European Journal of Marketing

Nick Lee

doi: 10.1108/03090561111111299pmid: N/A

Purpose – The purpose of this editorial is to comment on the paper by Saunders and Wong in this issue. In doing so, the paper reflects on the notion of academic quality within marketing research, along with the systems in place to evaluate and reward it. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes a reflective, discursive approach. Findings – The author finds that, while Saunders and Wong make a number of pertinent observations, and come up with interesting solutions, the notion of academic quality espoused in their paper is based on a logically flawed set of arguments. Research limitations/implications – The paper is primarily a personal view, and thus does not rely on any empirical research. Practical implications – There are key implications for many parties involved in the creation and assessment of marketing knowledge. In particular, scholars would be well advised to consider notions of quality in relation to their own work, rather than rely unquestioningly on existing definitions. Policy makers and research managers (e.g. business school deans) also need to consider what quality in academic research really is, and how to appropriately direct and reward it. Originality/value – The paper provides another perspective on the well‐established debate regarding quality, and thus it is hoped will stimulate further thinking.

John Saunders; Veronica Wong

doi: 10.1108/03090561111111307pmid: N/A

Purpose – This research paper aims to examine the global trends in publishing in the leading marketing journals between 1964 and 2008, focusing on how public policy intervention in the assessment and funding of academic research has influenced Britain's relative productivity in the world's leading marketing journals. Design/methodology/approach – The method was an audit of contributions to the leading journals based on the authors' affiliation, country of origin and country in which they obtained their doctoral training. Findings – The results show that the proportion of leading marketing publications by authors affiliated to British universities have held steady at about 2 per cent, while the productivity of several other countries has accelerated past Britain. However, to retain that share, Britain has increasingly depended upon importing people whose PhD is not British. This contrasts with some other European countries that are now more productive than Britain, but mainly recruit locals with local PhDs. The pattern of decline in the UK is related to the impact of Britain's research assessment exercise and the continuation of relatively weak social science research training. Research limitations/implications – The analysis is limited by only looking at one academic discipline and only the top few academic journals in the field. Practical implications – The findings have implications at several levels. At a national policy level it questions the value of the research assessment exercises that appear to have presided over a decline in research productivity. For institutions, it questions the value in investing in developing local talent when success has come to those who buy talent internationally. Perhaps, the major implication arises from Britain's academic productivity declining while neighbouring countries have grown in international excellence. Originality/value – At a time when the continuation of expensive university research assessments is being questioned the research findings add value to the current debate in showing how that very process has accompanied academic decline.

Mons Freng Svendsen; Sven A. Haugland; Kjell Grønhaug; Trond Hammervoll

doi: 10.1108/03090561111111316pmid: N/A

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the impact of a firm's marketing strategy on involving customers in new product development. Special attention is to be paid to three facets of a marketing strategy: product differentiation, competitor orientation and brand profiling emphasis. Design/methodology/approach – A survey with quantitative questionnaires was used in the context of relationships between Norwegian suppliers and international buyers. Findings – Two facets of marketing strategy, product differentiation and competitor orientation, positively impact customer involvement. Furthermore, specific investments dedicated to the relationship are also positively related to customer involvement, and customer involvement increases customer profitability. Research limitations/implications – The study relies on data from the suppliers, and future studies should also include customer data to explore possible effects of the customer's marketing strategy on joint involvement in new product development. Practical implications – The study shows that managers seeking to involve customers in product development should carefully develop their marketing strategy and build commitment through specific investments. Originality/value – Previous studies show that firms can benefit from involving customers in new product development. This paper extends knowledge in the field by exploring how different facets of the firm's marketing strategy can increase or decrease the possibilities for involving customers.

Chih‐Peng Chu; Ci‐Rong Li; Chen‐Ju Lin

doi: 10.1108/03090561111111325pmid: N/A

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to further understand the joint effect of project‐level exploratory and exploitative learning in new product development. It aims to examine the complicated relationships among exploratory learning, exploitative learning and new product performance at a single project level. In addition, it seeks to shed light on the contextual effects of a firm's market orientation on the relationship between joint occurrence of both learning activities and new product development performance. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a questionnaire survey/analysis of a sample of 298 projects from high‐tech firms in Taiwan. Findings – The findings suggest that the joint occurrence of both learning activities has a positive effect on new product performance and depends upon a high level of one learning activity coupled with a small dose of the other. Drawing on cultural and behavioral perspectives of market orientation, the results also indicate that market orientation may enhance the joint effect of both learning activities on new product performance. Practical implications – This paper offers insight to project managers with regard to the importance of rationally mixing with exploratory and exploitative learning during new product development. Furthermore, the study argues that market orientation is an alternative of organizational design that fosters the positive joint effect of both learning behaviors. Originality/value – The results empirically support the theoretical argument that a high‐low matching of exploratory and exploitative learning can enhance performance at the level of a single project. The study provides a multiple‐level framework to understand how the firm‐level MO strengthens the positive effects of joint occurrence of project‐level exploratory and exploitative learning activities during new product development.

Heidi M.K. Ngan; Gerard P. Prendergast; Alex S.L. Tsang

doi: 10.1108/03090561111111334pmid: N/A

Purpose – It is common for companies to sponsor sports teams. The aim of this paper is to examine experimentally the impact of two team attributes (team performance and the presence of a star in the team) on consumers' intention to purchase the sponsor's product. The moderating role of team identification on the relationship between these two team attributes and intention to purchase is also to be studied. Design/methodology/approach – An experiment was conducted in Hong Kong. A series of hypotheses relating to team performance, presence of stars in the team, and team identification were tested. Findings – Team performance significantly influenced consumers' intention to purchase the sponsor's product, and this influence was more pronounced for casual than for avid fans and more pronounced when the team contained a star. A winning team with a star generated the strongest purchase intention. A losing team with a star produced the lowest purchase intention. Research limitations/implications – The trade‐off between internal and external validity when using experimental research methods constitutes the main limitation of this study. This limitation aside, the study suggested that sponsors should try to sponsor a winning team, especially if it contains a star player. A sponsor of a losing team might encourage the team management to take actions that increase the level of team identification among consumers. If the losing team also contains a star, the sponsor ought to promote other strengths of the team instead of focusing on team performance. Originality/value – The paper extends previous work in the area by examining how team performance and the presence of a star in a team impact intentions to purchase the sponsor's product, and how team identification moderates the influence of these two attributes.

Amir Grinstein; Arieh Goldman

doi: 10.1108/03090561111111343pmid: N/A

Purpose – Managers often face a number of dilemmas with respect to their stakeholders: Who are the most salient ones? How many should they target? How to allocate attention/efforts among them? Based on stakeholders and market orientation research this paper aims to address these dilemmas. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on a survey of managers in a cross‐industry sample of 115 firms. The authors first identify a specific group of salient stakeholders – those providing the firm with revenues and financial support. The article then studies the conditions under which firms should adopt a key approach to stakeholders' management – a “generalist” stakeholder strategy, that is, deal with a larger number of revenue and funding producing stakeholder types, and/or more evenly spread attention/efforts among them. Findings – The findings suggest that a generalist stakeholder strategy has a positive effect on firms' performance among resource‐rich firms and among firms who face dissimilar (“unrelated”) stakeholders. Also, degree of environmental volatility was not found to moderate the relationship between a generalist stakeholder strategy and firms' performance. Research limitations/implications – The study contributes to the marketing and stakeholder literatures by identifying and studying a group of important stakeholders beyond final consumers – those providing the firm with revenues and financial support, and by studying the conditions under which firms benefit from one key approach to stakeholders – a “generalist” stakeholder strategy. The study's limitations characterize most cross‐sectional survey research (e.g. single informants, subjective performance assessments). However, substantial efforts were made to ensure the validity and robustness of the findings. Practical implications – The study offers managers insight into the organizational and environmental conditions under which firms should adopt a generalist stakeholder strategy. Originality/value – This is one of the few papers that integrate into the marketing literature the study of stakeholders. Specifically, it introduces the concept of a generalist stakeholder strategy.

Jaakko Aspara; Henrikki Tikkanen; Erik Pöntiskoski; Paavo Järvensivu

doi: 10.1108/03090561111111352pmid: N/A

Purpose – Long‐run corporate success requires engagement in two types of innovative activities: exploitation and exploration. However, earlier research has focused on exploration and exploitation concerning a firm's technologies. The purpose of the present article is to explicitly examine exploration and exploitation related to customers and markets. Design/methodology/approach – The article is conceptual in nature, based on marketing, strategic management, and organization literatures. Findings – The article explains the logic of exploration‐exploitation with respect to two market‐related resource classes – the firm's knowledge of markets and customers (market/customer intelligence) and market actors' knowledge of and bonds to the firm (brands/bonds) – as viewed in combination with the resource class of technologies, processes, and products (technologies/processes). The distinction of these three resource classes enables a three‐dimensional conceptualization of the ideal types of a firm's business development projects, which are seen as combinations of exploration and exploitation of resources across the three classes. The article also introduces the notions of multidimensionality of exploration‐exploitation within the resource classes and relativity of resource newness. Originality/value – The article explicates how firms can orient their exploration and exploitation strategies not only on the technology dimension but also on the dimensions of market/customer intelligence and brands/bonds.

Oriol Iglesias; Alfons Sauquet; Jordi Montaña

doi: 10.1108/03090561111111361pmid: N/A

Purpose – The role of corporate culture in relationship marketing is significantly under‐researched, although there is evident consensus in the literature about the importance of this topic. The purpose of this paper is to present a model for the corporate culture of a relationship‐marketing‐oriented company. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative methodology involving 58 in‐depth interviews that were analysed and interpreted from a grounded theory standpoint was adopted in order to build a conceptual model. Findings – The two key shared values required to successfully put relationship marketing into effect are client orientation and a high degree of concern for employees. Furthermore, another six shared values (trust, commitment, teamwork, innovation, flexibility, and results orientation) also seem to facilitate the development of a relationship marketing orientation. Research limitations/implications – Although the research methodology is qualitative and does not allow statistical generalisation, the study provides valuable insights into the role of corporate culture in relationship marketing. Practical implications – The paper offers a guide to the values that should be developed in order to be able to put a relationship marketing orientation successfully into effect. Originality/value – The paper proposes a model for the corporate culture of a relationship‐ marketing‐oriented company.

Rose Leahy

doi: 10.1108/03090561111111370pmid: N/A

Purpose – This paper aims to explore relationship marketing and the existence of relationships in mass consumer markets from the consumers' perspective, with the focus on the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. Design/methodology/approach – Ten focus groups were conducted with consumers from a broad range of demographic and socio‐economic backgrounds to enable in‐depth exploration of the research issue. Findings – The study highlights the dominant negative attitudes that exist among consumers to relationship marketing as it is operationalised in FMCG markets. It is found that from the consumers' perspective relationships do not and cannot exist in these markets and that the nature of exchange in such markets is not relationship based. Consequently, the research concludes that there is a necessity to move away from relationship rhetoric in FMCG markets, and to explore the true nature of exchange in the quest for effective marketing strategies. The research also suggests that further research on relationship marketing should focus on situations where relationships do and can exist and consequently the boundaries of relationship marketing should be limited to only these situations. Originality/value – By offering the consumer perspective on relationships and relationship marketing this study broadens understanding of the phenomenon and makes an important contribution to the relationship marketing debate.

Hong‐Youl Ha; Joby John; Swinder Janda; Siva Muthaly

doi: 10.1108/03090561111111389pmid: N/A

Purpose – This paper aims to model the effect of advertising spending on brand loyalty by examining the simultaneous effects of advertising spending, store image, perceived quality and satisfaction on brand loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – A proposed model is compared with three competing models of the relationships amongst, and impact of, independent variables on brand loyalty. Data from the banking and discount store services in South Korea are used to examine the indirect effects of customer perceptions of advertising spending on brand loyalty. Findings – Results elucidate the complexity of advertising spending effects on brand loyalty, with mediating roles played by store image, perceived quality and satisfaction. Significant results obtained in both banking and retail services differing in firm‐customer relationships suggest that the findings are robust. Research limitations/implications – Future research might test the proposed research model in other cultures and conduct cross‐cultural comparisons. Other variables such as brand associations, brand trust, advertising recall might uncover additional cognitive and attitudinal structural relationships with brand loyalty. Originality/value – The paper compares competing models of the variables of interest, which has not been done before, and indeed seen quite infrequently in scholarly research in marketing. Unlike in previous studies, this paper examines the simultaneous relationships and the mediating roles of store image, perceived quality and satisfaction in the impact of perceptions of advertising intensity on brand loyalty.