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The study here responds to the view that the crucial problem in strategic management (research) is firm heterogeneity – why firms adopt different strategies and structures, why heterogeneity persists, and why competitors perform differently. The present study applies complexity theory tenets and a “neo-configurational perspective” of Misangyi et al. (2016) in proposing complex antecedent conditions affecting complex outcome conditions. Rather than examining variable directional relationships using null hypotheses statistical tests, the study examines case-based conditions using somewhat precise outcome tests (SPOT). The complex outcome conditions include firms with high financial performances in declining markets and firms with low financial performances in growing markets – the study focuses on seemingly paradoxical outcomes. The study here examines firm strategies and outcomes for separate samples of cross-sectional data of manufacturing firms with headquarters in one of two nations: Finland (n = 820) and Hungary (n = 300). The study includes examining the predictive validities of the models. The study contributes conceptual advances of complex firm orientation configurations and complex firm performance capabilities configurations as mediating conditions between firmographics, firm resources, and the two final complex outcome conditions (high performance in declining markets and low performance in growing markets). The study contributes by showing how fuzzy-logic computing with words (Zadeh, 1966) advances strategic management research toward achieving requisite variety to overcome the theory-analytic mismatch pervasive currently in the discipline (Fiss, 2007, 2011) – thus, this study is a useful step toward solving the crucial problem of how to explain firm heterogeneity.

The purpose of this study is to create the taxonomy of firms based on the nature of the relationship between market-based resources and marketing capabilities. Anchored in the configuration theory, the present study aims to explore simultaneous roles of market-based resources, i.e. customer orientation and competitor orientation, and marketing capabilities, i.e. the execution of marketing practices and activities within a firm, on firm performance.

A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect data from chief executive officers or top managers of 220 firms in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a transitional economy in South Eastern Europe.

Drawing on a configuration approach via the latent class analysis, the authors empirically derive four distinct strategic marketing patterns, namely, marketing super achievers, marketing-focused virtuosi, marketing drifters and marketing mass pushers. The findings also highlight how business performance outcomes differ as a function of a class membership.

Cross-sectional research design and focus on a single country are main limitations of the present study. Thus, longitudinal studies in the context of developed and fast-reforming transition economies are advisable for future work.

This study enhances the knowledge on how a firm can configure or bundle its market-based resources and marketing capabilities to produce desired outcomes. Findings suggest that joint attention to building market-oriented culture and developing marketing capabilities seems to pay off. However, the authors found that a lack of market knowledge can be substituted by the firms’ ability to build effective promotional and branding capabilities. Thus, the present study adds to the emerging dialog on the relative importance of alternative strategic orientations in achieving superior business performance.

This study contributes to the strategic marketing literature by examining the synergistic effect of market-based resources and marketing capabilities on firm performance using a configurational approach. It also provides support for the equifinality proposition, suggesting that different “bundles” of market-based resources and marketing capabilities can lead to similar level of performance outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to assess whether internal marketing tends to influence the perception of bank employees regarding the strategic orientations of banks toward the market, brand and value. The authors also aimed to determine whether employees' organizational commitment mediates the relationship between internal marketing and the three strategic orientations and whether they influence bank employees' perception of obtaining a competitive advantage.

The authors conducted a survey with 832 bank employees using an online questionnaire. The authors performed data analysis by modeling structural equations with data estimation using the PLS-SEM.

The results showed that internal marketing positively influences bank employees' perception of banks' strategic marketing orientations and through that their perception of a competitive advantage. The authors also note that organizational commitment can partially mediate the relationship between internal marketing and the strategic orientations tested in this study.

The findings indicate that banks' investment in employee valuation tends to generate positive results in relation to their adherence to marketing strategies, with the potential to result in a competitive advantage.

The results demonstrate the strength of internal marketing in the strategic orientations of banks, indicating that having employees who are committed to their bank contributes to the delivery of a high-quality service focused on the external customers, generating a competitive advantage.

Regardless of its relevance for economic development, the influence of strategic orientation by innovation orientation, and strategic marketing by marketing capability on firm performance, this interesting study focused on firms with strategic industries (defense and security) in Indonesia. It approached the gap in three ways. Initially, the examination was conducted on the role of innovation orientation, marketing capability, the interaction of innovation orientation and marketing capability on firm performance. The next step was considering the contribution of state-owned enterprise (SOE) and non-SOE. Finally, this relationship was studied in strategic industries of firms in Indonesia. The firm performance in this study, which we chose, was operational performance. The proposed conceptual model would be tested by distributing questionnaires to 41 firms in Indonesia. This study gave insight into the matters, which should be the companies’ focus, to improve their operations’ performance. By using PLS-based structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, the results of the relationship between innovation orientation, marketing capability, and the interaction between innovation orientation and marketing capability on operational performance were identified. The findings could be clarified via the variations in the characteristics of enterprises (SOE and non-SOE). Moreover, there were clear variations in the findings, which were recognized among the firms’ relatively different characteristics. The main finding was a challenge to generalize the relationship from strategic orientation and strategic marketing to performance. The results of firm characteristics also had considerable managerial relevance. The authors recommend strategic industries (defense and security) in Indonesia in achieving operational performance excellence. Management’s importance is paying attention to the relationship between innovation orientation, marketing capability, and dynamic capability in running a company organization.

Big data is one of the most demanding topics in contemporary marketing research. Despite its importance, the big data-based strategic orientation in international marketing is yet to be formed conceptually. Thus, the purpose of this study is to systematically review and propose a holistic framework on big data-based strategic orientation for firms in international markets to attain a sustained firm performance.

The study employed a systematic literature review to synthesize research rigorously. Initially, 2,242 articles were identified from the selective databases, and 45 papers were finally reported as most relevant to propose an integrative conceptual framework.

The findings of the systematic literature review revealed data-evolving, and data-driven strategic orientations are essential for performing international marketing activities that contain three primary orientations such as (1) international digital platform orientation, (2) international market orientation and (3) international innovation and entrepreneurial orientation. Eleven distinct sub-dimensions reflect these three primary orientations. These strategic orientations of international firms may lead to advanced analytics orientation to attain sustained firm performance by generating and capturing value from the marketplace.

The study minimizes the literature gap by forming knowledge on big data-based strategic orientation and framing a multidimensional framework for guiding managers in the context of strategic orientation for international business and international marketing activities. The current study was conducted by following only a systematic literature review exclusively in firms' overall big data-based strategic orientation concept in international marketing. Future research may extend the domain by introducing firms' category wise systematic literature review.

The study has proposed a holistic conceptual framework for big data-driven strategic orientation in international marketing literature through a systematic review for the first time. It has also illuminated a future research agenda that raises questions for the scholars to develop or extend theory in this area or other related disciplines.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the manner in which market orientation types facilitate the development of brand management processes (strategic brand management and internal branding), and brand performance.

The research model is assessed using data collected from brand executives. Existing scales are used to measure all the focal constructs. Partial least squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using the Smart-PLS 3.0 software is used to check for the psychometric properties of the scales and to test the hypotheses.

The results of this study indicate that proactive and reactive market orientation influence the internal branding and strategic brand management. The mediating role of strategic brand management in the relationship between proactive market orientation (PMO) and brand performance is significant. Similarly, internal branding mediates the relationship between PMO and brand performance. Also, strategic brand management and internal branding mediate the relationship between responsive market orientation (RMO) and brand performance. Results also indicate that market turbulence negatively moderates the relationship between strategic brand management and brand performance.

Building on literature from brand management, organizational capabilities and market orientation, this study explicates the role of PMO and RMO in influencing different strategic brand management and internal branding, and subsequently, brand performance. The perspective used in this study provides an insight into how organizations can develop and manage brands from a process perspective.

To develop the brand management capability, organizations may benefit from cultivating processes that seek to meet the latent customer needs through explorative and proactive information seeking, and at the same time, pursing processes that focus on capturing the existing customer and competitor trends in the market.

This study hopefully helps marketers realize that brand management function needs to move toward being more dynamic in nature.

This study borrows from the existing research on market orientation, branding and brand management to argue that organizations are required to not only maximize the brand returns in the existing market but also to adapt to the changes in the future.

The purpose of this study is to highlight key themes and issues within the strategic orientation research domain that are in need of research attention by international scholars.

The approach taken is an essay format.

The essay identifies six prime issues in need of attention by scholars interested in examining strategic orientations in the context of international business success. These are the need to: examine the relative merits of adopting strategic orientations in firms’ domestic and international business operations; more carefully match international performance metrics to the theory being developed; develop more theory‐rich conceptual models of the consequences of strategic orientations by considering non‐linear and complex moderated relationships; consider the dimensionality of strategic orientations more closely, potentially viewing the constructs in a variety of disaggregated ways, so as to develop models with greater conceptual precision and managerial relevance; go beyond current methodological boundaries to provide better/more robust tests of theories; and integrate theories regarding individual strategic orientations into meta‐theories that accommodate multiple strategic orientations.

For each of the six prime research issues identified as being important within the international strategic orientations field, a variety of specific research avenues and research questions are raised and discussed.

The paper provides researchers with insights into potential avenues for conducting research into strategic orientations in the international marketing arena.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of a firm’s service-dominant orientation on marketing and technological capabilities, and its performance. It outlines how a service-dominant orientation offers guidance for the development and deployment of ordinary capabilities, and indirectly affects performance. Additionally, it delineates how dynamic capabilities affect the impact of a service-dominant orientation on ordinary capabilities.

Partial least squares structural equation modeling drawing on data from 228 firms serves to assess hypotheses relating service-dominant orientation and dynamic capabilities with firm performance.

The results indicate that marketing and technological capabilities fully mediate the relationship between a firm’s service-dominant orientation and firm performance. Furthermore, the positive marginal effect of a firm’s service-dominant orientation on its marketing capabilities increases with the firm displaying a stronger service-dominant orientation. In addition, the positive effect of service-dominant orientation on marketing capabilities reduces the more the firm deploys dynamic capabilities.

Because of the cross-sectional sample, future studies could adopt longitudinal research designs to explore the impact of a service-dominant orientation on ordinary capabilities and performance, or investigate the applicability of the findings in other contexts.

The findings imply that implementing a service-dominant orientation can be beneficial for firms. However, because the impact of such an orientation weakens the greater a firm’s dynamic capabilities, managers need to be mindful of this trade-off.

The study is the first to establish a link between the dynamic capability view, originating from strategy research, and service-dominant logic, stemming from marketing thinking.

This study aims to investigate marketing capabilities that represent the marketing mix from an adaptive perspective: brand management, customer relationship management, price management and multi-channel management. Also, this study identifies how adaptive marketing capabilities (AMCs) enrich superior innovativeness and speed-to-market regarding innovation orientation and marketing orientation as the two critical functions.

A questionnaire-based research was performed to test the proposed hypotheses. The data were collected from predominately marketing or research and development managers/senior specialists in 247 firms.

Strategic orientations that cover market and innovation orientation facilitate a firm’s AMCs, positively affecting its innovativeness and speed-to-market. Also, AMCs mediate the relationship between strategic orientations, and innovativeness, and speed-to-market. Further, this study confirms the complementary association of AMC-related variables in enhancing firm innovativeness and speed-to-market.

This study is subject to the limitations inherent in survey design, particularly convenient sampling and single informants.

This study broadens understanding of dynamic capabilities theory by examining how marketing capabilities can be enhanced and examined from an adaptive perspective for firms. This study also presents a model for the potential relationships among strategic orientations, AMCs, innovativeness and speed-to-market.

In this study, the authors examine the influence of market orientation on small firms' performance. The authors theorize that the association between market orientation and small firm performance provides an incomplete picture in a competitive environment. The application of configuration approach which involves simultaneous consideration of market orientation, strategic flexibility and competition intensity is crucial to examine driver of firm performance.

The sample of the research study consists of 272 small firms from an emerging economy, India. Ordinary least squares regression has been used to investigate the hypothesized relationships.

The authors noted that the three-way interaction between market orientation, strategic flexibility and competition intensity elucidates variance in small firm performance over and above a contingency model and a direct relationship.

The findings contribute to the existing literature by exhibiting the effect of market orientation on firm performance. The configuration model suggests that small firms can outperform competitors in a lower competitive environment if they have high market orientation and high strategic flexibility investment. To leverage market opportunities and achieve better firm performance, small firms’ owners should analyze the usefulness of current capabilities in a changing competitive environment concurrently and align market orientation to those conditions.

The strategic management and marketing literature suggests that relationship between market orientation and performance is ambiguous. The findings offer insights to managers regarding the appropriate use of strategic flexibility in leveraging the benefits of market orientation in a highly competitive environment. Furthermore, by collecting data from the context of an emerging economy, India, the authors attempt to strengthen the applicability of market orientation in different contexts.