营销双元性、吸收能力与企业营销绩效

基于资源编排理论，高水平的营销开发与营销探索并不一定能够给企业带来更高的营销绩效。有鉴于此，本研究将营销双元性界定为营销开发与营销探索的平衡，同时在营销活动中进行开发与探索，并检验企业吸收能力对营销双元性的销售增长效应的调节作用。对广东省227家中小外向型民营企业进行问卷调查，并结合二手财务数据进行实证研究，结果表明：（1）营销双元性对企业销售增长的影响呈向上的凹形曲线；（2）高水平营销开发的企业中，营销双元性对销售增长的二次效应更强，即营销双元性对销售增长具有积极影响；（3）营销开发与营销探索通过营销双元性间接对企业销售增长产生影响。     

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.     

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.     

Firm capabilities and growth: the moderating role of market conditions

Using a contingency theory lens, this study explores the impact of multiple firm-level capabilities and their interactions on firm growth under different market conditions, using panel data from 612 U.S. public firms across 16 years in 60 industries. Specifically, this study empirically examines how three key firm capabilities (marketing, R&D, operations) interact to impact firms’ revenue growth and profit growth over time, and how external boundary conditions (market munificence and competitive dynamism) influence the interactive growth effects of these capabilities. The results indicate that firms’ R&D (operations) capabilities positively (negatively) influence the effects of marketing capabilities on firm growth and that such effects vary across different market conditions. This study provides insights to researchers and managers regarding how to manage and deploy resources across multiple capabilities simultaneously under different market conditions to drive firm growth.     

Selecting research firms from which to get proposals

Many marketing research firms are incompetent or transient. It is difficult for the inexperienced buyer of marketing research to know how to make a choice. One factor that should be considered is the nature of the problem; understanding your own needs helps to spell out some of the characteristics to look for in a research firm. Locating names of research firms can be done from reviewing available lists, and from informed sources. Evaluation of the firms is difficult. The potential buyer should attempt to estimate the competency of the firm (in questionnaire development, statistical design, field work, coding and editing, and data processing). The buyer should also try to evaluate the research imagination of the firm, for creativity may add value to the study. Integrity is another important aspect, since this affects whether your marketing secrets are kept, and whether or not a good study is done. Practicality is a highly important standard; this is reflected in location, meeting of deadlines, flexibility, speed, personal relations, and pricing policies. Sources of information for obtaining the necessary information include material from the research firm being considered, a planned visit to the firm’s headquarters, customers of the research firm, and general reputation (among both users and nonusers of the firm).     

Are microcomputers replacing mainframes in marketing research firms?

Recent research, on the computerization of marketing has emphasized the advantages, adoption, and diffusion of microcomputers, largely as compared to mainframe computers. This note compares microcomputer and mainframe usage in marketing research over several activities and suggests that microcomputers have not replaced mainframes to the extent implied by previous articles. In a study of marketing research firms, high microcomputer ownership and increased usage is revealed, not only for word-processing types of activities, but also for data analysis. While a smaller proportion of research firms use mainframes, larger firms are continuing and predominantly increasing their use of mainframes. Further, relatively high rates of mainframe usage are reported for data analysis, data collection, and data base management by firms with access to both types of computers.     

“Greening” the marketing mix: do firms do it and does it pay off?

Growing concern about the sustainability of the natural environment is rapidly transforming the competitive landscape and forcing companies to explore the costs and benefits of “greening” their marketing mix. We develop and test a theoretical model that predicts (1) the role of green marketing programs in influencing firm performance, (2) the impact of slack resources and top management risk aversion on the deployment of such programs, and (3) the conditioning effects that underpin these relationships. Our analyses show that green marketing programs are being implemented by firms, and we find evidence of significant performance payoffs. Specifically the results indicate that green product and distribution programs positively affect firms’ product-market performance, while green pricing and promotion practices are directly positively related to firms’ return on assets. In addition, industry-level environmental reputation moderates the links between green marketing program components and firms’ product-market and financial performance. Finally, we find that slack resources and top management risk aversion are independently conducive to the adoption of green marketing programs—but operate as substitutes for each other.     

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.     

Effect of analysts’ earnings pressure on marketing spending and stock market performance

Despite the clearly visible effects of analysts’ pressures on C-level executives in the popular press, there is limited evidence on their effects on marketing spending decisions. This study asks two questions. First, how do analysts’ pressures affect firms’ short-term marketing spending decisions? Based on a sample of 2706 firms during 1987–2009 compiled from Institutional Brokers Earning System, COMPUSTAT, and CRSP databases we find that firms cut marketing spending. Second, more importantly, we ask if firms which remained more committed in the past to marketing spending under analysts’ pressures have higher longer-term stock market performance. We find that the stock market performance of firms more committed to marketing spending under past periods of analysts’ pressures is higher. The findings are replicated for R&D spending and are robust across measures, controls, and methodologies. Consideration of two industry-based moderators, R&D spending and revenue growth, and one firm-based moderator, whether the firm is among the industry’s top four market share or other lower share firms, reveals that the findings are stronger for high R&D and growth industries and lower market share firms. One key implication is that top executives respond to analysts’ pressures by cutting marketing spending in the short term; however, if they can resist these pressures, longer-term stock market performance is higher.     

Who should be in power to encourage product program innovativeness,R&D or marketing?

The degree to which the research and development (R&D) department is regarded as more important for product innovativeness than is marketing, with greater potential to influence innovation decisions, appears ambiguous. This study examines how R&D’s level of power, relative to marketing’s, affects product program newness and meaningfulness, and thus market and financial performance. Relying on the motive of enhancement, this study reveals two underlying mechanisms to explain considerations of R&D and marketing depending on R&D’s power. A multi-informant sample of top executives and subordinates from 229 firms indicates distinct effects of R&D’s relative power on product program newness and meaningfulness. Specifically, R&D power exhibits a positive linear relationship with product program newness but a nonlinear effect with meaningfulness. To expand market and financial performance, firms should seek to generate meaningful product innovations through a moderate level of relative R&D power, particularly when their environments are characterized by high competitive intensity.     

The effect of cause-related marketing on firm value: a look at Fortune’s most admired all-stars

Companies are increasing their use of cause-related marketing as a means of communicating their commitment to corporate social responsibility while accomplishing their strategic goals. Although prior studies suggest that consumers react positively to cause-related marketing programs, understanding of their impact on financial performance remains limited. To address this gap, the authors employ an event study to examine the effects of cause-related marketing announcements on shareholder value using a sample of firms that appeared on Fortune’s Most Admired All-Star list between 2005 and 2017. Study results show that announcement of these initiatives results in a significant loss of shareholder value. These losses are most pronounced for firms making monetary-only contributions, in comparison to those that make in-kind donations. In addition, the negative effects are mitigated for firms that have stronger reputations, have greater resource slack, and operate in more dynamic industries. Moreover, low-reputation and low-slack firms benefit most from in-kind contributions.

     

The evolving role of managerial ties and firm capabilities in an emerging economy: evidence from China

As emerging economies experience unprecedented market and institutional changes, where should firms focus their attention to address new marketing challenges: network-based resources (e.g., managerial ties) or market-based capabilities? Building on institutional theory, this study examines the evolving roles of managerial ties and firm capabilities, as well as their interplay, in China. A longitudinal survey of 166 Chinese firms reveals that over time, the positive role of ties with the government (i.e., political ties) declines, whereas the positive effect of ties with the business partners (i.e., business ties) persists; marketing capability has a persistent effect, and technology capability exerts a stronger impact on performance. Moreover, as market development progresses, marketing capability positively interacts with business ties, whereas technology capability positively interacts with political ties, in fostering performance.     

New product launch strategy for network effects products

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the link between launch strategy decisions and new product performance. Much of that research focuses on investigating successful launch strategies for innovative, high-tech-nology products. With the rapid growth of information technology as one high-technology sector, in certain industries,network effects occur, which change the competitive game. The existing literature offers little decisionmaking guidance to managers on how to successfully introduce a product that exhibits network effects. The authors discuss the influence of network effects on the dynamics of market competition and on consumers' consumption behaviors. They argue that, because of these changes, the priority of particular performance objectives and the impact of specific launch strategies differ for products that exhibit network effects from what current wisdom and empirical results prescribe. These ideas are formalized in a conceptual framework and a series of research propositions. Yikuan Lee is an assistant professor in the International Business Department at San Francisco State University (SFSU). Before joining SFSU, she held a visiting position in the Marketing & Supply Chain Department at Michigan State University. Her research interests include commercialization of innovative products, network effects, new product development, and strategic marketing management in high-technology arenas. Much of her work focuses on how firms integrate marketing and technology competences. She received the Best Dissertation Award and the Best Paper Award at the 1999 Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) International Conference. She also won the 2000 Edl and Edith Darger Dissertation Prize in Management in recognition of outstanding academic achievement. She has published in theJournal of Product Innovation Management. Gina Colarelli O'Connor is an assistant professor in the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her fields of interest include new product development, radical innovation, and strategic marketing management in high-technology arenas. The majority of her research efforts forcus on how firms link advanced technology development to market opportunities. She has articles published in numerous academic journals, including theJournal of Product Innovation Management, Organization Science, California Management Review, Academy of Management Executive, theJournal of Strategic Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, Psychology and Marketing, among others, and is coauthor of the bookRadical Innovation, How Mature Firms Can Outsmart Upstarts (HBS Press, 2000).     

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.     

Directions for marketing knowledge development: Opinions of marketing research managers

If future academic research is to make a meaningful contribution to marketing practice, we must know more about the strengths and gaps in our existing marketing knowledge base. This article reports the findings of a survey of marketing research managers employed by firms serving both consumer and industrial markets. Data were collected on researchers' perceptions of (1) importance of decision making areas, (2) need for additional knowledge accumulation, and (3) type of additional knowledge development. Survey results suggest that some decision areas are perceived to be in far greater need of further study than others, and that academic research output does not always correspond to the information requirements of marketing practitioners. General Electric Company     

Developing global products and marketing strategies: A construct and a research agenda

The U.S. trade deficit brings to question the effectiveness of international marketing strategies of American firms. Multinational corporations must develop better international products and improve their performance in their international marketing efforts. They must know when to globalize or localize their marketing practices. This article incorporates learning, involvement, diffusion/adoption and culture context as dimensions of a global product and marketing strategy development decision model. The model developed is “be global, act local.” The interrelationship of consumer behavior models in the context of a multinational product development decision is emphasized. This article raises research issues which need to be addressed for future success in multinational and/or multicultural markets.     

Does advertising spending really work? The intermediate role of analysts in the impact of advertising on firm value

Both managers and investors are increasingly concerned with the impact of advertising spending on shareholder returns. This study investigates the analyst-based processes by which advertising may create firm value. Using a large longitudinal dataset with 1,052 firms over 20 years, we find that firms decreasing from the top 20% to the bottom 20% of advertising spending group when compared to all industry competitors would experience a drop of abnormal return by 4.08% in 1 year and a cumulative total of 81.6% in 20 years. Also, analyst activities partially mediate the impact of advertising on firm return and risk. These findings indicate that analysts may act to externally validate the business logic underlying the advertising expense. The more analysts factor in firm advertising spending and reflect it in their earnings forecasts, the more likely the benefits of advertising are channeled into firm value. The results bridge research interests across marketing, accounting, and finance disciplines and help managers understand how product and financial markets are united. Main Street could better align with Wall Street via corporate disclosure of advertising spending to equity analysts.     

The impact of customer satisfaction on CEO bonuses

In this study, we build on prior research in marketing and executive compensation to show that customer satisfaction is a significant determinant of CEO bonuses. Findings demonstrate that the success of CEOs in managing customer satisfaction has a direct, personal, and economic impact in the form of their annual bonus awards. Our study contributes to research on the use of customer satisfaction information, marketing accountability, and marketing’s board level relevance. Our research also extends marketing theory by pointing to a previously unexamined role for marketing performance metrics.     

Foreign market entry mode choice of service firms: A contingency perspective

Research on how service firms choose their initial mode of operation in foreign markets appears to have led to two contradictory conclusions. Findings from one group of studies suggest that factors determining entry mode choice by manufacturing firms are generalizable to service firms. Findings from another group of studies contradict that view. The authors reconcile the two views by means of a classification scheme that allows some services to be grouped with manufactured goods in terms of entry mode choice. A conceptual model of factors affecting the entry mode choice of service firms is proposed, research propositions are developed, and managerial implications and future research directions are discussed. Ikechi Ekeledo is a doctoral candidate in marketing at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research interests include international marketing, services marketing, and strategic market planning. K. Sivakumar (Ph.D., Syracuse University, 1992) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research interests include pricing, international marketing, and innovation management. His research has been published or is forthcoming inBarron’s, International Marketing Review, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Theory & Practice, theJournal of Product Innovation Management, theJournal of Social Behavior & Personality, Marketing Letters, Marketing Science Institute’s Working Paper Series, and Pricing Strategy & Practice: An International Journal, and summarized as Editors’ Briefings inHarvard Business Review. He has won several awards for research and is on the editorial boards of four scholarly journals.     

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.