No abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.Abstract This study utilises the inter-relationship between market orientation and innovation in order to examine alternative mechanisms through which market orientation contributes to service firm performance. Three mechanisms (direct, mediated and moderator) are examined using regression analysis and structural equation modelling in a sample of 231 firms which develop new services. Market orientation is found to contribute to performance through a dual mechanism in that it contributes both directly and through innovation, with innovation mediating the contribution. These results emphasise that researchers should consider the inter-relationships between multiple sources of advantage in seeking explanations of firm performance.

Although high‐tech, entrepreneurial firms may be small in size, they often play a large role in developing innovative products and thus spurring economic growth. Managers from firms of all sizes may gain useful insights by examining the new‐product development (NPD) practices of these small, technology‐based firms. And in an era of increasingly global competition, those managers can benefit from understanding the NPD practices of firms from various countries. William Souder, David Buisson, and Tony Garrett contribute to that understanding by describing the results of a study that compares the relative NPD proficiency of small, technology‐based firms in the United States and New Zealand. The firms participating in the study (26 from the U.S. and 29 from N.Z.) operate in rapidly growing, highly competitive markets characterized by evolving customer needs. The participating companies share similar goals: creating technically superior products with unique features for emerging markets, with the ultimate goal of becoming the product and market leaders within their respective industries. Despite these similarities, the study reveals several important differences between the U.S. and N.Z. participants. Overall, the N.Z. respondents had higher levels of NPD performance than those of their U.S. counterparts. In particular, the relationship marketing and customer‐focused NPD practices of the N.Z. firms set them apart from the U.S. firms. Top‐level managers from the N.Z. participants report higher levels of satisfaction than their U.S. counterparts with the results of their NPD efforts. The results of the study indicate that repondents from the two countries differ in terms of the focus of their NPD mangement systems and the manner in which they strive to achieve success. For the U.S. firms in the study, their NPD management systems focus on the characteristics of the project manager. The N.Z. respondents place greater emphasis on marketing skills and NPD proficiencies. The results suggest that the higher levels of NPD performance acheived by the N.Z. firms in the study arise from greater insights into their users' needs, together with better capabilities for acting on those insights.

This paper investigates how three marketing‐related sources of advantage – market orientation, new service development and brand investment – contribute to service firm performance by operationalising the sources‐position‐performance framework in a multi‐sector sample of service organisations. New service development and brand investment are found to contribute to the attainment of positional advantage and thence to performance. Market orientation, when considered in combination with these other sources, does not contribute directly to positional advantage and performance. Cost, brand and new service success positions are found to contribute to service firm performance.

No abstract