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Purpose -This paper aims to examine whether order and scale of market entry influence a new product's market and financial performance, and how marketing and R&D resources strengthen or weaken these effects. Design/methodology/approach -Through a mail survey, data were collected on a sample of 136 product launches by Spanish manufacturing firms. A moderated hierarchical regression analysis enabled the assessment of the relevance of order and scale as well as their interactions with marketing and R&D resources to explain a product's competitive position. Moreover, a mediation analysis allowed us to determine whether market entry strategy (indirectly) affects financial performance. Findings -The analyses show that pioneering firms and those entering the market with a full-scale launch achieve advantages in terms of competitive position, and that this variable mediates the relationship of order and scale with profitability. The empirical results also reveal that such advantages are conditioned by the availability of marketing and R&D resources. Practical implications -The decisions regarding order and scale of market entry are contingent. Managers involved in the planning of a new product launch should be knowledgeable about their firm's resources and capabilities before determining when and how to enter the market. Originality/value -Many papers study the effects of order-of-entry on market share, but other dimensions of a new product launch strategy, such as scale, have largely been ignored. The research examines the effects of both variables on competitive position and profitability. This is also one of the first studies that explores the moderating effect exerted by resources and capabilities in the launch strategy-performance relationship.

Benefits from the Standardization of the Complaint Management System This research provides new developments in the conceptualization of the complaint management system by examining the benefits of the standardization of the complaint management process. In line with a mechanistic approach of organizational behaviour, we posit that standardization of complaint handling can help to overcome defensive behaviour by employees and managers, who can view receiving complaints as a decidedly negative experience. Specifically, we investigate the influence of three types of guidelines-procedural, behavioural, and outcome-on achieving fairer solutions for customers and, consequently, greater satisfaction with the system. The model proposed in the present research is tested considering the managers' perspective and using data from a representative sample of manufacturing companies covering multiple industries. Our findings provide novel and interesting insights on the factors to which managers in manufacturing firms should pay closer attention when designing an effective complaint management system. All three types of guidelines help to explain perception of justice in the solution of complaints and, thus, customer satisfaction, but important differences exist for the different types of guidelines and their corresponding dimensions.