Market orientation and performance of export ventures: the process through marketing capabilities and competitive advantages

Our study focuses on the internal process through which market orientation influences performance in export markets, and develops a model of market orientation–marketing capabilities–competitive advantages–performance relationships. Using survey data of 491 export ventures based in China, we find that marketing capabilities mediate the market orientation–performance relationship, while competitive advantages partially mediate the marketing capabilities–performance relationship. Moreover, coordination mechanism strengthens, and cost leadership strategy weakens, the effects of market orientation on new product development and marketing communication capabilities, respectively. Market turbulence attenuates the effect of market orientation on new product development capability while competitive intensity strengthens this effect.     

企业技术能力对产品创新的影响研究——基于创业者政治技能和创业经验的调节效应

基于资源编排理论视角探索技术能力对产品创新的影响，以及创业者政治技能和创业经验等创业能力的调节效应。以281家长三角、珠三角以及京津地区的技术型新创企业为调研对象的实证结果发现：技术能力与产品创新之间呈倒U型关系，技术能力对新创企业产品创新的影响存在一个阈值，超过这一水平，技术能力的创新收益开始下降；创业者政治技能和创业经验等创业能力对技术能力与产品创新之间的关系存在调节效应，有助于强化技术能力的创新收益。结果还表明技术能力和创业者创业能力水平是影响新创企业资源管理效率的关键要素。     

企业技术能力对产品创新的影响研究——基于创业者政治技能和创业经验的调节效应

基于资源编排理论视角探索技术能力对产品创新的影响，以及创业者政治技能和创业经验等创业能力的调节效应。以281家长三角、珠三角以及京津地区的技术型新创企业为调研对象的实证结果发现：技术能力与产品创新之间呈倒U型关系，技术能力对新创企业产品创新的影响存在一个阈值，超过这一水平，技术能力的创新收益开始下降；创业者政治技能和创业经验等创业能力对技术能力与产品创新之间的关系存在调节效应，有助于强化技术能力的创新收益。结果还表明技术能力和创业者创业能力水平是影响新创企业资源管理效率的关键要素。     

Where is the opportunity without the customer? An integration of marketing activities, the entrepreneurship process, and institutional theory

Marketing and entrepreneurship have long been recognized as two key responsibilities of the firm. Despite their tight integration in practice, marketing and entrepreneurship as domains of scholarly inquiry have largely progressed within their respective disciplinary boundaries with minimal cross-disciplinary fertilization. Furthermore, although firms increasingly undertake their marketing and entrepreneurial activities across diverse settings, academe has provided little insight into how changes in the institutional environment may substantially alter the processes and outcomes of these undertakings. Herein, we integrate research on marketing activities, the entrepreneurship process, and institutional theory in an effort to address this gap. We first discuss market orientation as enhancing a firm??s opportunity recognition and innovation, whereas marketing mix decisions enhance opportunity exploitation. We then examine how entrepreneurship leads to innovation directed toward market orientation and marketing mix activities. Based on this foundation, we examine differences in marketing and entrepreneurship activities across institutional contexts.     

基于动态环境背景的营销组合分析——创业营销组合与传统营销组合之差异

面对当前动荡复杂的营销环境,融合了创业导向和市场导向的创业营销(Entrepreneurial Market-ing)表现出了更具灵活性和适应性的优势。本文在回顾了创业营销和创业营销组合基本理论的基础上,从不同营销组合产生的环境背景角度分析了创业营销组合与传统营销组合的差异。除了环境背景不同之外,还识别了二者在对市场的反应速度、对环境中风险的容忍程度和对资源的利用方式上存在的显著差异。     

双创背景下关键资源获取对新创企业成长绩效的影响——基于动态能力的中介效应

新创企业在双创情境下获取关键资源及应构建何种动态能力以助于成长绩效提升这一问题有待深入研究。利用524家新创企业样本的问卷数据,借助软件SPSS和AMOS并构建结构方程模型进行实证研究。结果显示：关键资源获取的关系嵌入和资源拼凑方式对成长绩效具有正向影响且动态能力在其间起到部分中介作用,政府支持和跨界搜寻方式对成长绩效的影响不显著且动态能力在其间起到完全中介作用;关键资源获取的不同方式对动态能力具有正向影响;动态能力对成长绩效具有正向影响。研究结论为新创企业、国家创业创新政策制定者和投融资市场洞察各类关键资源对企业成长的影响提供了启示。     

Innovating for sustainability: a framework for sustainable innovations and a model of sustainable innovations orientation

In an environment characterized by growing awareness of environmental sustainability among various stakeholders in organizations, innovating for sustainability can be expected to grow in importance from the standpoints of organizational legitimacy, reputation, and performance. Relatedly, a firm’s sustainable innovations capabilities as a source of competitive advantage and the sustainability related attributes of a firm’s product offerings as bases for market segmentation, target marketing, positioning, and differentiation can also be expected to grow in importance. The emergence of sustainability as a major driver of innovation highlights a number of important issues that merit investigation, such as potential avenues for sustainable innovation and sustainable product innovation and factors underlying differences between firms in their commitment to a sustainable innovations orientation. In an attempt to gain insights into these issues, this paper presents (1) a conceptual framework delineating potential avenues for sustainable innovations and (2) a conceptual model delineating a number of firm-related and industry-related antecedents of sustainable innovations orientation, along with performance outcomes of sustainable innovations orientation. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

Organizational capabilities in e-commerce: An empirical investigation of e-brokerage service providers

E-commerce not only has tremendous potential for growth but also poses unique challenges for both incumbents and new entrants. By examining drivers of firm performance in e-commerce from a capabilities perspective, the authors conceptualize three firm capabilities that are critical for superior firm performance in e-commerce: information technology capability, strategic flexibility, and trust-building capability. The extent and nature of market orientation is conceptualized as a platform for leveraging e-commerce capabilities. The authors test the effects of e-commerce capabilities on performance (e.g., relative profits, sales, return on investment) using data from 122 e-brokerage service providers. The results indicate that information technology capability and strategic flexibility affect performance given the right market orientation. Amit Saini (asaini2@unl.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He conducts research in the area of marketing strategy, technology-marketing interface, e-commerce strategy, and customer relationship management. He has presented papers at major conferences, and his research appears in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science and American Marketing Association—Marketing Educator’s Conference Proceedings. His industry experience includes sales management and quantitative market research. Jean L. Johnson (Johnsonjl@wsu.edu) is a professor of marketing at Washington State University. Her research includes partnering capabilities development in, and management of, interfirm relationships and management of international strategic alliances. Her research appears in journals such as theJournal of Marketing, the Journal of International Business Studies, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing. She serves on the editorial boards of theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Retailing, theJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing, and reviews for others. She spent several years in the advertising industry and has lived, taught, and conducted research in France and Japan. She has been selected to cochair the 2006 winter American Marketing Association (AMA) conference.     

创业导向对企业绩效影响的研究述评

根据国内外学者对于创业导向这一构念的研究,旨在总结创业导向的概念和维度,着重分析创业导向在向企业绩效进行转化过程中的调节效应和中介路径,并对其研究方法做了总结性的归纳。最后对创业导向研究的进一步发展提出了完善的建议。     

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.     

Export marketing strategy implementation,export marketing capabilities,and export venture performance

Since exporting is the most popular mechanism by which firms engage with international markets, understanding the drivers of export market performance is key to explaining firms’ international competitiveness. The literature posits that the effective implementation of planned export marketing strategy is a key determinant of the performance of firms operating in international markets. Yet little is known about the specific nature and drivers of export marketing strategy implementation effectiveness. In this study we build on the implementation literature in marketing and strategic management to develop a new conceptualization of export marketing strategy implementation effectiveness. Drawing on dynamic capabilities theory, we empirically examine the export marketing capability antecedents and performance consequences of export marketing strategy implementation effectiveness in the context of manufacturing firms that are exporting to international markets. Results indicate that effective implementation of planned export marketing strategy contributes to export market and financial performance, and that marketing capabilities play an important role in enabling effective marketing strategy implementation in export venture operations.     

Market-oriented sustainability: a conceptual framework and propositions

Utilizing Resource-Advantage Theory as the underlying theoretical foundation and drawing on literature from a variety of disciplines, we develop a market-oriented sustainability framework. By incorporating sustainability into market orientation, the goal of strategic alignment of sustainability with marketing strategies is achieved to create a competitive advantage. Three constructs identified in the model are DNA, stakeholder involvement, and performance management. These three constructs are the drivers of sustainability. DNA is used as an extended metaphor to clarify and illustrate the workings of an organization and how sustainability may be implemented. This construct includes core ideology, dynamic capabilities, and societal engagement. The firm’s DNA is communicated to both internal and external stakeholders, and stakeholders’ concerns should be an influence on strategic marketing planning. Performance management is the third major construct in the model and includes corporate social performance and corporate financial performance metrics. Within the model explication, we offer propositions to support market-oriented sustainability research and provide directions for sustainability theory, research, and practice.     

企业家创业促进了企业创新吗——基于省级工业企业所有权异质性的分析

创业是促进创新,进而推动经济增长的重要引擎。从创业、创新活动的市场化效果出发,着重考察企业所有权异质性层面下企业家创业对企业创新的影响及其差异。基于2006-2013年省级工业企业的动态面板数据反应模型的结果发现,企业家创业水平的提高能够显著促进企业创新,滞后期的企业家创业的正向影响和企业创新累积效应均很显著;与外资企业相比,内资企业家创业对以新产品表示的企业创新的影响程度偏低;无论是创新投入还是创新产出,企业间产品创新均存在显著的正向竞争效应,外商投资企业和港澳台资企业彼此间存在强大的创新溢出效应,而我国企业创新主要依赖于外资企业的创新溢出效应,我国企业间普遍存在盯住外资企业的行为可能是导致内资企业、国有企业彼此间的创新溢出效应较低的主要原因。     

Capabilities and financial performance: the moderating effect of strategic type

The Miles–Snow (M–S) strategic typology has continued to receive attention in the academic business press, even though it has been criticized for not making explicit the relationships between strategic type and ultimate profit performance. Using the market orientation and Resource-Based View literature, we develop hypotheses regarding relationships between M–S strategic type and four firm capabilities (technology, information technology, market-linking, and marketing capabilities), relationship between the four capabilities and performance, and the moderating role of M–S strategic type. An empirical test involves multiple data collections from 216 firms. The study results suggest that there are significant relationships between capabilities and performance if one does not account for the moderating role of strategic type. When strategic type is used as a moderating variable, we find that only certain capabilities had significant effects on profitability. For example, technology and information technology capabilities increase financial performance for prospector organizations, while a different set of capabilities (market-linking and marketing) are positively related to financial performance for defender organizations. We discuss how our findings are consistent with the expectations of the Resource-Based View of the firm. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and managerial implications.

Achieving relationship marketing effectiveness in business-to-business exchanges

Relationship marketing research and practice operate according to the paradigm that firms should invest in relationship marketing to build better relationships, which will generate improved financial performance. However, findings that relationship marketing efforts vary in their effectiveness across customers and may even be detrimental to performance challenge this belief. This article, therefore, offers a theoretical model that addresses three key issues: 1) what factors determine a customer’s need for relational governance (relationship orientation); 2) what mediating mechanism captures the negative effects of relationship marketing on performance (exchange inefficiency); and 3) how does a customer’s relationship orientation determine the effectiveness of relationship marketing, thus allowing for effective segmentation. The authors demonstrate in an empirical study that the trust in the salesperson and exchange inefficiency both mediate the effect of relationship marketing on seller financial outcomes. In addition, customers’ relationship orientation moderates the impact of relationship marketing on both trust and exchange inefficiency.     

Globalization, marketing resources, and performance: Evidence from China

Two important areas are underexplored in the relationship between marketing resources and performance. First, the subject has been primarily investigated in the context of Western countries, and inadequate attention has been given to emerging economies. Second, despite the recent growth in globalization, the moderating role of globalization on the link between marketing resources and performance has not been investigated. Addressing these important gaps, this article focuses on an emerging economy (China) and explores the moderating effect of globalization on this link. Specifically, the authors develop several hypotheses highlighting the moderating role of globalization activities (global product sourcing, global market seeking, and global partnership) on the link between marketing resources (market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and innovative capability) and firm performance. The findings of the moderating role of globalization provide several important implications for marketing theory development and managerial practice. Xueming Luo (luoxm@uta.edu) is an assistant professor in the Department of Marketing in the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas at Arlington. Before joining the University of Texas at Arlington faculty, he was on the faculty of the State University of New York at Fredonia. His research has appeared in various journals, including theJournal of Business Research, the International Journal of Research in Marketing, the Journal of Advertising Research, the Journal of Interactive Advertising, and Industrial Marketing Management. K. Sivakumar (Ph.D., Syracuse University; k.sivakumar@lehigh. edu) is the Arthur Tauck Professor of International Marketing & Logistics and a professor of marketing at Lehigh University. Prior to joining Lehigh in 2001, he spent 9 years at the University of Illinois in Chicago. His research interests include pricing, global marketing, and innovation management. His research has been published or is forthcoming in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of International Business Studies, Decision Sciences Journal, Marketing Letters, the Journal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Pricing Strategy & Practice: An International Journal, Psychology & Marketing, and other publications. He has won several awards for his research (including theDonald Lehman Award) and is on the editorial board of several scholarly journals. He has won outstanding reviewer awards from two journals. Sandra S. Liu (liuss@purdue.edu) is an associate professor in the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing at Purdue University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of London, and her current research interest focuses on strategic marketing issues in the context of customer contact, including knowledge management in a corporation in transition and sales management in a knowledge economy. With her extensive industry experience, she has written a number of books and journal articles, which have appeared in theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, the Journal of Business Research, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, among others.     

创业导向是否有助于提升跨国并购绩效

厘清影响跨国并购绩效的关键因素,提高并购战略的有效性,不仅是“走出去”的企业最关心的问题,也是学界努力探索并希望解决的热点。本文从创业视角出发,回顾和总结了国内外相关理论,并以此为基础将企业创业导向与之所处的动态环境结合起来构建研究框架,提出了创业导向、环境动态性和跨国并购绩效的整合分析模型。通过实证分析,证明企业创业导向与跨国并购绩效之间存在正相关关系,同时动态环境对两者间的关系具有显著的调节效应。     

Integrating marketing and information services functions: a complementarity and competence perspective

Integrating two disparate functions in organizations—marketing and information services (IS)—has become a critical business concern due to the increasing use of information technology (IT) to find and open new markets, deliver improved services to customers, and streamline internal marketing processes. This study appears to be the first to empirically examine the dynamics of bringing these distinct groups of specialists together. We investigate potential antecedents, consequences, and contingencies of IS-marketing integration, drawing on theories of complementarity and competence. Through a survey of IS and marketing executives, we learn that integration is facilitated by trust between the two functions and the interaction between IT strategic intent and customer orientation; it is impeded by a gap in top management knowledge of IT versus marketing. We also find that integration fosters the much-coveted capabilities of developing and introducing innovations (innovativeness) as well as responding flexibly, swiftly, and adroitly to opportunities (strategic responsiveness). Additionally, we determine integration is bounded by market dynamism. In sum, integration between marketing and IS can be enhanced via managerial efforts, and the relationship is profoundly beneficial to businesses.     

知识型创业中的复合创业行为:企业家精神的视角

在创业行为的各个部分都达到高效率是非常困难的,因此很多知识型创业企业在很早就失败了。知识型创业者不仅需要对高技术环境中的创新活动非常敏感,也需要创新型管理组织的新活动、市场营销以及商业模式等。这需要创业者在早期的复合创业行为的企业家精神为主要资源来应付新创企业可能的衰退。本文回顾了知识型创业的企业家精神,构建了知识型创业中的复合创业行为的企业家精神的特征与概念框架,并提出了未来知识型创业活动可能的潜在的相关研究领域。     

Environmental marketing strategy and firm performance: Effects on new product performance and market share

Recent studies on marketing and the natural environment have called for research that links environmental marketing strategies to the performance of the firm. This research operationalizes the enviropreneurial marketing (EM) construct and examines its relationship with firm performance. It is the first empirical research to operationalize the EM construct. The new scale, albeit a first attempt, demonstrates encouraging psychometric properties. According to the resource-based view of the firm, a resource such as EM should directly influence firms’ capabilities (e.g., new product development success) but not competitive advantage (e.g., change in market share). A nationwide study of top-level marketing managers supports this perspective. In addition, although market turbulence also affects new product development success, it does not have an impact on EM. This suggests that EM formation is driven by internal rather than external forces. William E. Baker (william.baker@sdsu.edu) is an associate professor of marketing at San Diego State University. His research interests lie primarily in advertising effectiveness, new product success, organizational learning, and market orientation. He has published in leading scholarly journals including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Product and Innovation Management, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Advertising, Psychology & Marketing, and theJournal of Market Focused Management. He has also served as the head of research in a major communications firm and is actively involved in consulting. James M. Sinkula (james.sinkula@uvm.edu) is John L. Beckley Professor of Marketing in the School of Business Administration at the University of Vermont. His research interests lie primarily in the areas of organizational learning, market orientation, product innovation, environmental marketing strategy, and organizational performance. He has published in the leading scholarly journals, including theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Product and Innovation Management, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Advertising Research, theJournal of Market Focused Management, theJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing, theJournal of International Marketing, and others.