Considerations on “Research on non-market actions: A commentary essay”

This commentary is in response to the commentary, “Research on Non-Market Actions: A Commentary Essay” [Wang, C-J. Research on Non-Market Actions: A Commentary Essay. J Bus Res (2008)] on the paper, “First come, first served: How market and non-market actions influence pioneer market share” [Usero B, Fernández Z, First come, first served: How market and non-market actions influence pioneer market share. J Bus Res (2008), doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.07.005]. The commentary responds directly to Wang's [Wang, C-J. Research on Non-Market Actions: A Commentary Essay. J Bus Res (2008)] comments and proposes further lines of research that integrate the competitive dynamic approach with studies of non-market actions.     

How foreign firms achieve competitive advantage in the Chinese emerging economy: Managerial ties and market orientation

As China experience unprecedented changes in its social, legal, and economic institutions, on what should foreign firms focus more to overcome this challenge, managerial ties or market orientation? This study investigates how managerial ties and market orientation affect competitive advantage and, consequently, firm performance in China. On the basis of a survey of 179 foreign firms in China, we find that both managerial ties and market orientation can lead to firm success—but in different ways. Market orientation enhances firm performance by providing differentiation and cost advantages, whereas managerial ties improve performance through an institutional advantage (i.e., superiority in securing scarce resources and institutional support). Institutional advantage, in turn, leads to differentiation and cost advantages and consequently superior performance.     

Sweet or sweat,which should come first: How consumption sequences of vices and virtues influence enjoyment

This research examines the effect of the consumption sequence of vices and virtues on consumers’ enjoyment. Five studies show that consuming a virtue after a vice increases consumers’ enjoyment of the overall experience relative to consuming the same items in the opposite sequence. Moreover, this sequence effect disappears when people have no strong goals that the vice violates, when the vice is perceived as less vicious, when the vice and the virtue serve unrelated goals, and when the vice and the virtue are perceived as isolated. These findings provide important guidance on product bundling, service journey design, packaging and marketing communications for vice products and vice/virtue bundles.     

Regulation,innovation and market structure in International Telecommunications: The case of the 1956 TAT1 submarine cable

This article sets out to demonstrate how regulation, markets and technology can be intertwined. It argues that the introduction of technology in a regulated market, such as that of international telecommunications, must be seen in terms of its impact on economic and political alliances in that regulatory market. It presents a case study of the first transatlantic telephone cable, TAT1 – a joint project between the US company, American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T), the British Post Office (GPO) and Canada's Overseas Telephone Corporation – and a coaxial cable proposed by another US company, International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT). Both cables became part of a British attempt to alter existing British and US domestic regulation of international telegraph transmission.     

Competitive advantage: A longitudinal analysis of the roles of data-driven innovation capabilities,marketing agility,and market turbulence

While data-driven innovation capabilities have received considerable attention from academics and practitioners, there is insufficient longitudinal evidence on how they might contribute to improved marketing agility and competitive advantage. In this study, we make a preliminary effort to address this gap by developing a model based on the dynamic capabilities view. We also explore the moderating effects of market turbulence on the link among marketing agility and competitive advantage. We used two-waves data (T = 677 and T+1 = 569) and the cross-lagged panel approach was utilised to analyse the longitudinal data. Our findings provide robust empirical evidence on the causal and predictive temporal impact of data driven innovation capabilities on marketing agility and competitive advantage. It also indicated that marketing agility mediates this relationship over time. Moreover, the analysis suggested that market turbulence reinforce the influence of marketing agility on competitive advantage. We provided significant implications for theory and practice.     

Supply Chain Collaboration,Integration, and Relational Technology: How Complex Operant Resources Increase Performance Outcomes

How firms coordinate efforts to collectively compete as supply chains is a key concern of supply chain management scholars and practitioners. One avenue, the development of collaborative relational capabilities that support supply chain integration, offers promise. However, the effectiveness of collaboration as a supply chain resource has been questioned due to concerns associated with collaborative technologies, and thus prior research has called for a deeper examination of the role that technologies play in facilitating integration. Employing a Service‐Dominant Logic view of hierarchical resources, grounded in Resource Advantage Theory, this research tests a model subsuming relationships between collaboration, integration, and interfirm coordination technologies, and their associated performance outcomes. A sample of 282 supply chain managers from a variety of industries were surveyed, with proposed relationships examined employing structural equation modeling. Test results indicate that collaboration and integration interact to form higher order resources that collectively influence firm performance outcomes through interfirm coordination technologies.