When Does Customer Orientation Hinder (Help) Radical Product Innovation? The Role of Organizational Rewards

Prior marketing literature offers a compelling theoretical rationale in support of two contradictory propositions, namely, that customer orientation is negatively related to (i.e., hinders) radical product innovation and that customer orientation is positively related to (i.e., helps) radical product innovation. In this research, the contextual conditions that determine the validity of these contradictory propositions are identified. Drawing from the literature on organizational rewards, two types of organizational rewards—outcome based and strategy based—are identified as being the key contextual conditions. It is hypothesized that when outcome‐based rewards are in effect, customer orientation is negatively related to radical positive innovation and, that when strategy‐based rewards are in effect, customer orientation is positively related to radical product innovation. Results from a survey of 156 manufacturing firms, and from a survey of 97 of their customers, provide support for these hypotheses. While prior research has attempted to explain the contradictory nature of the relationship between customer orientation and radical product innovation using typology‐based and mediator‐based approaches, the contextual condition‐based approach has not been well developed. This gap is addressed by the present research. From a practitioner perspective, the research is important because it identifies a concrete mechanism that new product development managers can deploy, in tandem with customer orientation, if they intend to generate radical product innovations. Given the potential gains that flow from radical product innovation, the research findings are expected to be of considerable interest to managers of new product development projects.     

Analysing the bias in the primal-dual upper bound method for early exercisable derivatives: bounds,estimation and removal

We analyse the primal-dual upper bound method for Bermudan options and prove that its bias is inversely proportional to the number of paths in sub-simulations for a large class of cases. We develop a methodology for estimating and reducing the bias. We present numerical results showing that the new technique is indeed effective.     

Heterogeneity in male and female farmers’ preference for a profit-enhancing and labor-saving technology: The case of Direct-Seeded Rice (DSR) in India

Labor-saving and income-increasing technologies may affect women farmers differently from men. However, very few studies explicitly account for women's preferences for new technologies. We carried out a discrete choice experiment with 337 female and 329 male farmers in Maharashtra, India, to measure their willingness to pay (WTP) for direct-seeded rice (DSR) with drum seeder and to understand the gender differences in marginal valuations of key attributes. We used the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) to collect self-reported data on the role and say of women in different domains of decision making. The respective gender roles of women and men in the family and on the farm are aligned with their preferences. Men have a greater say over how the family spends the cash. Accordingly, men tend to have a higher WTP for attributes that increase income (increase in yield) or reduce cash costs (reduction in seed rate). Women contribute a large share of the labor for transplanting rice, much of which is unpaid work on family farms. Women, therefore, seem to value labor saving more. Women in our sample were more interested in the new technology and had a higher WTP for it.     

Institutional versus non-institutional credit to agricultural households in India: Evidence on impact from a national farmers’ survey

A goal of agricultural policy in India has been to reduce farmers’ dependence on informal credit. To that end, recent initiatives are focused explicitly on rural areas and have a positive impact on the flow of agricultural credit. Despite the significance of the above initiatives in enhancing the flow of institutional credit to agriculture, the links between institutional credit and net farm income and consumption expenditures in India are not very well documented. Using large, national farm household level data and IV 2SLS estimation methods, we investigate the role of institutional farm credit on farm income and farm household consumption expenditures. Findings show that, in India, formal credit does indeed play a critical role in increasing both net farm income and per capita monthly household expenditures of Indian farm families. Finally, we find that, in the presence of formal credit, social safety net programs like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) may have unintended consequences. In particular, MGNREGA reduces both net farm income and per capita monthly household consumption expenditures. On the other hand, in the presence of formal credit, the Public Distribution System may increase both net farm income and per capita monthly household consumption expenditures.     

Modelling the predictors of young consumers' sustainable consumption intention

Sustainable consumption refers to consumers' socially and environmentally responsible consumption practices. The present study is the first to investigate possible individual, behavioural, and situational factors that predict sustainable consumption intention among young consumers in India. A survey was carried out on 325 young consumers. Structural equation modelling was applied to check the extent to which the considered variables predicted sustainable consumption. The results determined drive for environmental responsibility, subjective norm, and attitude towards sustainable consumption as key predictors of consumers' sustainable consumption intention. The paper offers a better understanding of the main predictors of consumers' sustainable consumption intention. Such understanding may enable managers to design effective marketing strategies to encourage sustainable consumption intention and behaviour.     

Disengagement of Nascent Entrepreneurs from the Start‐Up Process

This study examines the roles of entrepreneur motivation and a potentially adverse founding condition in disengagement of nascent entrepreneurs from the start‐up process. Specifically, measures of goal commitment, self‐efficacy, and perceived competition intensity from 943 nascent entrepreneurs are employed to predict disengagement as reported one year later. Results indicate that high perceived competition intensity renders the otherwise strong negative main effect of goal commitment on disengagement, not significant. The even stronger negative main effect of self‐efficacy on disengagement, however, is not contingent on perceived competition intensity. Further, perceived competition intensity by itself does not appear to influence nascent entrepreneurs' disengagement.     

Effect of environmental dynamism on relational governance in manufacturer-supplier relationships: A contingency framework and an empirical test

The effect of dynamism in the downstream (i.e., customer and competitive) environment on the manner in which manufacturers manage their upstream (i.e., supplier) relationships is not well understood in the literature. While some prior studies suggest that manufacturers will adopt relational governance with suppliers in response to dynamism in the downstream environment, other studies suggest that manufacturers will avoid relational governance with suppliers when faced with environmental dynamism. Drawing from the literature on interparty learning, the authors develop a conceptual framework wherein the validating conditions for each conclusion are identified. Results from a survey of 221 manufacturing organizations show that in dynamic environments, manufacturers adopt (avoid) relational governance with suppliers under two conditions: (1) when manufacturer collaborative belief is high (low) and (2) when supplier knowledge is high (low). The results are discussed in terms of their managerial and future research implications. Ashwin W. Joshi (ajoshi@schulich.yorku.ca) is an associate professor of marketing in the Schulich School of Business at York University (Canada). He received his Ph.D. from Queen's University (Canada). His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Psychology and Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, and theJournal of Business-to-Business Marketing, among other journals. His research interests are in the areas of business-to-business marketing, sales force management, and new product development. Alexandra J. Campbell (acampbel@schulich.yorku.ca) is an associate professor of marketing in the Schulich School of Business at York University (Canada). She received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto (Canada). Her research has been published in theJournal of International Business Studies, theEuropean Management Journal, Long Range Planning, andIndustrial Marketing Management, among other journals. Her research interests are in the areas of buyer-supplier relationships, international business, and customer relationship management.     

The influence of mergers on firms' product‐mix strategies

This study draws on the institutional and resource‐based theories of the firm and examines whether multi‐product firms use mergers as a strategic tool to reconfigure their product‐mix toward high‐profit products. We propose that mergers facilitate product‐mix reconfiguration by relaxing institutional and organizational constraints on resource redeployment. Analysis of data from the U.S. hospital industry reveals that, relative to non‐merging hospitals, merging hospitals increased their presence in profitable, insured services but did not shift away from low‐profit services used by the uninsured. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.