European Journal of Marketing

Sheila Wright; Jonathan L. Calof

doi: 10.1108/03090560610657787pmid: N/A

Purpose – Seeks to examine three empirical studies carried out in Canada, the UK and Europe with comparisons drawn on their approach and findings. Design/methodology/approach – The studies were compared using a framework, developed by the authors, along four central elements and two influencing drivers. Findings – Little measurement consistency or output value was evident. The current focus on isolated studies, carried out at a macro level, is discouraged. Practical implications – Future studies need greater rigour, and consequently might be of more value to academics and practitioners. Originality/value – The lack of research consistency is highlighted. Recommendations are made for stronger adhesion with other disciplines to develop a robust research agenda.

Nina Veflen Olsen; James Sallis

doi: 10.1108/03090560610657796pmid: N/A

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a theoretical model of narrow and broad market scanning in a service industry, including short‐ and long‐term outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – In a cross‐sectional survey, structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses on a sample of 126 hotel managers in Norway. Findings – Given that services often involve direct interaction between the customer and the provider, customers play a more active role in the service development process. This has ramifications for how service firms scan their environment and, in turn, for incremental and discontinuous innovation. It is found that narrow and broad scanning each affect the new service development process in a unique way. Narrow scanning has a strong positive effect on profitability through incremental service adaptation; broad scanning has a weak but significant effect on profitability through incremental service adaptation, and broad scanning positively influences spin‐off knowledge. Research limitations/implications – The two greatest limitations of the research, which translate into important avenues for future research, are to develop a better measure of discontinuous innovation, and to test the model in an alternative setting, because hotels are very dependent on locality and surroundings. Practical implications – When developing services, services managers must distinguish between short‐ and long‐term performance, and how they scan their markets. Adapting to customers to the exclusion of exploring new opportunities threatens long‐term viability. Originality/value – The paper offers the following advice: as with organizational learning, service firms need to scan their markets by design, not default.

Morgan P. Miles; Jenny Darroch

doi: 10.1108/03090560610657804pmid: N/A

Purpose – The paper aims to explore how large firms might leverage entrepreneurial marketing processes to gain and renew competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach – The paper applies past research on entrepreneurial marketing and entrepreneurship with examples from a long‐term case study of firms in New Zealand, Sweden, the UK, and the USA to illustrate how entrepreneurial marketing processes can be strategically employed by large firms to create or discover, assess, and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities more effectively and efficiently. Findings – The paper offers insight into how large firms leverage entrepreneurial marketing processes to gain advantage. The findings suggest that, in free and open markets, entrepreneurial marketing processes can be strategically employed to create superior value for the firm's customers and owners. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the work of both academics working at the marketing/entrepreneurship interface and executives seeking to leverage marketing to create competitive advantage.

Willem Verbeke; Richard P. Bagozzi; Paul Farris

doi: 10.1108/03090560610657813pmid: N/A

Purpose – Seeks to better understand whether a retailer's trust in a manufacturer is a key concept in their motivation to allocate resources to those manufacturers with whom they have a long‐term relationship compared with economical motivations. Design/methodology/approach – A survey research method is used to study all customers from three large manufacturers in The Netherlands. These retailers had to answer questions about their trust in a manufacturer, the manufacturer's investments in the relationship, and their marketing efforts. Questions were also asked about the allocation of their own scarce resources for the manufacturer, specifically their adoption of in‐store marketing campaigns initiated by the manufacturer. Structural equation models and regression analyses were employed. Findings – Trust is not that important, but the manufacturer's investments in the brand are the most important predictors. However, interaction effects were also found: trust interacts with investments in the brand to influence resource allocations. It was also found that personal contact of salespeople of the manufacturer with managers at store as well as their contact with headquarters had an effect on resource allocation. This is conceived to be an indication that people at headquarters take into consideration how people at the floor level evaluate the brands and their effects on customers when making resource allocation decisions. In other words, retailer chains have complex buying centers. Research limitations/implications – A large set of customers was analyzed from three different manufacturers, but customers could have been investigated from many manufacturers. Practical implications – Retailers respond to manufacturers mainly with economic motivations (e.g. what is the value of this brand for my own firm?). However, trust at times interacts with these economic motivations. This means that manufacturers should invest both in the relationship with the retailer and in their brands, if they want to motivate the retailer to allocate scarce resources (e.g. time). Originality/value – This paper identifies important factors that influence retailer behavior that have not been studied within a fast‐moving retail context.

Isabel Maria Macedo; José Carlos Pinho

doi: 10.1108/03090560610657822pmid: N/A

Purpose – This article sets out to examine the market orientation construct within the context of the non‐profit sector. Given the specificity of non‐profit organisations and the increasingly demanding resource environments in which these organisations operate, the adoption of the concept of marketing is viewed as an adaptive strategy for ensuring that organisations receive the necessary resources for accomplishing their missions and carrying out their activities. In line with this, the present article aims to investigate the extent to which the type of revenue strategy is related to the organisation's market orientation, towards donors and/or users. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing from a resource dependence conceptual framework, the article reports findings from a quantitative study of a representative sample of Portuguese non‐profit organisations (NPOs). This approach was complemented by qualitative research methods. Combining these two approaches has given access to different levels of reality and provided a more holistic understanding of the phenomena under study. Findings – The results from the present study demonstrate that Portuguese NPOs favour a market orientation towards users/beneficiaries, revealing a less proactive behaviour in relation to their donors. In the present study, the resource dependence theory has proved to be an important theoretical tool for understanding market orientation strategies within the non‐profit sector. The link between the type of resource strategy and the organisation's market orientation stands out as an important finding derived from the present study and is particularly visible in relation to donor market orientation. In addition, empirical data partially support the conclusion that diversification of revenue sources is likely to favour a higher degree of market orientation. Further refinement of the adequacy of the MARKOR scale within the context of the non‐profit sector stands out as an avenue for further research. Research limitations/implications – As the sample used for analysis was drawn from Portugal, the generalisability of the results to other countries remains to be tested. Practical implications – The findings of the present study may assist public policy‐makers in the design of more adequate policies in the allocation of resources to non‐profit organisations. Originality/value – The study contributes to a better understanding of market orientation in the specific context of the non‐profit sector. Moreover, this is done through applying the market orientation scale to two different stakeholders (i.e. donors and users/beneficiaries) in the evaluation of market orientation and in its relationship with resource strategies.

Stephan M. Wagner

doi: 10.1108/03090560610657831pmid: N/A

Purpose – Seeks to provide a more differentiated view of supplier development activities currently applied by European firms. Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory empirical study was conducted based on a review of previously published research on supplier development and case studies with 12 industrial firms. The survey responses from 173 firms were factor‐analyzed to explore various dimensions of supplier development and their interrelationships. Furthermore, an industry‐level analysis was performed. Findings – Firms are reluctant to develop suppliers. Two dimensions of direct and four dimensions of indirect supplier development were observed. Providing human and capital support to suppliers (i.e. two dimensions of direct supplier development) is strongly related to formal supplier evaluation, structures and processes for evaluating suppliers as well as communication (i.e. three dimensions of indirect supplier development). Research limitations/implications – Future studies should incorporate the perspective of the supplier firm, include small and medium‐sized enterprises, and approach pressing questions related to performance implications for the buying firm and sharing of the benefits achieved in supplier development activities. Practical implications – Firms can compare their approach towards various supplier development practices with the approach taken by a representative sample and their industry as a whole. Originality/value – The paper conducts new research in a European setting. Furthermore, a novel industry‐level view is presented.

Darryn Mitussis; Lisa O'Malley; Maurice Patterson

doi: 10.1108/03090560610657840pmid: N/A

Purpose – This paper aims to reframe and enhance the relationship marketing literature through advocating an emphasis on process and a renewed commitment to social and informational exchanges. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is conceptual. It takes as its starting‐point the recognition that customers exist in complex dynamic systems in which they enact multiple roles. However, current implementations of customer relationship management (CRM) typically only view customers through a single lens (as customers) that denies firms a holistic view of those with whom they interact. Moreover, CRM systems typically embed and script actions (i.e. call centre options, offers driven by cross‐selling and segmentation) rather than enabling rich communication and facilitating appropriate responses that emerge from that communication. It is argued here that, as a consequence, both parties to a relationship need to negotiate the nature of systems that connect them, because those systems, in part, determine the content of relationship exchanges. Practical implications – Understanding of the central argument will contribute to better organisational‐customer interactions and more informed relationship management techniques. Originality/value – The paper argues for a renewed emphasis on processes and on social/informational exchanges within those relationships. This initiates a process of frame restructuring that will benefit RM.

Bruce R. Klemz; Christo Boshoff; Noxolo‐Eileen Mazibuko

doi: 10.1108/03090560610657859pmid: N/A

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to assess differences between the guidance offered by cultural studies in the services literature and the retailing literature for emerging markets. To research these differences, the role that the contact person has towards South African township residents' willingness to buy is to be assessed. Design/methodology/approach – A services quality survey of black (ethnic Xhosa) township residents was performed for two different retail types: new, small, independently owned grocery retailers located within the townships, and established, large, national chains located within the city centres. The influence of these services quality measures on willingness to buy was assessed using the partial least squares method for each of the two retail types. Differences between the model parameters for these two retail types were assessed using ANOVA. Findings – The results show that, consistent with the retailing literature, the contact people in these new, small, local and independently owned retailers focus extensively on empathy to influence willingness to buy, while the contact people in the large, traditionally white‐owned national retailers jointly focus on assurance and responsiveness to influence willingness to buy, and spend very little effort on empathy. Research limitations/implications – Research implications are based on the usefulness of supporting theory, namely that the guidance offered by the cultural studies in the retailing literature is more predictive than that in the services literature for the emerging South African retailing market. Practical implications – It is found that core elements in relationship marketing are well ingrained in collectivist Xhosa cultural norms. The results suggest that these cultural norms can, and should, be leveraged by the new independently owned grocery retailers. Originality/value – The research addresses a key concern within emerging markets and offers practical help for retail development within this dynamic economic setting.

Leslie de Chernatony; Susan Cottam (née Drury)

doi: 10.1108/03090560610657868pmid: N/A

Purpose – Having a successful brand that is integrated and coherent can provide a sustainable competitive advantage. The aim of this paper is to identify internal factors contributing to financial services brand success and ultimately to facilitate better‐informed branding activities, thereby growing brand equity. Design/methodology/approach – A grounded theory approach is adopted and indepth interviews were carried out with 68 respondents amongst six financial services organisations. Findings – The organisations with more successful brands were characterised by the following factors: a holistic, consistent and integrated approach to branding, a focus on excellent and personalised customer service, an ethos which challenges the norm, a responsiveness to change, a high degree of brand literacy, and a synergy between the brand and organisational culture. Research limitations/implications – The study was bound by the availability of respondents' time. The focus was to examine a relatively small sample of organisations in considerable depth. Moving forward, it is intended that a quantitative study will be undertaken to generalise and expand on these findings within the financial services market. Practical implications – A number of significant managerial implications are drawn from this work, for example using the brand ethos model to enable employees to internalise their brand and the use of “brand jigsaw” workshops to facilitate brand consistency. Originality/value – The results provide valuable insights into financial services brand management, encouraging the employment of more effective branding techniques within a sector that has traditionally had little interest in branding.

Nikolaus Franke; Josef A. Mazanec

doi: 10.1108/03090560610657877pmid: N/A

Purpose – This article seeks to provide an empirical identification of groups of marketing scholars who share common beliefs about the role of science and the logic of scientific discovery. Design/methodology/approach – Topology is used representing network quantization to identify empirically classes of marketing researchers within a representative sample of marketing professors. Findings – Six distinct classes of marketing scholars were found. They differ with regard to popularity (size) and productivity (levels of publication output). Comparing the sub‐samples of German‐speaking and US respondents shows cross‐cultural differences. Originality/value – The study enhances understanding of the current scientific orientation(s) of marketing. It may help to motivate marketing scholars to ponder on their own positions and assist them in judging where they may belong. Future comparisons over time would give an indication about the future of the academic discipline of marketing.