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Given the contradictory findings of standardization/adaptation of marketing strategy in explaining export performance in the extant research, this study aims to examine the contingent effects of managerial ties and born global orientation in the standardized advertising-export performance conceptualization.

The study used two-respondent method in the survey research by a sample of 155 exporting firms operating in the industrial marketing based in Australia and New Zealand and applied hierarchical regression analysis to test the hypotheses.

The findings demonstrate that standardized advertising has a significant effect on export performance and this relationship is positively moderated by business ties. Such effect is particularly enhanced for born global firms (than nonborn global firms). However, political ties negatively influence the impact of standardized advertising on performance and such effect is stronger for born global firms.

A broader perspective of contingent variables should be included to examine the underlying relationship between standardized advertising and export performance in capturing the dynamism in international marketing contexts, such as institutional frameworks or sociocultural environments in host countries.

Standardized advertising is critical for born global firms’ export performance as it can increase efficiency and speed up internationalization processes. Such positive impact of standardized advertising on export performance is further enhanced if born global firms allocate resources to develop strong business ties with host country partners instead of building political ties with host country governments, because smooth business networking can facilitate standardized advertising on industrial marketing, yet justifiable political relations require intricate negotiations that often prolong internationalization progress.

This study incorporates managerial ties and born global orientation as contingent factors in fixing the theoretic interlock between standardization advertising strategy and export firm performance.

This study examines how informal business networks achieve marketing goals in socially uncertain contexts. Drawing from multiple historical sources, Shangbangs, a type of business network that thrived in pre-1949 China, are analyzed.

The Critical Historical Research Method (CHRM) undergirds a study of Shangbangs’ historicity (i.e. their socio-historically embedded multiplicity, including organizational forms, activities and connotations.

As informal regional, professional, project-based, special-product-based or mixed marketing networks, Shangbangs relied on “flexible specialization” and coupled multiple business needs to market goods and services, business organizations, specific social values and, when necessary, to debrand business rivals.

This analysis extends theories about marketing networks by probing their subtypes, diverse marketing activities, multipronged channels and relationship building with social entities (including underground societies, business associations and guilds) in response to pre-1949 China’s market uncertainties. Substantiating an alternative approach to “flexible specialization” and marketing innovations within the pre-1949 Chinese economy shows how a parallel theoretical framework can complement western-based marketing theories.

This first comprehensive analysis of Shangbangs, an innovative historical Chinese marketing network outside the conventional market-corporate dichotomy, can inform theory building for marketing strategy-making and management conditioned by social contexts.

This paper aims to examine the direct impacts of marketing resources and marketing activities on several business performance indicators in the banking industry and the indirect effects through customer-based brand equity.

We use a holistic empirical approach based on resource-based view and marketing productivity chain. The main study consists of a secondary analysis using quarterly data of fourteen banks over four years. We analyze the data using fixed-effect panel data regression, namely seemingly unrelated regressions.

We find that customer-based brand equity is one of the most influential factors on business performance. Moreover, the indirect effect through customer-based brand equity should be considered in improving business performance. Marketing-related financial resources positively impact customer-based brand equity and business performance. Regarding marketing activities, pricing strategies affect the bank preferences of customers, which in turn affect the growth of deposit volumes and churn rates. Additionally, the number of bank branches positively impacts business performance. Advertising spending on different media has differentiated impacts on the performance indicators; thus, the allocation of advertising budget and advertising planning are critical.

This study examines the inter-relationships among marketing resources, marketing activities, consumer response through brand equity and marketing performance. This study contributes to the literature by integrating the resource-based view and the marketing productivity chain to analyze the inter-relationships using panel data and several sector-related metrics. This study provides valuable insights to decision-makers in the banking industry.

This research aims to investigate, in the context of a crisis, how adaptive marketing and open marketing capabilities directly contribute to enhance SMEs' business model innovation taking into consideration the mediating role of strategic flexibility.

Based on a sample of 120 small firms, our theoretical model is tested through a cross-sectional study. PLS-SEM is applied as the analytical technique.

The results show that open marketing capabilities are positively related to business model innovation and that this relationship is partially mediated by strategic flexibility. Furthermore, adaptive market experimentation capabilities enhance business model innovation only when fully mediated by strategic flexibility.

Extending existing explorative research, our research illuminates how adaptive market experimentation and open marketing capabilities, in conjunction with strategic flexibility, can help SMEs to better adapt existing business models during a time of crisis. Our findings underline the potential contribution of planned test-driven activities, trial-and-error processes, data-based decisional processes and benchmarking activities. We also document how stronger networking capabilities and organizational openness strengthen the firm's ability to access the required additional resources and insights they need. These contributions remain however conditioned by the use of a convenient sampling design as well as the cross-sectional nature of the data.

Our findings underline the importance of empowering SMEs to nurture more effective experimental approaches in the long run, along with a more formalized open marketing posture. Our study also highlights the need for SMEs to improve their awareness of the risk of inertia and the benefits of nurturing their overall flexibility so they can adapt in an adequate and timely manner.

The findings of this study build on the perspective of adaptive marketing capabilities and add to the business model innovation literature in two ways. First, our study provides new insights into the cumulative and concrete consequences of market experimentation and open marketing capabilities on small firms' business model dynamics in the context of a crisis. Second, our findings illuminate the crucial role of strategic flexibility which, partly or entirely, contributes to the full realization of the potential of the marketing capabilities at hand.

After completion of the case study, students will be able to enumerate the unique characteristics of business-to-business (B2B) versus business-to-consumer marketing, explore strategic positioning and how niche marketing can create a competitive advantage, deduce the significance of core values in corporate culture and decision-making, explore innovative partnership and talent acquisition models, infer the role of educational marketing in sectors where clients are not fully aware of their needs and apply strategic decision-making to balance short- and long-term goals in terms of profitability and growth.

This case study tells the story of BarkB2B, a boutique marketing firm specialized exclusively in B2B marketing. Founded in Egypt in 2018, BarkB2B focused on creating long-lasting partnerships with clients in industries such as IT, logistics, construction and renewable energy. The case explores the critical aspects of BarkB2B’s business model and offers a comprehensive view of real-world challenges and opportunities in the B2B marketing landscape. It helps learners understand strategic positioning, core values in decision-making, innovative partnership-based business models, the role of educational marketing and the complexities associated with growth. It concludes by highlighting the dilemma faced by BarkB2B’s founder and managing director Naela Sakr as she reflects on the challenge of maintaining the company’s positioning while achieving greater profitability and growth.

The case study is intended for undergraduate and graduate students in marketing, strategic marketing, consumer behavior and entrepreneurship courses. It is also beneficial for marketing professionals, entrepreneurs, corporate training and executive education programs.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of marketing analytics capability on business performance from the perspective of RBV theory.

This study used a survey method to gather information from 225 food processing SMEs registered with the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA) in Ghana’s eastern region. A structural equation modeling (SEM) path analysis was used to assess the impact of marketing analytics capability (MAC) on the performance of SMEs.

The results of the study show that MAC significantly and positively affect the financial performance (FP), customer performance (CF), internal business process performance (IBPP) and learning and growth performance (LGP) of Ghanaian SMEs. The findings of this study also illustrated the significance of MAC determinants, including marketing analytics skills (MAS), data resource management (DRM) and data processing capabilities (DPC), in achieving SME success in Ghana.

The research’s conclusions give RBV theory strong credence. The results of this study also provide credence to previous research finding that SMEs should view MAC and its determinants (i.e. DRM, DPC, MAS) as a crucial strategic capability to improve their performance (i.e. FP, CF, IBPP, LGP). With regard to its contribution, this study broadens the body of knowledge on MAC and SME performance, particularly in the context of an emerging economy.

This study aims to delve into the lived experiences, challenges and visions of women entrepreneurs in Jordan, placing a magnifying glass on those spearheading or co-pioneering start-ups. It aims to understand the myriad factors that influence their entrepreneurial journey, from motivation to the future of their niche.

Adopting a qualitative lens, this study is anchored in semi-structured interviews encompassing 20 Jordanian women entrepreneurs. Following this, thematic analysis was deployed to dissect and categorize the garnered insights into ten salient themes.

The study reveals that personal experiences and challenges are pivotal in directing these women towards niche markets, aligning with the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Tools such as digital instruments, customer feedback and innovative strategies like storytelling and augmented reality are integral to their entrepreneurial success, resonating with the resource-based view (RBV). Additionally, challenges like cultural barriers and infrastructural limitations are navigated through adaptive strategies, reflecting the resilience inherent in these entrepreneurs. Networking, mentorship, embracing technological advancements and implementing sustainable practices are highlighted as crucial elements underpinned by the social identity theory (SIT).

Contrary to the extant body of research, this study provides new insights into the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in Jordan, highlighting the practical relevance of theories like TPB, RBV and SIT for both policymakers and the start-up community in niche markets.

This study aims to investigate organizational learning, represented by the absorptive capacity, as a condition for the firm to learn about marketing data and make more informed decisions. The authors also aimed to understand how the behavior of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) businesses differ in this scenario through a multilevel perspective.

Placing absorptive capacity as a mediator of the relationship between business analytics and rational marketing decisions, the authors analyzed data from 224 Brazilian retail companies using structural equation modeling estimated with partial least squares. To test the cross-level moderation effect, the authors also performed a multilevel analysis in RStudio.

The authors found a partial mediation of the absorptive capacity in the relation between business analytics and rational marketing decisions. The authors also discovered that, in the MSMEs firms’ group, even if smaller companies find it more difficult to use data, those that do may reap more benefits than larger ones. This is due to the influence of size in how firms handle information.

The sample size, despite having shown to be consistent and valid, is considered small for a multilevel study. This suggests that our multilevel results should be viewed as suggestive, rather than conclusive, and subjected to further validation.

Rather than solely positioning business analytics as a tool for decision support, the authors’ analysis highlights the importance for firms to develop the absorptive capacity to enable ongoing acquisition, exploration and management of knowledge.

MSMEs are of economic and social importance to most countries, especially developing ones. This research aimed to improve understanding of how this group of firms could transform knowledge into better decisions. The authors also highlight micro and small firms’ difficulties with the use of marketing data so that they can have more effective practices.

The research contributes to the understanding of organizational mechanisms to absorb and learn from the vast amount of current marketing information. Recognizing the relevance of MSMEs, a preliminary multilevel analysis was also conducted to comprehend differences within this group.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic literature review of the adoption of immersive marketing technology (IMT) in terms of strategic planning of its adoption, resource requirements and its implications and challenges.

This study categorizes and contextualizes qualitative approaches to evaluate the literature, with Scopus databases serving as the primary source of 90 selected articles in the areas of information technology, business and marketing strands. Theme analysis was carried out using thematic techniques and grounded approach principles to facilitate thematic coding and generate theme analysis.

The analysis was supported by the three concepts of business flexibility, agility and adaptability, which were drawn as a strategy for IMT adoption. The findings presented three main themes: proactive flexibility, responsive agility and reactive adaptability that enable business owner–managers to craft a strategy for IMT adoption.

The novel contribution of this study is the inclusion of key implications related to IMT as a starting point of the next level of innovative marketing for all academics, practitioners and business owner–managers.

This study aims to empirically investigate the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing (AIM) and business performance from the resource-based view (RBV) perspective.

A survey strategy was used in this study to collect data from 225 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) respondents who were on the registered list of the Ghana Enterprise Agency in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Structural equation modeling – path analysis was used to estimate the impact of AIM on the performance of SMEs.

The analyzed data shows that AIM has significant impact on the financial performance, customer performance, internal business process performance and learning and growth performance in the case of SMEs in Ghana. This study establishes the significance of AIM approach in achieving financial performance, customer performance, internal business process performance and learning and growth performance through the application of AIM determinants including, Internet of Things (IoT), collaborative decision-making systems (CDMS), virtual and augmented reality (VAR) and personalization.

Aside the aforementioned significance of this research study, this study has limitations. The sample size of this research study can be expanded to include SME respondents in other geographical areas that were not considered in this study. Future research studies should concentrate on how AIM can analyze customer communications and information such as posts on social media to develop future communications that may enhance customer engagement.

The practical implications comprise of two key items. First, this research study encourages SME owners and managers to develop an AIM method as a fundamental strategic goal in their pursuit to improve SME performance. Second, SME owners and managers should increasingly implement the four determinants of AIM indicated in this research study (i.e., IOT, CDMS, VAR and personalization) to develop essential resources for effective application of AIM to improve their performance.

The results of this study provide a strong support to RBV theory and the proposition that AIM and its determinants (i.e., IOT, CDMS, VAR and personalization) should be recognized as an essential strategic resource for improving the performance (i.e., financial performance, customer performance, internal business process performance and learning and growth performance) of SMEs. This study also contributes to the current body of knowledge on AIM and management, particularly in the context of an emerging economy.