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Strategic planning is portrayed as a dynamic process by which companies tend to identify future opportunities and link that recognition with a concerted effort to grow or acquire the resources so that a business can take advantage of its strengths in the light of a changing situation. Although a great deal of research has been carried out on the subject, much of the work has focused on the substance of planning as a practice not subject to the laws of cultural adaptation. This article, however, attempts to assess the impact of culture.

Strategic marketing planning has never been the simple, step‐by‐step approach described so prolifically in prescriptive texts and courses. Reviews strategic marketing planning in the context of different modes of strategic planning. Defines strategic marketing planning, examines its role in an organization, reviews some of the techniques used in the process and concludes by exploring some of the principal barriers which hamper the introduction of strategic marketing planning, or serve to reduce its effectiveness.

Investigates approaches to product launch and elimination decisions in samples of UK and US companies, which is a gap which was identified in the literature. Identifies different approaches to tackling each of the decisions, and different approaches within each sample. There are also differences between the countries. These results provide new insights, as well as support for some previous empirical results. Discusses directions for further research.

This paper reports the mail survey results of the marketing practices of 158 Chinese small firms in Hong Kong. The findings suggest that broad small firm marketing principles, though specifically generated from the Western countries, may not be fully suitable for some specific socio‐cultural contexts, for example Chinese society in Hong Kong. Thus, care should be taken before making generalizations about marketing in Western situations and in assuming that marketing tools and techniques are equally applicable across all places. Socio‐cultural influences should be considered when attempting to understand marketing practices of Chinese small firms.

Previous research by Siu and Kirby has argued that the broad Western marketing principles are not necessarily fully applicable to, and suitable for, the Chinese socio‐cultural context. To examine this assertion, provides a comprehensive examination of the marketing practices of 18 Chinese small firms in the UK. In so doing, compares the findings with a similar study of 158 Chinese small firms in Hong Kong. The results suggest that the marketing practices of Chinese small firms in the UK are different from their counterparts in Hong Kong. The findings thus lend support to the notion that socio‐cultural values and macro‐economic structure are equally important in determining a firm’s marketing behaviour. Thus, care should be taken before assuming that marketing, as practised in Western situations, is equally applicable across all contexts.

This research examines effects on emotional burnout among “maternity support workers” (MSWs) that support women in labor (labor and delivery (L&D) nurses and doulas). The emotional intensity of maternity support work is likely to contribute to emotional distress, compassion fatigue, and burnout.

This study uses data from the Maternity Support Survey (MSS) to analyze emotional burnout among 807 L&D nurses and 1,226 doulas in the United States and Canada. Multivariate OLS regression models examine the effects of work–family conflict, overwork, emotional intelligence, witnessing unethical mistreatment of women in labor, and practice characteristics on emotional burnout among these MSWs. We measure emotional burnout using the Professional Quality of Life (PROQOL) Emotional Burnout subscale.

Work–family conflict, feelings of overwork, witnessing a higher frequency of unethical mistreatment, and working in a hospital with a larger percentage of cesarean deliveries are associated with higher levels of burnout among MSWs. Higher emotional intelligence is associated with lower levels of burnout, and the availability of hospital wellness programs is associated with less burnout among L&D nurses.

While the MSS obtained a large number of responses, its recruitment methods produced a nonrandom sample and made it impossible to calculate a response rate. As a result, responses may not be generalizable to all L&D nurses and doulas in the United States and Canada.

This research reveals that MSWs attitudes about medical procedures such as cesarean sections and induction are tied to their experiences of emotional burnout. It also demonstrates a link between witnessing mistreatment of laboring women and burnout, so that traumatic incidents have negative emotional consequences for MSWs. The findings have implications for secondary trauma and compassion fatigue, and for the quality of maternity care.

The interaction of two species can be considered to be either mutually competitive, the “co‐predator” case, or dominated by one species, the “predator‐prey” model. The study of stochastic versions of these models has been impeded by the occurrence of nonlinear expressions in the characterization of the resulting probability structure. Generating function methods are used to study the bivariate and conditional probability distributions and their moments. The results are illustrated using a Laplace transform technique for obtaining numerical values. These methods can be used in the development of ecological prediction techniques and can be extended easily to the bivariate logistic model.

In the agri-food industries, particular importance is given to distribution. Indeed, maintaining good relationships with distributors is a necessity for industries seeking sound marketing performance. In this context, Moroccan agri-food companies recognize the importance of developing customer loyalty. They focus on maintaining good relationships based on trust with their distributors. Considerable research has investigated trust in business-to-business (B-to-B) relationships; however, research in the agri-food industry needs further investigation. Indeed, some past research studied the effect of benevolence on loyalty (Chen, 2008; Rampl, Eberhardt, Schütte & Kenning, 2012) but they ignored studying the effect on two types of loyalty – attitudinal and behavioral – in agri-food industries.

The paper here contributes to the literature in a number of meaningful ways. First, we explore loyalty strategies used by agri-food industries to maintain distributors. This enables us to better understand how trust can boost agri-food B-to-B relationships and distributor’s loyalty. We also investigate exactly the trust dimension (benevolence; credibility) that affects more loyalty in the agri-food industry. A better understanding of the trust dimension should provide practical guidelines as to how to facilitate loyalty in B-to-B relationships. In addition, we test the two dimensions of loyalty and the importance of the attitudinal one. Using structural equation modeling to analyze data, our findings confirm the importance of benevolence in relationships between Moroccan agri-food industries and their distributors. Indeed, the results explain that the development of customer loyalty is influenced by the development of benevolence in relationships with distributors, especially on attitudinal loyalty.

Purpose: Status characteristics theory assumes that the effects of status on performance expectations will be the same for both high and low status actors. However, this may not be true in all situations. Prior work suggests that in some situations, high status actors may ignore new information that should lower their position within a group's power and prestige order (Kalkhoff, Younts, & Troyer, 2011), making them resistant to status loss.

Methods: In a laboratory experiment, I introduced new status information to participants that contradicted their prior status position within a sequence of groups working on the same task.

Findings: Results show new status information that contradicts prior status orders is less influential on the expectations of initially high status actors, supporting the result initially reported by Kalkhoff et al. (2011). Additionally, I show this effect exists for two task-oriented behaviors, resistance to influence and response latency.

Contribution: This experiment suggests a “sticky expectations” effect exists when new status information is introduced to groups with established performance expectations. It also extends earlier research by showing the effect exists for multiple task-oriented behaviors and is not limited to situations involving the transfer of second-order expectations.

Research Implications: This research suggests that high status actors are more resistant to status loss than previously believed. I consider two possible mechanisms for this effect: self-enhancement bias as initially proposed by Kalkhoff et al. (2011) and an effect on collective orientation caused by performance expectations.

It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.