The variable effects of dynamic capability by firm size: the interaction of innovation and marketing capabilities in competitive industries

Although investments in marketing and innovation capabilities theoretically help firms to compete in dynamic markets and enhance performance, company size has a strong influence on whether this is the case. In a test of a proposed conceptual model, this study of 692 small, medium, and large enterprises found that large firms prospered from building dynamic capabilities under conditions of high industry competitiveness, while investments in innovation and marketing individually diminished small firms’ performance. The effect was mixed for medium-size firms. In small enterprises, however, dynamic capability proved to be crucial in order to withstand competition. Therefore, taking into account these firms’ limited resources, managerial efforts should be focused on the integration of marketing and innovation capabilities, because each capability alone does not have a significant positive impact on performance. In medium-sized enterprises, the support of marketing capability is required to raise profitability under conditions of high industry competitiveness; otherwise, innovation would not lead to actual profits. For large enterprises, industry competitiveness was found to be a less serious threat to performance, and instead is a catalyst to the development of capabilities, suggesting that managers of such firms should focus on building long-term strategic advantages.     

Conceptualising consumers’ word-of-mouth behaviour intention: evidence from a university education services in Malaysia

The aim of this study is to propose a theoretical model to examine consumer word-of-mouth (WOM) behavioural intention in Malaysian education services. The results from a survey of 247 respondents indicate that servicescape, service recovery, service quality and satisfaction significantly affect consumers’ intention to engage in WOM behaviour. The results support majority of the hypothesized relationships, suggesting that servicescape and service recovery function as antecedents, directly affecting consumer perceptions of education service quality. The analytical results also demonstrate that perceived service quality positively affects satisfaction, which subsequently induces consumers’ behavioural intentions. Consistent with previous empirical studies, our findings suggest that satisfaction is a super-ordinate construct with a positive relation to behavioural intention, and significantly mediates the effect of service quality on the intention to engage in WOM behaviour. The insignificant direct effect from service quality to WOM further suggests the role of satisfaction as a complete mediator in the university education service setting. Implications for future research are discussed and limitations noted.     

一场数字标识革命 这不再是你爸爸的生意了

从1976年到1985年,我掌管Biggsigns Inc.(aka Wet Paint Sign)I,是一个为大辛辛那提和北肯塔基服务的标识和图形设计公司。我学这个的时候用的是老式的工具和方法。我们以前用的是刻字笔,油漆喷雾器,支腕杖,提花轮,丝网印刷,一次性刻字瓷漆和普锐涂料等等。     

Pattern and Determinants of United States' Intra-Industry Trade

This study identifies country and industry-level determinants of intra-industry trade and its components, vertical (VIIT) and horizontal (HIIT) intra-industry trade, in bilateral U.S. trade. Unlike studies for other countries, U.S. intra-industry trade is found to be dominated by HIIT rather than VIIT. This finding is important because HIIT tends to have relatively low factor adjustment costs relative to VIIT. Industry specialization takes place within, rather than across, product lines within the same industry. Two new variables contribute to our understanding of intra-industry trade. Country-level product differentiation and the interaction between technological innovation and foreign direct investment are found to be important determinants of both HIIT and VIIT. Distance, foreign direct investment flows, scale economies, and seller concentration affect HIIT but not VIIT. Other influences exert similar influences on components of intra-industry trade.     

Regime Change and the Role of International Markets on the Stock Returns of Small Open Economies

We examine the influence of US, UK and German macroeconomic and financial variables on the stock returns of two relatively small, open European economies, Ireland and Denmark. Within a nonlinear framework, we allow for time variation via regime switching using a smooth transition regression (STR) model. We find that US (global) and UK and German (regional) stock returns are significant determinants of returns in both markets. Further, global information represented by oil and US asset price movements drive changes between states in each market. Significantly, the role of country‐specific domestic variables is typically confined to a single state while global and regional variables pervade all states.     

Making and maintaining the subject in call centre work

This article reports an ethnographic study of call centre work. Analytics are applied enabling study of relations between power and subjectivity. Findings indicate that organisational 'truth' claims about workers are produced in a constellation of architectural, technological and managerial apparatuses. Workers orient to and reify the power of these claims, even when resisting.