Conflict-coordination learning in marketing channel relationships: The distributor view

Although a fairly large body of literature exists on channel conflict management, little research has been done from an interorganizational conflict-learning perspective. This study explores how channel members can use conflict-coordination learning (CCL), as a conflict resolution mechanism, which leads to improved capabilities, which in turn can enhance co-created value in marketing channel relationships from a distributor point of view. Drawing on both a resource-based view of the firm, an absorptive capacity perspective, and an interorganizational learning approach, we propose that conflict values (positive conflict attitudes and avoidance of conflict behaviors) can be viewed as firm resources that directly influence CCL, which in turn can enhance co-created value (joint marketing strategy quality and joint profit performance). To explore these issues, we developed and tested our hypotheses with data from 101 distributors within the food industry in Taiwan. As predicted, we find that positive conflict attitudes are positively related to CCL, and that avoidance of conflict behaviors is negatively related to CCL. Furthermore, the results indicate that joint marketing strategy quality mediates the relationship between CCL and joint profit performance. Specifically, under high positive conflict attitudes, CCL strongly appears related to joint marketing strategy quality.     

关系营销理论与实践探讨

关系营销把营销活动看成是一个企业与消费者、供应商、分销商、竞争者、政府机构及其他公众互动的过程:本文探讨了关系营销的三个层面、市场模型以及在企业中的应用。     

Relationship marketing and contract theory

The theoretical foundation of contracts and their limitations in governing exchange between firms is a current area of research in economics and business. The relationship marketing approach in business-to-business markets focuses on aspects in interfirm exchange that contracts cannot deal with efficiently. However, the ability to use contractual forms of governance where possible is crucial to the enhanced scope of relationship marketing management. We argue that contracts and relationships are complementary and that contracts provide an evolving governance structure for relationships. We examine the evolution of interfirm exchange theories in this framework and illustrate the convergence between contract theory and relationship marketing management, with examples from procurement in the supply chain, capacity reservation contracts, and program management.     

Realigning industrial marketing channels

Dramatic changes are occurring in industrial patterns of distribution. This article provides a structure for analyzing realignments in industrial marketing channels. Specifically, the analysis centers on the channel efficiency and effectiveness dimensions that were generated by a shift from industrial distributors to a public warehouse.     

A dynamic capability view of marketing analytics: Evidence from UK firms

While marketing analytics plays an important role in generating insights from big data to improve marketing decision-making and firm competitiveness, few academic studies have investigated the mechanisms through which it can be used to achieve sustained competitive advantage. To close this gap, this study draws on the dynamic capability view to posit that a firm can attain sustained competitive advantage from its sensing, seizing and reconfiguring capabilities, which are manifested by the use of marketing analytics, marketing decision-making, and product development management. This study also examines the impact of the antecedents of marketing analytics use on marketing related processes. The analysis of a survey of 221 UK firm managers demonstrates: (a) the positive impact of marketing analytics use on both marketing decision-making and product development management; (b) the effect of the latter two on sustained competitive advantage; (c) the indirect effect of data availability on both marketing decision-making and production development management; and (d) the indirect effect of managerial support on marketing decision-making. The research model proposed in this study provides insights into how marketing analytics can be used to achieve sustained competitive advantage.     

Marketing activities and performance: A comparison of the Internet-based and traditional small firms in Taiwan

Emerging technologies, notably, have redefined business by erasing the traditional boundaries of time and geography and by creating new virtual communities of customers, distributors and suppliers, with new demands for products and services. Are there any differences between the marketing practices of the Internet-based and traditional small firms? This paper analyses published, undisguised stories of 112 traditional and 26 Internet-based small firms in Taiwan. The research results suggest that the owner-managers of both traditional and Internet-based small firms concentrate on sales, product planning and customer relationships. However, the owner-managers of traditional small firms in Taiwan place emphasis on quality control, whereas their Internet-based counterparts concentrate more on product schedules, sales forecasts, sales control and marketing research. These results indicate that cyber entrepreneurs have higher levels of marketing education and backgrounds, conduct marketing planning periodically and frequently and perform professional marketing activities. The research findings tend to suggest that though traditional marketing tenets are still suitable in the cyber environment of Taiwan, the Internet-based small firms have to utilise innovative marketing techniques to suit and compete in the ever-changing Internet business environment.     

Problem formulation in industrial marketing research

Marketing research is achieving increasingly greater recognition in the industrial marketing field as one of the major tools to assist management in decision-making processes. Its position in consumer goods marketing has long been well established, and its use has been widespread. At the present time industrial marketing research is becoming more accepted as a normal part of marketing management whose efforts are directed to the industrial markets for goods and services.     

Applying knowledge management to project marketing in a demanding technology transfer project: Convincing the industrial customer over the knowledge gap

Literature in project and knowledge management has examined knowledge management in projects, but the utilization of knowledge management in project marketing is still largely unexplored. This study examines the links between knowledge management and project marketing activities in a project where the seller wants to convince the potential buyer about a demanding investment project. An in-depth case study illustrates this in a situation hampered by a technical knowledge gap between the parties. The buyer is committed when they can trust the seller's capability to successfully accomplish the project. The seller must criticize and communicate its core and project specific knowledge of technologies and customer needs through project marketing. A framework and implications on knowledge management and project marketing activities in different project phases is presented. It is proposed that knowledge management is a pertinent tool for project marketing as it helps to understand the roles of different knowledge types.     

Using trade missions for export market entry

Export market entry by industrial firms using and not using trade missions are investigated. Trade missions are a potentially useful export marketing tool, however, their use is contingent upon management orientation. Implications for export marketing management are discussed.     

An applied theory for marketing industrial services

When the area of industrial marketing is discussed in the literature on marketing and marketing management, only the marketing of goods to industrial buyers are considered. However, a vast amount of services are also marketed in the industrial sector. There is some, although very limited, literature on professional or consultancy services, but the area is usually not thought of as a part of industrial marketing [1–3]. Recently, a few papers have been published where these services are treated as an integral part of industrial marketing [4, 5]. The purpose of this article is to suggest some frameworks concerning the marketing of industrial services.     

The two economics of vertical restraints

This paper reviews the economics of vertical restraints. There are two economics of these restraints where the different explanations follow from different sets of motivating factors. The first economics presumes that these restraints are imposed by manufacturers on their distributors. Free rider arguments fall in this category. In contrast, the second economics presumes that retailers and other distributors have substantial power over their suppliers. One means to exercise this power is to require supplying manufacturers to enforce vertical restraints. In these circumstances, vertical restraints increase prices and restrict outputs, and thereby have the same economic effects as horizontal restraints.     

Improving R&D/Marketing relations: R&D's perspective

Abstract
Successful product innovation hinges on close R&D/marketing relationships, especially in technology-based organizations. However, there is evidence that linkage problems are common and when they are not overcome failure is the usual result.
R&D's perspective on what R&D, marketing and senior management can do to improve their relationship with marketing is presented. The recommendations are based on suggestions from R&D directors involved in new product development efforts in 83 technology-based companies. Also presented is how the need for integration has changed over time and where it is going in the future.     

Determinants of economic and social satisfaction in manufacturer-distributor relationships

The aim of this work is to examine the dimensions of satisfaction in manufacturer-distributor relationships as well as identifying the antecedents of both the economic and the non-economic dimensions of satisfaction. A literature review about satisfaction in marketing channels is followed by quantitative research into how this interchange process is perceived by food product distributors in their relationships with manufacturers. The results provide strong support for the impact of communication, trust and commitment on satisfaction, as well as the interrelationships among the economic and the non-economic dimensions of satisfaction. Theoretical and managerial implications are extracted from these findings.     

ZBB,MBO, PPB and their effectiveness within the planning/marketing process

Substantial attention has recently been focused on the reported failures of zero-base budgeting (ZBB), management by objectives (MBO), and planning, programming, and budgeting (PPB) as management techniques for corporations as well as governmental agencies. This writer has determined that these failures occur because the ZBB, MBO, and PPB techniques are used in lieu of an integrated planning/marketing process and fail to recognize the process or the limitations and scope of these techniques. The techniques can and do work well where they are treated as part of, rather than as a substitute for, the planning/marketing process, and are modified to function efficiently within the process. All elements of the planning/marketing process must be given a fair share of attention if the profit or non-profit enterprise is to succeed.     

A Cross‐National Comparative Study of Senior Management Policy,Marketing–Manufacturing Involvement,and Innovation Performance

The marketing–manufacturing interface is important to the success of product development. This research investigates the effect of senior management policies on the effectiveness of the marketing–manufacturing interface. Based on existing literature, a conceptual framework is developed that relates senior management policies, marketing–manufacturing involvement, and new product performance. The proposed framework is contingent on the national culture of the country in which product development occurs. Structural equation modeling is used to test the framework with data from a sample of 146 U.S. marketing managers and 185 Japanese marketing managers. The results suggest that a number of senior management policies are effective in promoting joint involvement between the marketing and manufacturing functions during the innovation process. While the use of formal cross‐functional integration policies was found to promote marketing–manufacturing involvement both in the United States and Japan, team leader autonomy, team rewards, and job rotation were found to promote marketing involvement in the United States but not in Japan. On the other hand, promoting marketing–manufacturing involvement via goal clarity and promotion of teamwork proved to be effective in Japan. The results have a number of implications for product development practice. Foremost among these is the finding that, despite the fundamental ideological differences separating the marketing and manufacturing functions, senior management policies can enhance the level of marketing–manufacturing involvement, and consequently can improve the likelihood of new product success. The second implication is that the effectiveness of specific senior management policies depends on national culture. Thus, managers wishing to improve the marketing–manufacturing interface should select the policies that match the culture in which the product development project is located.     

Collaborative buyer-supplier relationships and downstream information in marketing channels

Research on buyer-supplier relationships has emphasized the importance of collaboration and business networks. We aim to study the effects of downstream information on the collaborative buyer-supplier relationship. Downstream information refers to the information a firm obtains from marketing channels, be they wholesalers, distributors or retailers. The approach allows firms to concentrate their efforts on the most relevant sources of information and not on the whole network. Survey data was gathered from the Dutch potted plant and flower industry to test this hypothesis. Our findings demonstrate that collaborative relationships are contingent on downstream information from both the buying perspective (wholesalers) and from the supplying perspective (producers).     

Using Revenue Sharing to Implement Flexible Prices: Evidence from Movie Exhibition Contracts

Movie exhibition contracts entail revenue‐sharing terms that go down with weeks since release. We develop a simple model to show how the form of these contracts can be explained by the distributors’ desire to set flexible prices. We then use detailed data on theater‐movie contracts in Spain, where we exploit the information available at the time of contracting for movies previously released in the U.S., and other movie and theater characteristics, to show how the implications of our flexible pricing argument are supported in the data, and differentiate our explanation from prior, more standard risk‐sharing and moral‐hazard explanations.     

Characteristics of the Industrial Distributor's Innovation Activities

Recent trends in industrial distribution suggest that distributors may perform an important role in various stages of product innovation from idea generation, through product design, to product launch and subsequent marketing. In this article, Eunsang Yoon and Gary Lilien review the literature and discuss the potential role of the industrial distributor as an innovation participant. An exploratory study with an Australian data base suggests that the industrial distributor performs tasks associated with market-driven product innovation (reformulation and imitative new products in particular) as effectively as the industrial manufacturer.     

The effect of distributors' relationship exploration on relationship quality under market uncertainty

While relationship exploration, or seeking alternative exchange partners, is a ubiquitous marketing channel strategy when facing a volatile marketing environment, how this strategy affects a firm's incumbent relationship is unclear. Drawing upon resource dependency theory and the dynamic capabilities perspective, we argue that a distributor's relationship exploration does not destruct but rather improves the existing relationship by enhancing the focal distributor's dynamic capabilities (e.g., absorptive capability and innovative capability) that are essential in volatile environments. However, the ultimate influence of this strategy via dynamic capabilities is contingent upon the careful alignment of dynamic capabilities with market conditions. Using a sample of electronic component distributors in China, this study confirms the role of dynamic capabilities as underlying mechanisms in the influence of relationship exploration on relationship quality. Moreover, we find that market uncertainty varies the effects of dynamic capabilities differentially; it strengthens the effect of absorptive capability, while it weakens that of innovative capability.