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Despite the proliferation of countertrade (CT) literature, it has not been examined from a marketing process perspective. This study attempts to fill this gap. The concept of Reverse marketing, which is a direct consequence of CT, is introduced. A conceptual CT framework, which makes a distinction between commodity and differentiated products, is developed. The central point of this concept and, ultimately, of this article is that the reverse sequencing of marketing processes leads to many costly inefficiencies. The analyses that follow suggest that, in the majority of cases, firms should engage in CT only as a last resort.

The title of my dissertation was “An Analysis of Competitive Positioning Strategies in the U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry: An EQS Application.” Doctoral students frequently are daunted when they first hear that their dissertation research is to be a contribution to the field. “What could I do, as a mere doctoral candidate, who would revolutionize the field?” seems to be the question. After all is said and done, a dissertation is the “capstone to a formal academic training process.” It is a demonstration that you are capable of conceptualizing, conducting, and reporting research in a (reasonably) independent way. The real contribution of most dissertations is that they lead to conferral of the degree, open up new career options, help you to mature as a scholar, and socialize you into the scholarly norms of your field. H. Jackson Brown, Jr. once quoted that “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” If the doctoral degree provides tangible evidence of one's ability to function at a high academic level, then the number of citations associated with that research is a testimonial of the apparent scientific impact of that scientist. In this case, the citation rate associated with my dissertation article “An empirical analysis of sustained advantage in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry: impact of firm resources and capabilities” is my personal tour de force (see Table 1).

I am proud to be joining the many colleagues who appear in this volume, many younger but some more experienced in the marketing and the international business disciplines, honoring S. Tamer Cavusgil's retirement from Michigan State University. I am proud for many reasons, but mainly because throughout the years I have observed how Tamer's contributions to our professional and personal lives have shaped our growth as a fraternity of business scholars and teachers. I feel very fortunate to have grown as Tamer's colleague through the many papers we have published, the many doctoral students we have mentored, and the many service contributions we have made to the international business field during the past 30 years. I feel luckier, however, that I have come to know this remarkable person as a friend.

My days in the Michigan State University (MSU) doctoral program were days filled with intellectual stimulation and long hours of work on various research projects. Starting from my first day on Campus, I was part of the Center for International Business Education & Research (CIBER), which consisted only of Prof. Tamer Cavusgil and his assistant Kay Fitzgerald. Dr. Cavusgil's days were filled with writing research proposals to secure funding for the center. He was so good at this that the center grew rapidly. In my second year in the program, I was involved in the Marketing Expert Systems project. As part of this project, I worked with a team of doctoral students. The artificial intelligence brain of the project was Mike Mitri, a doctoral student at the Computer Engineering Department. Each doctoral student was assigned an application area in international marketing: I was assigned the Evaluation and Selection of an International Logistics Company.