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Purpose: This study aims to examine an emerging product–place co-branding marketing practice in China's rural areas. The role of this practice in inclusive development is analyzed from the perspectives of value proposition innovation, market legitimacy, media coverage and brand value. Both research and practice indicate value proposition innovation to exert an important influence on brand value enhancement, but little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relation. Design/methodology/approach: A moderated mediation model is constructed to examine whether market legitimacy mediates the relationship between value proposition innovation and brand value. vWhether this mediating process is moderated by media coverage is also examined. The primary data are collected from semi-structured interviews and observations conducted with two common cases to develop proper scales for value proposition innovation and market legitimacy. The research includes 100 product–place co-brandings published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in 2019. Hypotheses are tested using hierarchical regression and a Bootstrap model. Findings: Value proposition innovation has a positive effect on brand value, and market legitimacy partially mediates this relationship. Media coverage positively moderates the relationship between value proposition innovation and market legitimacy, and positively moderates the mediating effect of market legitimacy; the higher the media coverage, the stronger the mediating effect of market legitimacy. Research limitations/implications: Based on data availability and accessibility, the study sample focused on indicators from 100 brands in 2019. If the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs discloses consecutive annual information for other years, future studies could explore panel data to further test the study's conclusions from a longitudinal perspective. Originality/value: First, this paper adds to the emerging literature on product–place co-branding business models by examining the relationship between value proposition innovation and brand value. Second, this paper enriches institutional theory by including market legitimacy as a mediator between value proposition innovation and brand value. Third, this paper identifies the moderating role of media coverage, thus broadening the theoretical implications of institutional theory with respect to improving market legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore and expand the concept of a marketing system for developing a more dynamic and nuanced understanding of marketing. The purpose of the proposed framework is to extend this literature by making salient and explicit how context, market system and value creation are theoretically interrelated. To accomplish this objective, the authors use the framework proposed by Layton (2019) as the theoretical foundation to acquire insights into the market. Particularly, they investigate how four distinct marketing systems (i.e. anarchy, structured, emergent and purposeful market systems) operate in a developing economy. In addition, the study explores the market's effects of technological advancement, sociocultural influences, historical background and political institutions, as well as the responses of political entities, firms and consumers. Also, the positive and negative effects of the various marketing systems are analyzed. Finally, the authors investigate the changing marketplace in various industrial sectors (e.g. home appliances, food, apparel/fashion and transportation) to provide marketing researchers and practitioners with insights. In essence, the study focuses on the sectors related to everyday consumption. Design/methodology/approach: This analysis uses a theoretical approach to extend the understanding concept of marketing. To examine the numerous market systems in India, the authors use an approach developed by Layton (2007). This theoretical approach is intended to sensitize scholars to critical processes rather than a hypothetico-deductive analysis with a prediction goal (Turner, 1986). Epistemologically, this analysis can be classified as a form of discovery-oriented theory development (Wells, 1993). Findings: Although all four systems (e.g. autarchic, emergent, purposeful and structured) are ingrained in India, their functionality differs from the Western system and among industries. For example, the apparel sector appears more autarchic, but the food industry is more purposeful. How the home appliance market operates demonstrates the transition from an autarchic to an emergent system. The authors also uncover additional environmental factors that impact the four types of marketing systems and moderator roles of governate agencies and nonprofit organizations. The externality and positive outcomes also emerged throughout the analysis. Research limitations/implications: This study articulates the four types of marketing systems and illustrates the environmental factors/antecedents and outcomes for the exchange and value creation. Most importantly, it adds value to the literature by emphasizing the role of government agencies and unrestricted institutions in the mechanism. It also uncovers cultural elements such as spirituality as a catalyst for exchange and value creation. Practical implications: The analysis provides practitioners with insights into operating the firm in India by articulating the industrial differentiations and the exchange/value creation. Specifically, it provides a blueprint for strategic analysis that can be used prior to market entry to increase the likelihood of market entry success by understanding the nuanced differences that lead to significant operational difficulties if not properly prepared for and managed. Originality/value: This study adds to our existing knowledge of marketing from a systemic standpoint. It also broadens and explicates marketing system theory by assessing the uniqueness of developing markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of marketing capabilities on market orientation and sustained competitive advantage from the viewpoint of managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that supply large companies. This paper also analyzes the moderating role of exposure to external turbulence in the relationship between marketing capabilities and sustained competitive advantage, and between marketing capabilities and market orientation for SMEs. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the literature, this study develops a model to verify the proposed relationships. An online questionnaire collected data from 423 managers of SMEs that supply large companies to test the model. This paper analyzes the proposed model using structural equation modeling with partial least squares. Findings: According to the surveyed managers, marketing capabilities tend to play a significant role in the market orientation and perceived sustained competitive advantage of SMEs that supply large companies. Better-developed marketing capabilities can strengthen the market orientation of SMEs, helping to achieve and maintain a sustained competitive advantage. They will, thus, attract more clients and minimize their risk, regardless of the environment in which they operate. Research limitations/implications: This research contributes to marketing theory by highlighting the marketing capabilities of SMEs that supply large companies and demonstrating the importance of such capabilities for their survival. Originality/value: The study investigated the views of the SME managers that supply large companies about their company's marketing capabilities. Traditionally, these companies have had little concern for marketing. This research focuses on an emerging market, that is not usually addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to promote the use of pragmatism within industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP), business-to-business (B2B)/network research with its enhanced emphasis on developing adaptable, workable solutions to practical problems. The usability of findings and the study produced means that implications and impact become a natural part of the research process rather than an afterthought concluding a research project. Although the reader might feel that the approach oscillates between viewing pragmatism in its everyday sense (through the use of terminology such as "a pragmatic approach [...].," the intent is to elevate the discussion to one where pragmatism is viewed as a guiding philosophy. Design/methodology/approach: It blends literature review and conceptual contemplation and challenges convention by "reading against the grain" (Brown and Wijland, 2018). Findings: The authors do this to challenge convention and advocate for pluralism and diversity, theoretical evolution based on empirical evidence and increased sensitivity to the critical role of discourse, semiotics and abduction as a catalyst between theory, method and empirical activities. This conceptual blending portrays "activities" and beliefs as mutually constituted through the symbolic mediation of rhetoric and discourse. Research limitations/implications: Existing elements of American pragmatism and discourse are identified as already a tacit constituent of the IMP oeuvre. Combining these approaches more explicitly is advocated as a suitable basis for a potential future "IMP 3" research agenda with significant potentials afforded to IMP and B2B marketing research. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the development and dissemination of alternative and critical perspectives in marketing theory. The implication is that activities must usually be justified by actors within communication as believable and this process always involves mixtures of rational and non-rational appeals. Existing elements of American pragmatism and discourse are identified as already a tacit constituent of the IMP oeuvre. Combining these approaches more explicitly is advocated as a suitable basis for a potential future "IMP 3" research agenda with significant potentials afforded to IMP and B2B marketing research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore market entry strategies in a high-tech successive generations (HTSGs) market, by investigating entry mode via entry timing and path differentiation and the performance outcomes of entry mode. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology of building a theory from a longitudinal case study is adopted by using useful cases in a HTSGs market after constructing an integrated research framework to explore market entry mode. Different entry modes were investigated by studying entry timing and migration path of three firms' case in logic semiconductor market. In addition, performance outcomes of different entry modes were measured and correlated with each other. Findings: The results identified three major entry modes suitable for a HTSGs market. The three firms differentiated their entry modes by exploiting different entry timings from the earliest to the last and different migration paths including switching, leapfrogging and new entrance path to enter a market. First mover advantage also exists in a HTSGs market, and it was found uniquely that the financial performance denoted by entry mode outcomes was correlated with technological knowledge. Research limitations/implications: This study extends the theory of extant entry strategy from general consumer or industrial market to HTSGs market, in which intense competition exits and technological innovation is important. Moreover, this study verified that the causality between early entry and positive performance was also effective in HTSGs market with a shorter duration of early entry advantage. Practical implications: This study has managerial implications for firms to establish market entry strategy in HTSGs market and other markets. To become a product leader, a fast follower or a late follower, firms can differentiate their entry mode by adjusting the entry timing and migration path in the context of market and technology. Originality/value: This study examined market entry strategies suitable for HTSGs market based on its unique characteristics and extended relevant theory into HTSGs market. Further, an integrated research framework, which explores the market entry mode, was constructed to facilitate further exploration of entry mode into other markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a radical innovation launch model that shows the relationship of the market, entrepreneurial and learning orientations with each other, with radical innovation launch marketing capabilities and the subsequent effect on radical innovation launch success. It will provide practitioners with best practices and add to current marketing theory. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey was done, resulting in a usable sample of 176 radical innovation launch practitioners from a cross-section of US companies, namely, small to large, business-to-business and business-to-consumer firms offering a variety of products and services. A partial least squares structural equation modeling technique was used to test construct relationships and the effect on each other. Findings: An organizational learning orientation has a direct effect on the market and entrepreneurial orientations. Learning and marketing orientations are critical links to having radical innovation launch marketing capabilities. While an entrepreneurial orientation has a direct effect on radical innovation launch success, proper, dynamic marketing capabilities are a significant driver. Over 40% of the variance in radical innovation launch success is directly or indirectly affected by the three studied strategic orientations and radical innovation launch marketing capabilities. Research limitations/implications: This study was conducted only in the USA. A cross-cultural study could be undertaken. Type and size of firm, type of external environment, radical innovation department structure, transformational leadership strength and competitive intensity effect could be studied. New, up-to-date adaptable marketing capabilities should be researched and validated. Practical implications: For radical innovation launch success, it is critical that a firm develop the market, entrepreneurial and learning orientations and have specific, dynamic marketing capabilities in place. Existing managers should be trained, or new talent hired, to give the firm the capability to develop unique, radical innovation launch strategic, brand identity and new target market plans, to select and manage new downstream partners, and to have quick, customer launch feedback mechanisms in place. Originality/value: An empirical study of the effect of all three strategic orientations on radical innovation launch marketing capabilities and subsequent radical innovation launch success has not been previously addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to introduce dynamic marketing capability (DMC) as a construct relevant for business research and business practice, and to test its validity in relation to company product innovations and company agility. Design/methodology/approach: This study tests a hypothesized model using partial least squares structural equation modeling on data from a survey conducted with 155 companies based in Poland. Findings: This study provides evidence that DMC facilitates company innovations in terms of their speed and market success. Thus, DMC complements other organizational capabilities that were previously found effective for new product development (NPD) with regard to intra- and inter-organizational processes. However, the influence of DMC on company innovation success is stronger in the case of companies that operate without the pressure to customize. Thus, this approach is more relevant for companies that provide standardized offerings and which target various customer segments, rather than companies that operate in customer niches or when their NPD processes are strongly orchestrated by their customers, e.g. in B2B sales within hierarchical supply chains. Research limitations/implications: This study is limited by the cross-sectional empirical setting in that one country is used to test the research hypotheses. Further studies may focus on the combined effects of DMC and other important organizational capabilities, for example, flexible manufacturing, and may provide a detailed picture of DMC development by applying a longitudinal approach and case studies. Practical implications: Generally, managers can use this research to rethink their corporate strategies. The study proposes a specific strategic approach to corporate innovativeness: companies may acquire meaningful market benefits through systematic reconfiguration of their marketing assets, combined with the introduction of new products. However, managers should analyze their business model and industrial setting to verify to what extent their companies operate in a context relevant for reconfiguring marketing resources. If the pressure for strong customization is high in the existing customer base, investing in DMC may not be relevant, as new offerings are rather customer tailored, i.e. designed by "big fish" buyers. On the other hand, many companies may leverage their innovations with DMC in both B2B and B2C settings, as long as they can provide standard solutions as their market offerings. Originality/value: The study contributes to marketing theory in three ways. Firstly, the study conceptualizes DMC as a distinct dynamic capability aligned with dynamic capabilities view (from which DMC logically originates), and proposes how DMC is linked nomologically with company innovativeness and agility. Secondly, a measurement instrument for DMC and an empirical test for the model are both provided. Thirdly, the paper presents evidence that the link between DMC and product innovations becomes restricted in the presence of certain contingencies, specifically with regard to the so-called customization norm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Empirical studies have found that cost-based pricing remains dominant in pricing practice and suggest that practice conflicts with marketing theory, which recommends value-based prices. However, empirical studies have yet to examine whether cost-plus formulas represent the pricing approach or essence. Design/methodology/approach: This study aims to address the factors that explain price setting whereby the cost-plus formula is not just the pricing approach but also the pricing essence. This examination is grounded in a survey conducted on 380 Brazilian industrial companies. Findings: The results show that, for price-makers, the cost-based pricing essence is positively associated with four factors (two obstacles to deploying value-based pricing, company size and differentiation), but it is negatively related to one factor (premium pricing strategy). For price-takers, the cost-based pricing essence is positively associated with four factors (two obstacles to deploying value-based pricing, coercive isomorphism and use of full costs), but it is negatively related to five factors (one obstacle to deploying value-based pricing, company size, competitors' ability to copy, normative isomorphism and experience). Originality/value: The key contribution of this paper is demonstrating that cost-plus formulas do not go against the incorporation of competitors and value information. This study reveals that it is possible to set prices based on either value or competitors' prices while simultaneously preserving the simplicity of the cost-plus formulas. Via the margin, firms may connect costs to information about competition and value. The authors also demonstrate the drawbacks of not segregating companies into price-makers and price-takers and an excessive focus on the pricing approach at the expense of pricing essence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Business-to-business marketing has come of age in the last three decades and research in this area has been extensive and impressive. This paper examines the extant body of business-to-business marketing research and identifies surpluses and shortages with the goal of stimulating future research. Design/methodology/approach - This paper focuses on two questions regarding future business-to business marketing. First, what has been the focus of understanding in business-to-business marketing theory and what should be its future focus? Second, what has been the purpose or objective to study business-to-business marketing and what should be the future objective for research? Findings - It is found that research in business-to-business marketing is fundamentally changing and will continue to change. The paper identifies areas of business-to-business marketing research that have received surplus attention and areas that require additional attention. Practical implications - The paper provides guidelines for future exploration of the business-to-business research domain. Originality/value - The paper is analogous to the widely cited paper by Sheth (1979) that reviewed the state of consumer behavior research and identified areas that had been unexplored or under-explored, and in the process provided an impetus for new research in consumer behavor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This case study sets out to draw a detailed picture of the business relationships between Gildemeister Lathes Ltd and its two competing in- suppliers, Siemens and Heidenhain. Design/methodology/approach - On the basis of a profound analysis of the relationship context and by identifying the drivers of commitment the reader should identify some starting-points to develop a sales strategy in order to keep and raise Siemens' share of the business with Gildemeister. Findings - The case study enables the discussion of customer value-drivers within a relationship context and puts an emphasis on the assessment of a multi-stage marketing-approach focusing on different units within a complex customer organisation and taking into account the "customer's customer"-perspective. Originality/value - This paper provides a detailed case study of Gildemeister Lathes Ltd, Siemens, and Heidenhain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Theories on industrial buying behavior differ fundamentally with regard to motivation and direction of industrial purchasing decisions. This becomes extremely in the case of new institutional economics, highlighting administrative aspects, and market process theory focusing on entrepreneurial aspects of buying decisions. This paper aims to challenge these approaches by setting up an experimental design. Decisions of sales and purchasing managers were investigated with respect to their motivation of self-protection or opportunity seeking. Design/methodology/approach - The contribution is based on an experimental design. The design is based on a prospect theory scenario. Prospect theory states that successful economic agents show a stronger tendency towards self-protection, whereas under-performing economic agents are willing to bear greater risks in search for opportunities. Findings - The results suggest that indeed out-performers show a tendency to risk avoidance and under-performers are willing to bear more risks. The most important implication is that new institutional economics-based approaches to buying behavior are not universally valid. However, they apply to specific situations. In that respect the contribution shows a direction for the proper application of transaction cost-based concepts. Practical implications - Managers are advised to take the economic performance of their customer companies into account. Outperforming companies are more responsive to measures for self-protection. Under-performing customers may be more tolerant towards risk if it is compensated with the expectation of better opportunities. Originality/value - The empirical research is new in so far as it is the first to apply a prospect theory framework to a business market environment. The results show clearly that the methodology, as originally applied in prospect theory, needs refinement when transferred to a business market context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to analyse what roles different relational norms play in long-term business relationships. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses exploratory factor analysis on a data set of n = 297 relationships and identifies two norm dimensions: value-creating norms and value-claiming norms. Findings - This paper demonstrates that extant empirical research on relational norms and related behaviours is fragmentary and that there is considerable overlap between certain norms. Hence, the dimensionality of the norm concept remains unclear. Originality/value - This study contributes to a clearer picture of the norm construct that has been used in a fragmented and selective way in empirical studies in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Drawing on resource-advantage theory and a diverse literature base, this article seeks to further the development of the explanatory foundations of relationship marketing theory by proposing, and then providing, tentative answers to three ‘why?’ questions in relationship marketing: why is relationship marketing so prominent now? Why do firms and consumers enter into relationships with other firms and consumers? Why are some efforts at relationship marketing more successful than others? Design/methodology/approach - Before addressing the three questions, the paper begins by discussing the different forms of relationship marketing. Findings - Although relationship marketing is a relatively young field of inquiry, relationship marketing theory is an extremely rich area of research. Relationship marketing can take many forms and, as a result, relationship marketing theory has the potential to increase one's understanding of many aspects of business strategy. Research limitations/implications - The answers to the three questions in this paper provide a strong foundation for the further development relationship marketing theory and are useful for both relationship marketing theorists and practitioners. Originality/value - As relationship marketing theory and practice are developed further, the authors hope that the article will provide useful guidance to those involved. From a marketing theory standpoint, the eight kinds of factors provide guidance to researchers exploring the many forms of relational marketing. For practitioners, they provide a useful framework for evaluating extant relationship marketing strategies and for developing future strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have traditionally been different ways in which to view the marketing task, distinctions that have been drawn to facilitate the level of insight available to managers involved in marketing the firm's offer. A traditional distinction has been between business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) marketing. More recently, much has been written on whether the appropriate perspective of marketing should be transaction- based or relationship-driven. This paper argues that a different view is more useful: that the marketing task has moved beyond being transaction- or relationship-driven, and that it can and should increasingly often be viewed as an information-handling problem. First identifies what are considered to be the main tasks facing a marketing manager, and then interpret how these tasks may be managed in each of the transaction-, relationship-, and information-driven approaches. By using three different case study vignettes, provides evidence of the applicability of these ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]