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The purpose of this study is twofold. First, this study proposes to investigate the impact of inter-functional value co-creation (VCC) in a manufacturing firm’s value chain on supply chain performance, considering the moderating role of external integration. Second, this study proposes to validate a modified version of the VCC considering the inter-functional interaction context.

Quantitative data were collected using survey approach from 129 managers from 51 departments of 22 manufacturing firms performing roles in several areas, such as procurement, logistics, sales, marketing and production. This study uses a PLS-SEM to analyze the model measurement, through confirmatory factor analysis.

The empirical data supported the proposition of this study that the VCC degree (i.e. value co-production/value in use) between functions of the firm has significant positive effects on the performance of the supply chain, in customer service and flexibility.

This study could be exceedingly useful for practitioners suggesting them to improve inter-functional integration by adopting VCC practices grounded on “value co-production” and “value in use.” Such practices may help to maximize supply chain performance.

The coordination theory was useful to deepen the analysis of its quadrant named “participatory design,” considering the relationship between VCC and inter-functional integration. This paper extended the knowledge about the relationship between the participatory design quadrant and the quadrant referring to organizational structures and processes.

In an effort to better respond to heterogeneous customer needs, an increasing number of companies in different sectors deal with the combination of high variety and frequent product changes/modifications. This entails planning, designing, purchasing and manufacturing activities and exacerbates the alignment of Sales, Production Planning and Engineering goals. This paper aims to suggest a way of improving coordination between such functional areas in contexts characterised by high variety and frequent product changes. Based on the data from an action Research study, a method for taking the contrasting requests of Sales, Production Planning and Engineering into account simultaneously and to facilitate the coordination of their activities is developed. It leverages Modular Bills and product modularity to improve inter‐functional coordination. Initial indications are promising. However, given the specific nature of the studied case, further research is required to evaluate the generalizability of the findings.

In this study, the authors seek to examine the prevalence and relationships between constructs of mindfulness, task autonomy, inter‐functional coordination, teamwork, contract implementation and monitoring which have been largely ignored or not fully explored in previous empirical research; and attempt to use them to predict contract performance.

The paper uses descriptive and analytical research designs guided by multi‐methods qualitative and quantitative research approaches to collect and analyze data predicting contract performance in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) member states. Data was collected from a representative sample of ten countries and subsequent sampling was done at the government ministries. Contracts were the unit of analysis as suggested by Brousseau and Glachant.

The study findings reveal that deontology, mindfulness procurement task performance, competence of the procurement staff, inter‐functional coordination and teamwork, mindfulness, task autonomy, inter‐functional coordination, teamwork, contract implementation and monitoring for contract implementation and monitoring significantly and positively predict contract performance. Contrary to the authors’ expectation, teleology ethical orientation and autonomy of procurement staff significantly and negatively predicted contract performance. These findings have both policy and managerial implications which the authors present.

Lastly, the authors recognize the virtue of ethical orientation of PDE leadership which resides in deontology and teleology that has been largely ignored in previous contract performance research. Paralleling previous empirical studies, the study brings together constructs of mindfulness, task autonomy, inter‐functional coordination and teamwork, contract implementation and monitoring in predicting contract performance in a large regional sub‐Saharan market of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

The purpose of this paper is to theoretically broaden the knowledge-based view (KBV) by examining the significant intermediary role that inter-functional coordination (IFC) plays in acquiring new knowledge and exploiting it throughout the entire higher education institution (HEI) community for innovation generation (INNG).

Data collected from a survey of 282 lecturers purposively selected from the business schools of 20 HEIs in the Greater Accra region of Ghana was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation model to test the hypotheses proposed for the study.

The results revealed that IFC significantly predicts teamwork and strong relationships across faculties, departments and units, and has a positive effect on the generation of innovations such as improved curricula, enhanced academic instruction and quality research output. Practically, the findings advise HEI managers to invest resources and efforts at building strong relationships that facilitate collaboration, trust and interactions among varying faculties, departments and units. This will enhance inter-functional knowledge sharing in academia to sustain a competitive advantage and continued relevance.

There are limitations that must be considered when interpreting and generalizing the quantitative results of this study. Data were collected from faculty staff of 20 public and private HEIs in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Although the majority of HEIs are clustered in this region, the results may still not be representative of all HEIs in Ghana.

Managers of HEIs are advised to commit to ensuring the management of IFC to promote knowledge sharing across faculties and departments. Managers are also advised to ensure that staff are made to be responsible for their cooperative and integrative teamwork. They are also advised to ensure that faculty and departmental goals are aligned with the overall goals of the university. Staff may also be encouraged to act as partners and not just employees through rewards, incentives and recognition packages.

Attention should be focused on creating lateral relations among faculty and department members to achieve internal social capital. They are advised to invest resources and efforts in building a culture of teamwork and connectedness through strong informal networking that facilitate collaboration between faculties and departments while cultivating a shared vision throughout the university.

The main contribution of this paper is that it theoretically extends the KBV by empirically broadening the scope of absorptive capacity (ACAP) beyond its dimensions to include the “collaborative mechanism” (IFC) through which knowledge can be holistically exploited. The paper also contributes to existing literature by examining the intermediary role played by IFC in the relationship between ACAP and INNG in the HEIs domain which has been least discussed in the ACAP literature.

The current work seeks to analyze the different effects of three alternative strategic marketing orientations – market orientation, sales orientation, and product orientation – on non‐profit organizations' effectiveness, specifically their economic and social effectiveness.

In order to test the hypotheses proposed, an empirical analysis of 182 Spanish museums was conducted.

The study reveals that social effectiveness relates highly to product and customer orientation, whereas economic effectiveness mainly depends on sales orientation and inter‐functional coordination.

The results suggest that applying a marketing orientation centered on the product and knowing the visitor is critical for successfully fulfilling the objectives of conservation and diffusion of culture. Moreover, the organization needs to focus on sales, on the internal customer, and on the coordination between the managing institutions, to be able to achieve satisfactory economic results.

This work makes an empirical contribution to the analysis of market orientation on cultural organizations. Although previous research has underlined the relevance of a market orientation for museums and cultural organizations, few empirical analyses have been developed until now.

This paper aims to evaluate the working relationship between accounting and marketing, exploring the nature and antecedents of their integration and consequences on firm performance.

The methodological approach in this study is twofold. First, a review of literature is used to identify core antecedents in the body of literature. Subsequently, four exploratory case studies were used in examining the antecedents of accounting–marketing integration from a frontier market perspective.

This study identifies information sharing and involvement as core elements of accounting–marketing integration; cultural diversity and management mechanisms (policy, structural and procedural justice) as antecedents of accounting–marketing integration; and country of origin as a mediating factor on the extent of association of some variables on their integration. Finally, this study establishes that there is a positive association between accounting–marketing integration and organisational performance.

This study has two major limitations. First, it is qualitative and based on a review of literature and evidence from four case studies. Second, it explored only the less developed country context. Future research should, therefore, aim to address these gaps.

This study draws attention to the fact that accounting and marketing are culturally diverse, and strategic managerial mechanisms must be used to maintain a relevant and effective level of information sharing and involvement towards enhancing organisational performance.

Using exploratory case studies to support the development of a framework, the authors contend that organisations would optimise organisational performance if due attention is given to both information sharing and involvement dimensions of integration, as well as appropriate managerial mechanisms adopted in managing their relationship.

Explores inter‐functional differences between marketing and other departments from a decision‐making perspective, with particular emphasis on managers’ perceptions of problems. Problems are differentiated along two main axes: operational‐strategic and structured‐unstructured. The concept of decision‐making context is introduced as the ratio of problem types encountered. To differentiate managers on an individual level, the construct of perception type is examined. Suggests that, by relying on certain psychological functions in preference to others, individuals will attempt to formulate and solve problems in disparate ways. Based on a survey comparing top and middle marketing managers with managers from technical areas, significant differences are found in terms of perceptions of decision‐making context. Perception type is also found to be a significant factor, explaining more variance in decision‐making context than inter‐functional differences. The implications for managerial action are explored both in terms of developing inter‐functional relations and enhancing the effectiveness of inter‐functional teams.

This paper aims to develop and test a conceptual model of organizational structure design that incorporates some factors influencing strategy implementation. The research also aims to consider inter‐functionality in new product development (NPD) processes and marketing decisions, measured from the dispersion of these activities among functional areas.

The research was conducted across 424 small and medium‐sized furniture manufacturing companies. In total, eight hypotheses were proposed and tested using structural equation modeling.

Most important among the study's findings was that inter‐firm relationships and inter‐functional processes are relevant for the study of organizational structure design. It was found that the dispersion of the new product development process and of marketing decisions exert a positive influence on architectural marketing capabilities. The results showed that the dispersion of NPD processes and marketing decisions influence the development of marketing capabilities only in those companies with inter‐firm relationships. The paper also found that inter‐firm design did not affect the impact of the relationship between the dispersion of marketing decisions and NPD process on specialized capabilities.

The study focuses research on Brazilian small to medium‐sized furniture enterprises and could have single‐source bias in its data collection process.

The findings provide insights into ways of integrating structures. It is observed that a higher integration of areas in marketing decisions is related to the dispersion of the NPD process. Given that dispersion in NPD is a disseminated practice, it is found that higher dispersion in marketing activities has an impact on product development.

The paper's findings confirm the influence of organizational design on the development of planning capabilities and on the implementation of marketing strategies.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the dimensionality of the market orientation (MO) scale.

This is a firm-level study. A purposive sample of 400 firms (with 2–3 key informants from each firm) has been taken to study the MO of the firms. The psychometric testing of the MO scale was done using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM).

The results have shown that the dimensionality of MO exhibits a different pattern across the sample. The four factors delineated dimensions explain more than 62% of the variance in the data set and are found to be the valuable and versatile measure of MO. Overall, the results provide enough evidence of the validity, reliability and generalizability of the MO scale. The results of SEM indicate a satisfactory nomological validity of the scale.

The study develops a valid measure of MO with a major focus on market intelligence. The study proposes MO as a function of customer orientation, competitor orientation, inter-functional coordination and market intelligence which was largely ignored in the marketing literature.

This research aims to focus on supply chain coordination and its three determinants, i.e. responsibility interdependence, uncertainty, and inter‐functional conflict, developing research propositions to conceptualize how supply chain coordination is driven by its determinants.

The research propositions are tested by a case study in a shoe factory to examine the differences between the theory and the practice of coordination.

The findings show that the firm carried out only piecemeal coordination in defining and fulfilling customer needs.

A supply chain is known as a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these finished products to customers. Supply chain coordination plays a critical role in integrating different actors along the supply chain to enhance performance.