Applying knowledge management to project marketing in a demanding technology transfer project: Convincing the industrial customer over the knowledge gap

Literature in project and knowledge management has examined knowledge management in projects, but the utilization of knowledge management in project marketing is still largely unexplored. This study examines the links between knowledge management and project marketing activities in a project where the seller wants to convince the potential buyer about a demanding investment project. An in-depth case study illustrates this in a situation hampered by a technical knowledge gap between the parties. The buyer is committed when they can trust the seller's capability to successfully accomplish the project. The seller must criticize and communicate its core and project specific knowledge of technologies and customer needs through project marketing. A framework and implications on knowledge management and project marketing activities in different project phases is presented. It is proposed that knowledge management is a pertinent tool for project marketing as it helps to understand the roles of different knowledge types.     

Establishing a high-technology knowledge transfer network: The practical and symbolic roles of identification

Knowledge transfer networks (KTNs) are composed of interconnected firms, government entities, and research organizations that play a critical role in the funding, development, and dissemination of knowledge in high-technology industries. Despite the common use of KTNs in situations that require technology inputs spanning multiple firms, little research has examined the start-up of KTNs and the marketing literature has essentially ignored them. Using social network, social identity, and relevant attribution and motivation theories, the authors build a conceptual model that explains key outcomes of start-up KTNs. A preliminary empirical investigation of a UK-wide KTN start-up finds evidence that social identification with the network is a key moderating mechanism. Identification plays a practical role in creating positive knowledge-transfer benefits for firms that are central in the KTN's social network. Identification also plays a symbolic role by affecting participants' perceptions of overall KTN performance in light of knowledge-transfer benefits that they received, and as an antecedent to affective commitment to the KTN.     

Business models: Impact on business markets and opportunities for marketing research

Business models have evolved in the context of new venture creation. By offering an entrepreneurial perspective to established marketing elements such as value propositions, value capturing and value networks, business models provide marketing discipline with both challenges and opportunities to engage with entrepreneurial environments. In particular, business models call for approaches that elucidate value-in-use of marketing offerings, reveal the performance of contracts in orchestrating value networks and identify the performance of network configurations. In this article we present some implications of and opportunities for business models for marketing research.     

Governing interfirm knowledge transfer in the Chinese market: The interplay of formal and informal mechanisms

Building on knowledge management literature and relational exchange theory, this study addresses how formal (i.e., ex ante contracts and ex post control) and informal mechanisms (i.e., trust) affect interfirm knowledge transfer in the Chinese emerging market. The results of a survey of 343 manufacturer–supplier relationships show that whereas formal control fosters knowledge transfer, contracts are not significantly related to knowledge transfer, and trust greatly facilitates knowledge flows between exchange relationships. Moreover, trust and contracts have a positive joint effect, whereas trust and control have a negative joint effect, on interfirm knowledge transfer. The findings provide important theoretical and managerial implications for interfirm knowledge governance in China.     

Applied customer knowledge in a manufacturing environment: Flexibility for industrial firms

Dynamic business markets are forcing B2B marketers to create flexibility in their firms. The present study investigates: (1) made-to-stock (MTS) versus made-to-order (MTO, which is considered more flexible); (2) production technology routineness (with nonroutine considered more flexible); and (3) a marketing-based enabler of flexibility, i.e., applied customer knowledge. SEM analysis shows that applied customer knowledge completely mediates the relationships of both MTO and routineness with financial performance. This delineates two routes to financial performance, beginning with manufacturing-based flexibility constructs and operating through marketing-based applied knowledge. In addition, exploratory analysis of a subsample confirmed empirically that the financial success of mass customization depends on extensive customer knowledge application and low finished goods inventory levels. Managerial implications are discussed, along with ideas for future research.     

A comparison of marketing approaches used by high-tech firms: 1985 versus 2001

The authors present a follow-up to a study conducted in 1985 that investigates the use of marketing approaches used by high-tech firms. The firms were surveyed to determine if their use of marketing approaches has changed. The 2001 study confirms the emergence of Web-based marketing approaches as of particular importance to high-tech firms. The findings should serve as a reference for practitioners to assess their marketing efforts and to evaluate the change in tactics used to market high-tech firms.     

Structural social capital evolution and knowledge transfer: Evidence from an Irish pharmaceutical network

Businesses are becoming increasingly involved in collaboration networks to access external knowledge and sustain innovation. In this context, knowledge and knowledge transfer are considered an important source of innovation and competitive advantage. Social capital theory offers a theoretical approach to explain how individuals, groups, and organizations manage relationships and access knowledge resources. The structural dimension of social capital has stimulated debate regarding optimal network configuration to achieve innovation. The extant literature suggests network structures evolve from a bridging configuration to a bonding configuration without examining the details of how the evolution occurs within the network and its stage-by-stage impact on knowledge transfer. This study explores this relationship by analyzing the evolution of a successful Irish pharmaceutical network involving organizations from industry and academia. This research setting encompasses a rare network configuration in an industry known for its lack of collaboration among competing firms. Findings show that structural holes provide access to a set of complementary and heterogeneous knowledge. However, for such knowledge to be exploited, the network configuration has to evolve from a sparse network (small in size and characterized by weak ties across multiple organizational networks), to a large and cohesive network configuration characterized by high levels of commitment, trust, fine-grained information exchange, and joint problem solving. Mechanisms crucial to this evolution include consistently-scheduled meetings, training to communicate tacit knowledge, wide diffusion of knowledge through an on online portal, and relationship specific investments designed to safeguard intellectual property. Surprisingly, industry members appear to transition to a cohesive network faster than do academic members.     

Practices and functions of customer reference marketing — Leveraging customer references as marketing assets

This multiple-case study focuses on the practices and functions of customer reference marketing and on the ways through which customer references can be deployed as marketing assets. Analysis of 38 interviews with managers in four case companies suggests that customer references can be leveraged externally as marketing assets to (1) gain status-transfer effects from reputable customers, (2) signal passing a selection process, (3) concretize and demonstrate complex solutions, and (4) provide indirect evidence of experience, previous performance, technological functionality, and delivered customer value. Customer references can also be leveraged internally to (1) facilitate organizational learning, (2) advance offering development, (3) motivate personnel, and (4) develop understanding of customer needs, internal competencies, and delivered customer value. By identifying the practices and functions related to customer reference marketing, the paper deepens understanding of this highly relevant but relatively under-researched phenomenon and contributes to the literature on customer-based marketing assets.     

Cluster and performance in foreign firms: The role of resources, knowledge, and trust

Clustering, the grouping of firms in close geographic proximity to one another, can enhance the performance of affiliated firms by providing access to complementary resources. Despite that some studies have produced empirical evidence supporting the positive impact of clustering, other studies have found no such evidence. Consequently, the consideration of clustering alone to explain differences in firm performance may be insufficient. This study seeks to determine whether the enhancement of firm performance comes as a consequence of clustering at the location level, interorganizational trust at the relationship level, or resource and knowledge management (i.e., the mechanisms of system dependence) at the firm level. Examining a sample group of Taiwanese manufacturers investing in China, we find that interorganizational trust, resources, and the mechanisms of system dependence all have a positive impact on performance. Further, we find that resources interact with clustering to positively impact firm performance.     

Artificial intelligence-based systems applied in industrial marketing: An historical overview,current and future insights

Intelligent systems have particular potentialities and strengths to support decisional situations faced by companies, especially those of a strategic nature, where good strategic intelligence is necessary. In this paper, we carry out an historical literature review of artificial intelligence-based systems applied to marketing, covering a time period of several decades (from the 1970s to the present day), with special focus on applications to industrial marketing. A detailed review is presented, along with conclusions and some future insights. Then, we briefly introduce the set of papers in this special issue.     

A multi-level investigation of international marketing projects: The roles of experiential knowledge and creativity on performance

This study, using a sample of Korean multinational corporations, focuses on testing the relationships between the constructs of experiential knowledge, creativity, and performance in the context of international marketing projects. Relying on a multi-level conceptualization of experiential knowledge and creativity, our findings suggest that process-based creativity is enhanced when the team members have a higher level of experiential knowledge, but outcome-based creativity is not significantly influenced by either team- or firm-level experiential knowledge. It is concluded that, in the context of international marketing projects, the domain-relevant knowledge of the actors (i.e., the team-level experiential knowledge in the foreign markets) largely governs the level of their process-based creativity. The findings also suggest that project performance is directly influenced by firm-level experiential knowledge and process-based creativity, and is indirectly influenced by team-level experiential knowledge through the mediation of process-based creativity.     

Small firms and information and communication technologies (ICTs): toward a typology of ICTs usage

Despite government support for a number of initiatives to encourage more small firms to adopt information and communication technologies (ICTs) implementation of ICTs has been a slow and very diverse development. This article examines the relationship between small firms and ICTs and highlights a number of typical, but often negated, characteristics that show how small firms use the technology.     

Exporter-importer relationship quality: The inhibiting role of uncertainty, distance, and conflict

The article examines the impact of uncertainty, distance, and conflict on key elements comprising the quality of the relationship between U.S. industrial exporters and their overseas customers. Information received from 151 manufacturers revealed that these three parameters play a significant negative role in building sound relationship quality, in terms of adaptation, commitment, communication, cooperation, satisfaction, trust, and understanding — which, in turn, may inhibit the firm's progression along the internationalization path. Specifically, an inverse association was found between uncertainty, distance, and conflict, on one hand, and commitment, cooperation, and satisfaction, on the other. In addition, in relationships characterized by high uncertainty, adaptation, communication, trust, and understanding were low. In high distance relationships, communication was insufficient, and in high conflict situations, trust and understanding were low. Several managerial implications are extracted from the study, as well as directions for future research.     

A classification of business-to-business buying decisions: risk importance and probability as a framework for e-business benefits

Business-to-business (B2B) markets have been considered an attractive e-business venue for the realization of cost reduction and exchange creation utilities. However, as marketers have long argued, there are different types of buying situations, and the benefits sought in each may vary substantially. The present work builds on the thinking of previous industrial buying typologies by integrating perceived risk concepts into the business buying decision. Specifically, we develop a classification grid of industrial buying situations and then explicitly link likely e-business benefits to the various situations. The proposed framework holds implications for management and research related to supply chain relationships.     

Reciprocity as a key stabilizing norm of interpersonal marketing relationships: Scale development and validation

This study outlines the development and validation of a measure of reciprocity. The definition used to develop the measure extends traditional quid pro quo interpretations to include behavior designed to stabilize relationships in times of exchange breakdown. This includes resisting and not returning harm and making reparation for harm done. Reciprocity is positioned as an important interpersonal norm of stable marketing relationships given recent findings that relationships develop most strongly at the individual level. It is suggested that reciprocity leads to personal well-being; thus providing an additional motivation, over and above economic incentives, to develop and maintain relationships. Results of the scale development tests indicated a valid, two dimensional measure which correlated with key relational variables such as trust, commitment, satisfaction, self-esteem and reduced conflict.     

The marketing strategy of a project-based firm: The Four Portfolios Framework

The purpose of this paper is to address the simultaneous management of multiple business relationships and multiple projects in the marketing strategy of the project-based firm. The research question is: How can the essence and interdependencies between the portfolios of relationships and projects be conceptualized as the marketing strategy of a project-based firm? We address this question by constructing a framework including two portfolios of relationships and two portfolios of projects, and by discussing how these portfolios may be interrelated. Combining the approaches of relationship management in project marketing on the one hand and the management of project portfolios on the other contributes a novel viewpoint to project marketing.     

Being appropriately professional: the interaction between professionalism,ICT and knowledge transfer

This article examines how professionalism impacts on the interaction and knowledge transfer of professionals within open plan workspaces and between distributed workplaces when using ICT. Knowledge is key to the system of professions and the power of professionals. At the same time, professional work requires professionals to behave in an appropriate and professional‐like manner, and this includes sharing knowledge with colleagues. Yet, the ideology of professionalism is changing. Alongside, professionals are working differently, including across distributed workplaces and often interacting via ICT. These shifting contexts make understanding the interaction between professionalism, knowledge transfer and ICT crucial. Drawing on Goffman's work, particularly his exposition of interaction rituals, interviews with accountants reveal that when using ICT, the professional framework of interaction – what can be said, who has the right to speak and who is the audience – meets appropriateness in sometimes contradictory ways, potentially limiting the growth and propagation of knowledge.     

Antecedents and consequences of relationship intention: Implications for transaction and relationship marketing

The terms relationship marketing (RM) and loyalty have been extensively promoted in marketing literature. Advocates of RM and loyalty have argued that RM leads to loyalty and loyalty leads to profitability. However, currently available evidence questions these arguments. We propose a term relationship intention. Relationship intention is willingness of a customer to develop a relationship with a firm while buying a product or a service attributed to a firm, a brand, and a channel. We build a multi-item scale for measuring relationship intention. We propose a framework, wherein we argue that the relationship intention is influenced by the customers' perceived firm equity, perceived brand equity, and perceived channel equity. We propose the consequences of relationship intention as being low cost to serve, price premium, word-of-mouth promotion, and company advertisement. We also argue that relationship intention moderates the association between lifetime duration and profitability. Finally, we discuss the managerial implications of relationship intention in terms of transaction and RM.     

The coexistence of transaction and relational marketing: Insights from the Chinese business context

Transaction and relational approaches to marketing have been promoted as alternative forms but recent evidence suggests that they may coexist. We explore this in the context of China. If firms operating in a highly relational society, such as China, exhibit transactional behavior, these two approaches must be compatible. We argue that Chinese values give rise to business practices consistent with both transactional and relational perspectives. These are summarized in six propositions for research. Theory building and managerial practice could benefit from thinking in terms of how elements from the two perspectives can be brought together rather than remain as alternatives.     

Industrial life cycles and learning curves: Interaction of marketing and production

The price-oriented experience curve has been widely utilized as a model to design marketing strategies. Yet, it is cost over which many firms exercise the most control. This article explores the cost-oriented learning curve in conjunction with the product life cycle model as joint strategy constructs. Implications of variations in the learning curve parameters are examined.