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Whether companies are extending or defending international markets, decision makers often are advised to carefully consider their products' country-of-origin images for their marketing and sales activities. Although extensive research shows the dominant effect of country-of-origin images in consumer markets, some doubt arises when shifting to business markets. Here, image differences may weaken due to longstanding practices of market interaction between customers and suppliers, and the discriminatory power of country-of-origin image may fade. To shed light on this issue, the authors first propose the novel concept of the supplier-country-image (SCI). They develop a corresponding SCI measurement scale and empirically validate it. Their survey of 157 German and French purchasing agents from automotive and machinery manufacturers yields a database of 628 ratings for four supplier countries of origin: Germany, France, the United States, and Japan. The authors then use the scale to provide evidence that SCIs indeed vary when purchasing agents evaluate suppliers from different countries. These agents exhibit cross-national invariance in their SCI, such that the authors are able to use the German and French rater subsamples to create manifest SCI profiles for the four supplier countries of origin.

With the increasing digitalization of traditional retailing, omnichannel retailing has become a growing global phenomenon. The result is the emergence of a new type of shopper who expects a seamless shopping experience across digital and physical channels. As a hybrid between offline and online, the retail innovation curated retailing combines the advantages of these channels, particularly in the fashion and apparel industry. In curated fashion retailing, stylists assist consumers in their online shopping by providing product recommendations tailor-made to their personal preferences. Because consumer demands differ and most curated retailers still struggle with commercial and market performance, a thorough understanding of these shopper segments is vital for retailers. Therefore, this research develops a typology based on shopping motivations for adopting curated retailing in fashion and apparel. Applying cluster analysis to survey data from a main sample of 388 German consumers, four segments are identified: store-oriented online customizers, fashion-conscious changers, choice support seekers and independent apathetics. Using chi-square analysis and analysis of variance, the segments are profiled in terms of their demographic characteristics and actual purchase data. A validation sample consisting of 218 consumers in four European countries provides evidence for the predictive power of the study's results. This study extends the shopping motivation literature to the context of curated retailing and enhances knowledge about online shopper typologies in consulting-intensive retail sectors. The paper concludes with managerial recommendations.

Friedrich Engels was one of the most important German thinkers of the 19th century and his writings are still important today. Addressing the pressing issues of his time, the broadly interested scholar Engels would write about many different topics, and thereby not only pave the way for a science-based socialism, but also for further studies in sociology, history, and philosophy. To highlight the value and impact of Engels’ work as well as emphasize its relevance for major issues that will determine the 21st century, the present anthology assembles scholars from different countries and research fields to discuss how to read and gain insights from reading his works in our time. It also attempts to stimulate further research about Engels, who 200 years after his birth deserves to be fully brought out of the shadow of his friend and colleague Karl Marx.

This study explores the motivational reasons for and against adopting curated retailing in fashion and apparel, which little extant research addresses. In curated fashion retailing, stylists create personalized outfits to assist consumers with their shopping. Because consumers vary in their demands, retailers must understand the different factors influencing individual adoption decisions. For this purpose, we conducted 54 semi-structured interviews with consumers and non-consumers of curated fashion as well as stylists. The study enhances knowledge of online shopping motivation in consulting-intensive retail sectors and provides further evidence of the influence of contextual factors on shopping motivations. Most notably, we identify unique factors of customized solutions, a characteristic feature of curated fashion retailing. From a managerial standpoint, our findings provide retailers a lens through which they can better target marketing activities and improve sales training.

Culture likely affects the choice of negotiation strategies significantly, and culture-dependent preferences for negotiation strategies could lead to conflict when negotiations cross borders. Negotiators often regard some degree of adaptation to the culture of their negotiation partner as a solution to such conflicts. The authors test this suggested solution in an asymmetric setting, in which a solo (outnumbered) negotiator faces a team. Two studies that employ web-based negotiation simulations show that only solo negotiators adapt to the negotiation strategies of their team counterpart. In a third study that uses a symmetric (solo–solo) setting, the adaptation effect disappears. These studies thus illustrate the greater social impact of teams versus solo negotiators. For outnumbered negotiators, adaptation is particularly beneficial (i.e., increases negotiation profit) if it involves an increased use of integrative strategies. The degree to which negotiators succeed in intercultural negotiations thus depends on their counterpart’s (team’s) culture.

Recently, researchers have prioritized studying service and value creation, which has led to extensive conceptual and empirical literature on the subject. However, models are missing that link existing research on value creation and apply it in a concrete service marketing business context. This article explores how value-in-use must be enabled before entering the relational business solution creation process. Drawing from extant literature, the authors develop a conceptual model with four interrelated elements—solution objectives, resource requirements, assessment and customer–provider interaction. These elements must be aligned iteratively to enable value-in-use. The current study integrates the proposed model into the overarching context of the solution process that culminates with experienced value-in-use. The findings significantly extend the current view of value-in-use as a determining variable when creating business solutions.

The European consumer demands made the Atlantic an ocean of slave traders and started an economic exploitation process whose impacts, such as global diasporas and extreme poverty in regions of the so-called Global South, remain visible. The Atlantic trade was definitely as much pan-European as it was pan-American, and soon would include the Pacific World as well. “Western Africa was pulled more firmly into the Atlantic orbit than large parts of Europe” and was forced to provide the human factor needed in the New World to keep the stream of commodity supplies running. The Atlantic World was maybe the first laboratory for a broader globalization process and therefore deserves further attention. The process of globalization, not only with regard to its impacts and effects in Europe, is worth studying to show how and why societies have changed during this specific process. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.

The increasing number of offerings that support consumers’ daily routines has led to a growing discussion in scientific research about consumers’ usage processes. A theoretical foundation for this discussion is offered by the service-dominant logic of marketing. The central idea is that value creation for a consumer is not based on mere product ownership but rather evolves through the usage of various offerings in terms of value-in-use. However, there is no universally accepted method to capture usage processes and analyze them with regard to value-in-use. The article therefore suggests a method for capturing value-in-use. For this purpose the repertory grid method is applied which is further adapted according to the underlying theoretical assumptions and empirically tested in a qualitative study on smartphone usage. On the basis of the findings, a specific value-in-use scale is then developed. Finally, this scale is validated in a quantitative study. The results indicate that the adapted repertory grid method is a promising approach to capture usage processes and the value-in-use created through these processes.

The paper focuses on the solution business. Here we argue that the strategy can only lead a company to perform better if it encompasses a direct and positive effect on satisfaction with a supplier’s consulting capabilities. Hence we introduce the concept of consulting satisfaction, identify antecedents and analyze its consequences. To do so, we apply a mixed-methods approach. Content analysis from open interviews with company professionals yields a list of antecedents of consulting satisfaction used to devise a set of hypotheses. The latter was translated into a questionnaire based measurement instrument in order to first collect and then analyze data from a larger sample survey. Since three of the antecedents could not be supported by our study, possible explanations are presented. With our approach we tap new dimensions of solutions research. First, we inaugurate research on buying behavior within the field of solutions. Second, we stress the role of capabilities in this field and extend service–profit chain thinking. And third, we present consulting satisfaction as a lever to translate the S-D logic of marketing into more practical applications. To our knowledge this is a novel insight and can help industry decision makers better prepare for the solution business.

Many modern business negotiations cross borders, and one plausible idea for successfully managing such negotiations is to equip negotiation teams with a “cultural moderator,” an individual who has the same cultural background as the business partner. This study investigates the effect of cultural moderators on both the negotiation process (e.g., use of integrative strategies) and economic outcomes (e.g., profit). Using German and French negotiators in an experimental setting, the authors show that a cultural moderator's influence on the team's use of integrative strategies depends on the moderator's degree of collectivism. With respect to economic outcomes, the presence of a cultural moderator always improves a team's results. Together, these findings suggest that the benefits of using a cultural moderator are not unconditional; rather, they depend on the cultural moderator's cultural background and on the negotiation goals (process vs. outcome) of the team that employs the moderator.

In recent years, industrial manufacturers around the world have deployed growing efforts in developing services in addition to their traditional product business in order to secure long-term growth and to remain competitive in the marketplace. Against this background, the present article introduces the reader to this special issue. It first recalls key aspects of the emerging service-dominant logic of marketing and examines how it relates to the business marketing field. It then illustrates the challenges faced by top executives of industrial companies in the transition from a product-centric to a service-centric business perspective through an interview with the managing director of ThyssenKrupp Service AG. After discussing how the articles included in this special issue advance the extant literature on industrial services marketing, the article finally develops a number of directions for future research on services in business markets.

Market research is essential for reducing firm uncertainty and sustaining a firm’s competitiveness in business-to business marketing. This chapter describes the different types of market research firm’s use to improve their understanding of the markets in which they compete. In addition, we describe the ways knowledge from individual market transactions can be transformed into valuable market information. The final part of the chapter discusses the communication of market information in the firm.

This article aims to provide a model with which to measure the degree of corporate social media use or, in other words, the extent to which companies are exploiting the potentialities of single or multiple social media platforms. This is, however, explicitly different from using metrics to assess the success of social media activities, as it is purely measuring how intensively a pre-defined group of social media is utilised, taking into account the frequency of social media activity by the brand as well as the related user reactions. The degree of corporate social media use helps companies and market researchers analyse single brands or companies and compare them with other brands, competitors or industry averages. The degree of corporate social media use is a useful indicator, which should be combined with social media metrics in order to draw better conclusions about where to increase or intensify social media activities.

In real world markets and business markets in particular, the idea of customized products and services receives increasing attention. A management tool called customer integration has been developed as an approach to master the challenges originating from customization for a supplier. Customer integration competence is the organizational quality that results from this tool after being implemented. Putting this together, we can hypothesize a causal relation between customer integration competence and market success. In order to confirm this hypothesis, the paper presents a conceptualization of customer integration competence. To accomplish this, references are made to competence models from psychology, success factor research and organizational science. The concept was validated through a survey with 78 industry experts from business markets responding. Customer integration competence measured in this way was then contrasted to a second measure capturing market success. Regression analysis supports our hypothesis strongly. Finally, implications for marketing research as well as marketing practice are presented.

The development of marketing as a discipline shows some differences between the US-dominated mainstream and theory emerging from Germany — particularly in the field of business-to-business marketing. Contemporary marketing thinking in this area in Germany is founded largely on institutional economics, with property rights theory, transaction cost economics (TCE), agency theory (AT) and information economics playing supporting roles. Based on these theories a ‘leistungs’ or ‘value’ approach has developed that permits the integration of concepts such as process thinking and services orientation in marketing with these other theories. An extended view of the system of marketing management is described that reveals new areas for marketing research and analysis in business-to-business marketing.

As a basis for successful business relationship management and marketing, managers need to understand the reasons for which customers keep on buying from the same supplier. This chapter uncovers those reasons based on the generic concept of a market transaction. To forego a transaction, the customer needs to perceive a customer benefit. In business relationships this customer benefit may come from either the elements of the exchange (as in spot market transactions) or from the bonds with a particular supplier. Both aspects are discussed in detail. Furthermore, the author takes the position of the supplier and describes how different contracting options can help its endeavors to bind the customer. The chapter is rounded off with the different phases of a business relationship and how the customer’s purchasing behavior may change over time.

Introduction Caring with Compassion provides core background information to support clinical care for homeless, underserved, uninsured, and at-risk populations. It was designed by an interdisciplinary team of educators from the fields of medicine, nursing, and social services. The team identified practical knowledge objectives using an iterative, expert consensus approach. Content validity was addressed by incorporating national internal medicine milestones and feedback from national educational leaders. This content is designed for graduate medical learners, advanced medical students, and nurse practitioners. Methods Caring with Compassion is divided into two major content domains: Domain 1 provides an overview of US public health care systems; Domain 2 presents the bio-psychosocial model of health care and special care needs of underserved populations. This submission includes the content for Domain 1: U.S. Public Healthcare Systems. Domain 2 is separately published by MedEdPORTAL. Results Nationally, over 350 learners have registered for the online version of the curriculum, and feedback has been highly positive. Preliminary quantitative outcome data demonstrates highly significant improvement in multiple choice examination scores following exposure to the modules for all assessed content areas [n, pretest, posttest, t test p value]: epidemiology of populations in need (42, 49%, 81%, p < .0001); public health insurance (30, 52%, 80%, p < .0001); health care delivery systems knowledge (19, 53%, 67%, p < .002). Discussion This content has benefited from continual revisions based on learner and faculty feedback, including results of the formal focus groups as detailed above. Expansion of content is ongoing based on requests from faculty users nationally. Further plans include expansion of faculty development tools and continual content revisions based on new research and curricular feedback.

Introduction The Caring with Compassion series provides core background information to support bio-psychosocial clinical care for homeless, underserved, uninsured, and at-risk populations. At the University of Michigan Medical School, this content serves as a core resource for a fourth-year medical student clinical elective regarding care of the underserved. At the University of Michigan School of Nursing, it is a core resource for advance nurse practitioner clinical rotations in underserved settings. For graduate medical learners, the content is available as an independent learning resource. This resource is the second domain in a two-domain series. The first domain provides an overview of US public health care systems, while this domain presents the bio-psychosocial model of health care and special care needs of underserved populations. Methods In this module, case-based materials are provided to address the topics of biomedical conditions among the homeless, social determinants of health, the biopsychosocial model of health, and interdisciplinary team care. A multiple-choice test and answer key are provided for each topic. Results Nationally, over 300 learners from multiple medical and nursing training programs have registered as learners, and feedback has been highly positive. Through the use of t tests, preliminary quantitative outcome data demonstrated significant improvement in multiple-choice examination scores following exposure to the modules for all assessed content areas: epidemiology of populations in need (n = 42, pretest = 49%, posttest = 81%, p < .0001); health care delivery systems knowledge (n = 19, pretest = 53%, posttest = 67%, p < .002); homelessness and disease (n = 20, pretest = 59%, posttest = 82%, p < .0001); public health insurance (n = 30, pretest = 52%, posttest = 80%, p < .0001); team care (n = 14, pretest = 45%, posttest = 64%, p < .001); social determinants (n = 29, pretest = 51%, posttest = 56%, p = .022). Additionally, comments from users included: “This is incredible and I am going through it slowly — realize how much I need to learn,” “A great tool for everyone not only to raise awareness but hopefully inspire people to take an active role in the care of the underserved.” Discussion Most training programs find it easiest to utilize this resource then encourage application in clinical settings. For programs with residents providing continuity care in federally qualified health care centers, the content may be used for ambulatory case conference discussions.

Malaria remains as an important public health and a major cause of childhood death and paediatric hospital admission in sub-Saharan Africa. This prospective hospital based cross sectional study was conducted from April 2007 to April 2008. The main objective was to assess clinical manifestations and outcomes of severe malaria in children admitted to district hospital in Rungwe and Kyela in south-western Tanzania. A total of 1371 children were selected as screening group of which 409 (29.8%) were tested positive for malaria. Mean age of the children was 2.7 (95%CI= 2.5, 2.8) years and the majority (86%) were under five years of age. The proportion of children severe malaria in Rungwe was significantly higher than that of Kyela by 21.3% ( P=0.002) . The common symptoms of severe malaria during admission were convulsions (50.9%) compensated shock (30.6%), prostration (29.1%) and symptomatic severe anaemia (14.9%). The case fatality rate (CFR) was 4.6% and the cure rate (CR) was 95.4%. Children with suspected severe acidosis and symptomatic severe anemia were 4.8 (95%CI=1.6, 14.6) and 5.5 (95%CI 1.1, 28.2), respectively, more likely to die compared to those without these symptoms. The proportion of deaths among children presenting ≥5 symptoms was 32.1% higher than among those presenting one symptom (OR =0.50, 95%CI 0.125-2.000; P =0.000). Convulsions and compensated shock were the leading symptoms at admission. Suspected severe acidosis and symptomatic severe anemia were the predictors of mortality for children. In order to reduce mortality among admitted children with severe malaria there is a need for health providers to deploy strategic management of fatal prognostic factors. In conclusion, convulsion and compensated shock were the leading symptoms among children at admission and that suspected severe acidosis and symptomatic severe anemia were the predictors of mortality. It is therefore important to emphasis early diagnosis and prompt treatment of severe cases of malaria to minimize mortality among children.

This paper investigates the influence of cultural characteristics of negotiator teams (Masculinity, High/low context) on the behavior and different success measures in intercultural business negotiations. Preliminary results show differences in negotiation success across cultural groups and in terms of cultural team composition. A content analysis of the negotiation protocols will shed light on how this effect develops through negotiation behavior.

Globalization is not a new phenomenon. The networking of the world’s economy has been evolving for centuries, with companies gradually expanding beyond their national borders. What is new is the dramatic acceleration of this process. The rapid networking of global communications is being mirrored by web-like value chains that increasingly span the world.

Nurses' beliefs about human nature will influence their interactions with clients. Health promotion can be approached from the point of view of the individual or of society as a whole. This article examines how nurses can promote the health of their clients.

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Extremely short and intense bursts of X-rays, light or electrons can be obtained from a recently developed electron accelerator. Thus high-speed photography is made more versatile since the type of radiation which best portrays a particular event can be selected. The basic system, from which the electron beam can be extracted for direct use or converted into an intense pulse of X-rays by bremsstrahlung, was described at the 8th Congress of High-Speed Photography; since that time light generating capability has been added by the development of semiconductor targets which convert the electron beam energy into Super Radiant Light (SRL).