Cooperative agreements are important tools to improve the competitive position of small and medium-sized firms.This explorative conjoint analysis study simultaneously examines the importance of firm, environmental and partner motives on the formation of two types of SME-alliances. In addition, we study the influence of the sector of industry and the CEOs' characteristics. Results indicate that alliance formation is determined by a combination of organizational, partner-and industry-related motives, and that each of these factors should not be studied in isolation. Moreover, motives differ across functional area types of alliances, and both the sector of industry and a CEO's experience affect the probability of alliance creation.
The way decision makers in bank institutions perceive the media that can be used for communicating with their customers cannot be assessed properly if the respondents are not guided by giving them overt criteria for judging the media. When guiding the respondents by giving them such criteria, it appears that three dimensions can be discovered in their perception: effectiveness of the medium, low costs, and image/brand awareness/no irritation. As for the first t w o dimensions, direct mail shows a second-best score; direct mail scores rather low on the third dimension. Furthermore, there is a cluster of respondents who prefer the media direct mail and telephone. The findings imply that managers lack the knowledge and insight needed for making media decisions. Training in this field is necessary.
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