Positive Interactions between Desert Granivores: Localized Facilitation of Harvester Ants by Kangaroo Rats

Facilitation, when one species enhances the environment or performance of another species, can be highly localized in space. While facilitation in plant communities has been intensely studied, the role of facilitation in shaping animal communities is less well understood. In the Chihuahuan Desert, both kangaroo rats and harvester ants depend on the abundant seeds of annual plants. Kangaroo rats, however, are hypothesized to facilitate harvester ants through soil disturbance and selective seed predation rather than competing with them. I used a spatially explicit approach to examine whether a positive or negative interaction exists between banner-tailed kangaroo rat (Dipodomys spectabilis) mounds and rough harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex rugosus) colonies. The presence of a scale-dependent interaction between mounds and colonies was tested by comparing fitted spatial point process models with and without interspecific effects. Also, the effect of proximity to a mound on colony mortality and spatial patterns of surviving colonies was examined. The spatial pattern of kangaroo rat mounds and harvester ant colonies was consistent with a positive interspecific interaction at small scales (<10 m). Mortality risk of vulnerable, recently founded harvester ant colonies was lower when located close to a kangaroo rat mound and proximity to a mound partly predicted the spatial pattern of surviving colonies. My findings support localized facilitation of harvester ants by kangaroo rats, likely mediated through ecosystem engineering and foraging effects on plant cover and composition. The scale-dependent effect of kangaroo rats on abiotic and biotic factors appears to result in greater founding and survivorship of young colonies near mounds. These results suggest that soil disturbance and foraging by rodents can have subtle impacts on the distribution and demography of other species

Supporting new product commercialization through managerial social ties and market knowledge development in an emerging economy

University of Tasmania, Australi

Researching Marketing Capabilities: Reflections from Academia

Since George Day’s conceptual paper on the capabilities of market-driven organizations was published in 1994, marketing capabilities has become an important area of inquiry for academic researchers in marketing. Over the past twenty-five years, marketing capabilities have emerged as a central (maybe the central) construct in theoretical explanations linking firms marketing activities with their performance over time. In fact, the overwhelming focus of researchers examining marketing capabilities to-date has been on linking capabilities with performance outcomes. The good news is that the jury is no longer out, and the evidence is pretty conclusive in showing that marketing capabilities are associated with superior organizational performance outcomes (e.g., Krasnikov and Jayachandran 2008). More recently, we have also started to develop some understanding of the mechanisms by which marketing capabilities contribute to performance outcomes. For example, it has been shown that marketing capabilities add value to market-based assets such as brands (e.g., Wiles, Morgan, and Rego 2012), reduce the gap between intended and realized strategies (Spyropoulou et al. 2018), enhance strategy implementation effectiveness and efficiency (Vorhies, Morgan, and Katsikeas 2012), increase the number and effectiveness of demand generating activities (Anderson, Chandy, and Zia 2018), contribute to reducing myopic management behavior (e.g., Srinivasan and Ramani 2019), and provide an important signal to investors in valuing news of firms’ strategic moves (Feng, Morgan, and Rego 2019)

The Adoption of Environmental Management Practices in a Transition Economy

While models of environmental management have been proposed and tested using data from developed economies, less work has been done for transition economies. In this paper, we use 2003 data from manufacturing facilities in Hungary to study the impact that environmental stakeholder pressures (regulatory, community, investor, managerial), export orientation, size, foreign ownership and head office influence have on a facility's decision to adopt specific environmental management practices. Eight environmental management practices are examined both individually and jointly. Our results suggest that there are some significant differences in the factors influencing environmental management practices in Hungary relative to those found for developed economies. Comparative Economic Studies (2006) 48, 641–661. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ces.8100185

Structure, people and process challenges of mutichannel marketing : insights from marketers

The aim of this study was to explore the utility of strategic implementation theory as a guide for dealing with issues marketers face when implementing multichannel marketing. Although marketers attempt to harness the potential of emerging marketing channels, implementation is proving difficult. This is because the complexity of multichannel marketing has implications for existing organisational structures, people and processes. Further, the reliance on external suppliers and vendors in implementing new channels is causing organisational conflict and the development of new management processes. A qualitative research approach using insights from senior marketers of \u27Bluechip\u27 organisations was used to identify multichannel marketing implementation difficulties. The major contribution of this article was to show the areas for which strategic implementation theory provides practical implementation guidelines and future research directions.<br /