Product liability in industrial markets

Major changes have been proposed in product liability law at the federal level. These changes are of strategic importance to marketing decision makers. A brief overview of the crisis in product liability is given along with proposed changes in the law. Strategic implications of passage and nonpassage of federal legislation are discussed.     

我国煤层气开发的现状与远景

煤层气产业是近20多年来在世界上崛起的新兴产业。煤层气俗称瓦斯．它是一种以吸附状态为主储存于煤层及其围岩中的甲烷气体．其成分与常规天然气大体相同，主要由95％以上的甲烷组成，另外5％的气体一般是CO2或氮气。     

The future of industrial new venture departments

In the companies studied, the primary reason for “failure” of New Venture Departments (NVDs) did not appear to be ineffectiveness in new business development. An NVD was an effective structure for managing new ventures in many companies. The main reasons NVDs became inoperative were that (1) the corporate strategic situation changed and the NVD was no longer needed, and/or (2) the NVD's political position eroded within the company and it was rejected by the existing power structure. The NVD's performance may be a contributing factor to the erosion of its political position but in many companies there were more important factors such as the NVD's sponsor leaving the company, excessively high expectations generated or the NVD appearing to pose a threat to other divisions.     

Artificial intelligence-based systems applied in industrial marketing: An historical overview,current and future insights

Intelligent systems have particular potentialities and strengths to support decisional situations faced by companies, especially those of a strategic nature, where good strategic intelligence is necessary. In this paper, we carry out an historical literature review of artificial intelligence-based systems applied to marketing, covering a time period of several decades (from the 1970s to the present day), with special focus on applications to industrial marketing. A detailed review is presented, along with conclusions and some future insights. Then, we briefly introduce the set of papers in this special issue.     

The impact of purchase situation on salesperson communication behaviors in business markets

This research addresses the impact of purchase situation on sales communication behaviors used by the salesperson in business markets. We hypothesize that different sets of sales communication behaviors will be needed and vary for different purchasing situations. Measures of a salesperson's communication behaviors were tested for different types of purchase situations. Differences were found in the persuasiveness of the salesperson's getting, giving, and using information, depending on the type of purchase situation. These findings help support the value of salesperson adaptability, providing an important variable on which to adapt.     

Customer analysis for strategy development in industrial markets

This paper reports on concepts and techniques which have been developed for analysing customers and used as an aid to assessing the strategic position of companies in industrial markets. The emphasis on supplier/customer relationships presented here derives from the interaction approach to marketing and purchasing strategy. Many industrial markets are highly concentrated, and many companies develop in conjunction with key customers in a symbiotic relationship, where strategy evolves as proposals made by either side are either accepted or rejected. To take account of this we propose a 3-stage framework for analysing customers which builds on and transforms techniques traditionally used for an analysis of products. The purpose of the analysis is to improve the allocation of scarce marketing and technical resources, to reappraise the company's competitive position with different customer groups and to ensure that key relationships are managed effectively.     

The effects of manufacturer's organizational learning on distributor satisfaction and loyalty in industrial markets

The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of organizational learning (OL) on satisfaction and loyalty in industrial markets. A conceptual model, in which the unit for analysis is the dyadic relationship between manufacturers and their main distributor, is proposed and tested. The empirical results showed that the manufacturer's OL is an antecedent of the relational outcomes achieved in business relationships. Specifically, increased OL in the manufacturer has a direct effect on the main distributor's degree of satisfaction and an indirect effect on his loyalty. It is also confirmed that the manufacturer's OL has a direct effect on the manufacturer's business performance. However, we found that links between OL and satisfaction and OL and loyalty are not changed by market turbulence.     

Brands in,from and to emerging markets: The role of industrial relationships

Adopting an explicit stance of a brand from a corporate viewpoint and taking an industrial marketing management perspective, this article identifies the causes and effects of internationalisation for brands from advanced and emerging markets. It aims to offer significant insights in advancing industrial marketing scholarship and practice. From an extensive review of extant literature, this article put forth two conceptual models (i) for brands from advanced into emerging markets, and (ii) for brands from emerging into advanced markets. These models underpin an industrial setting and are informed by Wernerfelt (1995) resource-based view of the firm as they impact on the future of corporate brand management in an international industrial marketing context.     

Buyer/seller relationships in international industrial markets

This article examines the hypothesis that industrial purchasers' assessments of their suppliers are not based on views of suppliers' technical and commercial skills in isolation. Instead they are closely associated with their assessment of suppliers' skills in developing a relationship with them.     

Managing knowledge in industrial markets: New dimensions and challenges

Managing knowledge in industrial markets has become an increasingly important task in the last 10 years. Many industrial firms paid little attention to the topic, since it was felt that knowledge was easily handled internally and was a simple process. The growth of information technology that centered on the collection, analysis and dissemination of information during the 1990's and early 2000's has necessitated that managing knowledge be taken seriously by industrial marketing managers. By doing so industrial firms can make available increased knowledge content in the development and provision of products and services to industrial marketing managers on all levels of the firm, achieve shorter new product development cycles, and facilitate and manage organizational innovation and learning. This article outlines the new dimensions in knowledge management in industrial marketing that are important for industrial managers, academic researchers, and business firms to understand for the future.     

The impact of new product launch strategies on competitive reaction in industrial markets

The importance of successful innovation for the long‐term performance of companies can hardly be exaggerated. However, we need to consider this in a dynamic setting, in which competitors do not remain passive. We find that two thirds of new product launches meet reaction by competitors after their launch. We also empirically demonstrate that the strategic launch decisions that managers take have an effect on future reaction by competitors. Following an extensive review of the literature, a propositional model is developed. In order to test this theoretical model, an ex post facto field study was designed, in which the authors obtained comprehensive information on 509 new industrial products launched in the US, the UK and the Netherlands. Competitive reaction is diagnosed in terms of changes in the marketing instruments of the competitor. A logistic regression model is estimated on the occurrence of competitive reaction with any marketing instrument. We also look at the occurrence of individual marketing instrument reactions. The data show that competitors react primarily by means of price changes. Product assortment and promotional changes are less frequent, whereas distribution policy modifications occur very rarely. The characteristics of the new product launch strategy were found to have a significant impact on both the occurrence and nature of competitive reactions. We claim that the competitive effect of radically new products and incrementally new products greatly differs. The results show that competitors fail to respond to radical innovations and to new products that employ a niche strategy. They do react if a new product can be assessed within an existing product category and thus represent an unambiguous attack. Both innovative and imitative new products meet reaction in this case. The results also demonstrate that competitors are more inclined to react to the introduction of new products that are supported by extensive communication by the innovating firm. The likelihood of reaction is also higher in high growth markets than in low growth markets. The article discusses theoretical and managerial implications of these results, as well as thoughts for future research that may add more insight.     

Buyer power and exclusion in vertically related markets

Suppliers and consumer organizations have become increasingly concerned by the build-up of buyer power of retailers in many markets. A major concern is that strong retailers will abuse their power to exclude products and rival retailers from the market to be able to increase prices to consumers. As a consequence, remedies to limit buyer power are discussed and implemented in many countries. In this paper we compare the incentives for exclusion, and the effect on consumers prices, under both buyer and seller power. We study a model with a dominant upstream manufacturer and a competitive fringe of producers offering their products to two differentiated downstream retailers. We compare the equilibrium outcome of this model when i) the dominant supplier holds all the bargaining power, and (ii) the retailers have all the bargaining power. We show that full or partial exclusion of either the competitive product or downstream retailers occurs when inter and intrabrand competition are strong. This is true both under seller and buyer power. However, in contrast to the received literature, we find that buyer power weakly enhances welfare compared to seller power because buyer power will lead to both more product variety (less exclusion) and lower retail prices.     

走出“围城”之困，拓展“新兴市场”

随着外部市场需求持续回暖和传统出口旺季的到来,我国玩具上半年出口出现了恢复性增长的局面,从今年2月份开始,全国玩具出口总额连续7个月出现增长,单月出口数据均超越2009年,赶走金融风暴阴霾,迎来出口新高潮似乎指日可待。     

煤矿开采技术现状和趋势

本文重点介绍了我国煤矿开采技术现状,概述常见采矿技术以及未来的新技术趋势,指明采矿技术必将走向大型化、集中化、系统化和自动化相结合的综合一体化的道路。     

Understanding the role of marketing-purchasing collaboration in industrial markets: The case of Russia

This study aims to investigate the role of interfunctional collaboration between marketing and purchasing functions in industrial companies. Interfunctional collaboration is considered as a measure of the internal alignment and partnership between departments in the firm, which in turn contributes to the creation of sustainable advantages via improved external partnerships and facilitating demand chain integration. We test the impact of customer orientation as well as the interactions between departments (specifically marketing and purchasing) as collaboration antecedents, and analyze the direct impact of marketing-purchasing collaboration on business performance. The model is tested on a sample of 148 industrial companies in Russia with two key respondents in each firm, incorporating the purchasing as well as the marketing perspective. The results show that marketing-purchasing collaboration mediates the effects of interfunctional interaction as well as customer orientation on business performance. Alternative model testing shows that the direct effects of these antecedent constructs on performance are non-significant in the context of Russian industrial companies.     

Matching new manufacturing technologies to industrial markets and strategies

Major developments are occuring in the manufacturing technologies used in many industries—especially the metal manufacturing and fabricating industries and the electronic manufacturing industries. These developments provide a basis for developing a firm's distinctive competence but this can only be exploited to the full if Marketing personnel are aware of and take account of the new capabilities offered by these technological developments.     

Managing to make markets: Marketization and the conceptualization work of strategic nets in the life science sector

This paper presents one of the first studies to identify and explain the marketization work of a strategic net. Through a study of the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst – a strategic net formed to support the marketization of Life Science Discoveries - we generate insights into the everyday work that makes marketization happen. Marketization is understood as the process that enables the conceptualisation, production and exchange of goods. Our findings focus on one specific form of marketization work found to be core to the strategic net: conceptualisation work. Three forms of conceptualisation work are identified: conceptualising actors' roles, conceptualising markets and conceptualising goods. These manifest as routinized, recursive practices. Our analysis reveals how these practices gather together multiple forms of scientific, technical and market knowledge to generate new market devices that transform market rules and conventions, and introduce new methods and instruments of valuation that change the market. In contrast to extant studies that claim a strategic net's activities influence markets; our findings position the conceptualisation work of the strategic net as constitutive of markets and the broader system of provision for ‘healthcare’ and ‘health futures’.