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This paper aims to determine the relationship between dynamic marketing capabilities (DMCs) and the integration of distribution channels of exporting companies from Latin American (LATAM) countries and how this relationship will impact the international development of a company.

This qualitative study uses the explanatory multiple case approach of Yin (2011) to test the research questions, revise existing theories and establish causal relationships from semi-structured interviews that were applied to 15 Peruvian and Colombian companies. To analyze qualitative data and ensure credibility, the authors applied six stages of Sinkovics and Alfoldi’s (2012) methodology. For analysis, computer-based qualitative software was used.

The study reveals the following: a set of specific DMCs that effectively help agro-food companies generate synergy with their intermediaries to launch their first international ventures; a better understanding of how the market orientation as a DMC is, rather than a multi-dimensional organization which mediates other marketing processes; the impact of DMCs in channel integration that changes with respect to agents and distributors. Producers and distributors developed networking, market adaptation and innovation capabilities. At the same time, agents also developed market orientation capabilities to provide relevant product information, manage transactions and fulfill orders without regard to market adaptation capabilities.

Qualitative methodology was applied, limiting the generalization of the findings. The authors also emphasized the initial stages of internationalization without considering other advanced processes that could be useful for larger LATAM companies, which operate in different foreign countries and manage multiple channels. As a result, this study lays the foundation for establishing a model that will enhance a quantitative measurement to support the findings.

This study illustrates specific marketing techniques that are useful to better identify and coordinate intermediaries, especially agents and distributors to ease their internationalization processes. The research also provides a framework for marketing managers to leverage the DMCs developed by the different actors of the distribution channel, as well as, obtaining positive outcomes in communication, information on products and services, transactions and customer service functions. Finally, managers and professionals can find a methodology to evaluate how DMCs can be developed to optimize their internationalization processes through the integration of the main channel functions. This will broaden their vision on the usefulness and scalability of this type of dynamic capabilities in key business processes for the generation and sustainability of competitive advantages.

If producers identify DMCs, they will promote ethical business practices that may reduce their vulnerability and risk with more experienced international intermediaries. This leads to favoring the socio-economic equity of the territories with traditional economies in which they operate.

The study provides a set of DMCs that influence the functions of distribution channels and favors international processes in small and medium enterprises which then offer a better understanding of the definition and applicability of this construct in the agro-food sector in LATAM. This study also gives a structural perspective to determine which functions of the distribution channel should be integrated and how depending on the type of intermediary (agents and distributors).

The need for retailers to internationalize is a growing reality in developed markets. Research examining problems in this process argues that the barriers to internationalization should be studied based on the situation in each country, and that public organizations which implement policies to support internationalization do not always adapt to company needs. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the limited existing research on the subject of Spanish retail internationalization, analysing the problems faced by SMEs and the role of public support organizations in helping them.

By means of in-depth interviews with experts, the authors first, analysed the barriers faced by Spanish retailers in their internationalization processes, and found a predominance of endogenous as opposed to exogenous barriers. Second, the authors studied the appropriateness of support policies for retail needs and identified a significant mismatch.

Results show that the current international economic climate and restricted access to financing, combined with the small size of retailers, their lack of experience in internationalization processes, and the potential that still remains in the local market, are an inducement not to venture into other markets. Additionally, there is a lack of awareness on the part of public organizations about the reality and needs of the retail sector. In addition, the study of retail internationalization as a discipline seems to be in constant flux.

It would be pertinent to consider the findings in the light of a number of limitations of the study. The sample did not consist of retailers but its representatives. The reliance upon a single nation sample could also be viewed as a limitation.

The authors provide Spanish retailers with ideas about the problems they are facing which they will find useful as a starting point for strategic thinking about their internationalization prospects.

As for Spanish promotion organizations, they should consider the results of this research and further study the needs of retailers in their internationalization processes while also identifying which companies have the greatest potential for operating in foreign markets.

It is the first time a research for Spain is conducted that highlights the needs of developing a plan to support the internationalization of the retail sector and provide specific lines of action.

The purpose of this paper is, first, to analyze the direct effects of the relationship chain “causal attributions and recovery efforts → satisfaction with service recovery → conventional and online word-of-mouth intentions” and, second, to study the moderating role of age in the relationship between satisfaction and subsequent word-of-mouth. Consumer assessment and behavior associated with service recovery is a topic of considerable interest for both academics and practitioners.

From an empirical perspective, this paper uses a sample of 336 individuals who experienced service failure at a retail store to estimate a structural equation model. Additionally, a multigroup analysis allows testing the existence of a moderating effect of age on the hypothesized relations.

Results allow to confirm the direct effects of causal attributions and recovery efforts on satisfaction with service recovery, and the impact of the latter, in turn, on conventional and online word-of-mouth intentions. Furthermore, the multigroup analysis reveals that age moderates the relationship between satisfaction and online word-of-mouth.

In service recovery situations, retailers should concentrate their efforts at providing evidence of the failure as temporary and inevitable as well as offering material or economic compensation.

This paper contributes to the identification of the most relevant variables influencing customer satisfaction with service recovery in a retail context. In addition to this, these results provide support to the importance of age on online word-of-mouth behavior.

Since universities adopted a “Student as Customer” approach, student consumer behavior is a field of study which has become crucial. In the European higher education area, more understanding is needed on International students, and more precisely on Erasmus students. The purpose of this paper is to validate a multidimensional scale to assess Erasmus students’ value expectations (i.e. expected value) on the basis of costs and benefits in their choices as consumers of an academic experience abroad.

A survey conducted on a sample of 192 students from 50 universities show the role of functional, social and emotional values along with costs of time and effort in the perceived value of an Erasmus experience.

After validating the five scales, the results show that social and emotional are the aspects were students’ expected value dimensions are the highest, as the Erasmus experience is expected to enrich their studies and enable them to boost their self-confidence, while functionally helping them to find a job in the future. Concerning the sacrifices, the Erasmus experience has a high cost with regard to effort, time and energy, but students are willing to go through it: an Erasmus stay is seen as a good investment, whose benefits will be reaped in the long run.

The contribution of this paper comes from the scope and the target: a multidimensional trade-off approach to the expected value of the Erasmus experience. Other works have already depicted the educational experience through the value concept, but none, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has measured expected value on the pre-purchase phase for Erasmus students.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the contribution of digitalisation, channel integration and sustainability to the improvement of industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)' international performance.

Based on a review of the literature, the authors developed a research model that included six hypotheses about the relationships between the constructs studied: digitalisation, channel integration, sustainability and international performance. The structural equation model was tested with data from a survey answered by 200 exporting industrial SMEs, by means of partial least squares regression.

The digitalisation of SMEs contributes positively to channel integration and sustainability, while channel integration is positively related to their international performance. Although a direct relationship between digitalisation and international performance was not observed, a mediated relationship through channel integration was confirmed. Additionally, the multi-group analysis according to the level of internationalisation revealed that sustainability positively influences the international performance of companies with a high degree of internationalisation.

This study is original insofar as it examined the role of digitalisation in the international performance of industrial SMEs, considering the mediating role of sustainability and channel integration.