Relationship marketing—establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges—constitutes a major shift in marketing theory and practice. After conceptualizing relationship marke...

The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing

The primary purpose of this article is to clarify the nature of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) construct and to propose a contingency framework for investigating the relationship between EO and firm performance. We first explore and refine the dimensions of EO and discuss the usefulness of viewing a firm's EO as a multidimensional construct. Then, drawing on examples from the EO-related contingencies literature, we suggest alternative models (moderating effects, mediating effects, independent effects, interaction effects) for testing the EO-performance relationship.

Clarifying the Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct and Linking It To Performance

Are there economic benefits to improving customer satisfaction? Many firms that are frustrated in their efforts to improve quality and customer satisfaction are beginning to question the link betwe...

Customer satisfaction, market share, and profitability: Findings from Sweden.

The resource-based view of the firm attributes superior financial performance to organizational resources and capabilities. This paper develops the concept of IT as an organizational capability and empirically examines the association between IT capability and firm performance. Firm specific IT resources are classified as IT infrastructure, human IT resources, and IT-enabled intangibles. A matched-sample comparison group methodology and publicly available ratings are used to assess IT capability and firm performance. Results indicate that firms with high IT capability tend to outperform a control sample of firms on a variety of profit and cost-based performance measures.

A resource-based perspective on information technology capability and firm performance: an empirical investigation

Effective organizations are configurations of management practices that facilitate the development of the knowledge that becomes the basis for competitive advantage. A market orientation, complemen...

Market Orientation and the Learning Organization

Cause-related marketing represents the confluence of perspectives from several specialized areas of inquiry such as marketing for nonprofit organizations, the promotion mix, corporate philanthropy,...

Cause-Related Marketing: A Coalignment of Marketing Strategy and Corporate Philanthropy:

This paper presents a review of the literature to demonstrate that research in services marketing is characterized more by an operations management orientation than a strategic orientation. Diverse literature on sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) is synthesized and a conceptual model of drivers of SCA is proposed in this paper. Lessons from the manufacturing sector form the basis for a number of sources of SCA for services industries outlined in the paper. The distinctive characteristics of services are posited to moderate the effectiveness of the sources of competitive advantage.

Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Service Industries: A Conceptual Model and Research Propositions:

Sustainable competitive advantage in service industries: A conceptual model and research

Numerous conceptual and empirical studies advance the notion that first movers achieve long-term competitive advantages. These studies purport to demonstrate the presence of a systematic direct rel...

First-Mover Advantage: A Synthesis, Conceptual Framework, and Research Propositions:

A new, multi-item scale for operationalizing Miles and Snow's (1978) strategic typology— defenders, prospectors, analyzers, and reactors—is proposed and field-tested in this paper. Relatively pure strategic types, identified as those organizations classified similarly using both the newly developed, multi-item scale and the traditionally employed paragraph approach, are used to analyze the relationship between strategic types, distinctive marketing competencies, and organizational performance. Results of analysis suggest that while the marketing competencies of prospector organizations are superior to those of analyzer, defender, and reactor organizations, all three stable archetypes perform equally well in terms of profitability and outperform reactors. The newly developed strategic types scale performs well and appears to possess significant managerial and research potential. It is theoretically anchored, easily administered, and possesses diagnostic value to both strategists and their organizations.

P. Rajan Varadarajan

Papers

Cause-Related Marketing: A Coalignment of Marketing Strategy and Corporate Philanthropy:

Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Service Industries: A Conceptual Model and Research Propositions:

Sustainable competitive advantage in service industries: A conceptual model and research

First-Mover Advantage: A Synthesis, Conceptual Framework, and Research Propositions:

Strategic types, distinctive marketing competencies and organizational performance: A multiple measures‐based study