Privacy versus accessibility: The impact of situationally conditioned belief

The information age we are living in and the technology that supports it, raises new ethical concerns. Among these concerns are privacy — the rights of individuals to withold information they consider sensitive, and accessibility — the rights of individuals to obtain information that is relevant to the decisions they must make. Arguments about potential impacts of information technology on privacy and accessibility mask and underlying conflict — that one person's beliefs about their right to relevant information is likely to conflict with another person's belief's about their right to withold information they consider sensitive. This paper proposes that the conflict is likely to be a function of the role the individuals plays in the decision making situation — situationally conditioned belief (SCB) — rather than a function of the person's underlying ethical values.This paper presents an empirical study involving information privacy and accessibility in routine business and market decisions, designed to reveal the presence of SCBs. The results indicate that SCBs cause a gap in beliefs about information accessibility and privacy. Impacts of the SCB gap are discussed. A negotiation technique called information exchange is suggested as a means of closing the SCB gap in routine business and market transactions. Dr. Laura Lally received her Ph.D. in Information Systems. Dr. Lally pursues research on the impacts of information technology on a nation's culture, on business profitability, and on the ethical choices faced by individuals. She has published articles in Decision Sciences, the Information Society, the Journal of Global Information Management and in the Journal of End User Computing. She is currently investigating the risk factors involved in process reengineering under a grant from the National Science Foundation.     

Japan's success: Luck or skill?

Can the success of Japanese automakers be attributed to skill or luck? How has American business answered that question—and how valid is the answer?     

Should retailers adjust their micro-marketing strategies to type of outlet? An application to location-based store space allocation in limited and full-service grocery stores

Many retailers today operate strategically different types of sites: ‘limited-service’ stores—that offer all core products/services but only a shallow assortment of non-core services—and ‘full-service’ sites with deep lines of both core and non-core services. An important question for these retailers is whether and how to adopt a micro-marketing strategy in each of these formats. In a micro-marketing strategy, retailers tailor their marketing mix to the characteristics of the local market in which each store outlet operates—a central issue being whether the allocation of store space across product categories should be location-specific. This paper (i) examines the conditions for such micro-marketing to be beneficial, and (ii) in particular—how these benefits depend on store format. It also (iii) indicates how the pattern of space adjustments to local conditions should differ between formats. The propositions are tested in a grocery retail setting, for a retail chain operating limited-service supermarkets and full-service hypermarkets. Our results suggest that micro-marketing is beneficial in both types of format. Yet, the appropriate way of localizing space allocation patterns is format-specific. While supermarkets should primarily adjust the space shares of food (core) categories, hypermarkets should primarily adapt the space shares of non-food (non-core) categories to local market conditions. The outcomes of the study have conceptual as well as managerial relevance and may prove useful for multi-format retailers in a wide range of settings.     

Some perspectives of managerial ethical leadership

If managerial leadership means deciding responsibly in a complex situation, the ethical dimension of leadership — besides its analytical and instrumental aspects — has to be clarified. I present and discuss several essential aspects of managerial ethical leadership: (a) some major presuppositions (the concepts of leadership and responsibility), (b) three normative-ethical tasks of the activity of leadership (perceiving, interpreting and creating reality — being responsible for the effect of one's decisions on the human beings concerned — being responsible for the implementation of corporate goals) and (c) some claims on the leader as a subject responsible for his or her own activities. I shall conclude by adding some reflections on the limits of managerial ethical leadership. Georges Enderle is a private tutor for business ethics at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Since 1983 he has been Director of the Institute for Business Ethics. He is the author of Sicherung des Existenzminimums im nationalen und internationallen Kontext — eine wirtschaftsethische Studie,and he has written various articles on business ethics.     

The network model of internationalisation and experiential knowledge

This study operationalised the network model of internationalisation [Johanson, J., & Mattsson, L.-G. (1988). Internationalization in industrial systems—a network approach. In N. Hood, & J.-E. Vahlne (Eds.), Strategies In Global Competition (pp. 303–321). New York: Croom Helm] to test the association between experiential knowledge, firm degree of internationalisation and market degree of internationalisation. Adaptations of Eriksson et al.’s three knowledge constructs [J. Int. Bus. Stud. 28 (2) (1997) 337] were employed in regression and ANOVA tests. The regression results indicate that internationalisation knowledge is re lated to firm internationalisation, foreign institutional knowledge is associated with both firm and market internationalisation, and foreign business knowledge is strongly related to internationalisation knowledge. The ANOVA results confirm that foreign institutional knowledge levels differ for the Early Starter, Late Starter, Lonely International and International among Others firms. Implications are drawn relating to the effect of different international strategies on the generation of internationalisation knowledge, the vicarious acquisition of foreign institutional knowledge, especially in relation to parent companies and government organisations, and the need to more effectively measure the outcomes of the ac cumulation of foreign business knowledge.     

Rights in the workplace: A Nozickian argument

There is a growing literature that attempts to define the substantive rights of employees in the workplace, a.k.a. the duties of employers toward their employees. Following Nozick, this article argues that — so long as there is a competitive labor market — to set up a class of moral rights in the workplace invades workers' rights to freely choose the terms and conditions of employment they judge best. Ian Maitland is associate professor of business, government and society at the University of Minnesota. He is author of The Causes of Industrial Disordoer (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983) and articles in the Journal of Politics, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Business Strategy, British Journal of Industrial Relations, California Management Review and elsewhere. In 1988 he ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress.     

The Transition from Product to Solution Selling: The Role and Organization of Employees Engaged in Current Business

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This research investigates how to manage and organize existing employees when launching a solution sales strategy, specifically addressing whether it is possible to migrate existing sales representatives active in product sales to solution sales, and whether it is possible to combine the roles.

Methodology/approach: A case-based approach was applied to a multinational firm, engaged in business-to-business sales that simultaneously launched a solution sales strategy in 17 countries. In-depth interviews with 29 managers and sales representatives were performed to inductively identify why some countries succeeded in the launch, while others did not.

Findings: Because of fundamental differences in approach between solution and product sales, those countries where the solutions and product businesses were separated performed better. The difference in required capabilities and mindset meant that migrating sales representatives from product to solution sales is problematic.

Research implications: This research offers evidence of differences in mindset and approach between different marketing and sales strategies, extending the conclusions to how these differences affect the possibility of migrating existing sales representatives when launching a new selling strategy. Whether to separate service and product sales has been debated. The present results indicate that separating the current product business from the new solution business facilitates the successful implementation of the new strategy. In the case company, the solutions represent a mixture of product and services, suggesting that the problem is not the difference between products and services, but rather different selling strategies and approaches that require different capabilities.

Practical implications: When launching a solution sales strategy, the solution business should be separated from the current product business at both the organizational and personnel levels. Solution sales necessitates a particular approach and capabilities, making it unadvisable to transfer sales representatives and managers to the new solution business based solely on previous product sales success. Instead, a new skill profile must be developed taking account of the requirements of a demand-driven solution strategy.

Originality/value/contribution: Consensus is lacking as to whether to separate product and service businesses. This article extends the debate to the field of solution

sales, demonstrating that separation is needed to succeed in launching a solution sales strategy. Furthermore, this research extends our knowledge of the difference in approaches between different selling strategies, covering the possibility of successfully migrating existing sales representatives to a different selling strategy.     

A Scientometric Analysis of Publications in the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing 1993–2014

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To conduct a scientometric analysis of the contents of the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing from 1993 to 2014.

Methodology/approach: The authors use the Leximancer computer-aided text analysis program, which reliably and reproducibly identifies the main concepts embedded in the text—their frequency and patterns of co-occurrence—based on the ways words move together in the text. They also identify key concepts that differentiate among the networks of concepts occurring in each of the first four five-year periods of the Journal’s history.

Findings: There are four common underlying conceptual themes: relationships, market, study, and business. But the focal mix of concepts has changed over time, from a narrower initial focus on distribution and power and conflict, to a greater focus on firm business marketing strategy and pedagogy, to a focus on networks, the Internet and more collaborative relations, to a focus, in the most recent period, on psycho-social network concepts, such as trust and commitment.

Research implications: The results complement and provide a baseline for evaluating and comparing researcher-conducted literature reviews of business marketing and JBBM’s contributions. The methodology provides possibilities for further analysis as it can be extended to analyze the business marketing and wider marketing literature more generally and how it has evolved.

Practical implications: Leximancer provides a comprehensive, accessible summary of the content of the JBBM and demonstrates its value as a text analysis program.

Originality/value/contribution: The authors are among the first to use this novel computer text analysis program to conduct a scientometric analyses of journal content. It provides a template for conducting studies of other journals and text.     

Business ethics: Some observations on the relationship between training,affiliation, and disciplinary drift

This paper undertakes an inquiry into the relationship between the disciplinary training of business ethicists, their institutional affiliations, those whose work they cite, those with whom they collaborate, and — to some degree — the kind of work they do. It is intended as a response to both the historic injunction that we examine ourselves and to what is seen as the considerable disarray of the field.Barry Castro has been at Grand Valley since 1973. His previous work has appeared in theAmerican Economic Review, theBusiness Ethics Quarterly, Change, theGrand Valley Review, theHarvard Educational Review, theJournal of Business Ethics, theJournal of Political Economy, Soundings and other journals. His book,Business and Society: A Reader in The History, Sociology and Ethics of Business (Oxford) is forthcoming.     

The role of seeding in multi-market entry

Firms introducing new products into multi-markets often face the dilemma of how to dynamically allocate their marketing resources during penetration. The aim of this study is to examine which responsive allocation strategy is more effective for these firms. We explore three major resource allocation strategies: uniform strategy, in which the firm distributes the marketing efforts evenly among its regions regardless of market development; support-the-strong strategy, under which the firm invests its efforts proportional to the number of adopters in that region (at least up to a certain market coverage); and support-the-weak strategy, in which the firm invests its efforts proportional to the remaining market potential.Using both formal analysis and complex systems simulations, we find that strategies that disperse marketing efforts, such as support-the-weak and uniform strategies, are generally superior to support-the-strong strategy. Not only is this finding surprisingly robust to market conditions and variations on these strategies, but it also runs counter to conventional wisdom prevailing in international marketing. The conditions under which support-the-strong policy might become more effective include: (a) fixed entry or operation costs above a certain level; and (b) substantial variance between regions in responsiveness to marketing efforts. However, variance in intrinsic innovativeness between regions does not imply the superiority of support-the-strong strategy.     

Entrepreneurial proclivity: its environmental conditions and growth consequences

To contribute to the entrepreneurial marketing (EM) literature, this study investigates how business unit growth relates to environmental risks and rewards (i.e., environmental dynamism and market growth rate) and three facets of entrepreneurial proclivity (i.e., innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness). The authors find that perceived environmental dynamism has a direct and positive influence on strategic business units' innovativeness and proactiveness. Moreover, this study explores the interplay between the risk and reward facets of the market environment and reveals that firms are most likely to adopt EM strategies in a high-growth, highly dynamic business environment. The results also show that whereas the industry growth rate promotes a firm's market expansion, but not market sustention, the firm's innovativeness and proactiveness positively influence both market expansion and sustention.     

A framework for organizational success

The contention of this paper is that the marketing concept is but one aspect of a philosophy of business referred to by the authors as the framework for organizational success. This framework maintains that the marketing concept must work together with good management approaches and with ethical business practices in order to satisfy the needs and wants of the various publics of the organization — customers, employees, suppliers, society — and, in the long run, ensure the satisfaction of the needs of the organization itself. The authors propose that focusing on one concept, and ignoring the other two aspects, is not likely to promote organizational success. Hershey H. Friedman is Professor of Marketing at Brooklyn College. He has published in the Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, Akron Business and Economic Review, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Simulation, Journal of the Market Research Society, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and the Journal of Business Ethics. Linda Weiser Friedman is Associate Professor of Statistics and Computer Information Systems at Baruch College. She has published in Computers and Operations Research, Behavioral Science, Omega, Simulation, Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, Journal of Advertising Research, Interface, and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Sciences.     

Adam Smith and the ethics of contemporary capitalism

This paper presents a theoretical elaboration of the ethical framework of classical capitalism as formulated by Adam Smith in reaction to the dominant mercantilism of his day. It is seen that Smith's project was profoundly ethical and designed to emancipate the consumer from a producer and state dominated economy. Over time, however, the various dysfunctions of a capitalist economy — e.g., concentration of wealth, market power — became manifest and the utilitarian ethical basis of the system eroded. Contemporary capitalism, dominated as it is by large corporations, entrenched political interests and persistent social pathologies, bears little resemblance to the system which Smith envisioned would serve the common man. Most critiques of capitalism are launched from a Marxian-based perspective. We find, however, that by illustrating the wide gap between the reality of contemporary capitalism and the model of amoral political economy developed by Smith, the father of capitalism proves to be the most trenchant critic of the current order.G. R. Bassiry is currently professor of Management and international business at California State University, San Bernardino, California. Formerly he served as Vice President and Acting President of Farabi University. His most recent articles on business ethics include Ethics, Education, and Corporate Leadership,Journal of Business Ethics and Business Ethics and the United Nations: A Code of Conduct,Sam Advanced Management Journal. He has also published numerous journal articles on international business, corporate strategy and corporate leadership, and is the author ofPower vs. Profit by Arno Press of New York Times.Marc Jones is a management lecturer at the University of Otago, New Zealand. His research interests include multinational corporations and economic development. He has worked as a financial analyst for Electronic Data Systems Corporation and as a management consultant for Peat Marwick Main & Company.     

Country Effects on CRM Success

Abstract

Customer relationship management (CRM) adoption is growing at a dramatic pace in firms and is significantly impacting customer and business market behaviors. As a result, most firms have started developing and implementing CRM strategies. However, country effects on CRM strategy outcomes in international environments have not been discussed and are the focus of this paper. In this paper, we examine the impacts of marketing infrastructure and marketing institutions on the development of CRM strategies and success in the implementation of such strategies. Our framework has utility in understanding the impacts of country-specific factors in the outcomes of CRM Strategy.     

Market Orientation in the Transition Economies of Central Europe:: Tests of the Narver and Slater Market Orientation Scales

The Narver and Slater (Narver, J.C., and Slater, S.F.: The Effect of Marketing Orientation on Business Profitability. Journal of Marketing 54 (1990): 20–35.) market orientation scale is tested in the context of the transition economies of central Europe and found to be both valid and reliable. Relationships between market orientation and both marketing strategy and performance broadly follow predictions from the Western literature indicating that the adoption of a market orientation is equally applicable in transition as in Western economies. A number of different approaches, however, are evident in the transition economies suggesting that other business orientations may coexist with a market orientation creating a richer and more complex set or organizational drivers.     

The Development of Organizational Capabilities and Corporate Entrepreneurial Processes: The Case of Chinese Automobile Firms

Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) has contributed to the rapid growth of emerging‐market firms (EMFs), yet little is known about this phenomenon from a process perspective. This article examines how EMFs develop organizational capabilities in pursuit of CE as a strategy to catch up with their global competitors. By adopting a case study method, our in‐depth analysis of two leading Chinese automobile companies identifies specific organizational capabilities that enable firms’ CE activities at different stages—initiation, development, and implementation. Our findings also reveal how different means of developing organizational capabilities lead to different catch‐up strategies, which subsequently influence firms’ entrepreneurial transformation and value creation. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Developmental constraints on ethical behavior in business

Ethical behavior — the conscious attempt to act in accordance with an individually-owned morality — is the product of an advanced stage of the maturing process. Three models of ethical growth derived from research in human development are applied to issues of business ethics.Claudia Harris is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Scranton. She was formerly a financial analyst in the chemical industry.William Brown is a Professor of English at the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science. The genesis of this paper was the authors' experience in using fiction to teach business management, and they have published papers on this topic in Organizational Behavior Teaching Review.     

Macro-level change and micro level effects: A twenty-year perspective on changing grocery shopping behaviour in Britain

In this paper we summarise key elements of retail change in Britain over a twenty-year period. The time period is that covered by a funded study into long-term change in grocery shopping habits in Portsmouth, England. The major empirical findings—to which we briefly allude—are reported elsewhere: the present task is to assess the wider context underlying that change. For example, it has frequently been stated that retailing in the UK is not as competitive as in other leading economies. As a result, the issue of consumer choice has become increasingly important politically. Concerns over concentration in the industry, new format development and market definition have been expressed by local planners, competition regulators and consumer groups. Macro level changes over time have also created market inequality in consumer opportunities at a local level—hence our decision to attempt a local-level study. Situational factors affecting consumer experiences over time at the local level involve the changing store choice sets available to particular consumers. Using actual consumer experiences thus becomes a yardstick for assessing the practical effectiveness of policy making. The paper demonstrates that choice at local level is driven by store use and that different levels of provision reflect real choice at the local level. Macro-level policy and ‘one size fits all’ approaches to regulation, it is argued, do not reflect the changing reality of grocery shopping. Accordingly, arguments for a more local and regional approach to regulation are made.     

An Exploration of Opportunities for the Growth of the Fair Trade Market: Three Cases of Craft Organisations

Businesses that maintain ethical standards have an advantage in the marketplace based on the increasing interest of consumers in products that have a social and ethical component. Fair trade organisations that adopt environmental, social and ethical principles in trading are in a good position to make the most of this growing interest in the market. However, it is unclear whether fair trade organisations are taking full advantage of emerging market opportunities for ethically traded products. This research explores this issue by describing the business strategies of three fair trade organisations that import and sell craft goods into Western countries and evaluates them in the context of this growing market. The research findings indicate that in order to remain in business, fair trade craft organisations have had to adopt better business practices in recent years, improving quality, customer service and product offerings to customers. However, growth appears to be limited, as distribution remains focused on a small, niche market. This paper explores the distribution strategies of two fair trade commodity organisations that are successfully reaching a wider customer base, demonstrating that fair trade products have a unique selling advantage in the mainstream marketplace. In conclusion, fair trade craft organisations are not exploiting this market opportunity to the degree they should and will need to explore wider distribution and alternative business strategies to expand their market share.Debora Randall completed her Masters of Management at Massey University, in Auckland, New Zealand. She is currently using her interests in business and community development to work towards practical economic solutions to poverty. She is living in Vancouver, Canada where she is working on a number of community economic development initiatives.     

Customer relationship management in retailing: A content analysis of retail trade journals

The purpose of this research was to increase knowledge and understanding of how retailers use business intelligence and data mining tools to implement customer relationship management (CRM) in retailing. Specific objectives were to (1) identify organization and infrastructure requirements for CRM effectiveness, (2) identify CRM objectives and goals of retail companies, (3) identify data mining tools utilized by retailers to perform CRM functions, and (4) identify CRM strategies used by retail companies. A keyword search within business databases using CRM and CRM identified publications with CRM content. Content analysis was used on articles (N=149) drawn from Stores, Chain Store Age, Harvard Business Review, and Retail Forward over a 5 year period (2000–2005). Selected articles were stored as text files in QDA Miner, a computerized qualitative analysis tool. Key organization/infrastructure needs emerged focusing on data structure, organizational systems, technology structure, and data accessibility. Retailers goals/objectives and strategies focused on marketing, customer service, understanding customers through data analysis and increasing acquisition and retention through customer loyalty programs. Data mining tools identified supported marketing and customer analysis efforts. Findings provide insight into the challenges retailers face as they implement a more customer-centric business strategy.