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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of the salespeople profile (i.e., effort, commitment and creativity) – and its degree of market orientation (MO) – on the success of new product launch and sales outcomes. An emerging economy context is taken as a reference.

A structural equations model is proposed. The data are based on a sample of retail sector sales managers in Peru.

The results indicate that salespeople effort, creativity and degree of MO influence overall sales performance. Salespeople commitment, however, does not have a significant impact. These antecedents are helpful when attempting to understand both the potential success of a new product and sales outcomes.

There is no evidence to date of studies that simultaneously assess the impact of seller profiles and degree of MO on new product launch success and sales outcomes. This paper breaks new ground in analyzing this phenomenon in the context of an emerging economy. The findings are of general interest both for sales force management and for companies interested in familiarizing themselves with the peculiarities of emerging economies and the potential need to adapt policies to these specific realities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the largely unexplored conceptualisation of the brand-as-a-person metaphor in small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by examining its potential relation with the SME owner-manager, the pathways to its creation and development and the intuitive nature of this relationship.

A grounded theory approach was used, and data were collected through a set of 36 semi-structured interviews with 30 SME owner-managers in various sectors in Mexico.

The results indicate that SME owner-managers intuitively humanise their brands. The study revealed four pathways to develop the brand-as-a-person metaphor in the SME context: through personality traits, tastes and preferences, abilities and knowledge and values, all suggesting that SMEs’ brand-as-a-person metaphors are largely an extension of their owner-managers.

The paper presents a theoretical framework that illustrates the four pathways to the creation and development of brand-as-a-person that are derived from the brand’s relationship with the SME owner-manager. The results of cross-industry semi-structured interviews are limited to a single culture context.

SME owner-managers should first undertake an introspective personal assessment of their intuitive and conscious decision-making, as SME owner-managers often make decisions in an intuitive way. The results suggest that they should act in a more conscious, responsible and rational way when formulating their brand strategies.

This is the first study to clarify the profound influence of SME owner-managers’ personal characteristics, including personality traits, tastes and preferences, abilities and knowledge and values, on the brand-as-a-person metaphor. This study also confirms the intuitive learning strategy formulation of SME owner-managers’ branding practices and SMEs’ need for a more rational approach to branding.

The purpose of this paper is, first, to identify the relationship, if any, between customers’ perceptions of justice (functional element) and employee effort (symbolic element) and their effects on satisfaction and loyalty in the context of service recovery and, second, to determine the impact of cross-cultural differences on these relationships.

Survey data from actual customers were gathered in three countries (n = 414) and analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results demonstrate the role of the constructs of perceived employee effort and perceived justice in influencing post-recovery satisfaction and loyalty across cultures. While perceived justice is valued across cultures, customers from feminine (masculine) cultures require more (less) employee effort to influence post-recovery satisfaction positively. Customers from low (high) uncertainty cultures are more (less) willing to give the provider another chance after a service recovery.

The study shows that both functional and symbolic elements of service recovery are important determinants of customer satisfaction and loyalty and that their influence can be significant in a cross-cultural context.

International service managers must consider the nature of cultural differences in their markets to develop and implement tailored recovery strategies that can result in satisfied customers.

This study is the first to integrate the functional and symbolic elements of service recovery, their impact on customers’ behavioral responses and the influence of cultural variations.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how small to medium‐sized enterprise firms can develop internationalization processes successfully.

A case study is used to illustrate the milestones of the global process.

The paper finds that, although internationalization is a complicated task, the adequate management of resources allows firms to achieve their objectives.

The paper takes as reference a national culture‐based hand‐crafted product, which is really difficult to internationalize.

This paper is focused on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Its main interest consists of establishing a framework for clarifying the drivers of CSR activities in such a context. This paper also aims to analyse how CSR influences SMEs' image and positioning.

The general conceptual framework proposed by the literature is complemented with empirical research based on a longitudinal multi‐case study (inter and intra‐industry).

The research proposes that the owner/managers' values, market pressures and laws are key drivers for CSR in the SMEs context. Managers expect positive outcomes when CSR is implemented. However, the data suggest that while proactive and consistent SMEs may build up a good image and strong positioning, reactive and opportunistic firms may be penalised by stakeholders (e.g. customers).

CSR activities, when adequately managed, contribute for a better SME image and market positioning.

The ideas presented in this paper may help in achieving better management of resources in SMEs.