Measures of Marketing Success: A Comparison Between China and the United Kingdom

Despite the importance of assessing business performance, there is little research on the measures used to evaluate marketing effectiveness. This paper replicates in China some UK research into the relative importance of categories of marketing metrics, e.g., financial and non-financial, customer and competitive. The Chinese results are compared with those from the UK. In China, respondents saw financial metrics as less important than their UK counterparts and they appeared to be more marketing oriented, but the difference of consumer orientation across departments of firms in China appears larger than in UK. In both countries the importance given to metrics categories were consistent with orientation, while in China there is no relationship between consumer orientation and the important of direct customer metrics as in UK, but the relationship between competition orientation and the measurement of direct customers was found in China.     

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.     

Determining the scope and impact of market orientation profiles on strategy implementation and performance

Strategy implementation and performance in organizations are influenced by its market orientation. Market orientation is the collective of employee behaviors that affects strategy implementation, how an organization interacts with its environment and adjusts to changes within that context. The relationship between market orientation, strategy implementation, and performance is robust across environmental contexts. This study identifies ideal behavioral profiles for organizations seeking to maximize performance by considering the scope and impact of market orientation on strategy implementation. This is accomplished by considering market orientation and strategy profiles in relation to performance in a holistic coalignment perspective, corresponding to competitive contexts characterized by varying degrees of market turbulence and competitive intensity. Important strategic and performance implications of this dynamic are revealed that should be considered by academics and practitioners alike. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Market orientation and customer satisfaction: Evidence from British machine tool industry

This paper examines empirically the relationship between market orientation and business performance in the context of British machine tool industry. An industry-specific market orientation scale was developed. Factor analysis revealed that there were four latent dimensions underlying the market orientation: customer orientation, competitor orientation, departmental responsiveness, and customer satisfaction orientation. Findings suggest that customer orientation and customer satisfaction orientation have a stronger impact on performance than the other dimensions, and that competitor orientation has a U-shape relationship with performance. Departmental responsiveness did not appear to be significantly related to the business performance. Managers could use the multidimensional conceptualization to develop particular kinds of orientations required for better performance.     

中国出境旅游"双高"格局与政策取向辨析——兼与戴学锋、巫宁同志商榷

中国出境旅游的高增长和高消费现象引发了对出境旅游不经济性的讨论.本文通过与"中国出境旅游高速增长的负面影响探析"一文作者的商榷,认为出境旅游的迅速发展是我国现阶段宏观经济发展的必然结果,属于"补涨"性质;出境旅游消费存在"虚高"现象;出境旅游的发展为我国旅游业跨国经营创造了有利条件,而跨国经营是克服出境旅游不经济性的最佳途径.     

论农民合作社的萌生与发展——基于农民利益的视角

农民合作社的萌生缘于农民自身利益的严重受损,这一点可以从国内外农民合作社发展的经验事实中得到佐证。农民合作社的这一内生性特征,必然使之与农民的利益息息相关,它应当以维护农民利益作为自身发展的根本价值取向。不管是从党的政策来看,还是从有关法律规定来看,国家更加扶持农民合作社发展的主要目的,显然在于维护农民的切身利益。然而,我们决不能因农民合作社在一时一地的成功,而形成对农民合作社发展全局的误判,以至于天真地以为所有的农民合作社都是农民的＂福星＂。     

Achieving value co-creation through cooperation in international joint ventures: A two-level perspective

How can international joint ventures (IJVs) enhance value co-creation? Using a resource-based view (RBV), this study examines whether partners’ cultural compatibility and parent companies’ asset complementarity foster top-level cooperation and/or operating-level cooperation in IJVs and investigates the underlying mechanisms (i.e., top-level goal alignment and operating-level goal alignment) in IJV relationships. This study also scrutinizes the differing impacts of top-level and operating-level cooperation on value co-creation in IJVs. The findings from a survey of 200 IJVs in China show that partners’ cultural compatibility positively affects top-level cooperation primarily through top-level goal alignment, while asset complementarity positively affects operating-level cooperation through operating-level goal alignment. Furthermore, operating-level cooperation has a stronger effect on value co-creation than top-level cooperation. This study offers fresh insights into IJV cooperation and value co-creation by introducing a two-level perspective and provides important managerial implications for the development of sustainable IJVs.     

Value Orientations, Income and Displacement Effects, and Voluntary Contributions

Identifying the value orientations of subjects participating in market or non-market decisions by having them participate in a ring game may be helpful in understanding the behaviour of these subjects. This experiment presents the results of changes in the centre and the radius of a value orientations ring in an attempt to discover if the measured value orientations exhibit income or displacement effects. Neither significant income effects nor displacement effects are identified. An external validity check with a voluntary contribution game provides evidence that value orientations from rings centred around the origin of the decision-space explain significant portions of voluntary contributions while value orientations from displaced rings do not.