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A key issue for B2B industrial firms is to better understand the drivers of customer value and contract renewal decisions, due to the long-term supplier-customer relationships. When the B2B firm is operating across national boundaries, there is added complexity to the renewal decision, because the drivers are also influenced by cultural considerations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the main drivers of customer value creation and contract renewal intentions, for a large B2B firm operating in both the USA and Japan and compare the two data sets.

The company, which provided the data for the study, is a US Fortune 100 firm in the facilities management industry, operating worldwide. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire from a sample of the firm’s customers in two of its largest markets, the USA and Japan. The authors used PLS to analyze the data, and compare and contrast the drivers.

The findings highlight both similarities and differences across the two countries for the most influential drivers of customer value and contract renewal. Although no differences were found when examining the effect of relational drivers on contract renewal, differences were observed for utilitarian drivers: product quality and price.

The authors expected the relational drivers of contract renewal to be stronger in the high-context culture of Japan, but found that there were no differences with the US market. While relational drivers are important in the decision-making process in both countries, it seems that managers should focus more on price considerations in Japan. In contrast, product quality is relatively more important in the USA, when negotiating contract renewals with customers.

Noticeably absent from the B2B services literature is its application to international markets. In particular, research is lacking on the specific drivers of customer value and contract renewal intentions in the USA and Japan, despite the importance of long-term on-going contractual relationships in these markets. This study has provided additional insights into the complex world of contract renewal between international buyers and sellers of large industrial systems.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the drivers of customer value, and their respective relationships with customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions, between two culturally distinct groups of adventure tourists.

The study adopted a descriptive design and compared data from 301 Japanese and Western adventure tourists who experienced the same adventure tour. The respondents were split into two groups, and a path modeling approach was used to examine similarities and differences.

The results indicated that Japanese tourists attached more importance to emotional value and novelty value. Western tourists, however, attached relatively more importance to the utilitarian dimension of price value for money.

The main implication of this study is that tourism operators should account for differences in value perceptions between Japanese and Western tourists when planning tour operations, training tour guides, and managing tour itineraries. Operators should also consider customizing their tour products to fit the specific needs of these different cultural groups. This reinforces the adaptation argument when marketing tourism to international consumers.

This study highlights that different value drivers affect the satisfaction and behavioral intentions of Japanese tourists, relative to Western tourists. The need for adaptation of tourism products toward certain international tourists is thus necessary. The research also reinforces the importance of conceptualizing and measuring customer value as a multidimensional construct in an international adventure tourism context.

The authors explore the nature of commitment, job satisfaction and job characteristics, and the nature of the interrelationships among these variables concerning expatriate employees in Saudi Arabia. An examination of a sample of 504 expatriate employees reveals that these employees are, by and large, indifferent with respect to their perceptions of commitment, job satisfaction, and job characteristics. In addition, the results provide strong support for (1) the influence of job satisfaction on commitment, (2) the influence of job variety on commitment, and (3) the influence of job autonomy, identity, and feedback on job satisfaction.

This exploratory study aims to identify the key drivers of customer satisfaction for strategic consulting engagements in a global context. Specifically, the authors compare the attitudes of US and non‐US senior executives to learn how they evaluate consulting engagements.

The literature surrounding selection of management consultants and client satisfaction with consulting work is reviewed. A thematic content analysis was used to evaluate the responses of 35 US and 22 non‐US senior executives.

The results reveal both similarities and differences when compared to the outcomes of previous research generally, but they also highlight apparent distinctions based on the country location of the executive. Consistent with previous research, consultant characteristics, customer focus, and value emerged as broad themes driving client satisfaction. In addition, project management and enterprise considerations also emerged as significant drivers of satisfaction. Detailed analysis of responses reveals interesting locational differences underlying satisfaction.

The key implication of this study is the identification of new drivers for customer satisfaction in strategic consulting engagements. These new elements are primarily related to enterprise and project management issues. In addition, this research suggests that the relative importance of customer satisfaction drivers may differ between executives based in the USA and those based elsewhere.

The paper provides a broad overview of satisfaction issues in consulting services, particularly with multinational enterprises as the client. It also offers a more in‐depth discussion of the relative importance of key drivers depending on the location of service delivery. By consolidating these elements into a single discussion, the paper provides a unique viewpoint not available in the current literature. Although exploratory, the holistic approach applied here should allow academic researchers to compare and contrast the results of this research to previous findings. Partners and key account managers at consulting firms might also consider the relative emphasis placed on elements of their service offerings.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a cross‐cultural comparison of customer satisfaction research in the USA and Japan.

The Multinational Corporation (MNC) in this study applies a standardized research approach worldwide to measure satisfaction among customers for business services. Quantitative surveys are used to gather data from 707 senior managers in the USA and 700 senior managers in Japan.

The results of the analysis show that there are both similarities and differences across countries in the way customers conceptualize relevant construct, and evaluate supplier performance. The results also suggest that adaptation of research methodologies from country to country should be done.

This paper identifies key differences in the way customers both in the USA and Japan respond to survey research, but this paper has not identified reasons causing these differences.

Conceptual models and research approaches developed in the USA cannot simply be applied cross culturally without modification. This study has implications in a business‐to‐business (B2B) services context only.

MNCs play a major role in world trade, but over 30 years of discussion have failed to resolve the question of standardization vs adaptation in marketing across borders and consumer satisfaction research. The present study aims to address these concerns in a B2B services context and provide some useful insights for both managers and academics. The paper justifies that our US model in this study is only partially validated in Japan.

There has been a growing interest amongst academics, researchers employers and governments/policymakers on ageing workplaces and workforces. As populations age and pension ages rise, older workers are finding themselves having to delay or postpone their retirement and organisations are looking for ways to enable them to do so in sustainable work. Workplace ageing is impacting both European and Asian societies and governments and employers are taking nationally specific approaches to age-related human resource management, social and public policies. In Europe, national governments are being led by the European Union in developing social and public policies to support older workers in maintaining employment through lifelong learning, flexible working, health management and job rotation. Tiger economies have focused on the ‘working pensioner’ pension rules which enable older workers to phase into retirement. China is facing rapid ageing but still maintains early retirement as a way to help older workers move out of physically and mentally demanding work. In addition to providing an outline for the remainder of the book, we also present a survey of older employees undertaken in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong which explores experiences in work, workplace relationships, skills and retirement plans. The survey is used as a common resource for the remaining chapters.

This study aims to examine the relationships between customer satisfaction and a variety of company performance metrics at the firm‐level of analysis.

The primary research method used in the study was a longitudinal analysis of series of quarterly surveys of customer attitudes, in relation to various company performance metrics of one large Fortune 100 company. The data were collected over a five‐year period and were analyzed with several statistical tests of association.

It was found that there are significant, and moderate‐to‐strong associations between satisfaction levels and a firm's financial and market performance. More specifically, there are strong links between customer satisfaction, and retention, revenue, earnings per share, stock price, and Tobin's q.

The main implication of this study is that the longitudinal findings demonstrate a strong consistent link between customer attitudes and financial performance at the firm level. The study is clearly limited to one firm, from one industry sector, but offers future researchers a wealth of replication opportunities.

Numerous experts have noted that marketing needs to document the financial impact of marketing activities. Unlike most studies in this area, this study investigated these associations at the firm level, rather than at the aggregate or industry level where some relationships are potentially masked. The study also investigated the links between satisfaction and financial performance in the business‐to‐business services sector, rather than in business‐to‐customer services. Finally, the firm provided access to large samples of real customer attitude data over a five‐year period, rather than from a cross‐sectional study.

IN the progress of a course of lectures on Elementary Bibliography, I found some difficulty in obtaining for my students, a brief and satisfactory list of some of the leading and most typical bibliographies. There are a number of bibliographies of bibliographies published, general and select, but none of them are available in handy form for class purposes. The following list of books on bibliographical subjects, represents the works which I described in detail to my students as representative and useful examples of books about books, and I also exhibited nearly the whole of them, so as to familiarize the students with the physical appearance and contents of the majority of the books. I have reprinted this list through the courtesy of the editor of the Library World, because it has been suggested that it may be useful to many librarians whose stock of bibliography is small, and to assistants who are studying the elements of practical bibliography. The list makes no pretence either to fulness or accuracy, and must be taken for what it really is, a working list of bibliographies prepared as a series of suggestions. Neither sections three or four are more than the barest outlines, but they contain representative books well worth study. I found difficulty in obtaining specimens of some of the older bibliographies like Mattaire, Panzer, Hain, &c., and as these works are becoming very scarce and costly, it will be a matter of impossibility for the municipal libraries to obtain copies either for love or money. Most of the British municipal libraries are poorly equipped with the leading bibliographical works of reference, and but for the kindness of Mr. Thomas Greenwood and others, I should not have been able to borrow for exhibition one half of those I was able to show. This seems to me a strong reason why the library of the Library Association should be equipped with all the necessary books for the study and teaching of bibliography and library economy. Bibliographical works are becoming so scarce, that students who have to work away from the large old established libraries, will find it difficult to make satisfactory progress.

This is a report based on a survey that was conducted in the Regional Municipality of Sudbury, Ontario Canada, which includes a medium‐size city and its surrounding towns. The citizenry was surveyed on a variety of issues including perceptions of safety and satisfaction with police services. Overall satisfaction, using regression analysis, was predicted by policing variables such as service delivery, handling problem situations, and interpersonal skills. Night walking safety, using discriminant analysis, was dependent on personal factors such as gender, home ownership, location, employment, age, visibility (of police), and policing variables such as handling of problems, how serious problems were in the neighborhood. A profile of the unsafe walker at night is presented. Implications for program planning and delivery are discussed.

This study aims to identify differences in knowledge-sharing mechanisms and personality among expert, typical and novice managers within the Malaysian public sector. Strengthening knowledge sharing function is essential for enabling public institutions around the world to be more productive.

This quantitative study involves 308 employees from management and professional groups within 98 local authorities in the Malaysian local government. Stratified random sampling techniques were used and the sampling frame comprised 1,000 staff using postal surveys. Data analyses were carried out using analysis of variance and correlations to test the research hypotheses.

The findings reveal that expert managers are more proactive in sharing their knowledge, particularly those with the personality traits of conscientiousness and openness. These two personality traits were also related to expert behaviours such as thoroughness, responsibility and persistence, which led to work competency and managerial success.

This study provides theoretical insights into how managerial tacit knowledge differs and can accumulate, depending on the personality traits of middle managers. The paper shows the different mechanisms of knowledge sharing, tacit knowledge and personality among expert, typical and novice managers. Practically, this study is important for guiding senior managers in their attempts to identify the most appropriate personalities of their middle managers. This study found that the expert group was higher in conscientiousness, openness and overall personality traits compared with the typical and novice groups. The paper also highlights the value of sharing managerial tacit knowledge effectively.