Search results

This paper aims to examine the effect of new product launch actions and firm reputation on firm performance in the Chinese auto industry.

This analysis adopts empirical data from 66 auto firms in China’s auto market from 2007 to 2012 to explore how new product launch actions undertaken by a firm can contribute to achieving superior performance and to investigate the relationships between new product launch actions and firm performance. Moreover, how firm reputation interacts with new product launch actions to affect firm performance is also investigated. Fixed effects regression model following the Hausman specification test was used to quantitatively examine the relationship.

It was concluded that the focal firm’s new product launch actions, including new product launch breadth, complexity and heterogeneity of its new repertoire of product launch actions, and firm reputation can impact its performance. Firm reputation can impact the signaling process and the capability of firms to enhance their performance via new product launch movements.

This research contributes to new product launch research by providing a more comprehensive view of competitive dynamic actions by which a firm’s performance is strengthened by examining the effects of two factors that affect performance. These factors are as follows: the characteristics in terms of breadth, complexity, and heterogeneity of new product launch actions undertaken by a firm and the characteristic of firm reputation.

While extant entry theory has long prescribed a niche approach for new ventures, a preponderance of empirical research has found that broad strategies may be the key to new venture success. This study examines the difference between entry theory and empirical evidence by considering the moderating impact of initial financial resources on the effectiveness of venture strategy. Examining new, independent firms at the point of inception, we find that initial financial resources moderate the relationship between strategic breadth and performance, implying that the returns to a broad initial strategy increase with the level of initial capital. Contrary to popular niche prescriptions for new ventures, we did not find support for the belief that firms with low initial financial resources should pursue niche strategies and suggest that it may be time to re-examine theory on the nature of the relationship between entry strategies and performance.

This paper explores openness within new product development (NPD) projects. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of breadth, depth and partner newness on product innovativeness and product competitive advantage. The authors also seek to examine the contingent effects of the appropriability regime. The authors make suggestions to academics and practitioners based on the findings.

The authors use a structured survey instrument producing an empirical analysis of 205 NPD projects in the manufacturing sector in the UK. The authors use an ordinary least squares regression model to test hypothesised relationships between openness (breadth, depth and partner newness), product innovativeness, product competitive advantage and the appropriability regime.

The authors find that each of the three dimensions of openness, depth, breadth and partner newness, have a significant but differing impact on product innovativeness. Specifically, the study indicates that breadth has a positive effect but only in the presence of a strong appropriability regime, partner newness has a direct positive effect, and depth a direct negative effect. The authors also find that product innovativeness has a positive impact on product competitive advantage.

Further research should focus on replicating the findings in other countries, search for further moderating factors, such as the stage of the NPD process, and analyse the longitudinal impact of openness within NPD projects.

Organisations are encouraging managers to be more open in their approach to NPD. The authors’ findings suggest that managers need to think about the three dimensions of openness, breadth, depth and partner newness. Their engagement with each of these dimensions depends on the desired outcomes of the innovation project and the strength of patents.

The research extends the extant supplier involvement in new product development literature to examine the effect of up to 11 types of external actor in NPD projects. The authors test a new multi-dimensional measurement scale for the openness construct. The authors show that each dimension has a different relationship with product innovativeness.

This study aims to understand how different levels of streamer channels influence luxury brand sales in live streaming commerce. This study also seeks to understand the conditions under which luxury brands may benefit more from different level streamer channels.

Panel data were collected from 17 international luxury brands on the Douyin live streaming platform in an 18 week period from August to December 2020 and analyzed by using a two-way fixed effects model.

The authors compared different mega-, macro- and micro-streamer channels within live streaming commerce and found that the densities of mega- and macro-streamer channels had significant positive impacts on luxury brand sales in live streaming commerce. Moreover, the effects of the density of streamer channel on luxury brand sales were moderated by such variables as product line breadth, product line depth, product type (star/non-star) and product price (high/low). The authors found that product line breadth and depth could reduce the positive impact of the densities of mega- and macro-streamer channels on luxury brand sales. For star products and high-priced products, the relationship between the density of mega-streamer channel and luxury brand sales was more likely to be observed than for non-star products and low-priced products. The relationship between the density of macro-streamer channel and luxury brand sales was more likely to be observed in low-priced products than in high-priced products.

The findings make important contributions to the literature in that the authors expand the influencer-brand fit theory by proposing a new model of effects of the densities of mega-, macro- and micro-streamer channels on sales performance across different luxury products to improve our understanding of the fit among influencers, brands and products. This helps luxury brands make basic decisions of “who sells” and “sells what” when engaging in live streaming commerce.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the knowledge of marketing strategy antecedents of industrial value adding in foreign markets. It attempts to answer the following two questions: how is the marketing strategy of a foreign subsidiary associated with the extent of its value‐adding activity? Is there an association between the extent of value‐adding activity and financial performance of the subsidiary?

A model is developed and hypotheses are tested. Data are collected from 191 subsidiaries of Swedish manufacturing firms in Germany, the UK, and the USA.

Product‐market breadth and market experience positively affect the extent of foreign value adding. Also, market experience has a moderating effect and strengthens the positive association between product‐market breadth and the extent of value adding. A foreign subsidiary's financial performance is positively associated with the number of value‐adding activities of the subsidiary.

The study shows that the marketing strategy of a foreign subsidiary needs to be acknowledged to understand the antecedents of foreign value‐adding activity. In addition, the extent of value‐adding activity contributes to the implementation of an effective international strategy.

An industrial firm wanting to implement an effective international marketing strategy needs to pay attention to the links between the marketing strategy of a foreign subsidiary and the extent of the subsidiary's value‐adding activity.

The study is unique in that it applies a subsidiary perspective and focuses on foreign subsidiary strategy associations. The study both extends the common approach, which argues that the value adding of a foreign subsidiary is determined only by the corporate marketing strategy, and explores associations with foreign subsidiary performance.

This paper aims to study the effect of two important marketing decisions on the extent of value capturing by the firm owners. First, it addresses the debate whether acquirers of young technology-based firms value targets that span multiple technology and market categories indicating multiples options for growth or prefer more narrowly defined targets with a clear product and market focus. Second, it investigates to what extent the use of alliances for marketing purposes contributes to value capturing and how they moderate the effect of diversification of technology and marketing.

To estimate the acquisition price, a linear regression model is used, including a Heckman correction controlling for the likelihood of being acquired. The hypotheses are tested in a sample of British venture capital backed firms.

Firms that convey focus in their marketing activities (either because they focus on a few market categories or because they rely on downstream alliance to market their inventions) receive higher valuations at acquisition than those that diversify. Further, also the size of the product portfolio is negatively correlated to the acquisition price. Finally, the results reveal that firms with a broad patent portfolio can reduce the negative effects on firm value by engaging in less downstream alliances.

This paper advances existing research on exit strategies for entrepreneurial firms by considering factors explaining acquisition prices, instead of acquisition probabilities. Further, it adds the categorization research by demonstrating how acquirers respond to complex combinations of technology and market categories.

Researchers have investigated the link between business strategy and performance, the process of resource acquisition and employment, and issues associated with strategy implementation. However, empirical investigations into the moderating or mediating effects of resource deployment and implementation in the strategy‐performance relationship have been lacking. Data analyzed in the present study lends support for the notion that the appropriate strategy should be aligned with specific resource competencies if the strategy is to be successful.

Attempts to determine the key strategic variables that lead to superior financial as well as competitive performance. Investigates the effects of strategic variables on service provider′s risk levels. Suggests that integrating forward, having a relatively larger market share, sharing customers with other business units in the firm, having strong service image, and being in a market with a small number of competitors positively influences market share.

This study aims to examine leader–follower interdependence from a different perspective to learn whether variations in the market leader (ML)’s level of market strength require followers to pursue different strategies Literature investigating this interdependence largely focuses on the market share consequences for the ML, considering the strategies that followers pursue.

A consumer scanner data set containing 375 followers provided input for a regression model, aimed at explaining the market share performance of followers.

The ML’s products and level of market strength influence whether a follower should be more similar to or different from it, as well as the performance outcomes of distinct product development strategies.

This analysis uses unique measures of market strength and product difference; both are significant, but their robustness is limited without further substantiation.

Managers must consider three factors that influence the outcomes of their product development strategies: the ML’s products, its market strength and the sum of product attribute differences across their range.

This study empirically validates several theoretical arguments for how an ML influences followers’ performance, including the existence of preference asymmetry toward the ML. In turn, it makes recommendations of optimal strategies that followers should pursue. Finally, this article details a method to measure overall differences and highlights the significance of this measure for explaining a follower’s performance.

Marketing‐manufacturing interface is becoming an increasingly important research area, as the firms unable to reduce inter‐departmental conflict find their global competitiveness compromised. Due to inevitable interaction of marketing and manufacturing with design engineering in conflict and resolution, there is a need to increase the scope of the research area of manufacturing‐marketing interface to include design (engineering) and establish appropriate interfaces between each pair of these domains. Some firms are practising concurrent engineering to minimise the conflict between design and manufacturing departments. Several interface variables can be used to resolve inter‐departmental conflict. A firm’s decision to pursue a particular interface requires commitment, investment and change in culture. What type of interface should a firm choose? This paper introduces a conceptual framework to resolve this dilemma. Specifically, the contribution of this paper is at least threefold. First, it characterises the possible conflicts that can arise due to interaction between the three functional areas – marketing, manufacturing, and design. Design is recognised as a separate function in its own right. Second, it identifies and describes possible variables that can be utilised as interfaces to resolve conflicts. Third, it establishes a methodology to develop a framework to assess inter‐departmental conflict and identify an optimal mix of interface variables to resolve all possible conflicts. The paper concludes with an actual case study involving a global marketing‐manufacturing company and provides an application of this framework and methodology.