The influence of relational capability and marketing capabilities on the export performance of emerging market firms

Purpose - Drawing on the resource based view this study focuses on the influence of relational capability and marketing capabilities on export performance. The study also examines the interaction effects of relational capability on the marketing capabilities - export performance relationships. Design/ methodology/ approach - A stratified random sample of 1,047 exporting firms were approached. Survey data was collected from 333 Vietnamese exporting firms and analysed using hierarchical moderated regression. Findings - The results reveal that a firm’s relational capability not only strengthens the efficiency of the export pricing capability – performance, marketing intelligence capability – performance, and marketing communication capability - performance relationships, but is also the strongest predictor of export performance amongst those capabilities identified. Whilst engagement in market intelligence, product development, price setting and promotional activities have a positive payoff, our findings confirm there is less need for exporters to engage in after-sales service and distribution capabilities. Originality/value - The study introduces the notion of relational capability alongside export marketing capabilities as predictors of export performance. We also examine the moderating influence of relational capability on the link between export marketing capabilities and export performance. By focusing on Vietnam, the study provides fresh insights surrounding the development pathway for firms in emerging markets. Keywords: Relational capability, marketing capabilities, moderating impact, export performance, the resource-based view, emerging markets, Vietnam

Recent Developments: The Uniform Arbitration Act

Arbitration as a forum for dispute resolution has been a part of the American common law heritage for at least the past one hundred fifty years. However, until recently, state law was almost uniformly biased against arbitration.2 The theory at common law was that either party to an agreement to arbitrate future disputes could void the agreement at any time.3 This legal environment rendered the institution of arbitration impotent in any situation in which one of the parties decided that their interests would be better served if the dispute was resolved in a more traditional court settin

Recent Developments: The Uniform Arbitration Act

Arbitration as a forum for dispute resolution has been a part of the American common law heritage for at least the past one hundred fifty years. However, until recently, state law was almost uniformly biased against arbitration.2 The theory at common law was that either party to an agreement to arbitrate future disputes could void the agreement at any time.3 This legal environment rendered the institution of arbitration impotent in any situation in which one of the parties decided that their interests would be better served if the dispute was resolved in a more traditional court settin

Internal market orientation, interdepartmental relationships and market performance: the pivotal role of employee satisfaction

Purpose This study aims to signal the relevance of internal market orientation (IMO) as an organizational process for improving interdepartmental relationships and employee satisfaction, which, in turn, serves to leverage performance. The study has three main objectives: to consider the adaptation of IMO at the departmental level, whereby internal departments are identified as internal customers; gauging the impact of IMO on interdepartmental relationships, employee satisfaction and organizational performance; and testing the mediating role of employee satisfaction in linking interdepartmental relationships, i.e. connectedness and conflict with organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach The study observes the proposed relationships by drawing on a sample of 816 managers from 272 companies. Through accessing three respondents in each organization and asking them to focus on different constructs, the study’s methodology avoids common methods bias. Partial least square was used to test the hypotheses posited in the concept. Findings The findings confirm that IMO at the departmental level is critical for facilitating interdepartmental relationships within the organization. In particular, high levels of IMO can enhance interdepartmental connectedness, reduce interdepartmental conflict and improve employee satisfaction. Employee satisfaction not only influences firm performance directly but also plays a mediating role in linking interdepartmental relationships, i.e. connectedness and conflict with performance. Research limitations/implications While this study is conducted in the Chinese context, future research may consider testing the framework in different sectors and geographical areas. In addition, more objective measures of firm performance could be used in future studies, and other mediating and moderating variables may be added to further advance the understanding of the subject at large. Practical implications The identification of IMO at the departmental level can help firms collect ideas from staff across different departments, facilitate open and constructive communication and react promptly to other departments. Through a social information processing lens, this leads to the creation of a positive organizational atmosphere, contributing significantly to enhancing employee satisfaction and firm performance. Originality/value The findings of the study contribute to the area by supporting the legitimacy of IMO at the departmental level and its positive impact on internal relationships and employee satisfaction, which, in turn, leverages performance advantages for the firm

Synthesis of the elements in stars: forty years of progress

Forty years ago Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler, and Hoyle combined what we would now call fragmentary evidence from nuclear physics, stellar evolution and the abundances of elements and isotopes in the solar system as well as a few stars into a synthesis of remarkable ingenuity. Their review provided a foundation for forty years of research in all of the aspects of low energy nuclear experiments and theory, stellar modeling over a wide range of mass and composition, and abundance studies of many hundreds of stars, many of which have shown distinct evidence of the processes suggested by B2FH. In this review we summarize progress in each of these fields with emphasis on the most recent developments

The Grizzly, February 19, 1991

Wismer Renovations • Movies Moved • Clark Wins NEH Grant: Travels to China • Teaching Catalan, An Alternative Language • Book Fair Comes to Ursinus • Italian Market: A Way of Life • Unchangeable South Street • Screaming Trees • Death of a Salesperson • Murder at Toranno\u27s • Swimmers Prepare for MAC Championship • Men\u27s Basketball Finishes Season with 11-14 Record • Black History Month • He\u27s Back! David Lee Roth, Stud or Stroker? • Modern Shakespeare • Wrestlers Romp • Schafer Tells of Track Troubles • Women Race at MAC Championships • Gymnasts Having Fun • Letter: Olin, for Students or Posterity? • Domestic Policy: A Matter of Perspective • Ah, Um, Uh... • An Elegantly Simple Plan • Radioactivity at Ursinus Collegehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1271/thumbnail.jp

Predicting Responses of Geo-ecological Carbonate Reef Systems to Climate Change: A Conceptual Model and Review

[Chapter Abstract] 230Coral reefs provide critical ecological and geomorphic (e.g. sediment production for reef-fronted shoreline maintenance) services, which interact in complex and dynamic ways. These services are under threat from climate change, requiring dynamic modelling approaches that predict how reef systems will respond to different future climate scenarios. Carbonate budgets, which estimate net reef calcium carbonate production, provide a comprehensive ‘snap-shot’ assessment of reef accretionary potential and reef stability. These budgets, however, were not intended to account for the full suite of processes that maintain coral reef services or to provide predictive capacity on longer timescales (decadal to centennial). To respond to the dual challenges of enhancing carbonate budget assessments and advancing their predictive capacity, we applied a novel model elicitation and review method to create a qualitative geo-ecological carbonate reef system model that links geomorphic, ecological and physical processes. Our approach conceptualizes relationships between net carbonate production, sediment transport and landform stability, and rates knowledge confidence to reveal major knowledge gaps and critical future research pathways. The model provides a blueprint for future coral reef research that aims to quantify net carbonate production and sediment dynamics, improving our capacity to predict responses of reefs and reef-fronted shorelines to future climate change.https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facbooks/1116/thumbnail.jp

Detecting forest response to droughts with global observations of vegetation water content

Droughts in a warming climate have become more common and more extreme, making understanding forest responses to water stress increasingly pressing. Analysis of water stress in trees has long focused on water potential in xylem and leaves, which influences stomatal closure and water flow through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. At the same time, changes of vegetation water content (VWC) are linked to a range of tree responses, including fluxes of water and carbon, mortality, flammability, and more. Unlike water potential, which requires demanding in situ measurements, VWC can be retrieved from remote sensing measurements, particularly at microwave frequencies using radar and radiometry. Here, we highlight key frontiers through which VWC has the potential to significantly increase our understanding of forest responses to water stress. To validate remote sensing observations of VWC at landscape scale and to better relate them to data assimilation model parameters, we introduce an ecosystem-scale analog of the pressure-volume curve, the non-linear relationship between average leaf or branch water potential and water content commonly used in plant hydraulics. The sources of variability in these ecosystem-scale pressure-volume curves and their relationship to forest response to water stress are discussed. We further show to what extent diel, seasonal, and decadal dynamics of VWC reflect variations in different processes relating the tree response to water stress. VWC can also be used for inferring belowground conditions-which are difficult to impossible to observe directly. Lastly, we discuss how a dedicated geostationary spaceborne observational system for VWC, when combined with existing datasets, can capture diel and seasonal water dynamics to advance the science and applications of global forest vulnerability to future droughts

Chapter 4 PREDICTING RESPONSES OF GEO-ECOLOGICAL CARBONATE REEF SYSTEMS TO CLIMATE CHANGE: A CONCEPTUAL MODEL AND REVIEW

oceanography, climate change, reefs, marine science, marine conservation, marine researc

The Atypical Calpains: Evolutionary Analyses and Roles in Caenorhabditis elegans Cellular Degeneration

The calpains are physiologically important Ca2+-activated regulatory proteases, which are divided into typical or atypical sub-families based on constituent domains. Both sub-families are present in mammals, but our understanding of calpain function is based primarily on typical sub-family members. Here, we take advantage of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, which expresses only atypical calpains, to extend our knowledge of the phylogenetic evolution and function of calpains. We provide evidence that a typical human calpain protein with a penta EF hand, detected using custom profile hidden Markov models, is conserved in ancient metazoans and a divergent clade. These analyses also provide evidence for the lineage-specific loss of typical calpain genes in C. elegans and Ciona, and they reveal that many calpain-like genes lack an intact catalytic triad. Given the association between the dysregulation of typical calpains and human degenerative pathologies, we explored the phenotypes, expression profiles, and consequences of inappropriate reduction or activation of C. elegans atypical calpains. These studies show that the atypical calpain gene, clp-1, contributes to muscle degeneration and reveal that clp-1 activity is sensitive to genetic manipulation of [Ca2+]i. We show that CLP-1 localizes to sarcomeric sub-structures, but is excluded from dense bodies (Z-disks). We find that the muscle degeneration observed in a C. elegans model of dystrophin-based muscular dystrophy can be suppressed by clp-1 inactivation and that nemadipine-A inhibition of the EGL-19 calcium channel reveals that Ca2+ dysfunction underlies the C. elegans MyoD model of myopathy. Taken together, our analyses highlight the roles of calcium dysregulation and CLP-1 in muscle myopathies and suggest that the atypical calpains could retain conserved roles in myofilament turnover