The influence of organic organizational cultures, market responsiveness, and product strategy on firm performance in an emerging market

Organizational culture is a strategic resource that influences a range of activities within firms, and empirical evidence from management and marketing demonstrates that it impacts performance. In this study, we investigate how organic types of organizational culture (i.e., adhocracy and clan) serve as a strategic resource to influence marketing effectiveness and performance in an emerging economy, using an extended form of the resource-based view as our theoretical framework. We posit that organic cultures, which are relatively dominant in emerging-nation firms, serve as antecedents of competitive advantage and superior performance. We selected China as the context to test the veracity of our model and use multiple informants and archival performance data to minimize common method variance. Our results support the proposed model and demonstrate that organic cultures impact market responsiveness, while confirming the critical roles of market responsiveness and product strategy change in producing superior performance. We further demonstrate a direct effect between clan culture and product strategy change, in addition to its indirect effect. Importantly, our results uncover that, although individually either adhocracy or clan culture can significantly improve the firm’s responsiveness, their combined effect does not enhance market responsiveness; that is, their interaction yields a negative coefficient. Additionally, the influence of organic cultures on market responsiveness varies across different industry types. These important differences, along with theoretical contributions and managerial implications of our findings, are discussed, and several avenues for future research are proposed.     

Using a customer-Level marketing strategy to enhance firm performance: A review of theoretical and empirical evidence

It is becoming increasingly apparent from the literature that marketers need to consider customer-level information when they generate a marketing strategy for the firm. In this article, the authors develop a customer-focused framework that uses a marketing strategy with an overall objective of maximized financial performance. This strategy is driven by seven customer-level marketing tactics and shows how actual customer data can be used to generate an actionable marketing strategy leading to optimal levels of profitability, customer equity, and shareholder value. In addition, the authors discuss a successful implementation of this strategy for several business-to-business and business-to-consumer firms and offer insights as to how to customize an implementation strategy for any firm, along with presenting potential challenges a firm may encounter during the implementation process. Several suggestions for future research are offered to explore and harness this newly available evidence. V. Kumar (VK) (vk@business.uconn.edu) is the ING Chair Professor of Marketing and the executive director of the ING Center for Financial Services at the University of Connecticut. He spends his time by transferring his knowledge (however little it may be) to his two daughters about customer lifetime value, diffusion models, forecasting sales and market share, retailing, and marketing strategy. J. Andrew Petersen (apetersen@business.uconn.edu) is a doctoral candidate in marketing at the University of Connecticut. His research interests include customer lifetime value, word-of-mouth effects, and customer-level marketing strategy. His research has been published inMarketing Research Magazine and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science.     

Improving customer-focused marketing capabilities and firm financial performance via marketing exploration and exploitation

Evidence within the marketing literature has shown that marketing capabilities are important drivers of firm performance. However, very little is known about how firms improve their marketing capabilities via the embedding of new market knowledge. Organizational learning theory provides us with a theoretical lens through which we can examine how existing customer-focused marketing capabilities may be improved and new customer-focused marketing capabilities may be created via marketing exploitation and exploration capabilities. In addition, this study investigates whether ambidexterity in marketing exploration and exploitation exists and finds that firms cannot do both at high levels without risking a negative impact on customer-focused marketing capabilities. This study also presents findings demonstrating how improving the two customer-focused marketing capabilities in our study, brand management and customer relationship management, impacts objective financial performance.     

Service crisis recovery and firm performance: insights from information breach announcements

The extant literature has studied the effects of a firm’s service recovery efforts on the reactions of customers and employees following an individual service failure. However, the impact of recovery efforts on a firm’s performance after a public and large service failure—such as a large-scale information breach—has received scant attention. To address this gap, this current research develops a framework and finds support for the impact of service crisis recoveries on a firm’s performance, as measured by firm-idiosyncratic risk. Using a unique dataset of service crisis recoveries, the authors find that firms offering compensation (i.e., tangible redresses) or process improvement (i.e., improvements in organizational processes) show more stable performance (less idiosyncratic risk), from two quarters to two calendar years after the announcement of their recovery plan. In line with the documented dual effect of apologies, firms that offer apology-based recoveries display more volatile performance (higher idiosyncratic risk). Of note, this volatility increases with the number of affected individuals, and it remains unaffected even when the apology is expressed with high intensity.     

Information system innovations and supply chain management: Channel relationships and firm performance

This study explores how innovations surrounding supply chain communication systems (SCCS) affect channel relationships and market performance. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, the study hypothesizes that certain SCCS innovations can be viewed as firm resources that enhance channel capabilities, which in turn affect a firm’s market performance. The empirical research is based on 184 responses from a survey with U.S. supply chain and logistics managers using structural equation modeling as the analytic method. The results suggest that the effect of applied technological SCCS innovations on channel capabilities is mediated by interfirm systems integration. In contrast, administrative SCCS innovations enhance information exchange and coordination activities directly. Furthermore, the influence of applied technological innovations for SCCS is not strong enough to affect either responsiveness of the partnership or firm performance, whereas administrative innovations for SCCS affect both. Daekwan Kim (dkim@cob.fsu.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing and international business in the College of Business at Florida State University. He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. His research interests include the impact of information technology on channel relationships and marketing strategies, role of information technology in global supply chain management, channel relationships, global brand management, and family conglomerates in emerging markets. S. Tamer Cavusgil (cavusgil@msu.edu) is University Distinguished Faculty and the John W. Byington Endowed Chair in Global Marketing, the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State University. His research interests include international marketing strategy, coordination in the global company, and emerging markets. He is the founding editor ofAdvances in International Marketing and a governor of the Academy of Marketing Science. Roger J. Calantone (rogercal@msu.edu) is the Eli Broad Chaired University Professor of Business and is University Distinguished Faculty at Michigan State University. He is program director of the university specialization program in Information Technology Management and is also adjunct professor of economics. His publications and research are mostly in the areas of product design and development processes, decision support systems, and organization process metrics and control.     

Quality uncertainty,brand reliance,and dissipative advertising

Consumers may have learned to generalize from usage experiences that nationally advertised, name-brand items tend to be higher in quality than unadvertised brands. Such generalization may have prompted the substitution of brand-name evaluations for search in quality assessments of nondurable experience goods. This paper offers theoretical arguments which suggest that if some consumers do not search, all firms in nondurable, experience goods markets can increase their profits if some substitute dissipative advertising (i.e., advertising which ignores information about product performance characteristics) of brand names for product quality enhancements. Undersearching by consumers invites firms to downgrade value in nondurable, experience goods markets. In support of the hypothesized substitution by consumers of brand-name evaluations for search in nondurable, experience goods markets, this paper reports results of a field experiment in which the influences on quality assessments of brand name and product composition were studied in two categories where dissipative advertising is heavily relied upon. Results suggest that branding is relied upon more heavily than search to assess quality, even when brand cues are inconsistent with actual quality levels and search is costless, suggesting that dissipative advertising can be extremely effective.     

交易费用、中间性组织与产业集群——基于新制度经济学的研究视角

伴随着交易费用理论的发展,产业组织理论的分析框架由企业和市场二层次分析框架提升为市场、中间性组织和企业的三层次制度分析框架.交易费用理论证明了中间性组织的存在,并证明了中间性组织的存在能够克服交易中的机会主义、使投资最有效率.产业集群作为中间性组织形式之一,其存在和发展不仅可以用交易费用理论来解释,而且产业集群本身又可以降低交易费用.     

Macroenvironmental forces,marketing strategy and business performance: A futures research approach

A method of futures research is used to empirically test a structure-conduct-performance (SCP) model in a marketing setting. It is proposed that within the macroenvironment there exist, varying levels of resource constraints and structural fluctuations which are positively correlated. Increased resource constraints and structural fluctuations, which are characteristics of a turbulent environment, are expected to increase the competitive intensity is an industry. This higher level of competitive intensity is hypothesized to result in increased use of nonprice marketing strategies. Nonprice marketing strategies are also expected to increase business performance because of the contingency relationship between conduct (strategy) and performance. The possible role of “blind” luck or stochastic processes in determining success is also discussed.     

Exploring the impact of advertising and R&;D expenditures on corporate brand value and firm-level financial performance

A parsimonious framework linking advertising expenditures and research and development expenditures to brand value, and brand value in turn to firm-level financial performance, was proposed and empirically investigated under four data conditions: data form, brand type, financial performance metric, and lag structure. Using pooled data from 125 firms (848 firm-year observations) over the period 1991–2007, 108 path analyses were conducted to compute five path model output metrics. Data on these metrics were then compared for each of the data conditions by means of analysis of variance. Although significant relationships were generally observed among framework variables, study results differed considerably across three of the four data conditions. The principal take-away from the study is that the impact of marketing activities on firm-level financial performance is likely to be in large part a function of the specific research purpose and methodology employed. As such, the take-away has implications when interpreting value-relevance findings, when constructing theories involving market-based assets, and when designing studies to investigate relationships between marketing and financial performance.     

Capital market impact of product marketing strategy: Evidence from the relationship between advertising expenses and cost of capital

To analyze the prospect of a firm’s advertising decision affecting shareholder wealth, this article investigates the relationship between a firm’s advertising expenditure and the market-imposed weighted average cost of capital. For a sample of U.S. firms, the results show that advertising expenditure is negatively related to the cost of equity and positively related to debt utilization, resulting in a lower weighted average cost of capital. A higher debt level, however, associates with a lower level of financial strength. In addition, and plausibly by lowering the cost of capital through product market advertising, firms with higher advertising expenditure experience higher performance in terms of market value added. Manohar Singh (msingh@willamette.edu) is an associate professor of finance at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. He holds a Ph.D. in finance from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. His published research includes publications in theJournal of Banking and Finance, Financial Review, theJournal of Multinational Financial Management, and thePacific Basin Finance Journal, among others. His research interests include corporate governance and corporate finance and strategy. Sheri Faircloth (fairclos@unr.nevada.edu) is an associate professor of finance at the University of Nevada at Reno. She holds a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Texas at Arlington. Her research interests include corporate finance, investments, and real estate finance. She has published in finance journals such as theJournal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, theJournal of Real Estate Literature, Review of the Academy of Finance, theJournal of the Academy of Finance, andApplied Economics. Ali Nejadmalayeri (aliala@unr.edu) is an assistant professor of finance at the University of Nevada at Reno. He holds an M.B.A. from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Arizona. He has published in finance journals such as theJournal of Business, theJournal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, and theJournal of Multinational Financial Management. He was awarded the College of Business Researcher of the Year Award for 2004.     

Multiple sources in advertising appeals: When product endorsers are paid by the advertising sponsor

Previous research has shown that respondents who are exposed to multiple sources featured in an advertising appeal engage in more diligent processing of the message arguments than those who are exposed to a single message source presenting the same basic appeal. Other research has demonstrated that the persuasive advantage of an appeal can be significantly diminished when respondents perceive that the message source is motivated by the compensation received to endorse a product. Using a 2 (Single vs. Multiple Sources)×2 (Paid vs. Unpaid Source) between-subjects factorial design, subjects were shown a print advertisement for a new multivitamin food supplement. Results showed that subjects exposed to unpaid multiple sources generated significantly more positive thoughts and attitudes than those exposed to a similar number of sources who were paid to endorse the product. In contrast, subjects in the single-source conditions showed no significant differences in the number of thoughts and the strength of attitudes in response to paid versus unpaid message sources. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed. He holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University in marketing and international business. His research in the field of advertising and persuasion focuses on attitude theory, social cognition, and emotion. His published work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Global Marketing, andAdvances in Consumer Research. His research and writing interests are in the area of managerial and consumer decision making. He is the author of the trade bookJudgment Calls: High Stakes Decisions in a Risky World (1993) and the textbookConsumer Behavior (1993). He is the author or co-author of more than 60 refereed articles on managerial and consumer decision making in such publications as theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Decision Sciences, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, andJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. His research in the field of attitude and persuasion, the self-concept and social memory has appeared in a number of journals including theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Social Cognition, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, andAdvances in Consumer Research.     

协同管理在协力检修中的实现

加强企业的协同管理,可以使组织的运行产生最大合力。在协力检修中采用协同管理,能够解决企业业务规模扩张与人员不足的矛盾,能够更加强化协力检修中的协调力度,充分发挥企业资源共享优势,提升企业管理水平和执行能力。     

Exploring deception and puffery in television advertising

Public policy decisions dealing with deceptive advertising have relied extensively on case-by-case adjudication with the Federal Trade Commission. Unfortunately, behavioral evidence has not been considered in the vast majority of these cases. The final determination rests with the Commission’s own expertise in judging an advertisement’s “capacity to deceive.” Consumer response data are not required, although recent developments suggest the FTC is seriously considering the inclusion of meaningful behavioral evidence in policymaking and adjudicative proceedings. This study is one of a series dealing with dimensions of perceived deception across different respondent populations (including students, lawyers, housewives, children, and minority groups). The focus here is on the semantics of deception, i.e., the way in which subjects evaluate selected television commercials which were unofficially rated for deception by FTC staff attorneys. The factor analytic paradigm provides one approach for generating summaries of viewer’s evaluative (affective) responses, and thereby providing some normative or benchmark data of potential value in the regulatory process.     

Transparent pricing: theory,tests, and implications for marketing practice

In today’s retail markets, products display opaque pricing, i.e., a single number that provides no information about the allocation of the retail proceeds among agents who bring the product to market. We study transparent pricing, which is an alternative strategy in which allocation information is revealed. We differentiate transparent pricing from related marketing practices such as social marketing, cause-related marketing, and pay-what-you-want. Using controlled experiments in multiple product categories with diverse sampling frames, we find that transparent prices systematically alter consumer utility functions and stated choice behavior. Our results support explanations drawn from both neoclassical and behavioral economic theory, including inequity aversion, procedural justice, and altruism. Classical theory predicts that price transparency should have little effect on consumer behavior. However, results from behavioral economics suggest that consumers may relax “self-interest” in the face of transparent prices, leading to counter-intuitive preferences. For example, in one set of studies we observe a significant proportion of consumers selecting the more expensive of two replicates of the same product. In another study, a subset of motorists willingly pays higher gasoline taxes for the same gallon of gas, increasing the overall price per gallon. We explain this behavior via parameterized utility functions that contain both self-interested and other-interested components moderated by characteristics of the decision-maker and characteristics of the choice context.     

创业资本、IPO抑价与创业板定价效率

IPO抑价度过高、新股定价效率偏低是目前我国创业板市场存在的突出问题之一。选取2009年10月23日到2013年12月31日创业板数据,采用非参数检验、横截面多元回归等方法,结合我国创业板市场特殊的制度背景,对IPO抑价和新股定价效率进行研究。研究发现我国创业板定价效率近年来有所提高,但总体仍偏低;影响创业板新股定价效率的主要市场因素,包括市场投机气氛、市场热度、市场供求状况、承销商声誉等四个方面。研究结论对治理创业板高抑价、提升IPO定价效率具有一定借鉴意义。     

Trustmarks, objective-source ratings, and implied investments in advertising: Investigating online trust and the context-specific nature of internet signals

The purpose of this study is to provide a preliminary investigation of the effectiveness of Internet marketers’ various attempts to develop consumer trust through Web signals. The work is an exploration of the context-specific nature of trust in e-commerce. An online experiment compares three potential signals of trust in an Internet retail firm: (1) a third-party certification (i.e., a “trustmark”), (2) an objective-source rating (i.e., a review from Consumer Reports magazine), and (3) an implication of investment in advertising (i.e., a television advertisement to air during the Super Bowl). The trustmark had the greatest effect on perceived trustworthiness, influencing respondents’ beliefs about security and privacy, general beliefs about firm trustworthiness, and willingness to provide personal information. The relationship between Internet experience and trust was in the form of an inverted U. K. Damon Aiken (kaiken@mail.ewu.edu) is an assistant professor at Eastern Washington University at Cheney, Washington. He received his PhD from the University of Oregon. His primary teaching and research interests lie in Internet marketing, consumer attitude formation, and trust development. He has also published in the area of sport marketing, investigating fan attitudes and values. His research has appeared in theJournal of Advertising Research, theInternational Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, theBusiness Research Yearbook, andSport Marketing Quarterly, among others. David M. Boush (dmboush@lcbmail.uoregon.edu) is an associate professor of marketing in the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon in Eugene. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota. His research interests center on the relationship between consumer behavior and marketing management decisions, especially those involving advertising, branding, and the Internet. His research has appeared in publications such as theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of International Business Studies, Psychology and Marketing, Marketing Letters, and theJournal of Current Issues and Research in Marketing. He serves on the editorial board of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science.     

健全和完善贫困地区农村合作医疗保险制度 --三穗县款场乡农村合作医疗保险的调查

农村合作医疗保险是实现农村小康社会的一项重要的公共事业。特别是贫困地区建立、健全完善的合作医疗保险制度，不仅可以遏制农民因病返贫，还有利于农村公共医疗卫生事业快速反映机制的建立。但从目前的试点情况看，贫困地区建立农村合作医疗保险制度在资金匹配、医疗资源整合，以及管理方面还有待于进一步健全和完善。