Does success diminish competitive responsiveness? Reconciling conflicting perspectives

Previous research provides conflicting evidence of the association between the past performance of a business and its competitive responsiveness, with researchers observing both positive and negative relationships. To clarify this issue, the authors test a model using survey data from the retailing industry. The model delineates direct and indirect mediated paths through ability to respond, motivation to respond, and awareness of competitors’ actions to show how past performance can have both positive and negative influence on competitive responsiveness. However, the overall impact of past performance of an organization on its competitive responsiveness is positive. The implications of these findings for research, practice, and theory are discussed. Satish Jayachandran (satish@moore.sc.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. His research interests are focused on issues related to the market responsiveness of firms. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He was a recipient of the Harold H. Maynard Award for 2001 from theJournal of Marketing. He was nominated a young scholar by the Marketing Science Institute in 2003. Rajan Varadarajan (varadarajan@tamu.edu) is Distinguished Professor of Marketing and holder of the Ford Chair in marketing and e-commerce at Texas A & M University. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of strategy, international marketing, and e-commerce. His research on these topics has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theAcademy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Business Horizons, theJournal of Business Research, and other journals.     

Interactive Technologies and Retailing Strategy: A Review,Conceptual Framework and Future Research Directions

During the past decade, a number of interactive technologies, including the Internet, have fundamentally transformed how retailers compete in the marketplace. In a similar vein, emerging interactive technologies can be expected to significantly alter the retailing landscape through their impact on retailing strategy and operations. Furthermore, it is conceivable that certain emerging interactive technologies will be perceived by some retailers as enablers (tools to more effectively compete in the marketplace) and by other retailers as disruptors of the present ways of doing business. Interactive technologies can either be generic, a technology that is readily available from an information technology (IT) vendor and is widely adopted by retailers, or proprietary. An interactive technology that is proprietary can enable a firm to generate economic rents from the innovation for an extended duration of time. Investing in a generic interactive technology, however, may be perceived as a cost of doing business for a retailer, and not a potential source of sustainable competitive advantage. However, a retailer's complementary resource endowments may enable the retailer to more effectively leverage a generic technology relative to its competitors and thereby achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. In this paper, we review the related literature, develop a process model delineating the mechanisms by which an interactive technology can affect and necessitate changes in retailers' strategies and identify directions for future research.     

Retailing Innovations in a Globalizing Retail Market Environment

In recent years, the combination of economic growth and population growth in emerging markets and less developed markets has accelerated the progression of globalization of retailing and globalization by retailers. The challenges faced by global and globalizing retailers (retailers who currently have or intend to establish a market presence in mature markets, emerging markets and less developed markets) can be more daunting compared to those faced by firms in other industries such as automobiles, steel, and computers. Retailing innovations that are responsive to the characteristics of distinctive national markets and broader aggregations of markets such as mature, emerging and less developed markets are critical to the success of global and globalizing retailers. Against this backdrop, this paper focuses on retailing innovations in the context of a globalizing retailing environment. It attempts to shed insights into the characteristics of retailing innovations conducive to superior performance in distinctive national markets and across broader aggregations of markets. Towards this end, we first examine the environmental conditions of markets in different development stages, namely mature, emerging and less developed markets, and explore consumer based, industry based, and legal/regulatory based challenges faced by globalizing retailers in these markets. Second, we show how these challenges can be transformed into opportunities with retailing innovations. We conclude with a roadmap for future research and present propositions on future development with respect to retailing innovations in these markets.     

Product portfolio analysis and market share objectives: An exposition of certain underlying relationships

Market share plays a central role in a number of portfolio planning models. This article presents an exposition of the underlying relationship between market share, market size, market growth rate, product sales volume and product sales growth rate. Three constructs—the market share multiplier, the physical volume multiplier, and the dollar volume multiplier—which aid in the strategic analysis of the product portfolio are proposed. The linkages between inter-related growth constructs such as the volumetric and dollar sales growth rate, and the nominal and real dollar sales growth rate are discussed. Certain generalizations regarding market share and its sensitivity to various environmental conditions are highlighted.     

A taxonomy of marketing planning styles

This study examines marketing planning styles among a sample of organizations in the health care industry. A taxonomy of marketing planning styles—limited marketing planners, constituency-oriented marketing planners, and comprehensive marketing planners—is derived and then related to the literature on planning. Differences among the marketing planning styles are tested based on hypotheses relating to planning comprehensiveness. The results suggest that: (i) marketing planning styles differ fairly distinctly in their attention to selected elements of the environment; and (ii) the marketing planning style employed is related to the level of competition and to organization size and complexity.     

Research on corporate diversification: A synthesis

Diversification has emerged as a central topic of research in strategic management. Although this topic has been widely and intensively studied by scholars from other areas such as industrial organization economics, financial economics, organization theory, and marketing, a synthesis of these diverse streams of research is lacking. This paper attempts such a synthesis with a view to fostering further strategic management research in this area by taking a multi-disciplinary perspective on diversification. A wide-ranging search of the literature led to the development of an overarching research framework that facilitates the classification of a vast body of literature. Proceeding from the framework, a critique of the literature is performed with a particular emphasis on studies by strategic management researchers. Five key conceptual and methodological problems are identified and discussed. Suggestions are offered for future research on diversification.     

A two-factor classification of competitive strategy variables

This paper focuses on the appropriateness of a two-factor classification of competitive strategy variables as success producers and failure preventers. Theoretical frameworks which provide static and quasi-dynamic perspectives of the proposed two-factor classification are outlined. An empirical exposition of the success producing and failure preventing properties of marketing strategy variables is presented using the PIMS data. Strategic implications and directions for future research are discussed.