Middle-Class Consumers in Emerging Markets: Conceptualization, Propositions, and Implications for International Marketers

As emerging markets gain significance in the global economy, understanding the middle-class customers within these dynamic economies becomes even more critical for international marketers. This article contributes to the limited but growing literature on this topic. International marketing scholars and practitioners should be better informed about this megatrend. What does the “middle class” really mean? What are the theoretical underpinnings for the middle-class phenomenon? What are the implications for international marketing? To address these pressing questions, the authors explore the middle-class phenomenon in emerging markets. Through an examination of conceptual underpinnings and empirical observations, they present a conceptualization and several theoretical propositions. Finally, they provide managerial and scholarly implications of the middle-class phenomenon and offer suggestions for further research

Number of R&D Alliances and Innovation Output: Non-Linear Relationship Evidence From The Pharmaceutical Industry

What is the precise nature of the relationship between a firm’s research and development alliance portfolio size and its innovation output? The existing literature is inconclusive between a positive linear relationship and a nonlinear variant. To address the issue, this study explores the relationship between alliance portfolio size and innovation output in the context of the pharmaceutical industry. Contrary to previous investigations, our results suggest increasing returns at a diminishing rate at a low to moderate alliance portfolio level while exhibiting increasingly higher returns at a moderate to high level of portfolio size. An advantage of the present investigation is that we draw from a larger data set of alliance agreements compared to earlier investigations. Additionally, the results provide improved reliability compared to previous studies where violations of some underlying assumptions have been overlooked. The paper concludes with a discussion of findings and suggestions for future research

Developing strategic supplier networks:An institutional perspective

This study examines the exposure of the members of supplier networks to two layers of social influences. First, as the network connects an actor to a foreign constellation, the actor faces influences of a global character. Second, each individual actor experiences different forces emanating from its indigenous institutional environment. The exposure to two institutional practices presents a conundrum for each network member. In this duality they alter their behavior in order to resolve the contrast and clashes of layered forces. By drawing upon institutional theory and in-depth study of a global retailer, IKEA, this study shows how the retailer handles this duality. The study increases understanding of how a supplier network can be socially transformed into an idiosyncratic asset which is costly to imitate for rivals and thus offers a unique competitive advantage to the firm. The framing which is used for IKEA's strategy under institutional theory in this article underscores the regulative, cognitive, and normative socialization as part of a company's strategic process to align relationships with its partners. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

The innovativeness of Born-Globals and customer orientation: Learning from Indian Born-Globals

Born-Global firms, a newly emerging organizational form targeting international markets as a primary source of business from their inception, have innovativeness, requiring an intimate knowledge of their customer, as a primary feature. This study explores how a Born-Global's customer orientation leads to innovativeness through technological capability for customer relationship management (CRM) and external customer information management. Our empirical results, based on responses from 154 Indian managers, indicate that a Born-Global's customer orientation is an effective enabler of its innovativeness, whose effects are mediated by technological capability for CRM and external customer information management. Although significantly affected by customer orientation, the results further indicate that relationship quality with the buyer does not influence a Born-Global's innovativeness. When CRM technology and managing customer information obtained from external sources are employed, customer orientation significantly helps maintain the innovativeness of Born-Globals according to the results.Born-Globals Customer orientation Innovativeness