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Despite the growing importance of servitization as a source of competitiveness for manufacturers, limited knowledge exists about organizational issues of servitization. Drawing on transaction cost economics theory and a configuration theoretical perspective, our study illuminates different organization architectures for servitization and how firms align such architectures with servitization approaches to achieve high financial performance. We analyze qualitative data based on interviews with 22 managers and quantitative data from a survey of 161 equipment manufacturers. The results indicate that manufacturers mostly opt for one of three organization architectures for servitization: internal product business unit, internal specialized service business unit, or external service provider. In addition, they reveal equifinal configurations of servitization characteristics to achieve high financial performance for each organization architecture. The internal specialized service business unit turns out as a flexible organization architecture to successfully provide smoothing, adapting, and substituting services. The use of an external service provider is less suited for the provision of adapting and substituting services, which require more knowledge specialization and coordination. All three organization architectures can be used to provide smoothing services. In summary, the results may serve as decision-making templates for aligning organization architecture, offering characteristics, and service provider integration to pursue servitization successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers tend to hold a focal firm responsible for its suppliers' unsustainable practices (chain liability), suggesting that firms need effective responses that can mitigate negative consumer reactions. In applying psychological contract theory to investigate recovery efforts related to such chain liability, the current study addresses three broad focal firm responses: Do nothing, choose a nonsubstantive response that verbally clarifies its own and the supplier's roles in the incident, or substantively rectify the supplier's wrongdoing with sustainability‐focused responses, such as termination, monitoring or development. With a vignette‐based experiment, we examine consumer perceptions and behaviors in three stages: before the unsustainable supplier incident (pre‐incident), after the incident (post‐incident) and after the focal firm has responded (post‐response). A nonsubstantive, clarification response decreases consumers' purchase intentions; substantive focal firm activities increase purchase intentions, though not fully back to pre‐incident levels. For consumers, termination, monitoring and development seem like equally adequate responses. Although combining several substantive responses offers even greater effectiveness for recovering purchase intentions, it still falls short of reaching pre‐incident levels. Thus, our findings demonstrate the focal firm's capacity to address suppliers' unsustainable practices substantively and recover, at least partially, its damaged relationship with consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boundary spanner corruption—voluntary collaborative behavior between individuals representing different organizations that violates their organizations' norms—is a serious problem in business-to-business (B2B) marketing relationships. Drawing on insights from the literatures on the dark side of business relationships and deviance in sales and service organizations, the authors identify boundary spanner corruption as a potential dark side complication inherent in close B2B marketing relationships. The same elements that generate benefits in interorganizational relationships, such as those between customer and seller firms, also enable the development of boundary-spanning social cocoons that can foment corrupt activities under certain conditions. A conceptual framework illustrates how trust at the interpersonal, intraorganizational, and interorganizational levels enables corrupt behaviors by allowing deviance-inducing factors stemming from the task environment or from the individual boundary spanner to manifest in boundary spanner corruption. Interpersonal trust between representatives of different organizations, interorganizational trust between these organizations, and intraorganizational agency trust of management in their representatives foster the development of a boundary-spanning social cocoon—a microculture that can inculcate deviant norms leading to corrupt behavior. Boundary spanner corruption imposes direct and opportunity costs on the involved organizations, with the additional burden of latent financial risk associated with potential exposure. The authors substantiate their multi-level framework and propositions with field-based insights from qualitative interviews with senior executives. The multi-level framework of boundary spanner corruption extends beyond extant marketing literature, highlights intriguing directions for future research, and offers new managerial insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salesperson face-to-face visits with buyer organizations are an inherently dynamic phenomenon and choreographing changes in those visits is important for a salesperson to identify and pursue sales opportunities. Drawing on social network theory and adopting a novel within-tie change perspective, we provide guidance regarding salesperson choreographing. We do so by focusing on how often a salesperson visits a buyer organization (i.e., change in visit intensity, visit intensity trend, duration of relations) and the functions a salesperson visits in a buyer organization (i.e., change in diversity of visited functions, change in visit concentration on top-management). Our model of salesperson choreographing is tested using data from 2934 salesperson–buyer organization relationships over seven consecutive sales periods. Random coefficient models illustrate the complex and nuanced interplay of various aspects of salesperson choreographing on sales with a buyer organization. The findings provide actionable guidance for salespeople to better manage the choreographing of limited visits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international marketing literature has suggested that the characteristics of the subsidiary-headquarters relationship play an important role in subsidiary knowledge development within the field of multinational corporations. However, few studies have examined the association between the subsidiary-headquarters relationship and the subsidiary strategic role and its effects on subsidiary knowledge development. In this article, the authors first examine the effect of four subsidiary-headquarters relational characteristics (socialization mechanisms, autonomy, shared values, and internal embeddedness) on subsidiary knowledge development. Then, building on configuration theory, the authors employ two perspectives of fit (moderation and profile deviation) to investigate the impact of fit between strategy and relational characteristics and examine their effects on subsidiary knowledge development. Using data from 184 U.K. foreign-owned subsidiaries operating in the knowledge-intensive business services sector, the authors confirm that internal embeddedness, socialization mechanisms, and autonomy are positively related to subsidiary knowledge development. Furthermore, the findings support the moderation and profile deviation perspectives and indicate that aligning the subsidiary's strategic role with relational characteristics can lead to superior knowledge development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to conceptualize corporate reference management as a strategic signaling activity in business networks. While research has extensively outlined how firms develop and maintain social capital through business-to-business (B2B) relationships, less is known about how they signal their participation in business networks to develop this social capital. Therefore, this paper conceptualizes B2B references, in particular corporate online references (COR), as a tool through which firms "borrow" attractiveness from their business network. Through the lens of structural social capital theory, COR is shown to capture advantages related to interconnectedness between firms. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reports on a two-step qualitative and quantitative research design. First, the authors undertook a qualitative study that reports on the COR practices of senior business managers. A quantitative study then uses social network analysis (SNA) to audit a digital business network comprising 1,098 firms in a metropolitan area of the UK, referencing to each other through their corporate websites using COR. Findings: The analyses find that COR practices contribute to building structural social capital in networks through strategic signaling. Firms do so by managing B2B references to craft strategic signals, using five steps: requesting, granting, curating, coding and decoding references. While the existing literature on business marketing portrays reference management as a routine and operational management practice, this investigation conceptualizes reference management, in particular COR, as a strategic activity. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to use SNA to represent B2B references in the form of COR as a network, which overlaps with (but is not entirely identical to) the business network. Further, the study re-conceptualizes reference management as a strategic signaling activity that leverages the firm's participation in business networks to build structural social capital by borrowing attractiveness of prestigious business partners that leverages existing structural social capital. Finally, the paper coins and conceptualizes COR as an exemplar of referencing management and offers propositions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business-to-business marketing is often concerned with the way in which companies manage strategically important relationships with their counterparts: their Key Relationship Programmes (KRPs). These relationships can be managed through the implementation of specific managerial and organisational structures, commonly implemented via Key Account Programmes (on the supplier side) or Key Supplier Programmes (on the customer side). Underlying this managerial process is an implicit assumption that these important relationships bring some form of additional value to one or both parties involved. However, a dyadic view of how this value is created and shared between the parties remains an under-researched area. In this conceptual paper, we use the multi-faceted value construct introduced in Pardo et al. (2006) and posit that the buyer's or seller's value strategies can be best understood as being internally, exchange, or relationship based. This in turn allows us to analyse the value gained as being the outcome of one of nine generic key relationship postures within any dyadic KRP. We focus on an analysis of so-called "managed" relationship postures and identify a number of dyadic activities and competencies that we hypothesise are important in managing such KRPs, and which can form the basis for further empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationship Marketing, and more broadly the placement of networks at the heart of marketing theory and practice, has sometimes been seen by practitioners and theorists alike as a universal panacea. Yet, given the contemporary phenomenon of rapid decline in direct participation in politics, with tumbling party membership rosters, the relevance of relationship marketing and its capacity to re-energise democratic politics has intuitive plausibility. We therefore seek to theorise about relationship marketing in a political context, arguing that the development of a theoretical construct and rigorous conceptual frameworks would invigorate current research on political marketing. We distinguish in particular two approaches - a micro view dealing with specific entity and exchange-oriented aspects, while a macro-perspective will look at the interplay with the wider political structures and the overall political system. Beyond this, the authors are also acutely conscious of the applied perspective and explore various methods by which the concept could be operationalised and grounded in practice. In this article we therefore seek to remedy the literature's remarkable neglect of relationship marketing in politics. There is a crisis in democracy when people perceive politics as something which happens to them rather than something over which they exert ownership, and such a crisis was created in part by the substitution of political marketing tools for face to face contact. These authors thus suggest how political marketing potentially can help solve a dilemma it has helped create. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to deepen the understanding about when and how the mobilization of resources through strong and weak ties in a focal firm's network can affect new product success. It addresses two significant gaps in the literature. While prior research has advanced the understanding of how factors around tie strength, resource mobilization, and environmental characteristics relate to new product development, it has yet to offer a more holistic understanding of the interconnected structures and the interplay among these factors. Furthermore, limited insights exist about how firms could utilize resource mobilization approaches in different environmental contexts to enhance new product success. Building on resource dependence theory, this paper contributes to prior work by adopting configuration theoretical considerations and performing an empirical investigation to identify necessary and sufficient conditions for new product success. Based on data from a survey of 354 managers from manufacturing and services firms in the United Kingdom, the study conducts a configurational comparative study based on fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to examine configurations of strong‐tie and weak‐tie resource mobilization approaches within particular environmental contexts for new product success. The findings reveal alternative, equifinal configurations for new product success, and add to the existing body of work by connecting the notions of network ties, resource mobilization, and context dependence, as well as by developing an integrative framework to explain the interplay of remote and proximate conditions for new product success. For management practice, this study offers guidance in describing and diagnosing business contexts that enhance new product success, and in identifying resource mobilization action repertoires to capitalize on these contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore whether dyadic operationalization within business relationships is feasible and sensible in a rigorous way. It aims to introduce quantitative operationalizations of business relationship characteristics from both monadic and dyadic datasets, and to introduce aggregation techniques for utilizing the richness of dyadic data. It compares and contrasts the effectiveness of different techniques in terms of explaining business relationship phenomena, using an empirical exemplification. Methodology/Approach: The paper reviews the relevant literature and summarizes various dyadic operationalization and aggregation approaches. It furthermore illustrates such operationalization and aggregation by utilizing an empirical example. A nomological model of marketing-purchasing collaboration is developed and tested based upon internal dyadic data. Using alternative model comparisons, we contrast several different ways of operationalizing dyadic data (combined, dyadic, and dyadic with asymmetry), and compare the outcomes utilizing structural equation modeling. Findings: The study of business relationships typically makes use of a variety of data types, ranging from simple monadic to perceived dyadic, through to rigorous dyadic data. The various aggregation methods include value, asymmetry, and directional asymmetry approaches. Pertinent sub-constructs are developed based on these aggregation methods and relevant hypotheses incorporating and reflecting on the role of the sub-constructs are suggested to develop a more meaningful and rich quantitative analysis of business relationship phenomena. Research Implications: This paper explores the different ways in which data assessing the relationship between two interacting parties can be operationalized. Dyadic operationalization within the context of business relationships is sensible and recommended. Researchers can adopt approaches to conduct dyadic data operationalization including data collection methods such as perceived dyadic and rigorous dyadic. They should benefit from rich dyadic aggregation approaches such as value, asymmetry, and directional asymmetry, noting the strengths and weaknesses of each approach discussed in this paper. Practical Implications: Businesses are recommended to increase customer orientation and marketing-purchasing interaction to improve collaboration between marketing and purchasing departments and thus their overall performance. Businesses should also develop an alignment between the collaboration perceptions of the involved departments, and note that perceptual symmetry improves collaboration. Perception matching in a dyadic relationship plays a role in enhancing the overall firm performance. Managers should note that all involved parties' perspectives are to be included to ensure a positive and collaborative liaison. An all-encompassing attitude and perspective (as opposed to an asymmetric, unbalanced one) ensures an effective relationship. Originality/Value/Contribution of the paper: The contribution of the research lies in outlining different ways to accomplish more insightful analytics regarding data operationalization, and their different strengths and weaknesses in terms of explaining relationship characteristics, and therefore enriches research on business relationships by making better sense of quantitative dyadic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the conference report on the Second Conference on Political Marketing at the Judge Institute of Studies at the University of Cambridge on March 27-29, 1996. Topics discussed include political marketing management. A paper by N. O'Shaughnessy on the differences between political marketing and social propaganda was presented.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a scale for inter-firm market orientation (IMO) based on an original conceptualization by Elg (2008). Building on the MARKOR scale, the IMO scale is introduced to better understand the market orientation efforts that occur within business relationships.Design/methodology/approach After establishing a conceptualization of IMO, an initial list of scale items is developed by adapting the original MARKOR scale. Several phases of qualitative pre-tests have been conducted with both academic experts and several manufacturer and reseller partner executives to assess the applicability and clarity of the measurement instrument. Using a quantitative survey design, the measurement instrument has been validated by relationship partner managers from both manufacturer and reseller companies.Findings The results of the analysis reveal that IMO is a second-order formative construct consisting of two first-order reflective constructs termed joint intelligence cooperation and joint customer responsiveness.Practical implications The operationalization of IMO suggests to manufacturers and their partners that the market intelligence cooperation efforts between them should be more focused on intelligence about the end users and less on general market trends. Further, the customer responsiveness efforts between the partners tend to be more reactive in nature, unlike the proactive stance in intra-firm market orientation.Originality/value The paper extends the notion of focal firms’ market orientation to IMO, which exists between partners in business relationships, and does so by developing a conceptualization and measurement instrument for IMO. This newly developed construct and scale can be used in future research to explore in greater depth the interplay between IMO and firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturers across many industries use service infusion to address the changing customer demands and improve their competitive position. However, understanding the drivers of successful service infusion is a complex process. Using business model and configuration theories, this study conceptualizes and analyzes the interplay of different driver domains for suppliers, customers, and their business relationships. In particular, we analyze how service offering, service pricing, service capabilities, and the service infusion process interact in affecting service infusion success and failure. 137 interviews relating to 25 business relationships are analyzed via configuration analysis, particularly fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Results show that different equifinal configurations exist (i.e., different ways to succeed with service infusion). We also find that “more is not always better.” For example, service infusion success can be achieved without fully developed service capabilities. In addition, successful configurations are often very similar to those leading to failure. A dyadic analysis demonstrates that customer service capabilities are overall more important than those of suppliers. From these findings, we derive priorities for future research. In particular, our study points toward the need to better understand the interplay between service infusion drivers. Second, we advocate the augmentation of research perspectives in service infusion by taking into account the supplier, customer, and dyadic perspectives. Lastly, the importance of understanding drivers of service infusion failure is highlighted. For managers, our study shows the importance of relational audits as a starting point to deciding on how to infuse services in a business relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically investigate the concept of networking capability (NC) for the management of supplier relationships and their dynamics in order to leverage product innovations. NC in the context of supplier relationships is conceptualized based on dynamic capabilities aimed at relationship initiation, relationship development, and relationship ending. Furthermore, the study tests the interaction of NC with relationship proclivity as an organizational feature, and analyzes latent classes of NC affecting product innovation.Design/methodology/approach This study brings together prior research on company routines related to inter-firm networking, the dynamic capability approach to strategy, and literature on inter-firm innovation. The study utilizes multiple informant survey data gathered from 156 firms operating in the automotive parts industry in Iran. Data are analyzed with partial least square structural equation modeling, as well as latent class analysis using finite mixture modeling (FIMIX-PLS).Findings This research provides evidence for the positive influence of NC with respect to supplier relationships on firm product innovation, as well as overall firm performance. Relationship proclivity is shown to amplify this effect. At the same time, the research illustrates that NC may be applied in different combinations in the context of supplier relationship portfolio management. Two mechanisms are tentatively identified: firms using “static optimization” focus mainly on supplier relationship development capabilities, while those using “dynamic optimization” utilize supplier relationship initiation and ending capabilities.Research limitations/implications This research focuses on one setting (i.e. the automotive parts industry in Iran). Further studies need to broaden these findings to other industries and countries, specifically those which show a different cultural make-up from Iran. Furthermore, this research indicates the existence of two distinct mechanisms as to how different aspects of NC impact product innovation. While it is reasonable to identify these mechanisms as networking “strategies,” this study does not clarify whether this represents intended strategies by firms or relates to emerging capability patterns.Practical implications The study contributes to managerial knowledge by illustrating the need for a dynamic approach with regard to networking-related routines in supplier relationships in the context of product innovation. This study suggests that managers should devote equal attention to strengthening existing supplier relationships as well as to initiating new supplier relationships (e.g. screening for promising partners and signaling firm’s relationship value to attract new counterparts) and managing non-performing supplier relationships (e.g. by developing routines to exit from those supplier relationships).Originality/value The paper contributes to a better understanding of dynamic approaches to networking with suppliers and their impact on product innovation from the perspective of the focal firm. It furthermore provides a fine-grained understanding of different latent classes of firms in terms of how they utilize networking capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the stress-strain relationship by examining compound causes of frustration in the workplace. Drawing on configuration theory, this article describes stress patterns, that is, configurations of role stressors and social stressors, and underlying frustration and its negation, that is, mellowness. In addition, this article describes potential sources of such frustration-stimulating stress patterns by examining constellations of employee and task characteristics. Based on a sample of 118 salespeople, the authors analyze the data using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis-an analytic method pertinent to describing configurational patterns of causal factors. The findings from this study indicate the coexistence of alternative patterns of stressors for frustration. In addition, the findings show that configurational patterns for frustrated salespeople are quite different from those characterizing mellow salespeople. In summary, knowledge of these constellations of stressors helps sales managers detect conditions that frustrate, and develop strategies to diminish these conditions in order to improve sales force performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the complaint management expectations of 72 British and 74 German organizational buyers using automated online means-end laddering and a Hierarchical Value Map presentation. It conceptualizes the links between expected complaint resolution attributes by the buyer (i.e., means) and the buyer’s value perceptions (i.e., ends). Unlike previous research, we highlight similarities and differences in the drivers behind and attributes of complaint management expectations across two countries (Germany and the United Kingdom). Even in countries appearing to be similar economically and culturally, we find differences in the desired attributes. British buyers, for example, emphasize softer complaint resolution attributes compared to Germans. Our study is the first to present a model of complaint management expectations incorporating the role of culture, and it provides managerial directions on standardization and adaption of complaint resolution attributes. Furthermore, it evaluates justice dimensions (especially interactional justice) and their impact on perceptions of complaint management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the fit between the strategic posture of a political party and its political market orientation, and analyses the impact of this fit on party performance. For this purpose, a configuration theory logic is applied to the context of the political market; in particular, we develop strategic profiles (i.e. strategic postures and political market orientation) of four Belgian political parties represented in the Flemish Parliament. By comparing the strategic profiles derived from a questionnaire administered to 3148 party members with those of 'theoretically ideal' profiles, we uncover the 'strategic misfit' (or 'misalignment') for each party and then relate this misfit to party performance. Results indicate that there is a strong, negative relationship between the misalignment of actual and perceived strategic profiles on the one hand and performance on the other. However, the 'ideal profiles' differ with the strategic posture of a party. Thus, our findings show that it is not so much the strategic posture itself that will determine superior performance, but it is the strategic posture that the party aligns with implementing a particular political market orientation that is the most important factor. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As portfolio models have evolved in the area of business marketing scholars have turned their attention from traditional product-based and transaction-oriented portfolios to portfolios based on business relationship considerations. However, the conceptualization of relationship portfolios has remained vague, and the applications of these analyses in business practice are quite limited. In a parallel stream of studies, the Industrial Network Approach (INA) has increasingly explored the concept of relationship value and highlighted the need to take into consideration the interdependent and dynamic features of business relationships as well as the phenomenological and situational nature of value perceptions. Although judgements in terms of relationship value applied to a set of business relationships are foundations of portfolio investment decisions, the connection between the two streams of research has not yet been explored in depth. This study introduces five critical elements of relationship value stemming from INA that have important consequences for business relationship portfolio management. Developing the concept of Relationship Value Portfolio provides the foundation for a discussion about the need to integrate the two fields of research – namely, relationship value and relationship portfolios – into a more grounded conceptual framework. This framework allows for propositions to be developed, which contribute to enriching the theoretical debate on both streams while offering important implications for managerial practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues around innovation have seen considerable increase of academic and managerial interest over the last decades. In parallel, the role of business relationships and networks has also attracted growing attention. Consequently, the concept of innovation networks (INs) is positioned at the interface of these two streams. At the core of the concept of INs is the proposition that relationships, i.e. interactions with other business partners, are critical for key innovation activities. However, research on INs has focused mostly on network structure-related aspects, while not providing enough insights into the processes of organising for interactions. In particular, this study explores the role of actors' perceptions and interpretations regarding business relationships on how actors organise for innovation activities. Furthermore, this paper sheds light on the reciprocal influence that exists between cognition and action in such contexts, something that has been discussed in the field of organisational and cognitive science but not within innovation networks setting as part of business marketing studies. Longitudinal exploratory case study research was conducted, which analyses two service innovation processes in an innovation network in a district within a municipality of a North European country. Our study shows how INs evolve over time as actors shape (and reshape) the network through specific interactions within and between realms of the IN, whereby the diverse views held by different actors are confronted. In particular, we find that perceptions and interpretations of power distribution and strength of relationships emerge as relevant aspects to determine actors' intentions toward organising both in the innovation development and the implementation phases. At the same time, the changes (such as initiation, development, and termination) in the relationships with other actors, actor groups, or realms of the IN affect the actors' interpretations, thereby generating a recursive interpretative path through which the innovation network is shaped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-commercial exchanges including social and political ones have become an accepted marketing explanandum since the broadening debate of marketing of the 1970s. In order to build a theory of political marketing, a rigorous understanding of the nature of the political exchange needs to be developed beyond the simplistic assumption of being synonymous with commercial exchange. The service characteristics of the political offering only make full sense if understood as being triadic interactions rather than dyadic exchanges. Thus, the presumptive effect of political services only comes to the fore if the interaction between candidates and voters (in the electoral market) is seen as interdependent with interactions between the candidates in the legislative assembly (in the parliamentary market) and between legislators and citizens (in the governmental market) as part of a wider political exchange system. This triadic structure of the political exchange nuances the current research focus by embedding the electoral interaction within a wider interaction system. Our article thus provides an initial attempt to develop a broadened concept on which further theory building as well as empirical analysis in political marketing can be based. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – There is conflicting evidence of the extent to which business relationships in the UK construction industry are based on trust between closely collaborating parties or alternatively are more adversarial in nature, based on dependence between the parties. This study seeks to provide empirical evidence about the effects of trust and dependence in business relationships in this industry. Design/methodology/approach – A large quantitative survey was conducted with buying firms, resulting in a total of 636 usable responses from 404 firms to test a model using structural equation modelling. The authors test the extent to which trust and dependence act as antecedents to four dimensions identified from the literature as being important determinants of relationship quality: commitment, communication, satisfaction, and long-term orientation. Findings – The results provide good evidence for the hypotheses in the authors' model: relational characteristics associated with relationship quality are mainly driven by the interpersonal trust between buyers and their suppliers. Interorganisational dependence, evidence of more adversarial relationships, has either no direct impact on relational consequences or at best far less impact than trust. Originality/value – This research substantiates trust as a key factor influencing relational characteristics associated with relationship quality in the UK construction industry. The findings confirm the earlier work in this industry that trust is an important strategic tool in supplier relationship management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the levels of trust and reliance in different international business markets. The paper aims to obtain empirical evidence regarding the importance of relational aspects (trust) vis-à-vis organisational ones (reliance) for building long-term business relationships. Design/methodology/approach – This is an exploratory study to examine trust and reliance in the manufacturing and construction industries of four countries: UK, India, Pakistan, and Poland. Statistical analysis is based on a data sample of 501 responses collected through a survey of buying and selling relationships. Findings – Although varying across countries, stable relationships with high levels of both trust and reliance exist widely in business markets. Exclusively trust-based business relationships, i.e. those which are mainly driven by individual-level aspects, are very rare. However, both trust and reliance are significant for building relationships with long-term perspectives. Practical implications – Managers in firms who want to build advantageous and sustainable business relationships need to be able to discern the difference between trust in people on the one hand, and reliance on the partner firms on the other. This research shows that to maintain sustainable relationships, firms should not only focus their relational capabilities on enhancing reliance aspects with their business partners, but also aim to build good levels of trust in the interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the strategic postures and political market orientation profile of two Danish parties. Profile stability at the organisational level is used as a control variable. Design/methodology/approach – The strategic political postures of two Danish parties are derived using a self-typing study. Based on configuration theory, ideal organisational profiles to implement these studies are juxtaposed with the actual political market orientation profile for each party, gained from two datasets analysed using Partial Least Squares. Member activity levels are used to control for organisational stability. Findings – The self-typing study revealed that Party A was perceived to follow a relationship builder posture, and Party B a convinced ideologist posture. However, both market orientation profiles resembled the organisational structures of a convinced ideologist. Thus, Party A exhibits a mismatch between strategic orientation and implemented organisational profile, based on configuration theory. The results were generally stable across political activity levels. Research limitations/implications – The investigation represents an intra-group analysis, i.e. it is concerned only with two parties in one political system; however, this reflects the oligopolistic character of the vast majority of electoral markets and thus, further research could compare results across political systems. A link with performance variables needs to be established to assess the extent to which the organisational alignment results in competitive advantages for a party. Practical implications – Whilst there exists a general cohesiveness within parties regarding the overall strategic posture, political managers need to be aware of the subtle differences that can affect the market orientation of different groups within the party. Originality/value – The study contributes to understanding the concept of market orientation in the political sphere. More specifically, it empirically links political market orientation as an issue of political marketing implementation on the one hand, and strategic postures of parties as a strategic issue on the other, following a configuration theory logic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the areas of strategic political marketing and political market orientation have been the subject of several conceptual articles that have provided the theoretical foundations for further empirical work. However, despite the close conceptual relatedness of the proposed concepts, they have yet to be integrated to provide a more nuanced framework that both researchers and political marketing practitioners can utilize in the development of strategies and offerings with which to achieve their organizational goals. The aim of this conceptual article is to address this deficit by developing an integrated concept of political marketing strategy using two complementary frameworks, namely strategic political postures and political market orientation (PMO). The authors introduce the two main concepts and derive for each of the strategic posture-specific PMO profiles as well as interconstruct relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - To overcome the limitations of applying trust in interorganizational relationships, this paper aims to investigate the significant role of interorganizational reliance in business relationships and develop an original scale to measure this new construct. Design/methodology/approach - A total of 20 in-depth interviews with buying firms were conducted in the UK construction industry. The contents of the interviews were analyzed with NVivo to examine the rational standards underlying the buyer-supplier exchange relationship. Findings - Trust is a relevant but not in itself a sufficient condition for the development and sustaining of buyer-supplier relationships. The objective rationality requires that business relationships are centred on organizational needs and benefits which necessitate the rational standard of interorganizational reliance. Reliance remains to be central in business relationships despite low or lack of trust. Research limitations/implications - Focusing on the construction industry, this paper evaluates the current status of trust and develops an understanding of interorganizational reliance in business relationships. Practical implications - The generic use of the term of trust has obscured the meaning and significance of reliance in business relationships. Marketing researchers should put necessary attention and efforts to explore the distinct features and effects of reliance in exchange relationships between organizations. Originality/value - The paper empirically examines the deficiencies in trust, and demonstrates the significance of reliance in buyer-supplier relationships. An original measure for the new construct of reliance is also developed through interviews with key informants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of the attributes of effective complaint management in business-to-business relationships, and to reveal the underlying benefits that buying organizations are looking for when complaining. Design/methodology/approach - A semi-standardized qualitative technique called laddering was applied successfully to an online environment with 22 representatives of companies in the manufacturing industry participating. Findings - The resulting hierarchical value map displays 13 attributes which exemplify the complaint resolution management expectations. A total of 14 constructs represent consequences of such resolution activities, while four constructs can be interpreted as values. Take "Quick action" is the most important of the expected attributes and behaviours of complaint resolution management. Four consequences seem to dominate the assessment: Financial benefits, Prevention of future problems, Solution, and Effective resolution handling. "Maintain supplier relationships" appears as a dominant value in the perceptions of respondents, with half of them mentioning this as an end. Research limitations/implications - Owing to the exploratory nature of the study in general and the scope and size of its sample in particular, the findings are tentative in nature. The study involved a group of representatives of large UK manufacturing companies with complaint handling responsibilities and so the results cannot be generalised. Originality/value - The findings enrich the existing limited stock of knowledge on complaint management in business relationships by developing a deeper understanding of the attributes that complaining customer companies desire from suppliers, as well as the underlying business logic (i.e. values) for these expectations. The quality of the results also suggests that the laddering questionnaire technique can be transferred effectively to an online environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The key objective of this research is to investigate the relationship between party member activity-levels and perceptions of their party's political market orientation. Specifically, it aims to scrutinise the differences in the interplay of attitudinal and behavioural aspects of political market orientation. Design/methodology/approach - Using a wide variety of respondent groups within the party, the research draws on an existing conceptualisation of political market orientation and empirically test its relationship with party member activity levels. Three models, plus a baseline model, are developed and data from 1,156 questionnaires are used to investigate a structural equation model using the partial least square method. Findings - While the baseline model exhibits a robust pattern of positive relationships between the attitudinal and behavioural constructs, the comparative analysis of the different models shows that party activity levels have a significant impact on these relationships. The study identified that less active members perceive a wider range of attitudinal concepts to be of significance, compared to active members, politicians and party professionals. Originality/value - This is one of a few studies empirically investigating the concept of political market orientation. Especially the focus on a wide range of respondents, in line with recent development in the literature on commercial market orientation, provides a nuanced analysis of the varying perception-patterns of party stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we employ the concept of political market orientation to better understand how the main political parties in the United Kingdom and Germany relate to other stakeholders in the political sphere through an exploratory content analysis of their core election offering, the manifesto. This study has two aims: first, we will discuss the different facets of the market orientation of the main U.K. and German parties in their respective 2005 general elections through an exploratory content analysis, and second, we will compare characteristics of market orientation between the two countries. While the U.K. parties generally exhibited similar levels of market orientation on each of the relevant construct dimensions, the German parties had more distinct profiles; thus, the applied dimensions of political market orientation show discriminatory power within and across electoral systems. In the United Kingdom, it was found that there was a marketplace-determined “gravitational center effect” that limited the political market orientation of the manifesto, while this was less pronounced in Germany. This leads to the hypothesis that certain aspects of political market orientation may be mediated by structural variables such as the electoral system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political marketing management is often criticized for devaluing democratic processes. However, no literature exists which outlines different concepts of democracies and systematically juxtaposes them with political marketing management in its varied conceptual and practical facets. In this article, we outline three different perspectives, i.e. a selling-oriented, an instrumentally-oriented, and a relational political marketing management, and analyse their compatibility with two different concepts of democracy, specifically competitive elitism and deliberative democracy. We discuss implications of political marketing vis-à-vis the theory of democracy as well as necessary further research. We find that while certain political marketing management perspectives are associated with different theories of democracy, the current normal paradigm of marketing theory shows the least overlap with democratic theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many companies have considerably increased their number of offering varieties. The underlying rationale for such product strategies is substantiated by the belief that assortment proliferation would better satisfy customers' diverse preferences. However, empirical evidence exists suggesting that if there are too many varieties to choose from, customers sometimes either refrain from making a purchase at all, or else resort to simple selection heuristics. This article approaches the issue of assortment variety from a decision-theoretical perspective, by positing circumstances under which expanding the number of varieties will positively or negatively affect consumer behavior. Herein, the concept of attribute alignability provides explanatory potential. Two experimental studies are presented which analyze the effect of the number of product varieties on customers' decision-making behavior by means of manipulating the choice settings in a virtual car configurator. It can be shown that whether the product attributes in question are alignable or nonalignable is the decisive factor in explaining customer decision making under variety. Furthermore, “pseudo-alignability”is achieved easily via the relabeling of product options. These findings yield concrete managerial insights for the customer-oriented design of product lines consisting of a basic product and several varieties derived from it. ©2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the feasibility and usefulness of adapting the concept of "customer value" from commercial marketing for use in the field of political marketing. Design/methodology/approach - A literature review of the field of customer value, and the application of a prominent "means-end hierarchy" model of customer value to the political context. Findings - From the application of the customer value approach to the political context, it is concluded that an analogous concept of "voter value" can be delineated and is the basis for a promising approach to the development of political marketing strategy. Research limitations/implications - Several important testable hypotheses emerge from the article concerning the application of "voter value" as a segmentation tool in the field of political marketing. Practical implications - "Voter value" emerges as a potentially useful tool in political marketing strategy, in particular with respect to shaping political communications messages, and segmenting voter populations. Originality/value - It is widely acknowledged that "customer value" is an important concept in commercial marketing. This article addresses the important questions of whether and how the concept can be transferred to a different area of marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on political marketing has now established itself as a spirited subdiscipline of mainstream marketing, producing considerable numbers of high-quality learned articles and books each year. However, a certain stagnation in knowledge development has been identified. Consequently, this article links this inadequacy to the dominating tendency of focusing research on campaign applications of marketing instruments, emphasizing a reactive and managerial orientation. In discussing the core of political marketing theory, two different stances are identified: first, a narrow one, focusing on one, concerned with a more holistic attempt of achieving breadth of knowledge of politics. An idiosyncratic discussion of the ontology and epistemological implications of this wider stance identifies four concepts as pivotal: the exchange character of political marketing; a "qualified" market environment; the social embeddedness of the political system in other generic systems; and the structural connectedness of political marketing and politics, implying ethical considerations. While current research limitations in political marketing can be explained by an (implicit) focus on the narrow interpretation of political marketing theory, the wider stance frames a new research agenda for political marketing that provides new directions and less restricted conceptual horizons. The article closes with a discussion of such a new research agenda by providing descriptions of six key research areas of political marketing and outlines implications for the field of political marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial companies use celebrities extensively with target customer segments to increase the appeal of their offerings. The instrument of celebrity endorsement has nowadays become a pervasive element in advertising and communication management. However, the use of celebrities in political campaigns and the communication strategies of political organisations is an often overlooked and under-researched topic. Whilst many strategic as well as tactical aspects of political campaigning have come under scrutiny from a marketing perspective, the concept of celebrity political endorsement (CPE) has not been analysed in detail in the political marketing literature. This article will therefore use the Taipei City Councillor election in 2002 as an initial and descriptive case study of celebrity endorsement in politics. The main exploratory focus is on the perception of the interviewees relating to aspects of CPE within the frame-work of Taiwanese politics in general, and the Taipei council election in particular. Therefore, by using case study inquiry, it is not the authors' intention to establish 'facts' but rather identify the actors' interpretations and perceptions in order to understand and gauge contemporary models of CPE. The results from the case study analysis are subsequently discussed with regard to a parsimonious selection of existing theoretical and conceptual literature on celebrity endorsement in marketing management. As such, this article contributes to an understanding of the application of a marketing tool in a political marketing management situation, and it also increases our understanding of non-US and Western European political settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Customer value and customer satisfaction are pivotal but at the same time elusive concepts in services marketing theory. This paper focuses on discussing the relationship between these two concepts. We propose operationalization by developing and testing scales, especially operational indicators, for important dimensions and drivers of the services-value construct. A multitrait-multimethod design is used to test the robustness of the operationalization. Furthermore, a cross-cultural data set is used to explore country influences using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation models. Results indicate that the measurement construct is robust and useful in country-comparative studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• George W. Bush won the 2004 US Presidential election despite the facts of one thousand people losing their life in the Iraq war, the highest rate of increase in unemployment in 70 years and a vitriolic propaganda campaign (Michael Moore, etc.) against him. This case study seeks to explain the success through the prism of marketing theory and conceptual structures, that is, that the Bush team had a superior communications strategy and, within those parameters, superior marketing elements. Thus we seek to surface and integrate a number of causal explanations for his victory that arose from a political marketing orientation, specifically the offer of a 'coherent narrative'; the conduct of a 'permanent campaign'; more effective negative advertising (especially by pro-Bush 527 groups), targeting and packaging; the success of the late campaign 'big tent' ploy. None of this however seeks to exclude the more purely political explanations for his success (located in such phenomena us the mobilization of the 'Christian Right' and the continuity to the aura attached to the '911 President'); nor is the application of marketing thought to political contexts treated uncritically. • A further aim is to introduce political marketing modes of analysis to a political science audience--not to present them us a new 'correctness', for they are certainly vulnerable to challenge, but rather to precipitate more of an intellectual exchange between these two disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study investigates the concept of political market orientation (PMO) in an untraditional setting, namely the 2005 contest for the leadership of the British Conservative Party. Based on a collective case-study method, a content analysis of candidates' speeches and manifestos is provided. We operationalize four attitudinal constructs of a conceptual PMO model and adapt them to suit the novel campaign context. Our findings show further evidence for the existence of a 'gravitational centre' effect hypothesized in earlier studies. Furthermore, we qualify the concept of PMO through a long-term focus and a context-specific evaluation of the merits of alternative PMO profiles. Thus, the generic conceptual model of political market orientation, which previously has only been used in the content of parties contesting a general election campaign, can be adapted to alternative campaign situations without a reduction in its explanatory power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we argue that the state of theory and concept development in political marketing needs to be related to several epistemological as well as topical themes and issues. Seven meta-theoretical issues are discussed with regard to current theoretical position of political marketing research and some initial recommendations are made on how these issues can be developed further. The second part of the article focuses on topical aspects of theory and concept development in political marketing and highlights nine themes for further research. These themes of political marketing are singled out because of their characteristics which show them to be significantly distinct from commercial marketing practice, and therefore need more careful modelling in concepts and theories of political marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including articles on theory and concept development in the area of voting behavior and political marketing management.

Purpose - This article aims to build on existing literature on value and proposes new perspectives and facets of relational value in key account management (KAM). Design/methodology/approach - Building on traditional value perspectives, value in KAM is conceptually deconstructed and linked with strategic value approaches. Findings - The article finds that a multifaceted key account value perspective includes three different types of value: exchange value, proprietary value, and relational value. Depending on the type of value constellation within a KAM relationship, a number of distinct key account value strategies are presented and discussed. Originality/value - The article provides an innovative concept of value in strategically important business-to-business relationships. Based on this, several strategic implications regarding the management of value are derived which enable further empirical research and a more nuanced managerial approach towards KAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While research exists on how political parties use political marketing instruments, there is a lack of emphasis on strategic marketing, especially with regard to theoretical frameworks of political marketing orientation. This can be seen as problematic in the development of political marketing research as a subdiscipline of marketing and political science. A concept is suggested that defines a party's orientation towards political marketing management using two crucial elements of strategic marketing theory regarding customer orientation: leading and following. Three generic types of political parties are characterised by their strategic postures using their stance on these two elements. The implications of strategic postures for the fulfilment of certain political marketing functions and organisational issues are briefly discussed. While traditional parties with a rigid content-based approach towards policy-making can be characterised as Convinced Ideologists, contemporary catch-all parties have moved towards being Tactical Populists. Whilst both these postures are prone to being perceived as dogmatic or untrustworthy and fickle, a third posture, that of Relationship Builder, is proposed. This integrates leading and following, by using a relational approach towards marketing, as suggested ill the evolving literature on strategic marketing and marketing orientation. This Relationship Builder stance constitutes a theoretical posture that needs to be clarified by empirical research in tile political arena. Thus, to foster further empirical and theoretical research, several propositions have been derived ill a process that is in line with the demands of theory-building and hypothesis-driven exploration as suggested for this comparatively new discipline of political marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - There has recently been an increase in interest in the notion of "network pictures" amongst researchers in the field of business-to-business marketing. Network pictures are managers' subjective mental representations of their relevant business environment. They are posited to work as "sense-making" devices, and consequently shape managerial decisions, actions, and evaluations. However, while interest in this concept has been reported in a range of literature that is here identified and discussed, there has been no attempt to rigorously conceptualize the underlying dimensions of such pictures. This paper aims to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach - Based on an extensive review of previous work, this study proposes a parsimonious set of interrelated dimensions, and initially tests this approach.
Findings - This article shows the model's face validity, but also argues that not all dimensions are perceived as being equally useful: utilisation of the different dimensions is determined more by what it is that managers wish to represent.
Research limitations/implications - The implications of the concept of network pictures, as well as further research propositions, are discussed.
Originality/value - As researchers develop their interest in network pictures, so one needs to develop one's understanding of what their underlying dimensions are. A parsimonious set of such dimensions is developed and tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• In contrast to most political marketing theories which imply that such concepts as "voter-orientation' or "voter-centric political management" are trivial and uni-dimensional, this article will take its starting point from an alternative perspective. • It draws on the concept of political marketing "postures; i.e. a multi-faceted conceptual entity, based on varied dimensions of political marketing orientations. The main duality consists of the constructs of 'leading' and following, with an auxiliary (and complementary) dimension of "relationship building" • This article provides an exploratory methodology to operationalize this concept, which will also be initially tested empiricially, using expert judgements as well as electorate's perceptions. • Changing postures will be exemplified within a longitudinal application of the concept to perceptions of Tony Blair as Prime Minister. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as a concept is a well-researched area of marketing theory. Since the 1990s the use of relational marketing approaches in consumer markets has found many managerial applications. However, the implementation considerations of CRM remained under-researched from a conceptual perspective, especially as implementation of many CRM projects are perceived as providing limited success. By using an exploratory, qualitative, research design, principally based on a Delphi methodology, this study highlights some crucial aspects of CRM implementation. Two clear CRM implementation foci can be distinguished: a dominant “hard” implementation of CRM (focussing on analytics, centralisation, and campaign management) and a “soft” implementation of CRM (focussing on decentralised customer experience management at the touch point level). Further analysis of the “hard” implementation model shows that companies using this path often have only a vague strategic understanding of the CRM project in place before they define the process and technical requirements. An implication of this finding is that standard IT processes are often used to derive strategic CRM guidelines, a reversal of a prescriptive “best-practice” implementation process. The implications and limitations of the findings as well as the need for further research is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper addresses 11 statements of criticism of political marketing. These statements represent the most commonly voiced issues and were collected from marketers and political scientists. While marketing theorists are more concerned with the state of political marketing theory, political scientists concentrate much of their criticism on aspects of political marketing management as it is experienced in practice. Each statement is discussed and general conclusions are identified. While presenting the personal opinion of the author (advocatus dei), these conclusions and statements concerning political marketing should foster critical discourse on issues such as political marketing management, concepts and ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]