Dyadic Operationalization in Business Relationships: The Empirical Example of Marketing-Purchasing Collaboration

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore whether dyadic operationalization within business relationships is feasible and sensible in a rigorous way. It aims to introduce quantitative operationalizations of business relationship characteristics from both monadic and dyadic datasets, and to introduce aggregation techniques for utilizing the richness of dyadic data. It compares and contrasts the effectiveness of different techniques in terms of explaining business relationship phenomena, using an empirical exemplification. Methodology/Approach: The paper reviews the relevant literature and summarizes various dyadic operationalization and aggregation approaches. It furthermore illustrates such operationalization and aggregation by utilizing an empirical example. A nomological model of marketing-purchasing collaboration is developed and tested based upon internal dyadic data. Using alternative model comparisons, we contrast several different ways of operationalizing dyadic data (combined, dyadic, and dyadic with asymmetry), and compare the outcomes utilizing structural equation modeling. Findings: The study of business relationships typically makes use of a variety of data types, ranging from simple monadic to perceived dyadic, through to rigorous dyadic data. The various aggregation methods include value, asymmetry, and directional asymmetry approaches. Pertinent sub-constructs are developed based on these aggregation methods and relevant hypotheses incorporating and reflecting on the role of the sub-constructs are suggested to develop a more meaningful and rich quantitative analysis of business relationship phenomena. Research Implications: This paper explores the different ways in which data assessing the relationship between two interacting parties can be operationalized. Dyadic operationalization within the context of business relationships is sensible and recommended. Researchers can adopt approaches to conduct dyadic data operationalization including data collection methods such as perceived dyadic and rigorous dyadic. They should benefit from rich dyadic aggregation approaches such as value, asymmetry, and directional asymmetry, noting the strengths and weaknesses of each approach discussed in this paper. Practical Implications: Businesses are recommended to increase customer orientation and marketing-purchasing interaction to improve collaboration between marketing and purchasing departments and thus their overall performance. Businesses should also develop an alignment between the collaboration perceptions of the involved departments, and note that perceptual symmetry improves collaboration. Perception matching in a dyadic relationship plays a role in enhancing the overall firm performance. Managers should note that all involved parties’ perspectives are to be included to ensure a positive and collaborative liaison. An all-encompassing attitude and perspective (as opposed to an asymmetric, unbalanced one) ensures an effective relationship. Originality/Value/Contribution of the paper: The contribution of the research lies in outlining different ways to accomplish more insightful analytics regarding data operationalization, and their different strengths and weaknesses in terms of explaining relationship characteristics, and therefore enriches research on business relationships by making better sense of quantitative dyadic data

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Business Complaint Management Expectations

This paper is in closed access until 9th Dec 2016.Copyright © Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. This study explores the complaint management expectations of 72 British and 74 German organizational buyers using automated online means-end laddering and a Hierarchical Value Map presentation. It conceptualizes the links between expected complaint resolution attributes by the buyer (i.e., means) and the buyer's value perceptions (i.e., ends). Unlike previous research, we highlight similarities and differences in the drivers behind and attributes of complaint management expectations across two countries (Germany and the United Kingdom). Even in countries appearing to be similar economically and culturally, we find differences in the desired attributes. British buyers, for example, emphasize softer complaint resolution attributes compared to Germans. Our study is the first to present a model of complaint management expectations incorporating the role of culture, and it provides managerial directions on standardization and adaption of complaint resolution attributes. Furthermore, it evaluates justice dimensions (especially interactional justice) and their impact on perceptions of complaint management

Medicine may be reducing the human capacity to survive

Copyright © 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.It appears that limited natural selection is taking place in populations of developed countries, since most individuals survive and have the full opportunity to reproduce. This paper addresses contemporary natural selection in a developed country (Australia) using the biological state index. Although the general context of this paper focuses on Australia it can be expected that most other first-world and/or developed countries follow a similar pattern. The findings of this study, that 98% of individuals survive through their reproductive period and have the full opportunity to reproduce, support predictions that natural selection has limited influence on the evolution of first-world populations. It appears that first-world populations may not be naturally well adapted to their environment but use medical treatments/technology to increase their survival capacity and maintain fitness. This has two apparent consequences. First, the fitness of individuals will decrease, since less favorable genes can accumulate in the population, and secondly, disease processes will remain fit as they adapt to the selective pressures exerted by medicine. If medical treatment becomes ineffective, extensive mortality is expected since fit disease processes will be unleashed on unfit human populations. It appears that a possible answer to these problems may be found in gene therapy.C. N. Stephan and M. Henneberghttp://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/623059/description#descriptio

Recognition by forensic facial approximation: Case specific examples and empirical tests

The skeletal remains of one individual found near Adelaide in 1994, although not known at the time, were the first evidence of what was to be a serial killing reported to have resulted in the highest casualty list to date in Australia (12 victims). Since the usual methods of identification could not be used or were unsuccessful on these remains, facial approximations were produced and advertised over the 4-year period following their discovery, in an attempt to help to identify them. However, no identification was made. In 1999, the remains were reported to be identified by radiographic comparison. Approximately 3 months before this identification was made, another facial approximation was produced by the first author (CNS), but this face was never advertised in the media. Although rarely reported in the literature, this paper provides an example where facial approximation methods were not successful in a forensic scenario. The paper also reports on empirical tests of the facial approximation created by the first author to determine if this facial approximation might have been useful had it been advertised. The results provide further evidence that high resemblance of a facial approximation to the target individual does not indicate recognizability, as the facial approximation was poorly recognized even though it bore good resemblance to the target individual. The usefulness of facial approximation techniques is discussed within the context of this case and more broadly. Methods used to assess the accuracy of facial approximations are also discussed and further evaluated

Does sexual dimorphism in facial soft tissue depths justify sex distinction in craniofacial identification?

Copyright © 2005 ASTM. All Rights Reserved.Separation of male and female soft tissue depths into discrete groups for craniofacial identification implies that males and females differ enough from each other, with respect to this application, for this distinction to be useful. In this study, previously published soft tissue depth data were analyzed for sex separation. It was found that the variation within each sex was large while the variation between the sexes was small. Often the value of two standard deviations of the measurement for either sex was larger than the difference displayed between the means of each sex. Furthermore, opposite sex overlap in regions defined to be close to the male or female mean were found to be large and the amount of variance explained by sex was small (less than 6% on average). These results indicate that while male and female means at single craniofacial landmarks may differ slightly, and even at statistically significant levels, individual male and female soft tissue depths are often the same or very similar. On average, soft tissue depths of the face do display some sexual dimorphism but it is not marked and of little practical meaning for craniofacial identification where a single individual must be independently considered. Thus, there is little use in separate reporting of data for males and females and data should be combined to increase sample sizes

Ceiling recognition limits of two-dimensional facial approximations constructed using averages

Carl N. Stephan, Ian S. Penton-Voak, John G. Clement, and Maciej Henneber

Suppliers of networks, networks of suppliers

The “networked organisation” has a myriad of meanings — from those organisations that have acquired sophisticated communication technology enabling high(er) levels of functionality, to firms who join together so that each can provide a component or components of an integrated product and/or develop a more commanding marketing position (e.g. export groups). Systems consisting of multiple organisations that have joined together to enable wider distribution of goods or services can also be considered to be networks. This paper reports a case study of such a service-providing organisation — a collection of small, locally-oriented job providers who have amalgamated into a network and entered into contracts with the Australian government to find jobs for the unemployed throughout Australia — and focuses on the coordination issues within the many layers of the network. The paper explores the network in terms of theories of social network structure and group dynamics. The differences in the network properties, competencies and effectiveness and the relationships between the individual organisations within the extended network are the focus of the case study reported here