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The perceptions of industrial buyers concerning the costs their firms incurred in procuring products during the four phases of relationship development with key suppliers to whom they are committed as exchange partners are reported. The research shows that managers can better control their procurement and marketing efforts by knowing each component's relative importance to buyers during each relationship phase.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.10.004 Byline: Cindy Claycomb (a), Gary L. Frankwick (b) Keywords: Relationship marketing; Cost; Relationship development; Business-to-business Abstract: This study reports the perceptions of industrial buyers concerning the costs their firms incurred in procuring products during the four phases of relationship development with key suppliers to whom they are now committed as exchange partners. This research fills a gap in the buyer-seller relationship development literature by offering empirical results concerning buyers' perceived costs at different relationship phases. Implications suggest that knowing each cost component's relative importance to buyers during each relationship phase, managers can better control their procurement and marketing efforts. Author Affiliation: (a) W. Frank Barton School of Business, Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Wichita State University, 1845 Fairmount, Wichita, KS 67260-0084, United States (b) College of Business Administration, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078-4011, United States Article History: Received 10 October 2003; Accepted 12 October 2004

The Weitz Contingency Model is employed to investigate the effect of the selling situation encountered by a salesperson on the relationship between selling strategy and sales performance. The results suggest that an adaptive selling strategy enhances performance outcomes, and that this relationship is stronger in a modified rebuy and new buy situation.

This research develops and validates a scale to assess products on salient characteristics that influence consumers' decision‐making. The product characteristics (PC) scale assesses products on 12 major dimensions using 34‐items. Next, the paper demonstrates the scale's validity and value in a study of the effects of PC on the consumer information search effort, impulse buying, and word‐of‐mouth behavior, representing different stages of the consumer decision‐making process. The findings highlight the need for a revitalized examination of the consumer decision‐making process with a focus on PC by showing that (1) PC have significant direct effects on a variety of critical marketing outcomes, (2) these effects interact with demographic variables such as age and gender that are currently undergoing major shifts, and (3) these effects vary across offline and online settings. Thus, the findings highlight the value of incorporating PC into models of consumer behavior especially in the current era of shifting demographics and e‐commerce. To this end, this study contributes to the literature by offering a multifaceted, reliable, and valid scale to assess products on a wide range of characteristics that can be used in the study of any marketing‐related phenomena that can be assumed to be product‐contingent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As firms attempt to speed decision making, improve their business processes, and become more market-oriented, they have a number of managerial prescriptions to choose from. Most share a common theme: [...]

Strategic decision processes involve the interplay of individuals who have various plans to achieve success for the business enterprise. The changing picture of strategic decisions is traced by studying how marketing and research and development managers think. Mental maps were developed to capture the changing belief structures of the two functions. Changes in the belief structures of managers are related to the corresponding changes in strategic decision directions.

Byline: Karthik N.S. Iyer, Richard Germain, Gary L. Frankwick The research studies antecedents and consequences of enhanced decision-making capability fostered by advanced analytic software such as warehouse management systems and advanced planning and scheduling. The results show that analytic capability leads to better logistical performance (e.g. inventory turnover rates, length of the order cycle) and better operational stability (e.g. more consistent order cycles and warehouse throughput rates). The environment in the form of process turbulence and demand unpredictability affects analytic capability, logistical performance and operational stability. Process turbulence generally has a positive impact: it associates with greater levels of analytic capability, improved logistical performance, and more consistent operations. On the other hand, demand unpredictability has negative implications: it associates with a lower level of analytic capability, poorer logistical performance and inconsistent operations.

The article examines the impact of e-commerce in business to business marketing on supply chain management and organizational structure.

An increasing popularity of Chinese brands around the world suggests that Chinese brands are beginning to overcome unfavorable country-of-origin (COO) effects. However, whether the perception of the functional and/or the social value of Chinese brands has improved remains unclear. Based on the theory of reasoned action, this study develops a theoretical framework to explain how consumers' perceptions of functional and social attributes affect purchase intentions of Chinese brands. Survey data were collected from an individualistic (US) and a collectivistic (Mexico) country. Results show that perceptions of functional value antecede attitudes towards the brand while perceptions of social value antecede social norms. The effect of social norms on purchase intention is stronger in the US than in Mexico. Recommendations for managers of Chinese brands, and brands from other emerging markets, are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the success and failure factors for Hispanic businesses, and extends the literature through an analysis of a Texas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce database. Literature suggests that tailored training provided by organizations such as these will reduce failure rates. Thus, the study focused on identifying characteristics of firms that maintained or joined a chamber of commerce. Employing a database of 687 chamber members, cluster analysis provided an initial profile of companies who renew membership, and those who drop it. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this model is to explain how person -- organization fit (P -- O fit) and competitive intensity, conceptualized as a job resource and a job demand, respectively, ultimately affect the development of frontline employee boundary-spanning behavior (BSB). Design/methodology/approach -- A survey methodology was used incollecting data from a sample of bank employees in South Korea. To analyze the data, a structural equation model procedure using LISREL 8.5 was used (Jöreskog and Sörbom, 1996). Findings -- Results suggest that a frontline employee's P -- O fit decreases emotional exhaustion and increases achievement-striving motivation. Competitive intensity significantly reduces achievement-striving motivation. Results also show that competitive intensity significantly attenuates the positive relationship between P -- O fit and employee achievement-striving motivation, highlighting the importance of contextual industry stressors upon internal organizational behaviors. Both emotional exhaustion and achievement-striving motivation are found to ultimately affect BSBs except for the link between emotional exhaustion and service delivery. Originality/value -- The current study applies the job-demands resources model to demonstrate how both an externally initiated job demand (competitive intensity) and an internally oriented job resource (person -- organization fit) influence employee experience of emotional exhaustion and achievement-striving motivation. Interaction effects of P -- O fit and competitive intensity on employee's psychological states (emotional exhaustion and achievement-striving motivation) are also examined. Further, it is demonstrated that both emotional exhaustion and achievement-striving motivation will directly influence service employee boundary-spanning behaviors, but in differential manners. This highlights the importance of exhaustion and motivation as mediators for the ultimate effect of a job resource (P -- O fit), answering a call for such understanding of the developmental process for BSBs (Podsakoff et al., 2000). This is the first empirical study to link both internal and external elements to illuminate the process for developing job demands and resources, as well as boundary spanning behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – A growing body of literature reveals that the domain of customer co-production of goods is expansive. Many research articles in the area of co-production of goods, however, have focused on specific sub-areas within the larger domain. One result of these multiple lines of inquiry is that they establish overlapping construct names and definitions. The purpose of this article is to propose a classification schema of customer co-production of goods based on general systems theory (GST). Design/methodology/approach – A logical partitioning approach was employed. Findings – A classification schema of co-production of goods is derived from two criteria: the nature of the customer's input and the customer's autonomy. The classification suggests six sub-areas of co-production of goods: restricted co-manufacturing, unrestricted co-manufacturing, co-ideation, co-design, mass customization, and participation loop. Practical implications – The distinction of activities involving co-production of goods guides practitioners in the generalization of research findings and the selection of participation opportunities for their customers. Originality/value – This study proposes the first classification schema of co-production activities resulting in tangible goods. The classification reduces the overlap of constructs and definitions, defines the domain of co-production of goods, aids in the construction of nomological networks, and delimits generalizations drawn from empirical research. The authors recommend that researchers interested in co-production of goods should use the schema to guide their theory development and empirical research designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Will increasing employee participation in reward decisions increase new product performance by first increasing a firm's level of market orientation? Literature offers limited insight to the effects of listening to employees regarding reward system design and whether this may influence market orientation implementation and new product performance. This paper provides research to fill the gap by examining the relationship between participation-based reward systems, market orientation, and new product performance. Based on expectancy theory, a conceptual model was developed suggesting that participation-based rewards will increase market orientation by considering employees' desires regarding performance rewards. To test the model, a mixed method was used to collect data. First, in-depth interviews were conducted with managers from 11 different firms to verify the proposed model. Then a multi-industry sample of managers from 290 firms was surveyed to maximize generalizability of the results. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques to simultaneously fit the measurement and structural models. The findings show that market orientation significantly impacts objective new product performance and mediates the relationship between participation-based rewards and objective new product performance. Participation-based rewards positively affect market orientation but surprisingly affect new product performance negatively, while positively moderating the relationship between market orientation and new product performance. The results suggest that managers should include employee input in designing reward systems. However, managers should also be careful of how much input they allow employees in determining their rewards and goals as more input will improve market orientation or responding to information collected by, and disseminated throughout the firm, and that, in turn, will improve some types of new product performance. However, the direct effect of employee input can decrease new product performance suggesting that there may be a trade-off between various success measures of new products developed and introduced by the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study Investigates the moderating effects of buying context on the relationship between communication elements and the effort buyers exert while searching for new suppliers throughout a buyer-supplier relationship development process. A mail survey of members of the "Institute for Supply Management" was conducted and the data were analyzed using moderated regression. The results suggest that company size, buyer experience, relationship duration and relationship importance affect the association between a buyer's search effort and the communication elements. Interestingly, the buying context affects the relationship between search effort and the communication elements in different ways and to a different extent in each stage of the relationship development process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a conceptual framework on the dynamics of buyer perceived costs in the relationship development process. Indication of a closer industrial relationship between buyers and sellers; Identification of importance cost components; Implications for business-to-business transactions.

Product and market management continues to dominate marketing organization structures. These structures allow cost-effective management of the marketing mix for the product as well as timely reaction to problems in the marketplace. However, product management also creates problems, which arise mainly from product managers' lack of authority over functional departments that execute their plans. Organizational research suggests that a manager's ability to employ upward and lateral influence may provide a key to achieving cooperation from implementing departments. Previous research identified an array of intra-organizational influence tactics, however, understanding when specific tactics will successfully motivate cooperation still eludes managers. In an effort to provide additional insight to this problem, this paper examines the concepts of intra-organizational influence using the Leader-Member Exchange Model in a social exchange framework. Integrating these literatures, we develop a model of management influence exchange, offer several research propositions, and suggest directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]