Firms with export operations have internal environments that are often geared toward serving the home market. As a result, export marketing and other business functions compete for resources, which thus increases the likelihood of conflict between them. Using survey responses from more than 700 exporting firms, the authors test a model of the antecedents and consequences of two important interaction variables: exporting’s interfunctional connectedness and conflict. The model explains 52 percent and 49 percent of variance in exporting connectedness and conflict, respectively. The authors identify the key drivers of successful interactions as follows: management commitment, organizational training and reward systems, relative functional identification, centralization, and export employee job satisfaction and commitment. The authors also demonstrate that connectedness is most critical for export success when export markets are in a state of turbulence, whereas conflict is most detrimental when the firm’s export environment is stable.
Utilization of references is a common marketing practice in business marketing. The globalization of the economy is enhancing the relevance of referencing behavior further, as many SME firms try to overcome the liability of anonymity in new overseas markets. However, there is very little reported academic research on references, their creation, use, effectiveness, or even what kind of activities and customer relationships can be considered to be references. We address this gap by developing a conceptual framework identifying the key modes of using references in business marketing and the factors influencing the need and relevance of referencing. The study starts with a description of the use of references in public procurement processes, followed by a discussion of reference practices identified in marketing textbooks, and an extensive review of the treatment of references in scientific marketing literature. Based on this material, a conceptual framework model of referencing is proposed defining the tasks assigned to references and the kind of contexts where they are primarily employed. The study concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications, and a suggestion for a future research for referencing in global economy.
PurposeThe purpose of this study is to review the current body of the B2B branding literature, and identify research issues that hamper current B2B branding research.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a systematic review, and identifies 73 relevant journal publications from the years 1973‐2010 that were subsequently evaluated for further analysis.FindingsThis study identifies five possible issues hampering current B2B branding research: the lack of systematic theory development, the transference of consumer concepts, the dominance of quantitative research, the lack of longitudinal research, and the focus on single industries.Research limitations/implicationsThis study considers only published journal articles, excluding books and conference proceedings. By highlighting the research issues, this paper aims to direct research efforts to areas where they will have the most impact, and thus aid more rapid advancement of B2B branding as a discipline.Originality/valueThis study provides the first systematic review to identify and evaluate the current B2B branding literature. The review identifies the key literature related to B2B branding, provides an overview of past research and identifies emerging research issues to be addressed in future research.
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