Globalization, marketing resources, and performance: Evidence from China

Two important areas are underexplored in the relationship between marketing resources and performance. First, the subject has been primarily investigated in the context of Western countries, and inadequate attention has been given to emerging economies. Second, despite the recent growth in globalization, the moderating role of globalization on the link between marketing resources and performance has not been investigated. Addressing these important gaps, this article focuses on an emerging economy (China) and explores the moderating effect of globalization on this link. Specifically, the authors develop several hypotheses highlighting the moderating role of globalization activities (global product sourcing, global market seeking, and global partnership) on the link between marketing resources (market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and innovative capability) and firm performance. The findings of the moderating role of globalization provide several important implications for marketing theory development and managerial practice. Xueming Luo (luoxm@uta.edu) is an assistant professor in the Department of Marketing in the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas at Arlington. Before joining the University of Texas at Arlington faculty, he was on the faculty of the State University of New York at Fredonia. His research has appeared in various journals, including theJournal of Business Research, the International Journal of Research in Marketing, the Journal of Advertising Research, the Journal of Interactive Advertising, and Industrial Marketing Management. K. Sivakumar (Ph.D., Syracuse University; k.sivakumar@lehigh. edu) is the Arthur Tauck Professor of International Marketing & Logistics and a professor of marketing at Lehigh University. Prior to joining Lehigh in 2001, he spent 9 years at the University of Illinois in Chicago. His research interests include pricing, global marketing, and innovation management. His research has been published or is forthcoming in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of International Business Studies, Decision Sciences Journal, Marketing Letters, the Journal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Pricing Strategy & Practice: An International Journal, Psychology & Marketing, and other publications. He has won several awards for his research (including theDonald Lehman Award) and is on the editorial board of several scholarly journals. He has won outstanding reviewer awards from two journals. Sandra S. Liu (liuss@purdue.edu) is an associate professor in the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing at Purdue University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of London, and her current research interest focuses on strategic marketing issues in the context of customer contact, including knowledge management in a corporation in transition and sales management in a knowledge economy. With her extensive industry experience, she has written a number of books and journal articles, which have appeared in theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, the Journal of Business Research, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, among others.     

The reflective accountant: towards a new model for professional development

The accounting profession in recent times has been under intense scrutiny. Questions have been raised about, among other things, the right of the profession to regulate its activities, the behaviour of accounting firms and the usefulness of accounting information, a situation that would seem to indicate the existence of a crisis. This paper argues that the present crisis facing the accounting profession can be attributed to the inability of the tradional (technical rationality) model for professional development to cope with the new demands placed on the modern accounting profession which is characterized by professional pluralism. The paper proposes an alternative model for professional development based on the concept of the ‘reflective practitioner’. It is argued that the proposed model would equip accounting professionals with a degree of flexibility which is considered essential in carrying out their functions in a changing environment.     

Evaluating capital investment projects

The risk-adjusted discount rate method for evaluating capital investment projects applies the risk-adjusted rate to equilibrium as well as disequilibrium expected returns, leading to biased NPV calculations. This paper uses the CAPM framework, and suggests a procedure for applying the risk-adjusted rate without causing a bias. The procedure is shown to result in NPVs identical to those obtained by the certainty equivalent approach. A comparison with a previously suggested procedure is also provided.     

Managing Intellectual Property in Global Outsourcing for Innovation Generation

The globalization of markets and business operations is a trend that will continue strongly in the coming decades. One inescapable aspect of globalization has been the trend toward global outsourcing, especially that of knowledge‐based services. Due to firms' compulsion to reduce costs in the developed world, the issue is not if a particular firm will outsource or offshore work but when it will outsource it and how effectively it will leverage outsourcing to achieve superior competitive advantage. An important implication of the outsourcing of knowledge‐based services is the management of intellectual property (IP). Managers and researchers alike are interested in understanding the effects of global outsourcing of knowledge‐based services on the management of IP. The challenge of accessing, exploiting, and defending IP in global outsourcing relationships is first examined in this paper. IP can be managed by balancing the trust and control and verification in the outsourcing relationship. Given that defending IP is a major concern for outsourcing firms, the moderating roles of multitier suppliers, supplier country legal regimes, and global supplier communities of practice on defending IP is examined in detail through moderating effect propositions. Finally, the paper examines the effect of accessing, defending, and exploiting IP in global outsourcing relationships on the generation of incremental and radical innovation for the outsourcing firm. This research tries to extend current academic research on global outsourcing in three ways. First, it offers a framework to understand the management of the buyer–seller relationship in the global outsourcing of knowledge‐based services and its relationship to the management of IP and innovation generation. Second, the framework takes a broader perspective of outsourcing and innovation generation, including globalization, tiered suppliers, supplier country legal regimes, and global supplier communities of practice on defending IP. Third the research examines the effect of accessing, exploitation, and defense of IP on generation of incremental and radical innovation for the outsourcing firm. Managerial implications of this research and future research directions are also discussed.     

The Moderating Effect of Product Category Knowledge and Attribute Importance on the Attraction Effect

This paper explores the moderating effect of product category knowledge and attribute importance on the attraction effect. The results of our study point to several boundary conditions of the effect. For consumers who have a moderate level of product category knowledge, and for consumers who assign more importance to one product attribute over the other, the attraction effect was strongest. In contrast, the attraction effect was diminished, in some cases to insignificant levels, for consumers with a high or low level of product category knowledge, and for consumers who consider both product attributes about equally important.     

The Business Ethics of Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata – A Forerunner in Promoting Stakeholder Welfare

This article examines the business practices of Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, the founder the Tata group of business in India in the 19th century, from the perspective of stakeholder welfare. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata was concerned about the welfare of all major stakeholder constituents. His business practices promoted the welfare of employees, customers, society, owners, competitors, environment and other stakeholders. He implemented several measures even before law mandated them thus acting as a forerunner in promoting stakeholder welfare. His business plans became the foundation for an economically strong India. This article, after an initial overview of the stakeholder framework, describes the business practices of Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata with regard to major stakeholder constituents. Relevant research findings regarding each stakeholder constituent studied have been cited to show that the practices of Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata have relevance to business even today. The author humbly dedicates the article to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the Revered Chancellor of Sri Sathya Sai University, Prasanthinilayam, India.     

Innovation generation in supply chain relationships: A conceptual model and research propositions

Innovation generation has increasingly been recognized as an outcome of interaction between a firm and various outside entities. According to this view, supplier involvement and alliances are routes to innovation generation. Despite this realization, there is a dearth of research, both conceptual and empirical, focusing on innovation generation in buyer-seller relationships in supply chains. In an attempt to fill this void, this article develops a conceptual model of innovation generation in buyer-seller relationships in upstream supply chains. The authors propose that innovation generation in supply chain relationships, both incremental and radical, is a consequence of interactions between buyers and sellers. They also delineate factors internal and external to the relationship that moderate the link between interaction and innovation generation. Finally, the authors discuss managerial implications of their research and offer guidelines for future empirical research. Subroto Roy (sroy@newhaven.edu) (Ph.D., University of Western Sydney, 2002) is an assistant professor of marketing and international business at the University of New Haven since 2001. Prior to his Ph.D., he had more than 12 years of experience in packaging industry (Tetra Pak) marketing and sales. Involved with several upstream industrial new product development projects he helped clients launch more than 100 brands. Current research interests include global supply chains, technology adoption, and knowledge outsourcing. His work has appeared inAmerican Marketing Association Educators Conferences and is forthcoming inIndustrial Marketing Management, among others. He is a co-guest editor of a special issue of theJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing and has consulted with leading companies in Australia and Asia. See http://www.newhaven.edu/faculty/roy. K. Sivakumar (k.sivakumar@lehigh.edu) (Ph.D., Syracuse University, 1992) is the Arthur Tauck Professor of International Marketing & Logistics and a professor of marketing at Lehigh University. His research interests include pricing, global marketing, innovation management, and supply/value chain management. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of International Business Studies, Marketing Letters, theJournal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, Pricing Strategy & Practice: An International Journal, and other publications. He has won several awards for research. He is on the editorial board of six journals. Home page: www.lehigh.edu/~kasg. Ian F. Wilkinson (i.wilkinson@unsw.edu.au) is a professor in the School of Marketing at the University of New South Wales since 2001. His current research focuses on interfirm relations and networks in domestic and international markets and the dynamics and evolution of markets, including applications of complexity theory. His research has appeared in many journals including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of World Business, theJournal of International Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of Industrial and Business Marketing, and theJournal of Applied Psychology. He is on the editorial board of 12 scholarly journals. See http://www.marketing.unsw.edu.au/PEOPLE/HTML/IWilkinson.html.     

Instituting the marketing concept in a multinational setting: The role of national culture

A growing concern among international marketing managers is how to increase the market orientation and thereby performance of their transnational organizations. This study broaches this issue by investigating how the marketing concept, the heart of the market orientation, may be established in a multinational setting and the effects of national culture on that process. From a wide array of literature, the authors construct a theoretical framework and propositions on how global organizations may transform this philosophy from an abstract platitude to an operational reality. Their findings suggest that the process consists of complex, interdependent steps—interpretation, adoption, and implementation of the marketing concept. Cultural values shape interpretation and facilitate or impede adoption and implementation. The overall framework and findings can be used to guide institutionalization of the marketing concept across the organizational span, in particular by anticipating culture-based reactions from international subsidiaries. Cheryl Nakata is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Illinois at Chicago and received her doctorate from the same institution in 1997. Her work appears in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Product Innovation and Management, Marketing Science Institute Working Paper Series, International Marketing Review, and other publications. Her primary interests are in global marketing and marketing management and strategy. K. Sivakumar (Ph.D., Syracuse University, 1992) is the Arthur Tauck Professor of international marketing and logistics at Lehigh University. His research interests include pricing, international marketing, and technology management. His research has been published or is forthcoming in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Marketing Review, Journal of Business Research, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Marketing Letters, Pricing Strategy & Practice, and other journals. He has won several awards for research and is on the editorial boards of six scholarly journals.     

Enforceable Accounting Rules and Income Measurement by Early 20th Century Railroads

We investigate the extent to which income measurement by major early 20th‐century U.S. railroads shows evidence of lower income smoothness and increased conservatism following new fixed asset accounting rules issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1907 and 1908 and concurrent rate regulation regime shifts. Accounting rules promulgated by the ICC after the Hepburn Act of 1906 are the first accounting rules in U.S. history in which regulators could enforce such rules under federal law to increase compliance. Our samplewide results are more consistent with increased conservatism than with income smoothing. Additional tests indicate these effects are more pronounced for firms subject to more intense rate regulation by the ICC, which suggests that the tie‐in between accounting regulation and product/service market regulation influences how managers respond to new accounting rules.     

Customer participation in services: domain,scope, and boundaries

Extant service research considers several aspects of customer participation (CP) but lacks a clear and inclusive typology that delineates CP’s domain, scope, or boundaries. To address this gap, the authors build on a review of extant literature and propose a typology to classify CP into three categories—mandatory, replaceable, and voluntary. They demonstrate how this proposed typology improves the conceptual and empirical clarity of CP research. More specifically, the authors (1) suggest using “customer participation” to replace other terminologies such as coproduction and cocreation to reduce confusion; (2) conceptualize CP, customer engagement, and customer innovation as related but distinct concepts; (3) use the proposed typology to extend existing conceptualizations, integrate prior empirical research, and reconcile conflicting findings. Building on the enhanced conceptual clarity, managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.