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This paper aims to examine the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty on the impact of the focal constructs of relationship quality and relationship value on behavioural intentions across the theoretical perspectives of commitment-trust and relationship value. The study examines to which extent the application of these two theoretical perspectives can absorb part of the environmental uncertainty in a buyer/seller relationship.

The study used empirical data from UK manufacturers from different sectors to test the hypotheses developed. The sample ranged from small enterprises to multi-billion companies. A structured questionnaire was used as a research instrument.

The effects of relationship quality and relationship value on behavioural intentions are not found, to a large extent, to be moderated by environmental uncertainty. The findings support that the commitment-trust and relationship value perspectives can absorb part of the uncertainty firms face in business markets.

The current study investigates the customer perspective only. Future dyadic research will be able to offer a more holistic view of the focal constructs and their performance outcomes.

The findings indicate that firms may find it productive to invest in more relationship marketing efforts in markets with higher levels of uncertainty to improve performance.

Although the role of environmental uncertainty as a key exogenous factor in relationship effectiveness should not be overlooked, the theoretical perspectives of commitment-trust and relationship value suggest that relevant approaches in explaining how favourable behavioural intentions can be generated succeed in absorbing part of the uncertainty that organizations can face in business relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the dimensions of innovation on manufacturing firm performance taking into consideration the moderating role of environmental uncertainty among these relationships.

A research study was carried out using a sample of 580 Greek manufacturing firms. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were applied to extract and validate the latent factors. K-means cluster analysis was also applied in order to group the responding firms. Finally, the structural relationships among the latent factors were determined through structural equation modeling.

According to the study findings, only three dimensions of innovation performance directly contributes to business performance. Moreover, this paper shows the differential effects of firm innovativeness on business performance under the influence of environmental uncertainty.

The sample of the responding firms which is limited to the Greek manufacturing sector and the subjective business evidence coming from only one firm representative constitute the main limitations of the present study.

Firms can properly manage innovation dimensions. In case of high uncertainty, they should focus on product, marketing and process innovation, while in case of low uncertainty the focus should be on process, organization and product innovation.

Based on the multi-dimensional structure, this empirical study determines the contribution of innovation performance to business performance taking into consideration the role of environmental uncertainty as moderator on this relationship.

This paper aims to explore how sell-side analysts and salespeople make sense of uncertainty on their market knowledge, valuation and marketing outputs.

Data is collected by direct observations of and interviews with analysts and salespeople in the Turkish stock exchange, an emerging market with considerable global fund management activity.

Analysts face considerable uncertainty on their market value forecasts but dismiss it as local dynamics not incorporable to valuation practices in global sell-side business. Salespeople, despite paying more attention to such dynamics owing to their sales tasks, limit themselves to analyst output in marketing. Both actors recognise the importance of analyst work to be able to have “a right to speak” in global sell-side business.

Changing market conditions and regulations since the time of study have been shaping analysts and salespeople work in global sell-side business, for example, the way sell-side is compensated by buy-side, buy-side’s move to receiving sell-side services from fewer brokers and hence shrinking sell-side teams. The paper does not address these. Nonetheless, it shows how valuation and marketing can be two distinct lines of work in sell-side business irrespective of market conditions and raises the question for future research as to how sell-side professionals manage this distinction, and how they make sense of and cope with broad market dynamics beyond sell-side and buy-side relations (e.g. automated trading machines, online retail trading).

The paper provides rare observation-based insights into analyst and salespeople work, including their sensemaking of uncertainty. It shows the importance of market identities and associated knowledge in valuation and marketing work in sell-side business.

This paper illuminates the distinction between individual and organizational actors in business-to-business markets as well as the coexistence of formal and informal mechanisms of coordination in multinational corporations. The main questions addressed include the following. (1) What factors influence the occurrence of personal contacts of foreign subsidiary managers in industrial multinational corporations? (2) How such personal contacts enable coordination in industrial markets and within multinational firms? The theoretical context of the paper is based on: (1) the interaction approach to industrial markets, (2) the network approach to industrial markets, and (3) the process approach to multinational management. The unit of analysis is the foreign subsidiary manager as the focal actor of a contact network. The paper is empirically focused on Portuguese sales subsidiaries of Finnish multinational corporations, which are managed by either a parent country national (Finnish), a host country national (Portuguese) or a third country national. The paper suggests eight scenarios of individual dependence and uncertainty, which are determined by individual, organizational, and/or market factors. Such scenarios are, in turn, thought to require personal contacts with specific functions. The paper suggests eight interpersonal roles of foreign subsidiary managers, by which the functions of their personal contacts enable inter-firm coordination in industrial markets. In addition, the paper suggests eight propositions on how the functions of their personal contacts enable centralization, formalization, socialization and horizontal communication in multinational corporations.

Inter-firm integration is a multidimensional concept. This study aims to examine the performance effects of two aspects of inter-firm integration, coordination integration and authority integration, and their co-alignment with strategic and contextual factors.

The author conducted a quantitative empirical study using survey data of Japanese manufacturing companies’ relationships with their wholesalers to test hypotheses based on a literature review.

Coordination integration has a positive performance effect. There is co-alignment between high (low) coordination integration and high (low) product uniqueness. High (low) coordination integration is associated with high (low) demand uncertainty. High (low) authority integration is consistent with high (low) behavioral uncertainty.

This study contributes theoretically to marketing channel and business-to-business marketing literature by holistically examining the linkages among governance forms, marketing-strategic factors, exchange-contextual factors and inter-firm performance. A limitation of this study is that the research data were collected in only one country, Japan. Thus, country-specific factors might affect the analytical outcomes.

Appropriate co-alignment among governance, strategies and contexts significantly influences performance. The findings have significant implications for manufacturing firms’ channel strategies.

This study tests the influences of two distinct dimensions of inter-firm integration on inter-firm outcomes, which few previous studies address. It comprehensively examines the linkages among governance forms, strategic factors, environmental factors and performance.

Aims to delineate and explore the terrain of mainstream literature on strategic marketing management. Draws attention to the important role of judgement in almost everything that marketing managers do and for organizations. Considers the orthodox treatment of uncertainty and judgement in marketing management and strategy and concludes that it is restrictive in that it presupposes an approach to strategic decision making that is the exception, not the norm. Highlights the important role of the personal development and learning of top marketing managers as investments in the quality of marketing judgement.

The main purpose of this research is to find an optimal allocation of marketing budgets which maximizes customer equity in an uncertain environment. Since markets are naturally uncertain environments, the aim is to incorporate uncertainty into the model.

Researchers have developed a mathematical programming model which employs customer equity as an objective function in order to allocate marketing budgets. The robust optimization approach is employed to tackle the proposed model, which deals with uncertainty.

The solution of the robust model is shown to be feasible and satisfactory in all uncertain situations. The robust solutions (of the presented model) are stable in volatile situations; while if the solution of deterministic models is used, it may be suboptimal or even infeasible. Sensitivity analysis of the deterministic solution only describes how stable is the suggested solution, but a robust optimization approach always provides a stable solution.

The presented model will be most effective where uncertainty is high; if uncertainty is not a matter of concern or estimates are reliable, deterministic models are also effective.

Companies periodically decide on marketing budgets in order to achieve predefined marketing targets in future periods. The results of this research may be useful and applicable in marketing departments for allocating marketing budgets, especially in uncertain environments.

The main contribution of this research lies in providing an approach to allocate marketing budgets in uncertain environments. Unlike previous studies, the presented method takes into account the uncertainty of parameters in a systematic way. Hence, in case of high degrees of uncertainty, the use of robust optimization is strictly recommended.

Explores the efficacy of market‐driven (voluntary) approaches to ecological strategies. Examines ecological marketing behavior from a multiperson level of analysis. Focusses on members of the industrial DMC (dual‐marketing‐center) who participate in the buying‐selling process of the EPA policies with Government officials and investigates the DMC′s adaptive climatic configuration in response to varying levels of policy uncertainty. The findings from a national sample suggest that perceptions of policy uncertainty are related to DMC climate dimensions: cohesiveness, coordination and trust.

To assist the social entrepreneur with direct marketing decision, the authors examine the relationship between the risks and costs associated with direct marketing for non‐profit organizations. This is done by developing and presenting a framework centered on two uncertainty factors – the cost to implement a direct marketing solution and control over (e.g. ability to manage) resources. A transaction cost analysis (economic) argument is used to rationalize the importance for entrepreneurs to effectively manage these two uncertainty factors when implementing a direct marketing program. This is illustrated using a perceptual mapping of each direct marketing channel relative to the two uncertainty dimensions.

The paper is organized by first presenting a brief description of each direct marketing strategy relative to its use by entrepreneurs in a non‐profit business environment. These strategies include: online, direct mail, catalogue, direct response, telephone marketing, and personal selling. Each strategy is then compared via their placement on a perceptual map using the two uncertainty dimensions: cost of implementation and control over direct marketing resources.

With the increasing prevalence of social entrepreneurship where the goal is to maximize returns given limited resources, this framework can become a critical tool to help nonprofit business owners first assess and then reduce the risks and uncertainties of their direct marketing strategies.

The conceptual framework presented is the one of few that addresses the issue of risk management among direct marketing strategies in social entrepreneurship. This can provide the basis for further research in this area to empirically validate and operationalized this framework.

Examines the combinations available to purchasers regarding the selection of suppliers (sources), e.g. the use of a single or two or more (multiple) sources. Considers the justification of either method in the context of reducing the uncertainty (risk) of a particular purchase. Illustrates the marketers view of sourcing and the differing sales tactics employed according to the suppliers′ preferences. Concludes that purchasers should examine uncertainty buying‐selling situations (UBSS) objectively with regard to their own organizations′ need criteria, e.g. cost and timeliness, this determining the relevant sourcing policy.