Alliance orientation: Conceptualization, measurement, and impact on market performance

Interfirm collaborations have inspired a rich literature in marketing and strategy during the past two decades. Building on this extant work, the authors developed a new construct, alliance orientation, and explored its influence on firms’ alliance network performance and market performance. The authors drew on data collected from 182 U.S. firms with extensive experience informing, developing, and managing strategic alliances in marketing, new product development, distribution, technology, and manufacturing projects. Using structural equations modeling, the authors demonstrate that alliance orientation significantly affects alliance network performance, which in turn enhances market performance. The findings also suggest that market turbulence exerts a significant moderating influence on the relationship between alliance orientation and alliance network performance, whereas the moderating role of technological turbulence on that relationship does not appear to be significant. The study provides evidence that firms’ alliance orientations positively affect their performance in strengthening their alliance network relationships and in managing conflicts with their alliance partners. Destan Kandemir (kandemir@msn.edu) is a research associate in Center for International Business Education and Research at Michigan State University. She earned her PhD in marketing and international business from Michigan State University. Her articles have appeared in theJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of International Marketing, and theJournal of Management. Her research interests include firm resources and capabilities, market-oriented knowledge management, and global alliance management. Attila Yaprak (attila.yaprak@wayne.edu) is a professor of marketing and international business at Wayne State University. He received his PhD from Georgia State University. His research interests include cross-national consumer behavior, global marketing strategy, and international alliances. His research has appeared in theJournal of International Business Studies, theJournal of International Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, andPolitical Psychology, among others. S. Tamer Cavusgil (cavusgil@msu.edu) is University Distinguished Faculty and the John W. Byington Endowed Chair in Global Marketing in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State University.     

An analysis of e-business adoption and its impact on business performance

Across industries, firms have adopted e-business initiatives to better manage their internal business processes as well as their interfaces with the environment. In this study, a unified framework that captures the antecedents of e-business adoption, adoption intensity, and performance outcomes is proposed and empirically tested using data collected from senior managers in four technology-intensive industries. Applying a framework that captures the intensity of e-business adoption across four business process domains, the authors find that the antecedents and performance outcomes of e-business adoption are best studied in a process-specific context. They find, for example, that while the communication and internal administration aspects of e-business positively affect performance outcomes, the more high-profile activities related to online order taking and e-procurement do not. The authors' findings provide the foundation for a more rigorous study of e-business. Fang Wu (fangwu@msu.edu) (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is an assistant professor of marketing at the Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University. Her current research interests include e-business adoption strategy, knowledge transfer in new product alliances, interfirm learning dynamics, and marketing knowledge management. Vijay Mahajan (vijay.mahajan@bus.utexas.edu) (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is the John P. Harbin Centennial Chair in Business and a professor of marketing at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, and dean of the Indian School of Business at Hyderabad, India. He has written extensively on product diffusion, marketing strategy, and marketing research methodologies. He has written and/or edited eight books. His research appears in journals such as theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Management Science, andHarvard Business Review. He has received the Best Research Paper Award from theJournal of Retailing (1982, 1985), theJournal of Marketing (Maynard Award, 1990), and theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing (Prentice Hall Award, 1995). He also received the American Marketing Association (AMA) Charles Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award (1997) and the AMA Marketing Research Special Interest Group Gilbert Churchill Award in 1999, recognizing lifetime achievement in marketing research. Sridhar Balasubramanian (balasubs@bschool.unc.edu) (Ph.D., Yale University) is an assistant professor of marketing at Kenan-Flagler, the University of North Carolina Business School. His research interests cover multiple areas including marketing strategy, channel portfolio management, e-commerce and m-commerce, direct marketing and customer relationship management, game theory and the management of competition, digitization, and strategic compensation. His research has been published or is forthcoming in journals such asMarketing Science, Management Science, Statistica Neerlandica, theInternational Journal of Electronic Commerce, Decision Support Systems, and theJournal of Retailing. He received the John D. C. Little Award for 1998 from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Science (INFORMS) for the best marketing paper inMarketing Science andManagement Science. He has worked as a marketing strategy adviser to start-up companies and served as guest coeditor of the Centennial Issue of theJournal of Retailing.     

Creating market anticipation: An exploratory examination of the effect of preannouncement behavior on a new product’s launch

Preannouncements are strategic marketing communications directed at market participants including investors, suppliers, distributors, and buyers. Most empirical literature focuses on antecedents influencing a firm’s preannouncement behavior and on outcomes related to deleterious responses by competitors. This study differs and follows the large body of extant research that examines preannouncing behavior as a deliberate marketing communication process aimed at influencing market participants in the firm’s favor. The authors develop and test a model of preannouncement behavior that affects the success of a new product launch through market anticipation, competitive equity, and new product development resources. The findings indicate that preannouncement behavior engenders new product success through its positive effect on market anticipation—a favorable industry-wide bias in advance of new product introduction—and emphasizes the use of preannouncements as business-to-business marketing communications aimed at influencing current and prospective supply chain partners in the firm’s favor. Kim Schatzel (schatzel@umd.umich.edu) (PhD, Michigan State University) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan, Dearborn. Her business experience includes more than 20 years of corporate and new venture work including tenure as the founder and CEO of a multinational $250 million automotive components firm and three start-up technology-based companies. She is interested in the study of new product development, business-to-business marketing communications, and firm reputation issues. She has published articles in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, and theJournal of Product Innovation Management. She is also highly committed to teaching excellence and has won several awards for undergraduate, graduate, and executive teaching. Roger Calantone (rogercal@msu.edu) holds the Eli Broad University Chair in Business at Michigan State University and is also the director of the Broad Information Technology Management Program (ITMP). He is interested in the study of new product innovation and technology decisions in industrial firms. Currently, his research is focused on new product decisions, industrial market segmentation, global logistics, and the use of neural network and autonomous learning models to valuate product components. He is the author of more than 200 refereed academic articles and proceedings and is coauthor of several books. His publications have appeared in journals such as theJournal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, Decision Sciences, and theStrategic Management Journal.     

Brand portfolio, corporate image, and reputation: Managing brand deletions

Brand portfolio management addresses, among other issues, the interrelated questions of what brands to add, retain, or delete. A small number of brands in a firm’s brand portfolio can often have a disproportionately large positive or negative impact on its image and reputation and the responses of stakeholders. Brand deletions can be critical from the standpoint of a firm being able to free up resources to redeploy toward enhancing the competitive standing and financial performance of brands in its portfolio with the greatest potential to positively affect its image and reputation. Against this backdrop, the authors focus on the organizational and environmental drivers of brand deletion propensity, the predisposition of a firm to delete a particular brand from its brand portfolio. The authors propose a conceptual model delineating the drivers of brand deletion propensity and suggest directions for future research, including the related concept of brand deletion intensity. Rajan Varadarajan (varadarajan@tamu.edu) is Distinguished Professor of Marketing and holder of the Ford Chair in Marketing and E-Commerce in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. His primary teaching and research interest is in the area of strategy. His research on strategy has been published in theJournal of Marketing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theAcademy of Management Journal, theStrategic Management Journal, and other journals. Rajan served as editor of theJournal of Marketing from 1993 to 1996 and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science from 2000 to 2003. He currently serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of International Marketing, theJournal of Interactive Marketing and other journals. He is a recipient of a number of honors and awards, including the Academy of Marketing Science Distinguished Marketing Educator Award (2003), the American Marketing Association Mahajan Award for Career Contributions to Marketing Strategy (2003), and the Texas A&M University Distinguished Achievement Award in Research (1994). Mark P. DeFanti (mdefanti@tamu.edu) is a doctoral student in marketing at Texas A&M University. He received his M.B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin and his B.A. from Amherst College. His current research interests include brand portfolio management, corporate name changes, and business-to-business branding. His teaching interests include advertising, brand management, and marketing strategy. Paul S. Busch (p-busch@tamu.edu) is a professor of marketing in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. He received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Decision Sciences, theJournal of Business Research, andBusiness Horizons. He serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Business-to-Business Marketing, theAsian Journal of Marketing, andMarketing Management. His research interests include buyer-seller relationships, business-to-business branding, and brand portfolio management. His teaching interests include promotional strategy and new product development.     

Service quality, trust, specific asset investment, and expertise: Direct and indirect effects in a satisfaction-loyalty framework

This study proposes an integrated framework explaining loyalty responses in high-involvement, high-service luxury product markets. The model is rooted in the traditional (attribute satisfaction)-(overall satisfaction)-(loyalty) chain but explicitly incorporates facility versus interactive service quality, trust, specific asset investment (SAI), and product-market expertise. The authors focus on disentangling the direct versus indirect effects of model constructs on attitudinal versus behavioral loyalty responses. The results support the traditional chain but also show loyalty can be increased by building a trustworthy image and creating exchange-specific assets. The authors found that overall satisfaction is the precursor both to loyalty and to building SAI. Finally, consumers have different costs in reducing adverse selection problems with information, and thus the negative effect of product-market expertise on behavioral loyalty needs to be controlled if the direct versus indirect effects of model constructs on loyalty are to be disentangled. Jyh-Shen Chiou (jschiou@nccu.edu.tw) (PhD in marketing, Michigan State University) is a professor of marketing in the Department of International Business at National Chengchi University, Taipei. His research interests include satisfaction and loyalty, strategic marketing, and international marketing. His work has been published in theJournal of Service Research, Psychology & Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, theJournal of Interactive Marketing, Information & Management, theJournal of Social Psychology, theJournal of Business Logistics, Advances in Consumer Research, and other scholarly journals. He has taught courses in marketing research, strategic marketing, and global marketing. Cornelia Droge (droge@msu.edu) is a professor of marketing in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, at Michigan State University. Her research interests focus on satisfaction/ loyalty and strategic marketing (especially areas related to the interface of marketing with logistics, supply chain, and operations). Her work has appeared inManagement Science, theStrategic Management Journal, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Business Logistics, theJournal of Operations Management, theJournal of Product Innovation Management, and other scholarly journals. She is also coauthor of three books.     

Escalation of commitment during new product development

Although periodic review is a prominent feature of new product development (NPD) processes, important questions about how managers make critical continuation/termination decisions in risky NPD projects remain unanswered. The authors test whether factors unrelated to a new product's forecasted performance cause managers to continue NPD projects into subsequent stages of development at rapidly accelerating costs. The results show that managers who initiate a project are less likely to perceive it is failing, are more committed to it, and are more likely to continue funding it than managers who assume leadership after a project is started. There is also the tendency toward increased commitment for more innovative products compared with less innovative ones. The results suggest that simply giving managers better information will not necessarily lead to better decisions. Finally, the results show that escalation of commitment is a more serious problem during NPD than after the product is commercialized. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it. W. C. Fields Jeffrey B. Schmidt is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. His primary research interests are new product development and product strategy, particularly managerial decision making during product development. Some of his other work appears inDecision Sciences, theJournal of International Marketing, theJournal of Product Innovation Management, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Marketing Science, and others, as well as various conference proceedings. This article is based on his dissertation. Roger J. Calantone is the Eli Broad Chaired University Professor of Marketing and Product Innovation, Eli Broad Graduate School of Business, Michigan State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and has published numerous articles in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Decision Sciences, theJournal of Applied Psychology, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Management Science, andMarketing Science. His current interests are new product development and normative market segmentation.     

Interactivity in the electronic marketplace: An exposition of the concept and implications for research

It is widely recognized that a better understanding of interactivity and its implications is essential for facilitating research focused on the emerging electronic marketplace. However, deficiencies persist in our understanding of this important concept. Building on research in various fields of study (e.g., information systems, marketing, and computer-mediated communication), this article presents a conceptualization of interactivity from a marketplace perspective that is missing or inadequately articulated in the literature. Specifically, interactivity is conceptualized as a characteristic of computer-mediated communication in the marketplace that increases with the bidirectionality, timeliness, mutual controllability, and responsiveness of communication as perceived by consumers and firms. The article concludes with a research agenda focusing on issues relating to measurement, conceptual refinement, and management of interactivity in the electronic marketplace. Manjit S. Yadav (yadav@tamu.edu) is an associate professor of marketing and Mays Research Fellow, Department of Marketing, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University. He obtained his Ph.D. in marketing from Virginia Tech. His current research focuses primarily on strategic issues related to the Internet and the electronic marketplace. He has published in a number of journals including theJournal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, andSloan Management Review. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science and theJournal of Interactive Marketing. He is a recipient of the Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching (Mays Business School, Texas A&M University). He cochaired the American Marketing Association’s Faculty Consortium on Electronic Commerce held at Texas A&M University. Rajan Varadarajan (varadarajan@tamu.edu) is a distinguished professor of marketing and holder of the Ford Chair in Marketing and E-Commerce in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. His primary teaching and research interest is in the area of strategy. His research on strategy has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theAcademy of Management Journal, theStrategic Management Journal, and other journals. He served as editor of theJournal of Marketing from 1993 to 1996 and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science from 2000 to 2003. He currently serves on the Editorial Review Boards of theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of International Marketing, theJournal of Interactive Marketing, and other journals. He is a recipient of a number of honors and awards including the Academy of Marketing Science Distinguished Marketing Educator Award (2003), the American Marketing Association Mahajan Award for Career Contributions to Marketing Strategy (2003), and the Texas A&M University Distinguished Achievement Award in Research (1994).     

Determinants of online channel use and overall satisfaction with a relational,multichannel service provider

This study examines what drives customers' use of an online channel in a relational, multichannel environment. The authors propose a conceptual model of the determinants of online channel use and overall satisfaction with the service provider. They then conduct two large-scale studies in different service contexts to test the model. The results show that Web site design characteristics affect customer evaluations of online channel service quality and risk, which in turn drive online channel use. Customers' overall satisfaction with the service provider is determined by the service quality provided through both the online channel and the traditional channel. The results offer insights into the trade-offs that multichannel service providers face as they attempt to influence online channel use while maintaining or enhancing overall customer satisfaction. Mitzi M. Montoya-Weiss (m_mw@ncsu.edu) (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is a professor of marketing in the Department of Business Management at North Carolina State University. Her research interests include new product development and adoption, virtual teams, and knowledge management. Her research has appeared inMarketing Science, Management Science, Decision Sciences, theAcademy of Management Journal, theJournal of Product Innovation Management, and other scholarly journals. She has taught courses in marketing management, product and brand management, and management of technology. Glenn B. Voss (gvoss@ncsu.edu) (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is an associate professor of marketing in the Department of Business Management at North Carolina State University. His research interests include relationship and services marketing, creativity and entrepreneurship, and retail pricing strategies. His research has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, Organization Science, theJournal of Retailing, Marketing Letters, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and other scholarly journal. He currently serves on the editorial review board of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science and has served as an ad hoc reviewer for theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Retailing, and theJournal of Business Research. He has taught courses in marketing strategy, electronic marketing, and nonprofit management in MBA programs in the United States and Europe. Dhruv Grewal (dgrewal@babson.edu) (Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute) is the Toyota Chair in E-Commerce and Electronic Business in Babson College. His research and teaching interests focus on e-business, global marketing, value-based marketing strategies, and understanding the voice of the customer (market research). He is also co-editor of theJournal of Retailing. He has published more than 50 articles in outlets such as theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Marketing Research, and theJournal of Retailing. He currently serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, and theJournal of Product and Brand Management.     

Market valuation models of the effect of advertising and promotional spending: A review and meta-analysis

A narrative review is presented, within the organizing framework of a meta-analysis, of econometric models reported in the business literature that estimate the effect of advertising and promotional spending on the market value of the firm. Results from published market valuation models are aggregated, and various model specifications are appraised. In brief the meta-analysis finds support for a positive relationship between levels of advertising and promotional spending and the market value of the firm. That is, marketing activities (represented here by observed advertising and promotions spending) are generally expected to deliver future cashflows and produce increases in shareholder wealth. The review seeks to enhance understanding among the community of marketing scholars of the properties of market valuation models published in the literature and serves as a springboard for ongoing investigation of a crucial question for marketing theory and practice. Margy P. Conchar (concharm@mail.ecu.edu) (Ph.D., University of Georgia) is an assistant professor at East Carolina University. Her research focuses on consumer behavior and advertising. Her work in consumer behavior concentrates on risk, motives, and optimal consumption experience. Her research in advertising focuses on the interface between advertising and finance, accounting, or economics. She has previously published in the proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Association for Consumer Research, the American Marketing Association of Educators, and the Society for Marketing Advances. Melvin R. Crask (mcrask@terry.uga.edu) (DBA, University of Indiana) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Georgia (UGA). He is currently serving as director of the MBA program at UGA. His teaching interests are in the areas of marketing research and marketing strategy. He has published more than three dozen articles and papers dealing with marketing research methods and with strategic issues in marketing. He is also the coauthor of two books, one on marketing strategy and one on marketing research. George M. Zinkhan (gzinkhan@terry.uga.edu) (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is the Coca-Cola Company Chair of Marketing at the University of Georgia. His major research interests include advertising, communication, and e-commerce.     

The influence of complementarity, compatibility, and relationship capital on alliance performance

Value creation through alliances requires the simultaneous pursuit of partners with similar characteristics on certain dimensions and different characteristics on other dimensions. Partnering firms need to have different resource and capability profiles yet share similarities in their social institutions. In this article, the authors empirically examine the impact of partner characteristics on the performance of alliances. In particular, they test hypotheses related to both direct impact of partner characteristics on alliance performance and indirect effects through relational capital aspects of the alliance. Empirical results based on a sample of alliances in the global construction contracting industry suggest that complementarity in partner resources and compatibility in cultural and operational norms have different direct and indirect effects on alliance performance. Accordingly, organizational routines aimed at partner selection need to be complemented by relationship management routines to maximize the potential benefits from an alliance. MB Sarkar (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Central Florida. His current research includes strategic alliances, innovation and entrepreneurship, knowledge management, and electronic markets. His research has been published in theStrategic Management Journal, theJournal of International Business Studies, and theJournal of Business Research, among others. Raj Echambadi (Ph.D., University of Houston) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Central Florida. His current research interests include investigation of territorial loyalty issues, management of innovations, and estimation issues pertaining to structural equation modeling and Partial Least Squares. His research has been published in theStrategic Management Journal, Multivariate Behavioral Research, and theJournal of Product Innovation Management. S. Tamer Cavusgil (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin) is University Distinguished Faculty and serves as the John William Byington Endowed Chair in global marketing at Michigan State University (MSU). He is also the executive director of MSU's Center for International Business Education and Research, a national resource center. His teaching, research, and administrative activities have focused on international business and marketing. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, and theJournal of International Business Studies, among others. His specific interests include the internationalization of the firm, global marketing strategy, and internationalization of business education. He was the founding editor of theJournal of International Marketing, now published by the American Marketing Association. Preet S. Aulakh (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is an associate professor of strategy and international business at the Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University. His research focuses on international technology licensing, cross-border joint ventures and strategic alliances and strategies of firms from developing economies. His research has been published in theAcademy of Management Journal, theJournal of Marketing, and theJournal of International Business Studies.     

The relationship of learning and memory with organizational performance: The moderating role of turbulence

Extensive research has documented how firms’ learning orientation and memory are related to organizational performance. The objective of this study is to examine the moderating role of turbulence on the relationships between firms’ learning orientation and memory and their organizational performance and innovativeness. The study also provides insight into the differential relationships of firms’ learning orientation and memory to their performance and innovativeness. Using survey data collected from 200 supply management professionals, the results suggest that the extent to which learning and memory are associated with organizational performance is contingent on the level of environmental turbulence. Specifically, under low environmental turbulence, learning orientation and organizational memory appear to be related to performance and innovativeness; however, under high environmental turbulence, only learning orientation is a useful predictor. Sangphet Hanvanich (hanvanich@xavier.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing at Xavier University. She received her PhD from Michigan State University. She has published in various journals including theJournal of Service Research andStrategic Management Journal. Her primary research interests are in the areas of marketing strategy, marketing alliances, international business, and international marketing. K. Sivakumar (k.sivakumar@lehigh.edu) (PhD, Syracuse University) is the Arthur Tauck Professor of International Marketing and Logistics, chairperson, and a professor of marketing in the Department of Marketing at Lehigh University. Before joining Lehigh in 2001, he spent 9 years as a faculty member with the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research interests include pricing, global marketing, and innovation management. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Marketing, theJournal of International Business Studies, Decision Sciences Journal, Marketing Letters, the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Interactive Marketing, theJournal of International Marketing, International Marketing Review, theJournal of Product Innovation Management, Pricing Strategy & Practice: An International Journal, Psychology & Marketing, Marketing Science Institute’s Working Paper Series, and other publications. He has won several awards for his research (including the Donald Lehmann Award) and is on the editorial review board of several scholarly journals. He has won outstanding reviewer awards from two journals. Home page: www.lehigh .edu/~kasg. G. Tomas M. Hult (nhult@msu.edu) is a professor of marketing and supply chain management and director of the Center for International Business Education and Research at Michigan State University. He serves as executive director of the Academy of International Business. He is associate editor of theJournal of International Business Studies, Decision Sciences, and theJournal of Operations Management. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, theJournal of Marketing, Decision Sciences, theJournal of Operations Management, theJournal of Management, and theJournal of Retailing, among others.     

Managing trade promotions in the context of market power

The use of trade promotions as a channel-programming tool has increased substantially in the past decade. In focusing on the tactical implications of trade promotions, some firms appear to have underestimated the tendency of poorly planned trade promotions to interfere with the implementation of a marketing strategy. In this article, the authors examine the complex issue of trade promotion use from both long-term and short-term perspectives. Different trade promotions can produce dissimilar types of channel cooperation, consumer responses, and postpromotion channel member behavior, resulting in differences in distribution-programming preferences between suppliers and retailers. The authors argue that the adjudication of these different preference structures is addressed through the market power of the channel participants. Based on an assessment of these channel relationships, an approach for suggested courses of action is forwarded. Jack J. Kasulis is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Oklahoma. He obtained his Ph.D. in marketing from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and has research interests in marketing channels, retailing, and consumer behavior. His articles have appeared in such journals as theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Advertising Research, and various other journals and proceedings. Fred W. Morgan is the Ashland Professor of Marketing at the University of Kentucky. He obtained his Ph.D. in marketing from Michigan State University in East Lansing and has research interests in legal issues in marketing, sales management, and marketing channels. His articles have appeared in such journals as theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing and Public Policy, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Channels, and various other journals and proceedings. David E. Griffith is an associate professor and the Harvey Jones Chair of Marketing at Ouachita Baptist University. He obtained his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Texas in Austin and has research interests in marketing channels, marketing strategy, and ethics. His research has appeared inMarketing Letters, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Channels, and various other journals and proceedings. James M. Kenderdine is an associate professor and director of the Distribution Research Program at the University of Oklahoma. He obtained his D.B.A. from Indiana University in Bloomington. His research interests are in wholesaling, retailing, and marketing channels. His publications have includedThe Changing Economics of Wholesaling: A North American Chart Book, Wholesaling in Transition: An Executive Chart Book, and articles in various journals and proceedings.     

The role of corporate social responsibility in strengthening multiple stakeholder relationships: A field experiment

This research relied on a field experiment involving a real-world instance of corporate philanthropy to shed light on both the scope and limitations of the strategic returns to corporate social responsibility (CSR). In particular, the authors demonstrate that the impact of CSR in the real world is not only less pervasive than has been previously acknowledged but also more multifaceted than has been previously conceptualized. The findings indicated that contingent on CSR awareness, which was rather low, stakeholders did react positively to the focal company not only in the consumption domain but in the employment and investment domains as well. Stakeholder attributions regarding the genuineness of the company’s motives moderated these effects. Sankar Sen (sankar_sen@baruch.cuny.edu) is a professor of marketing at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York. He received his Ph.D. in marketing in 1993 from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on consumer decision making. He is interested, more specifically, in consumer reactions to company actions, particularly in the domain of CSR. His research has appeared inCalifornia Management Review, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Economic Theory, and others. C. B. Bhattacharya (cb@bu.edu) received his Ph.D. in marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and his M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management in 1984. Prior to joining Boston University, he was on the faculty at the Goizueta Business School, Emory University. His specific expertise is in the areas of customer retention and the roles of CSR and organizational identification in designing marketing strategy. He served on the editorial review board of theJournal of Marketing from 2002 to 2005 and has published in journals such as theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Applied Psychology, andOrganization Science. He speaks frequently at many academic and business forums and won the William Novelli Best Paper Award at the Social Marketing Conference in 1997. Dr. Bhattacharya received the 2001 Broderick Prize for Research Excellence at Boston University and the Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award in 1995, the highest teaching award at Emory University. He is also part of the select group of faculty members onBusiness Week’s Outstanding Faculty list. Prior to his Ph.D., he worked for 3 years as a product manager for Reckitt Benkiser PLC. He has consulted for organizations such as the Hitachi Corporation, Procter & Gamble Company, Bell South, The Prudential Bank, Information Resources Inc., Airwick Industries, Silo Inc., and the High Museum of Art. Daniel Korschun (danielk@bu.edu) is a doctoral candidate in marketing at Boston University. His current research interests include brand management, CSR, and interorganizational relationships.     

How first impressions of a customer impact effectiveness in an initial sales encounter

First impressions of others affect both the content and outcomes of a variety of interpersonal encounters. In sales encounters, a salesperson’s first impressions of a customer provide a starting point for probing customer needs and for adapting to those needs. This implies that salesperson effectiveness in an initial sales encounter is associated— at least in part—with a salesperson’s first impression of the customer. The reported quasi-experiment is the first study to explore empirically the connection between salespeople’s first impressions, their cognitive structures, and sales effectiveness in a single, initial sales encounter. The results provide an intriguing glimpse into the dilemma salespeople face in trying to establish the basis of a relationship while achieving short-term sales outcomes (e.g., closing a sale, satisfaction). Kleine & Associates Symmetrics Kenneth R. Evans received his D.B.A. from the University of Colorado. He has served on the faculty at Arizona State University and currently serves as associate dean and professor of marketing at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He has published articles in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Advertising, Industrial Marketing Management, and inDistinguished Essays in Marketing Theory. Robert E. Kleine, III, received his Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati and has served on the marketing faculty at Arizona State University. He is presently chief scholar for Kleine & Associates. His work has appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and in other journals. Timothy D. Landry is a doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He has presented his work at the American Marketing Association’s conferences. Lawrence A. Crosby received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He has served on the marketing faculty at the University of Nebraska and at Arizona State University. He served as managing director of CSM Worldwide, Inc., and is presently chief executive officer of Symmetrics. He has published several articles in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, and in other journals.     

Re-examining salesperson goal orientations: Personality influencers, customer orientation, and work satisfaction

Several scholars have noted the importance of relationship marketing and the critical role that salesperson knowledge plays in the formation of buyer-seller relationships. However, research on salesperson learning motivations has been relatively scarce compared with research on firm-level learning orientations. One promising stream of research in this area is salesperson goal orientation. Drawing from previous work in control theory, the authors extend previous research in this area by proposing relationships between personality influencers, goal orientations, customer/selling orientation, and overall work satisfaction. Their hypotheses are tested using data obtained from a sample of 190 real estate agents. The results provide support for their hypothesized model. Specifically, learning orientation is shown to positively influence customer orientation, while performance orientation is shown to positively influence selling orientation. Eric G. Harris (eharris@lklnd.usf.edu Ph.D., Oklahoma State University) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of South Florida. His current research interests include goal orientation, customer orientation, and personality models applied to consumer and employee behavior. He has published articles in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Psychology & Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Marketing, theJournal of Business & Psychology, Services Marketing Quarterly, theJournal of Services Marketing, and theJournal of Marketing Management. John C. Mowen (jcmmkt@okstate.edu) Ph.D., Arizona State University) is Regents Professor and holds the Noble Chair of Marketing Strategy at Oklahoma State University. He has published articles in numerous leading journals, including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, Decisions Sciences, theJournal of Applied Psychology, theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychology and Marketing, and theJournal of Consumer Psychology. He is a past president of the Society for Consumer Psychology. His teaching and consulting interests focus on consumer behavior and motivating the workforce. His research focuses on the factors that motivate and influence the decisions of consumers and employees. Tom J. Brown (tom.brown@okstate.edu; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin) is Ardmore Professor of Business Administration and an associate professor of marketing at Oklahoma State University. His articles have appeared in leading marketing journals, including theJournal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His current research interests include causes and effects of corporate reputation and the customer orientation of service workers. He is cofounder of the Corporate Identity/Associations Research Group. Teaching interests include marketing research, services marketing, and corporate communications. He is coauthor (with Gilbert A. Churchill Jr.) ofBasic Marketing Research (5th ed.). Consulting interests include marketing research, corporate reputation, and the customer orientation of service workers.     

The structure of reseller goals and performance in marketing channels

The typical view of a marketing channel is that of a manufacturer-designed and-controlled distribution system. However, today, marketing functions, as well as market power, are more evenly distributed in the channel. In organizing and managing the modern channel, it is important to understand the business circumstances and priorities confronting channel members. This article studies how reseller firms establish their goal hierarchies and how these goals are related to performance. It hypothesizes that goal priorities emerge in relation to the environmental imperatives faced by the firm. The article develops hypotheses that are tested on survey data collected from a sample of franchisee firms, using structural equation models. The results support all the hypotheses about the effects of primary goals on performance. The effects of secondary goals are not unequivocal but informative nevertheless. Overall, the study points to interesting theoretical and managerial conclusions. Ravi S. Achrol (raachrol@mail.wvu.edu) (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is the Kmart Professor of Marketing in the College of Business & Economics at West Virginia University. Previously, he has served on the faculties of the George Washington University and the University of Notre Dame. His areas of research interest include distribution channels, marketing strategy, interorganizational relations, and network organization. His articles have appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, Social Science Research, theJournal of Business Strategy, and various other publications. Michael J. Etzel (michael.j.etzel.1@nd.edu) (DBA, University of Colorado) is a professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame. He has previously served on the faculties of the University of Kentucky and Utah State University. His areas of research include marketing management and strategy, retailing, and buyer behavior. In 1996–1997, he served as chair of the Board of the American Marketing Association. His research has appeared in a variety of publications, most notably theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of Retailing.     

Innovation generation in supply chain relationships: A conceptual model and research propositions

Innovation generation has increasingly been recognized as an outcome of interaction between a firm and various outside entities. According to this view, supplier involvement and alliances are routes to innovation generation. Despite this realization, there is a dearth of research, both conceptual and empirical, focusing on innovation generation in buyer-seller relationships in supply chains. In an attempt to fill this void, this article develops a conceptual model of innovation generation in buyer-seller relationships in upstream supply chains. The authors propose that innovation generation in supply chain relationships, both incremental and radical, is a consequence of interactions between buyers and sellers. They also delineate factors internal and external to the relationship that moderate the link between interaction and innovation generation. Finally, the authors discuss managerial implications of their research and offer guidelines for future empirical research. Subroto Roy (sroy@newhaven.edu) (Ph.D., University of Western Sydney, 2002) is an assistant professor of marketing and international business at the University of New Haven since 2001. Prior to his Ph.D., he had more than 12 years of experience in packaging industry (Tetra Pak) marketing and sales. Involved with several upstream industrial new product development projects he helped clients launch more than 100 brands. Current research interests include global supply chains, technology adoption, and knowledge outsourcing. His work has appeared inAmerican Marketing Association Educators Conferences and is forthcoming inIndustrial Marketing Management, among others. He is a co-guest editor of a special issue of theJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing and has consulted with leading companies in Australia and Asia. See http://www.newhaven.edu/faculty/roy. K. Sivakumar (k.sivakumar@lehigh.edu) (Ph.D., Syracuse University, 1992) is the Arthur Tauck Professor of International Marketing & Logistics and a professor of marketing at Lehigh University. His research interests include pricing, global marketing, innovation management, and supply/value chain management. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of International Business Studies, Marketing Letters, theJournal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, Pricing Strategy & Practice: An International Journal, and other publications. He has won several awards for research. He is on the editorial board of six journals. Home page: www.lehigh.edu/~kasg. Ian F. Wilkinson (i.wilkinson@unsw.edu.au) is a professor in the School of Marketing at the University of New South Wales since 2001. His current research focuses on interfirm relations and networks in domestic and international markets and the dynamics and evolution of markets, including applications of complexity theory. His research has appeared in many journals including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of World Business, theJournal of International Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of Industrial and Business Marketing, and theJournal of Applied Psychology. He is on the editorial board of 12 scholarly journals. See http://www.marketing.unsw.edu.au/PEOPLE/HTML/IWilkinson.html.     

Importers' benevolence toward their foreign export suppliers

In this article, the authors report the development and testing of a model of importers' benevolence toward their foreign export suppliers. The model posits that an importer's satisfaction with and commitment to its relationship with a foreign export supplier will have a positive impact on the importer's benevolence toward that supplier, that an importer's benevolence positively influences relationship performance, and that the benevolence-performance link is moderated by relationship duration. The authors tested the model with a sample of U.S. importers who buy from foreign exporters. The results indicate that the importers' commitment to the relationship significantly influenced its benevolence; however, importers' satisfaction with the relationship did not significantly affect their benevolence. Importers' altruistic benevolence had a positive impact on performance in mature relationships but not in new relationships. Importers' mutualistic benevolence had a significant influence on performance regardless of relationship duration. Dong-Jin Lee (djlee@base.yonsei.ac.kr) (Ph.D, Virginia Tech) is an associate professor of marketing at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theInternational Journal of Marketing Research, and theJournal of Advertising, among others. His research interests include relationship marketing and quality-of-life studies. M. Joseph (Joe) Sirgy (sirgy@vt.edu) (Ph.D., University of Massachusetts) is a consumer psychologist, professor of marketing, and Virginia Real Estate Research Fellow at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He has published extensively in the area of consumer behavior and quality-of-life research. He is the author/editor of several consumer behavior and quality-of-life research books. He presently serves as an editor of the Quality-of-Life/Marketing section of theJournal of Macromarketing. He founded the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies in 1995 and is currently serving as its executive director. He coorganized at least seven conferences related to quality of life. He has served the Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) in many positions dating back to the early 1980s (e.g., board of governors, VP-programs, president-elect, cochair of several AMS conferences, conference track chairs). James R. Brown (jamesb@vt.edu) (D.B.A., Indiana University) is a professor of marketing in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and theJournal of Retailing, among others. He serves on the editorial review boards of several leading academic journals in marketing. His research interests focus on the structure, behavior, and performance of marketing channels and channel institutions. Monroe Murphy Bird (mobird@vt.edu) (Ph.D., University of Arkansas) is a professor of marketing and the National Association of Purchasing Managers (NAPM) Carolinas-Virginia Professor of Purchasing in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Retailing, Industrial Marketing Management, and theAcademy of Management Journal, among others. He has served on the editorial boards of several of the business-to-business marketing journals for many years. His major research interests have been in profit and productivity advances within the business-to-business area, with a special emphasis in the industrial sector of that field. As of late, he has turned his interests to ethical issues in business-to-business buying and selling.     

The paradox of a marketing planning capability

Strategy scholars have long debated the value of formal planning, and research has offered inconsistent support for planning to enhance firm performance. Given these mixed empirical effects, we draw from the resource-based view of the firm to illustrate a paradox firms may face. In particular, a strong marketing planning capability may not only reduce the incidence of postplan improvisation but also contain inherent process rigidity. Since both of these can also increase performance, results illustrate a performance paradox in marketing planning. Rebecca J. Slotegraaf (rslotegr@indiana.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Her research focuses on the nature and effect of organizational resources, marketing capabilities, and deployment actions on competitive advantage. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to this publication in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, she has also published several articles in theJournal of Marketing Research. Peter R. Dickson (dicksonp@fiu.edu) is the Knight-Ridder Eminent Scholar in Global Marketing at Florida International University. He was previously the Arthur C. Nielsen Jr., Chair of Marketing Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and before that the Crane Professor of Strategic Marketing and a professor of industrial design at the Ohio State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. Thirty of his articles on buyer and seller behavior have been published in leading marketing journals.