect of market orientation and learning orientation on organizational performance

Although a large body of research theoretically asserts a positive relationship between market orientation and organizational performance, fewer empirical studies demonstrate it using multiple and varied organizational performance measures. Additionally, a series of recent studies have theoretically proposed, but not empirically demonstrated, that a firm’s learning orientation is likely to indirectly affect organizational performance by improving the quality of its market-oriented behaviors and directly influence organizational performance by facilitating the type of generative learning that leads to innovations in products, procedures, and systems. This empirical study supports all of these specific contentions and the more global notion that higher order learning processes may be critical in creating a sustainable competitive advantage in the firm. William E. Baker is an assistant professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration at the University of Vermont. His research interests include both individual and organizational learning. He has published in the areas of consumer decision making, advertising effectiveness, and market-based organizational learning. James M. Sinkula is an associate professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration at the University of Vermont and the director of its MBA Program. His research interests lie primarily in the areas of organizational information use and market-based organizational learning. He has publications in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing, and others.     

Corollaries of the collective: The influence of organizational culture and memory development on perceived decision-making context

The market-focused learning organization continues to attract attention in the marketing literature. Two central and interrelated aspects of collective learning are organizational culture and memory. The relationship between culture and performance has been demonstrated both theoretically and empirically. This study investigates the influence of culture and organizational memory development on perceptions of managers’ decision-making context. Findings suggest that both organizational culture and memory influence marketing managers’ perceptions of decision-making context. Specifically, managers in externally focused cultures tend to perceive a relatively higher proportion of strategic problems than managers in internally focused cultures, and managers in organic process cultures tend to perceive a relatively higher proportion of unstructured problems than managers in mechanistic cultures. The implications for managerial practice are discussed and avenues for future research outlined. Pierre Berthon is a professor of marketing at the School of Management, University of Bath, United Kingdom. Prior to taking up his present position, he was adjunct professor of marketing at Columbia Business School, University of Columbia, New York. His research interests are eclectic but focus mainly on the areas of management decision making, strategic modes of organization, electronic commerce, and interactive marketing. His work has been published in a wide range of journals, includingSloan Management Review, California Management Review, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Advertising Research, Business Horizons, Omega, andTechnological Forecasting and Social Change. He is coauthor of a textbook on electronic commerce (Electronic Commerce: The Strategic Perspective, published by Dryden). Leyland F. Pitt is a professor in the School of Marketing at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia. He has also taught executive programs at the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and the London Business School. His current research focuses on marketing strategy and the marketing/technology interface. His work has been accepted for publication in such academic and practitioner journals as theCalifornia Management Review, Sloan Management Review, Columbia Journal of World Business, Communications of the ACM, theJournal of Advertising Research, theJournal of Business Research, andMIS Quarterly, of which he is also an associate editor. Michael T. Ewing is an associate professor in the School of Marketing at Curtin University of Technology. Before that, he worked for Ford Motor Company. He has taught in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, South Africa, and England. His research and teaching interests include marketing communications, E-commerce, and international advertising. Among others, his work has appeared in theAsian Journal of Marketing, Business Horizons, theJournal of Advertising Research, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Marketing Communications, and theInternational Journal of Advertising. He serves on the editorial review board of theJournal of Advertising Research.     

Customer relationship dynamics: Service quality and customer loyalty in the context of varying levels of customer expertise and switching costs

As customer-organization relationships deepen, consumers increase their expertise in the firm’s product line and industry and develop increased switching costs. This study investigates the effects of customer investment expertise and perceived switching costs on the relationships between technical and functional service quality and customer loyalty. Technical service quality is hypothesized to be a more important determinant of customer loyalty than functional service quality as expertise increases. Both technical and functional service quality are hypothesized to have a reduced relationship with customer loyalty as perceived switching costs increase. Three-way interactions between the main effects of service quality, customer expertise, and perceived switching costs yield additional insight into the change in relative importance of technical and functional service quality in customers’ decision to be loyal. Six of eight hypotheses receive support. Implications are discussed for customer relationship management over the relationship life cycle. Simon J. Bell (s.bell@jims.cam.ac.uk; Ph.D., University of Melbourne) is a university lecturer in marketing at the Judge Institute of Management, the business school of the University of Cambridge. His research has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Retailing, theJournal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, andMarketing Theory, among others. His.areas of research interest include organizational learning, sales force management and internal marketing, services and relationship marketing, and corporate social responsibility. Seigyoung Auh (sauh@brocku.ca; Ph.D., University of Michigan) is an assistant professor of marketing at Brock University, Ontario, Canada. His research has been published in theJournal of Economic Psychology, theJournal of Business to Business Marketing, theJournal of Services Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Management, Industrial Marketing Management, and others. His research interests are in application of a resource-based view to marketing strategy, top management team diversity and marketing strategy, customer orientation (customer satisfaction) and loyalty, interface between marketing and entrepreneurship, and services and relationship marketing. Karen Smalley (B.Comm. Hons, University of Melbourne) is an honors graduate in marketing at the University of Melbourne.     

The moderating effect of organizational cohesiveness in knowledge use and new product development

This study examined the influence of cohesiveness, an organizational cultural variable, on knowledge use and organizational learning within the context of new product development (NPD). The authors surveyed NPD managers from 323 firms, representing a wide range of product classifications, about their firms’ levels of cohesiveness and NPD efforts. Using structural equation modeling, the authors demonstrated that organizational cohesiveness has a moderating influence on both an organization’s use of its existing knowledge to develop innovative new products and the resulting performance of those products, which emphasizes how influential organizational “mind-set” can be. By considering cohesiveness an influence in new product innovativeness and new product performance, the authors incorporated a cultural variable that has received little attention in the NPD and more general marketing literature. This research reveals that much is left to learn about cohesiveness and that understanding it can advance knowledge use, organizational learning, and innovation. Beverly K. Brockman (bev-brockman@utc.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She holds BBA and MBA degrees from the University of Kentucky and a PhD from the University of Alabama. Her specialty areas include marketing strategy, entrepreneurship, product development, and organizational learning. Dr. Brockman has been an American Marketing Association Doctoral Consortium Fellow, and her work has been published inDecision Sciences, Journal of Services Research, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior, and others. Robert M. Morgan (rmorgan@cba.ua.edu) (PhD, 1991, Texas Tech University) is Phifer Faculty Fellow and department head, Department of Management and Marketing, in the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration at the University of Alabama. His interests focus on relationship marketing and marketing strategy, and his research in these areas has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theAcademy of Management Journal, Decision Sciences, and other journals and book chapters. His article “The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing,” coauthored with Shelby D. Hunt and published in 1993 in theJournal of Marketing, was recognized in 2004 by the Institute for Scientific Information as the most cited article in business and economics journals over the previous decade. His article “The Comparative Advantage Theory of Competition,” also coauthored with Shelby D. Hunt and published in 1995 in theJournal of Marketing, received the Sheth Foundation/Journal of Marketing Award in 2004.     

U-commerce: Expanding the universe of marketing

This article introduces several new concepts that lay the conceptual foundation for thinking about next-generation marketing based on ubiquitous networks. U-commerce, orüber-commerce, is predicated on the characteristics of network ubiquity, universality, uniqueness, and unison. It is proposed that the keys to managing network-driven firms are the concepts of u-space and attention analysis. The implications for next-generation marketing in the u-space are explored, with a research agenda identified for scholars and managerial implications recognized for practitioners. Richard T. Watson is the J. Rex Distinguished Chair for Internet Strategy and the director of the Center for Information Systems Leadership in the Terry College of Business, University of Georgia. He has published in leading journals in several fields as well as authored books on data management and electronic commerce and given invited seminars in nearly 20 countries. He is vice president of communications of AIS and recently finished a term as a senior editor ofMIS Quarterly. He is a visiting professor at Agder University College, Norway, and a consulting editor to John Wiley & Sons. Leyland F. Pitt is a professor of marketing in the School of Marketing, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia. He is also adjunct professor of marketing at Kingston Business School, United Kingdom; the University of Lulea, Sweden; and the Ecole Nationale Ponts et Chaussees in Paris. He has also taught marketing and electronic commerce on M. B. A. and executive programs at schools such as Warwick Business School, London Business School, the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University, and the Graham School of Continuing Studies at the University of Chicago. Dr. Pitt is the author of more than 100 papers in scholarly journals, and his work has appeared in publications such asCalifornia Management Review, Sloan Management Review, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Information Systems Research, Journal of Advertising Research, Communications of the ACM, andMIS Quarterly (for which he also served as associate editor). Pierre Berthon is an associate professor of marketing at Bentley College. He has held academic positions at Columbia University, Henley Management College, Cardiff University, and University of Bath. His teaching and research focus on electronic commerce, market information processing, organization and strategy, and management decision making. George M. Zinkhan is the Coca-Cola Company Chair of Marketing at the University of Georgia. After receiving his doctorate at the University of Michigan, he served on the faculty at both the University of Houston and the University of Pittsburgh. His main research focus is on the areas of communication, advertising, and electronic commerce. His recent coauthored books includeElectronic Commerce: A Strategic Perspective (2000) andConsumers (2002).     

Extending the competitive marketing strategy paradigm: The role of strategic reference points theory

The purpose of this article is to extend and integrate the new strategic reference points theory (SRP), developed in the strategic management area, into the discipline of strategic marketing management. The major new tenets of the theory are the inclusion of cognitive, organizational processes and benchmarking simultaneously. First, the authors describe the impact of the marketing SRP on marketing strategic choice behavior captured in the tradeoff between risk and return (risk avert vs. risk lover) as was proposed by prospect theory. Then, they explore the performance consequences of integrating the newly formed stages while considering organizational process and implementation issues of reference points such as content, configuration, consensus, and change. Aviv Shoham is a senior lecturer of marketing at the William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa. Avi Fiegenbaum is an associate professor of management at the William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa.     

Linking thoughts to feelings: Investigating cognitive appraisals and consumption emotions in a mixed-emotions context

While emotions have been shown to have significant influence on various consumer behaviors, the cognitive appraisals linked to consumption emotions have not been fully explored. This research investigates how individuals' cognitive interpretations of situations correspond to the emotions they experience in these contexts. Using analysis of variance and multiple discriminant analysis, our results show a systematic relationship between cognitive appraisals and 10 consumption emotions. The author's findings offer theoretical insights into these consumption emotions, the appraisal/consumption emotion correspondence, basisversus subordinate-level category differences in emotions, and mixed consumption emotions. The findings provide a practical framework for academics and practitioners interested in better understanding and managing consumption emotions. Julie A. Ruth (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is an assistant professor of marketing in the School of Business—Camden at Rutgers University. Her research interests include affect and emotions, consumer relationships, and consumer response to brand strategies such as brand alliances and sponsorships. Frédéric F. Brunel (Ph.D., University of Washington) is an assistant professor of marketing in the School of Management at Boston University. His research interests include consumer perceptions of product design and aesthetics, consumer attitude and affect, and gender and sociocultural issues in consumption. Cele C. Otnes (Ph.D., University of Tennessee) is an associate professor of business administration in the College of Commerce and Business Administration at the University of Illinois, Urbana. Her research interests include consumer rituals, affect and consumer ambivalence, and gift exchange.     

Managing trade promotions in the context of market power

The use of trade promotions as a channel-programming tool has increased substantially in the past decade. In focusing on the tactical implications of trade promotions, some firms appear to have underestimated the tendency of poorly planned trade promotions to interfere with the implementation of a marketing strategy. In this article, the authors examine the complex issue of trade promotion use from both long-term and short-term perspectives. Different trade promotions can produce dissimilar types of channel cooperation, consumer responses, and postpromotion channel member behavior, resulting in differences in distribution-programming preferences between suppliers and retailers. The authors argue that the adjudication of these different preference structures is addressed through the market power of the channel participants. Based on an assessment of these channel relationships, an approach for suggested courses of action is forwarded. Jack J. Kasulis is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Oklahoma. He obtained his Ph.D. in marketing from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and has research interests in marketing channels, retailing, and consumer behavior. His articles have appeared in such journals as theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Advertising Research, and various other journals and proceedings. Fred W. Morgan is the Ashland Professor of Marketing at the University of Kentucky. He obtained his Ph.D. in marketing from Michigan State University in East Lansing and has research interests in legal issues in marketing, sales management, and marketing channels. His articles have appeared in such journals as theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing and Public Policy, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Channels, and various other journals and proceedings. David E. Griffith is an associate professor and the Harvey Jones Chair of Marketing at Ouachita Baptist University. He obtained his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Texas in Austin and has research interests in marketing channels, marketing strategy, and ethics. His research has appeared inMarketing Letters, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Channels, and various other journals and proceedings. James M. Kenderdine is an associate professor and director of the Distribution Research Program at the University of Oklahoma. He obtained his D.B.A. from Indiana University in Bloomington. His research interests are in wholesaling, retailing, and marketing channels. His publications have includedThe Changing Economics of Wholesaling: A North American Chart Book, Wholesaling in Transition: An Executive Chart Book, and articles in various journals and proceedings.     

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.     

Fundamental changes in marketing organization: The movement toward a customer-focused organizational structure

There has been growing interest in the future of marketing and changes in marketing’s organization and role within the firm. However, there has not been research that holistically explores key changes in marketing organization. The authors draw on qualitative interviews with 50 managers in the United States and Germany and argue that changes in marketing organization that have been discussed in isolation are part of a more general shift toward customer-focused organizational structures. They initially discuss two specific changes related to the overall shift: changes concerning primary marketing coordinators and increasing dispersion of marketing activities. They then introduce the concept of a customer-focused organizational structure that uses groups of customers as the primary basis for structuring the organization. They identify typical organizational transitions as firms move toward a customer-focused organizational structure and discuss the challenges firms face in making this transition. They conclude with implications for academic research, managerial practice, and business school curriculum. Christian Homburg is a professor of business administration and marketing and Chair of the Marketing Department at the University of Mannheim in Germany. He received his Ph.D. and master’s degrees from the University of Karlsruhe and earned his habilitation at the University of Mainz. His research interests include organizational issues in marketing, customer orientation, industrial marketing, and relationship marketing. Dr. Homburg has consulted and delivered executive education programs for more than one hundred companies, including Daimler-Benz, Siemens, Deutsche Bank, Hoechst, RWE, Thyssen, Krupp-Hoesch and Sodexho. John P. Workman, Jr. is an associate professor of marketing at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Dr. Workman conducts research on the organization and role of marketing within the firm, on new product development in high-tech firms, and more recently on organizational issues for e-commerce initiatives. His research uses concepts from organization theory, strategy, and sociology to examine the interactions between marketing and other groups in the firm. Dr. Workman has a B.S. from N.C. State University, an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. from M.I.T. He has consulted for a number of organizations on the topics of e-commerce and marketing organization. Ove Jensen is a Ph.D. student studying under Professor Homburg at the University of Mannheim. He received his master’s degree from the WHU Koblenz. He conducts research on sales management, organizational issues in marketing, and incentive systems. He has extensive consulting experience in the areas of market-focused management and sales management.     

Brands matter: An empirical demonstration of the creation of shareholder value through branding

This research responds to the attendant need for empirical evidence pertaining to how marketing affects firm performance. Using the Fama-French method, common in finance, and a leading marketplace measure of a brand’s financial equity value, the authors provide empirical evidence for the branding-shareholder value creation link. The results extend previous research by showing that strong brands not only deliver greater returns to stockholders than does a relevant benchmark but do so with less risk This finding holds even when market share and firm size are considered. Barclays Global Investors Thomas J. Madden is a professor of marketing and director of the Professional MBA/Executive International MBA programs at the Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. His research focuses on the measurement of brand meaning, marketing metrics, and value-based marketing strategies. His research has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, and theJournal of Consumer Behavior. Frank Fehle (frank.fehle@barclaysglobal.com) is the head of Europe Equity Research at Barclays Global Investors in London, United Kingdom. Previously, he was an assistant professor of finance at the University of South Carolina. His research focuses on empirical asset pricing, market microstructure, risk management, and derivatives. His work has appeared in theJournal of Financial Economics, theJournal of Futures Markets, theJournal of Economics and Business, theReview of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, among other journals and conference proceedings. Susan Fournier is an associate professor of marketing at Boston University. Her research focuses on branding and brand relationship marketing. Current projects explore person-brands, resonance as a moderator of the brand meaning → brand strength connection, the types of relationships consumers form with brands, and dynamic processes of relationship development and evolution. She served for 9 years on the Harvard Business School faculty and 2 years as a visitor at Dartmouth College. She consults with a range of companies to inform her teaching, case development, and research.     

Marketing strategy and the internet: An organizing framework

Competitive strategy is primarily concerned with how a business should deploy resources at its disposal to achieve and maintain defensible competitive positional advantages in the marketplace. Competitive marketing strategy focuses on how a business should deploy marketing resources at its disposal to facilitate the achievement and maintenance of competitive positional advantages in the marketplace. In a growing number of product-markets, the competitive landscape has evolved from a predominantly physical marketplace to one encompassing both the physical and the electronic marketplace. This article presents a conceptual framework delineating the drivers and outcomes of marketing strategy in the context of competing in this broader, evolving marketplace. The proposed framework provides insights into changes in the nature and scope of marketing strategy; specific industry, product, buyer, and buying environment characteristics; and the unique skills and resources of the firm that assume added relevance in the context of competing in the evolving marketplace. P. Rajan Varadarajan is a distinguished professor of marketing and the Ford chair in marketing and e-commerce in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of strategy and e-commerce. His research on corporate, business, and marketing strategyrelated issues has been published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, and other leading journals. He is coauthor of a textbook titledContemporary Perspectives on Strategic Market Planning. Dr. Varadarajan served as editor of theJournal of Marketing from 1993 to 1996. He currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Marketing Science and as editor of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Manjit S. Yadav is an associate professor of marketing and Mays Faculty Fellow, Department of Marketing, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University. He obtained his Ph.D. in marketing from Virginia Tech. His research focuses on electronic commerce, firms’ pricing strategies, and consumers’ price perceptions. He has published in a number of journals, includingJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, andSloan Management Review. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. At Texas A&M, Dr. Yadav developed and currently teaches a graduate course (Strategic Foundations of E-Commerce) dealing with the strategic challenges and opportunities in the emerging electronic marketplace. He served as cochair of the American Marketing Association’s 2001 Faculty Consortium on Electronic Commerce held at Texas A&M University.     

Relational communication traits and their effect on adaptiveness and sales performance

Two relational communication traits, communication apprehension and interaction involvement, are investigated within an adaptive selling framework to assess their impact on salesperson adaptiveness and sales performance. Using a sample of 239 insurance salespeople, results demonstrate that salespeople exhibiting lower levels of communication apprehension are more highly involved in communication interactions, and higher involvement facilitates increased adaptiveness and sales performance. This research highlights the importance of effective communication within sales interactions and offers suggestions to improve salesperson communication skill. Michael L. Boorom is an associate professor of marketing and associate dean of the school of business and public administration at California State University, San Bernardino. He received his Ph.D. from the University of South Florida. His research interests are salesperson and sales manager communication skills. His work has been published in theJournal of Personal Selling & Sales Management and several conferences. Jerry R. Goolsby is an associate professor of marketing at the University of South Florida. He received his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University. His research interests include sales interactions and salesperson burnout and coping strategies. His work has been published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and other marketing journals. Rosemary P. Ramsey is a professor and chair of the management and marketing department at Eastern Kentucky University. She earned her Ph.D. from University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include sales interactions and measurement issues. Her work has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Journal of Social Behavior and Personality. andJournal of Marketing Education.     

The effects of job autonomy, customer demandingness, and trait competitiveness on salesperson learning, self-efficacy, and performance

Although self-efficacy has been demonstrated to be positively associated with performance-related variables, few studies have looked at its possible antecedents in the context of personal selling. Applying social cognitive theory, this study posits that while self-efficacy positively affects performance, the salesperson's learning effort directly affects self-efficacy. Furthermore, two task-related factors (perceived job autonomy and customer demandingness) and one individual difference variable (trait competitiveness) are proposed to affect salesperson learning effort and self-efficacy. Two empirical studies show consistent results regarding the positive effects of learning on efficacy and efficacy on performance as well as the influences of three exogenous constructs on learning and efficacy. Implications and future research directions are discussed. Guangping (Walter) Wang is an assistant professor of business at Penn State University at Hazleton. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Louisiana State University in 2000. His research interests include sales management, relationship marketing, database marketing, and e-commerce. His work has appeared or been accepted for publication in theJournal of Vocational Behavior, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Relationship Marketing, Journal of Global Marketing, and a number of national and international conference proceedings. Richard G. Netemeyer is a professor of marketing in the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of South Carolina in 1986. His research interests are primarily consumer and organizational-behavior issues. His research has appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Applied Psychology, OBHDP, JAMS, and others.     

The role of slotting fees and introductory allowances in retail buyers’ new-product acceptance decisions

Although slotting fees and introductory allowances have become well established in the grocery and other industries, they remain a source of controversy among channel members. Retailers claim that these fees and allowances help mitigate the risks associated with new-product acceptance. Manufacturers counter that retailers are abusing slotting fees and allowances by using them as a source of profit. The authors investigate this controversy by empirically examining the role of slotting fees and allowances in the retail buyers’ product acceptance decision process. Results provide evidence to suggest that introductory allowances are indeed being used by retailers in the sample to offset perceived risks and costs of carrying new products. However, findings regarding slotting fees are much less supportive of retailers’ claims. J. Chris White (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida. His primary research and teaching interests include marketing strategy and management, retail management, international strategy, and promotion strategy. Lisa C. Troy (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is an assistant professor of marketing at Utah State University. Her primary research and teaching interests include product innovation and new product development, marketing strategy, retail management, and international marketing. R. Nicholas Gerlich (Ph.D., Indiana University) is an associate professor of marketing at West Texas A&M University. He is actively involved in the development of Web-based courses and has research interests in the marketing of new products.     

Dynamic transformations for base-of-the-pyramid market clusters

Extending scholarship on industry clusters, this article reconsiders the relationship between development and marketing opportunities in base-of-the-pyramid market (BOPM) nations. Recent literature on industry clusters suggests a set of theoretical themes regarding cluster efficiencies, governance, adaptability, and performance. These themes are scrutinized using an extended case employing longitudinal, ethnographic data collected from an indigenous leather-working cluster in West Africa. The authors’ findings provide guidance in identifying local clusters with global market potential in BOPMs. They lead us to a dynamic market-driven transformational model of BOPM clusters. Consequently, the authors recommend several keys for leveraging investments in boundary-spanning firms in BOPM clusters. Finally, the article demonstrates the value of microlevel, longitudinal analyses in assessing cluster performance in BOPMs. Eric J. Arnould (eamould2@ unl.edu; Ph.D. 1982, University of Arizona) is E. J. Faulkner College Professor of Agribusiness and Marketing and interim director of the CB A Agribusiness Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He spent more than 10 years trying to do less harm than good working on economic development problems in more than a dozen West African nations for a variety of stakeholders. Since 1990, he has been full-time academic teaching about consumer behavior, marketing and globalization, and research employing qualitative data. His research appears in major U.S. marketing journals and many other social science periodicals and books. He was a two-term associate editor of theJournal of Consumer Research and is a coauthor of Consumers (2nd ed., 2004), a textbook. Jakki J. Mohr (Jakki.Mohr@business.umt.edu; Ph.D. 1989, University of Wisconsin-Madison), the Jeff and Martha Hamilton Faculty Fellow is a professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration at the University of Montana. Herinterests are primarily in the area of marketing of high-technology products and services, with a focus on distribution channels and governance. Her early research focuses on organizational communication and learning between partners in strategic alliances/ partnerships and between distribution channel members. Her research has received several awards and has been published in theJournal of Marketing, the Strategic Management Journal, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, and other specialized journals at the intersection of technology and business marketing. In addition, she is the lead author of the book,Marketing of High-Technology Products and Innovations (2005). Before beginning her academic career, she worked in Silicon Valley in the advertising area for both Hewlett Packard’s Personal Computer Group and Tele Video Systems.     

The role of emotional exhaustion in sales force attitude and behavior relationships

Emotional exhaustion is a potentially important construct in examining sales force behavior and attitude relationships. A conceptual model and hypotheses are developed to study the antecedents and consequences of the emotional exhaustion construct. The hypotheses are tested using LISREL 7 to analyze data from a sample of field salespeople from a large international services organization. The empirical results offer strong support for relationships involving role ambiguity and conflict antecedents and organizational commitment, job satisfaction, performance, and intention-to-leave consequences of emotional exhaustion. Emin Babakus (Ph.D. University of Alabama, 1985) is a professor of marketing and associate dean for faculty at the Fogelman College of Business & Economics, University of Memphis. His research interests are in the areas of measurement, sales management, services, and international marketing. His research has been published in a number of journals, including theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Retailing, andJournal of Advertising Research. David W. Cravens holds the West Chair of American Enterprise Studies at Texas Christian University. He is a former editor of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science and serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He is the author ofStrategic Marketing (Irwin/McGraw-Hill). Mark Johnston is a professor of marketing at the Roy E. Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College. He earned his Ph.D. in marketing in 1986 from Texas A&M University. Prior to receiving his doctorate, he worked in industry as a sales representative for a leading distributor of photographic equipment. Dr. Johnston's research interests focus on sales force management issues that include analyzing the affect of role stress on salesperson attitudes and behavior, reducing unwanted turnover, and improving performance. In addition, he conducts research on a wide range of other topics, including international marketing management, ethics, and promotional strategy. His research has been published in a number of professional journals such as theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, and theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management. William C. Moncrief is a professor of marketing at Texas Christian University and former chair of the Marketing Department. He has published extensively in the sales and sales management areas. He is coauthor ofSales Management (Addison-Wesley).     

Representing the perceived ethical work climate among marketing employees

This research develops and tests a measurement model representing the ethical work climate of marketing employees involved in sales and/or service-providing positions. A series of studies are used to identify potential items and validate four ethical-climate dimensions. The four dimensions represent trust/responsibility, the perceived ethicalness of peers’ behavior, the perceived consequences of violating ethical norms, and the nature of selling practices as communicated by the firm. Both first- and second-order levels of abstraction are validated. Relationships with role stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment are described and discussed. The scale is unique from previous attempts in its scope, intended purpose (marketing employees), the validation procedures, and in that it is not scenario dependent. The results suggest the usefulness of the marketing ethical climate construct in both developing theory and in providing advice for marketing practice. Barry J. Babin (Ph.D., Louisiana State University) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi. His research involves behavioral interactions between exchange actors and the environment. Barry’s research appears elsewhere in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Business Research, and other professional publications. He is the immediate past president of the Society for Marketing Advances and the current Marketing Section Editor of theJournal of Business Research. James S. Boles (Ph.D., Louisiana State University) is an associate professor of marketing at Georgia State University. His research concentrates on the multifarious aspects of selling, particularly on job-related attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. His research appears elsewhere in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Applied Psychology, theJournal of Business Research, and other professional publications. He is highly involved in sales and creative training. Donald P. Robin (DBA, Louisiana State University) is the J. Tylee Wilson professor of business ethics in the Wayne Calloway School of Business and Accountancy at Wake Forest University. His research appears elsewhere in theJournal of Marketing, theAccounting Review, theJournal of Business Research, theAmerican Business Law Journal, and many other places. He has published in several business ethics journals includingBusiness Ethics Quarterly, theJournal of Business Ethics, and theBusiness and Professional Ethics Journal. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Society for Marketing Advances.