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This study aims to explore how managers of multi-unit retail chains balance unit customer satisfaction and profitability through the manager ' s customer, sales, and production operating orientations.

This research links survey data (gathered from unit managers and customers) to customer satisfaction and unit financial performance.

The study found that the store managers ' customer and sales operating orientations are strongly related to financial performance; further, these effects are negatively moderated by a production operating orientation. Results also indicate that the store manager ' s customer and sales operating orientations are related to customer satisfaction only when moderated by his/her production operating orientation.

Using a sample drawn from within a single firm, this research examines profitability and customer satisfaction at the unit level and identifies the manager of the unit as occupying a key strategic role in the multi-unit enterprise.

The findings highlight the critical role the unit manager of a multi-unit enterprise plays in driving customer satisfaction and unit profitability. Further, the results point to the challenge of managing the production-related responsibilities of the retail enterprise while striving to be sales and/or customer oriented. Implications for management are particularly salient when considering the combined effect of production-sales and production-customer orientations.

This study merges services operations and services marketing theory to explore how conflicting strategic initiatives are implemented at the store level, and how these, in turn, influence unit financial performance and customer satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to present research work based on the authors’ conceptual framework reported in the VRAP Conference 2013. It is related with an efficient method to obtain an optimal part build orientation for additive manufacturing (AM) by using AM features with associated AM production knowledge and multi-attribute decision-making (MADM). The paper also emphasizes the importance of AM feature and the implied AM knowledge in AM process planning.

To solve the orientation problem in AM, two sub-tasks, the generation of a set of alternative orientations and the identification of an optimal one within the generated list, should be accomplished. In this paper, AM feature is defined and associated with AM production knowledge to be used for generating a set of alternative orientations. Key attributes for the decision-making of the orientation problem are then identified and used to represent those generated orientations. Finally, an integrated MADM model is adopted to find out the optimal orientation among the generated alternative orientations.

The proposed method to find out an optimal part build orientation for those parts with simple or medium complex geometric shapes is reasonable and efficient. It also has the potential to deal with more complex parts with cellular or porous structures in a short time by using high-performance computers.

The proposed method is a proof-of-concept. There is a need to investigate AM feature types and the association with related AM production knowledge further so as to suite the context of orientating parts with more complex geometric features. There are also research opportunities for developing more advanced algorithms to recognize AM features and generate alternative orientations and refine alternative orientations.

AM feature is defined and introduced to the orientation problem in AM for generating the alternative orientations. It is also used as one of the key attributes for decision-making so as to help express production requirements on specific geometric features of a desired part.

This study focuses on the relationship between knowledge sharing and knowledge effectiveness. By learning orientation and co-production, this study demonstrates the indirect effects of knowledge sharing on knowledge effectiveness. Moreover, the direct and indirect effects of knowledge sharing – which vary with the different levels of tacit knowledge – on knowledge effectiveness are examined.

The proposed model is tested using a structural equation model that involves LISREL and multi-group analyses.

Knowledge sharing increasingly affects knowledge effectiveness under the condition of explicit knowledge. The mediating roles of learning orientation and co-production in the process of tacit knowledge sharing become apparent.

Knowledge sharing across organizations can be regarded as a dynamic process. In view of the increasing importance of knowledge sharing across organizations, this study provides insight into the method of receiving useful knowledge across organizations.

Marketing thought originating from the era of the barter system, gradually evolved into production and sales orientations, with greater emphasis on the process, quality, and selling of products. Thereafter, customer satisfaction as an essential component of the strategic decision process occupies a significant position among various marketing activities. This paper aims to address the inadequate research inputs on determining the time‐specific evolutionary relevance of marketing thought divulging into the essential components of each marketing concept, especially those with customer satisfaction as a dimension in the measurement construct.

A detailed, conceptually integrated analysis of various marketing philosophies is offered to facilitate business executives in examining the philosophy followed by their companies and how to move vertically in pursuance of improved business performance.

In comparison to the Indian market, which is fast becoming an attraction for the developed nations as an investment hub, it is the observed and experienced that public sector corporations are still at the production orientation stage, whereas private companies are predominantly using the sales‐oriented approach. The present status of customer orientation, market orientation and relationship marketing culture in India, is quite distinct from the status in the West as indicated by literature published in the developed countries. Banking, insurance, tourism, and hospitals still need to ensure minimum customer‐oriented services, which are not performed impressively in India.

Being a conceptual and country specific paper, the paper lacks wider generalization of its findings. Moreover, at many instances personal judgment of the authors might have resulted into biased interpretation.

Indian companies, with a few exceptions, lack an adequate orientation to pursue continuous market research in order to sense new developments, which are taking place due to the implementation of advanced information technology leading to greater exposure to customers. It can, thus, be synthesized that with respect to marketing practices in Indian settings, the existing large gap between the theory and implementation is drawing much attention from those concerned with the socio‐economic consequences associated with future business goals.

This paper can help managers in evaluating their business orientation level, but how to improve it further or update them as per ongoing changes in marketing thought and practice, has to be investigated and examined on continuous basis. Hence, empirical testing and validation of the constructs originating from the study have to be pursued, so as to analyze both the nature and the extent of the business orientation of a particular firm.

Based on the US Department of Commerce′s survey data of US direct investment abroad for 1977 and 1985, this study examines the shift in global market share of US multinational manufacturing firms for the 1977‐1985 period. Consolidated global market shares of US multinationals for 26 industries are estimated for 1977 and 1985. The shift in their global market share is analysed from a perspective of three alternative, if not independent, strategic thrusts: namely, home market orientation, export orientation, and foreign production orientation. Contrary to the commonly stated claim that the competitiveness of US manufacturing firms has been declining, findings of this study indicate that, on average, US manufacturing multinationals have maintained global market share on a consolidated basis fairly well.

The significance of the market orientation for corporate management is the subject of a long‐standing controversy. This empirical study conducted in Germany, the largest European market, shows that together with other basic dimensions of management, the market orientation contributes substantially to corporate success. Indicates that popular practical measures designed to implement the market orientation within the organization may cause negative side effects in terms of corporate success. These risks could be controlled by taking a number of actions suggested in this article. Detecting these risks requires a holistic research approach to corporate management, of which the market orientation represents only one basic dimension. An integrated perspective of research, such as the one presented in this paper, represents a new approach for conducting empirical research on the question of whether the market orientation exerts an impact on corporate success.

As the wine industry globally is pushed towards a marketing orientation, what does this mean for companies and their managers and owners? Distinction should be made between market orientation and marketing orientation. Market orientation places the customer at the top of the organisational chart, yet in the wine industry the customer can be very fickle. As such it does not encapsulate the marketing concept of the matching process – it is not a marketing orientation. The true marketing orientation has evolved from a realisation of the inadequacies of production and sales orientation. Marketing orientation should give equal weight to customer demands and to company requirements. It must choose its markets and manage its own productive capabilities in order to achieve its goals in pursuit of a strategic policy. In the wine industry in particular, it is imperative for management that customer and company needs and wants should be correctly balanced.

While a strong association between Marketing Orientation development and company performance has been established, the understanding of the Marketing Orientation remains unclear since some studies have suggested a philosophical nature for Marketing Orientation and some other studies concluded that Marketing Orientation represents a behavioural notion. As a result of this antithesis, research has not proceeded in the investigation on the factors that determine the degree of Marketing Orientation development. Shows that Marketing Orientation should be conceptualised synthetically since it represents the integration of a certain culture with specific behaviour. Closely examines the major determinants of Marketing Orientation development. Although exploratory in nature, suggests that Marketing Orientation development is determined by company‐specific, as well as by market‐specific factors with the former having a facilitating effect and the latter a coercive effect.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for a value creation business (VCB) model. It seeks to unlock two essential research questions: “what constitutes value”, and “how do firms create value for customers?” in the context of the firm‐customer dyad.

The paper is conceptual and is premised on a review of the extant literature on value and value creation. It addresses the limitations pertaining to the dominance of the value‐in‐use perspective. It also addresses the call for a paradigm shift toward customer‐centric marketing and operant resource‐based dominant logic. Building on the review, the paper identifies essential components of value in value creation processes.

The VCB model is developed by integrating three perspectives of value including creating value for customers, value‐in‐offering, and value‐in‐use, capturing a contingency approach to theory building. The model enlightens how value creation architecture (the strategic space of value creation processes) and value creation engineering (the capability space of value creation processes) engage in creating value outcomes for both the firm and the customer.

The VCB model constitutes guidelines useful for practitioners in crafting value‐based business processes and provides a base for academic researchers to further research on value and value creation.

The paper advances the literature on value by conceptualising value as consisting of the value offering and customer equity (the firm viewpoint), and customer value and brand equity (the customer viewpoint). The paper also highlights that value creation processes are initiated with the crafting of value creation architecture, followed by developing value creation engineering, and completed with value outcomes.

Due to the unique nature of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), the impact of crowdfunding on them is more significant than on other industries. This study investigates the association between crowdfunding campaigns in four different categories of cultural production and each campaign promoter's decision regarding platform choice.

We classified cultural productions according to the Cultural Enterprise Framework. We collected data from 1,465 successful, reward-based, culture crowdfunding campaigns from five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). We used binary logistic regression for estimation purposes.

We find that cultural productions with a high degree of cultural affinity are more likely to use a local platform, while cultural productions with a higher degree of complexity in production or with composite motives are more likely to use an international platform. Additionally, the funding goal and the platform's financing model affect the probability of using an international platform.

Our finding is that there is a relationship between cultural production type and crowdfunding platform choice, and that these choices can be crucial for campaign promoters. Based on the findings and empirical setting, there is evidence that campaign promoters of cultural productions with a cultural affinity orientation may choose to use local platforms, while promoters of projects with complex production requirements or composite motives for using crowdfunding similarly may tend to opt for international platforms. We also propose a framework for the categorisation of cultural productions.