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Although research and managerial practice have demonstrated great interest in the role of marketing departments within firms and have raised repeated concerns that their influence is in sharp decline, prior research has not analyzed whether marketing departments are truly losing ground. To do so, we build on the work of Homburg et al. (1999), which assessed the influence of the marketing department two decades ago. Drawing on structurally equivalent data, the results demonstrate that the marketing department has indeed lost significant influence. Additionally, we analyze which department has benefited from this loss of influence. Interestingly, it is the sales department that has gained influence, rather than the finance department, as one might assume. We also study the performance consequences of the intraorganizational distribution of influence among the marketing, sales, R&D, operations, and finance departments. Our results are alarming because an influential marketing department makes the greatest contribution to company performance.

Committed employees lead to a better long-term organizational performance. Therefore, organizations make substantive investments in the development and implementation of commitment-enhancing measures. Nevertheless, enhancing organizational commitment remains a challenging task because such measures show mixed effects on employees’ organizational commitment. We argue that these mixed effects result from individual differences in the perception and evaluation of commitment-enhancing measures. Thus, enhancing organizational commitment requires the explicit consideration of individual differences in employees’ perceptions. Long ago, customer-oriented marketing faced a similar challenge, resulting in the development of customized marketing activities. Against the background of internal marketing, which treats employees as “internal customers,” we call for extending the strategy of customization from the customer-oriented to an employee-oriented perspective.

This paper presents a comparative study of the views of British and German engineers on the relationship between engineers and marketers and the conflict between them. Data have been collected from 151 British and 84 German engineers in 25 companies. Engineers who work in a variety of functions and at a number of different levels within an organisation are included. It has been found that the relationship is seen as being reasonable, with teamwork and increased knowledge of marketing by engineers both needed to make it function effectively. The engineers in both countries do not seek to dominate marketing, but they do feel that they need to obtain an understanding of management and of marketing. Conflict is not seen as being high in either country but German engineers perceive there to be lower levels of conflict between them and their marketing colleagues. German engineers see education and training differences as being the main reasons for conflict, whereas British engineers cite a lack of understanding between the two functions as the main reason. Engineers in both countries agree that better communications, more teamwork and more training are needed to improve the interface between the two functions. From this study, modifications to current theoretical frameworks can be seen and these are discussed.

An effective interface between engineering and marketing is considered to be vital for the successful development and commercialization of new products. Studies in the US, Japan and the UK have, however, identified that conflict between engineers and marketers can act as a barrier to effective cooperation. This study aims to further our understanding in this important area by studying conflict between engineers and marketers, from the engineer's perspective, in German companies. This study has found that German engineers recognize the importance of trust, good understanding, common knowledge, integration and teamwork in building a good relationship with marketers. Although the levels of integration between the two functions and the quality of the relationship were found to be relatively low, so too was the level of perceived conflict. The main sources of conflict between German engineers and their marketing colleagues are differences in education and training and different goals and priorities. Both managers and educators of engineers and marketers need to understand how the differences in education and training influence the relationship, and to develop courses, which will help the two functions to become more sensitive to each other's needs.

A large part of the daily business of marketing executives is dedicated to fighting commoditization. That is, the process of trying to differentiate their firm’s products in a marketplace where competitors offer essentially products with identical core attributes, e.g., in terms of quality. Prior research and managerial practice, however, lack insight about which aspects of differentiation resonate in acceptance and purchase among consumers. Moreover, consumers’ affective and cognitive processes when deciding between a standard offering and a differentiated one are not yet well understood. Should the product packing be re-designed? Should sales offer products at lower prices than the competition? Or, does a strong brand drive product success in a commoditized marketplace? By combining self-reports and brain data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this study assesses relevant affective and cognitive processes while consumer are confronted with three distinct differentiation aspects: packaging design, brand, and price. Empirical evidence suggests that differentiation via packaging design has a significantly larger impact on areas of the brain related to value anticipation and actual choice than brand differentiation. Important implications for research and marketing management are discussed.

International marketing is forced to consider multiple general conditions of international business. Therefore, both consumer-related and environmental peculiarities have to be taken into account. Marketing specialists in particular are responsible for identifying these market conditions and formulating matching strategies. This article shows that the general anchor points of international marketing can be adapted to commodities because commodity marketing is based on similar global and local environmental conditions as international marketing. Based on the encompassing definition of “commodities,” this article delivers nine theses that underline the strong relationship between international and commodity marketing.

In order to thrill saturated and fragmented advertising markets, firms are increasingly challenged to create innovative advertising strategies and campaigns that allow them to meaningfully connect with their target audiences (Gupta and Lord, 1998). One recent trend in advertising indicates firms’ efforts in tackling this problem. Firms to an increasing degree focus on brand placement to reach target customers.

The present study investigates the interplay between brand stability and customers' response toward the brand in an industrial buying context. Based on an information economic perspective, the authors develop a conceptual framework that incorporates perceived brand stability, risk reduction, brand loyalty, and customers' willingness to pay a price premium. This framework is empirically tested based on a survey with one hundred and forty nine key informants from business units within the food industry. In order to analyze the proposed relationships, the authors employ structural equation modeling. The present research contributes to a deeper understanding of the role of brands in business-to-business contexts by highlighting the signaling effects of brands in an industrial buying context. Second, the present research empirically demonstrates that brand stability is a key factor to (1) reduce perceived risk, (2) build brand loyalty, and in turn (3) achieve a price premium.