Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of the marketing strategy process in the relationship between innovativeness and organizational performance in SMEs. Design/methodology/approach The partial least squares-structural equation modeling technique was used to analyze data from Brazilian SMEs that belong to the software sector. Innovativeness was considered as a cultural aspect of the firm, which is related to being open to new ideas. The marketing strategy process was analyzed considering its two dimensions, i.e., formulation and implementation of marketing strategies. Organizational performance included variables of market, financial and innovation performance. Findings The results show that innovativeness positively influences organizational performance through the marketing strategy process. Specifically, the formulation of marketing strategies mediates the relationship between innovativeness and organizational performance. Implementation by itself does not mediate this relationship. When considering the path formulation→implementation as mediator, the influence is positive, i.e., formulation positively influences the implementation of marketing strategies and this path mediates the relationship between innovativeness and organizational performance. Therefore, the mediating role is stronger when considering the formulation-implementation path than when taking into account the activities of the formulation and implementation of marketing strategies separately. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by discussing how innovativeness influences SMEs’ performance through subsequent stages of the marketing strategy process. This is one of the first studies to consider activities in the marketing strategy process as a mediator in the innovativeness-performance relationship and explore its sequence.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze effects of absorptive capacity (ACAP) on organizational performance. The model looks at the mediating influence of marketing capabilities (innovative capability and new product development capability (NPDC)) and innovation performance (IP). Design/methodology/approach This study takes a quantitative approach by using survey data from 333 Brazilian manufacturer managers involved with strategic marketing processes. Structural equation modeling was used to test the theoretical hypotheses. Findings Results indicate that ACAP does not have a direct impact on organizational performance. The relation is fully mediated by marketing capabilities (innovative capability and NPDC) and IP. Research limitations/implications According to the research findings, managers should put efforts in the ACAP as well as marketing capabilities that will result in better organizational performance. This research is limited to the context of manufacturer firms in Brazil. However, it is suggested that an application of this research can be conducted in different industries and different countries. Originality/value This study contributes to theory and management practice. First, no study has explored all these constructs together. Through the relationship between ACAP and performance, the authors found that marketing capabilities and IP can fully mediate the former proposed relation. The authors’ contribution is the understanding of the role of ACAP influence on performance. Managers should be encouraged to invest in companies’ ACAP as well as marketing capabilities to differentiate themselves from competitors and improve performance.

No abstract

Cooperative organizations face problems with the opportunistic behavior of their members, such as the "free-rider problem". To mitigate this problem, cooperative governance systems develop strategies that aim to maximize the economic gains of cooperative members through investments in technical assistance programs. The purpose of our research is to verify if the participation in the technical assistance program increases the probability of loyalty of dairy cooperative members. To this end, we developed an econometric model with logistic regression, using secondary data extracted from the Programa Gerencial Leite. The program is developed by the cooperative system of the State of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and comprises 24 cooperatives. The collected data are longitudinal and include the commercial milk transactions carried out between cooperative members and cooperatives during the years 2014 to 2018, totaling 10,548 cooperative members and 28,765 observations collected and analyzed during this period. Our results indicate that participation in the technical assistance program offered by the cooperative governance increases the probability of loyalty of dairy farmers.

This work examines the relationship between the three market orientation (MO) components, i.e. customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination, and the extension to which small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) use different sources of knowledge to innovate. Based on a sample of 181 Chilean SMEs, a confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA) was performed to analyze the relationship among constructs. The results show that the extension to which SMEs use different sources of knowledge to innovate depends on the interactions between MO components. This study addresses a gap in the literature, by linking and interrelating market orientation components to the innovation perspective in SMEs. Therefore, we provide insights into the role of each MO component in influencing the extension to which firms seek for and use different sources of knowledge to innovate and attempt to explain some literature inconsistencies on the theme.

Este artigo analisa a influência dos agentes de socialização - no caso, a família, a escola, a mídia e os pares - no conhecimento, no sentimento e no comportamento de separação de materiais para a reciclagem de jovens universitários. Para isto, a revisão teórica faz uma ligação entre a última etapa do comportamento do consumidor, que engloba a separação de materiais para a reciclagem, e os agentes de socialização que já foram estudados como influências em outros tipos de comportamentos. Um modelo e sete hipóteses foram propostos pelos autores. A pesquisa foi dividida em duas etapas. A primeira, qualitativa e exploratória. A segunda, quantitativa e descritiva, realizada com 351 universitários. As análises quantitativas utilizaram modelagem de equações estruturais para verificar o modelo proposto. Os resultados mostram que os quatro agentes influenciam de maneira direta ou indireta o comportamento dos jovens na separação de materiais para a reciclagem. O comportamento é influenciado diretamente pelo contato pessoal: família e pares. Porém, de maneira indireta, a escola, a mídia e os pares agem nos sentimentos, que são considerados antecedentes do comportamento.

No abstract

Objetivo: Este estudo teve como objetivo investigar as relaes entre a inovatividade, o processo de estratgia de marketing e o desempenho organizacional de pequenas e mdias empresas. Mtodo: A pesquisa foi desenvolvida com 105 PMEs do setor de Tecnologias da Informao e Comunicao (TIC) e as hipteses foram testadas por meio de modelagem de equaes estruturais com o uso do software SMART PLS 2.0 Resultados: Os resultados demonstram que a inovatividade exerce influncia direta e positiva sobre os sete componentes do processo de estratgia de marketing investigados. No entanto, descobriu-se que somente a nfase em capacidades de marketing impacta de forma direta e positiva o desempenho organizacional. Contribuies tericas: Esse estudo contribui para o entendimento terico das relaes entre inovao e marketing em PMEs. Demostrou-se a importncia da inovatividade para o processo de estratgia de marketing em empresas que enfrentam ambiente dinmico e concorrncia especializada. Evidenciou-se, tambm, que a natureza tcita e idiossincrtica das capacidades de marketing contribui para o processo estratgico, pois torna a imitao do mesmo pelos concorrentes mais difcil, levando vantagem competitiva e, consequentemente, ao desempenho superior. Originalidade/relevncia: Os resultados do presente estudo comprovam que no contexto de PMEs ideias inovadoras no so suficientes para garantir o desempenho organizacional. Ou seja, para atingir o sucesso das inovaes em produto/servio a empresa precisa desenvolver capacidades de marketing como, por exemplo, atendimento aos clientes, esforos de comunicao e imagem de marca.