Our study focuses on the internal process through which market orientation influences performance in export markets, and develops a model of market orientationmarketing capabilities-competitive advantages-performance relationships. Using survey data of 491 export ventures based in China, we find that marketing capabilities mediate the market orientation-performance relationship, while competitive advantages partially mediate the marketing capabilitiesperformance relationship. Moreover, coordination mechanism strengthens, and cost leadership strategy weakens, the effects of market orientation on new product development and marketing communication capabilities, respectively. Market turbulence attenuates the effect of market orientation on new product development capability while competitive intensity strengthens this effect.

We study sources of operational performance improvement in supplier partnerships. We argue that supplier performance will benefit most where time-bound relational assets have developed between a buyer and supplier and the firms exploit the resulting communication efficiency by transferring productive knowledge. We examine the effects of two forms of knowledge exchange together with the prior duration of the buyer-supplier relationship. We find similar interaction patterns in two survey samples of Japanese and U.S. automotive suppliers. The effect of ordinary technical exchanges on supplier performance improvement does not vary with relationship duration. The effect of higher-level technology transfer, however, grows more positive as relationship duration increases. Other results show relevant contrasts consistent with heterogeneous sourcing behavior between the two countries. The findings highlight the role of relational assets and show that it is important to distinguish between simple techniques and higher-level technological capabilities when studying interfirm relationships. This research extends the literatures on knowledge transfer, buyer-supplier partnerships, and the performance dynamics of interfirm and intrafirm relationships in general.In recent years, researchers have paid increasing attention to the effects of supplier relationships on buyers' competitive advantage. Studies argued that by involving suppliers extensively in product and process development, assemblers (buyers) could gain faster product development cycles, lower input costs and higher end-product

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International diversification is a growth strategy that has a major potential impact on firm performance. The relationship between international diversification and firm performance has been extensively studied in the international strategy literature. A major gap in the literature has been the non-existence of studies that have examined the effect of international diversification on performance in service firms. Previous studies that have tested the international diversification–performance relationship were based on samples of manufacturing firms. We argue that the form of the relationship between multinationality and performance is different in service firms. We provide a theoretical argument for this claim and hypothesize that there is a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between multinationality and performance in service firms. Our sample consists of 81 major German service firms, spanning across four industries. Results show that there is support for a U-shaped curvilinear relationship. Based on the findings, implications and directions for future research are provided. Journal of International Business Studies (2003) 34, 345–355. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400036

Researchers in international business have long been interested inunderstanding the relationship between the multinationality of a firm and its market performance. This article contributes to this research stream by incorporating firm heterogeneity in examining the multinationality-performance relationship. oes multinationality ensure firm performance? This question has been of interest to international business scholars for a long time. The relationship The findings, based on a time series cross-sectional analysis of firms from 12 different industries over a seven-year period, indicate that the impact of multinationality on both financial and operational performance is moderated by firm's R&D and marketing capabilities. between multinationality and performance in the contemporary environment of global integration has of late generated a flurry of empirical studies (Tallman *Masaaki Kotabe holds the Washburn Chair of International Business and Marketing and is the director of research at the Institute of Global Management Studies at the Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University. His research interest includes international marketing, global sourcing strategies, international alliances, and issues related to product and process innovations. His most recent books include Global Marketing Management, 2nd ed. (2001) and