Top management commitment and involvement and their link to key account management effectiveness

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to examine the role of top management in effective key account management (KAM) relationships, making a distinction between top management commitment and top management involvement. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses data from 304 suppliers from different sectors to test the research model and hypotheses developed. Data were collected by means of personal interviews. The survey instrument was a structured questionnaire. Findings – Results show that top management commitment positively affects top management involvement. In addition, top management involvement totally mediates the relationship between top management commitment and relationship quality. Finally, relationship quality positively relates to financial performance. Research limitations/implications – The study focuses on the role of top management in KAM. Future research that considers the top management’s role simultaneously with other internal or external factors would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the antecedents of effective KAM. Future studies can also examine the potential detrimental impact of top management involvement in KAM. Practical implications – Top managers should get actively involved in KAM. The study provides managers with guidance concerning how top management can have the greatest effect on KAM effectiveness. Originality/value – The study adds to our understanding of the role of top management in KAM. The study provides an integrative empirical examination of the influence of top management in KAM and offer insights on which ways top management determines KAM success

Relationship value in business-to-business markets: a replication and extension of Ulaga and Eggert’s (2006) study

Ulaga and Eggert (2006a) examined a framework of relationship value in business markets. The current research replicates this study to show that relationship benefits are more important than relationship costs when it comes to choosing a main supplier. This research also extends the original study by hypothesizing that the development of relationship value has a positive impact on relationship marketing outcomes, thus providing evidence of the nomological validity of the original scale. The study used empirical data from purchasing managers in manufacturing firms in the UK. The research instrument was a structured questionnaire. The study adopted a close replication to Ulaga and Eggert (2006a) using a rather similar context and methodology for comparison reasons. Relationship benefits are more important than relationship costs when it comes to choosing a main supplier. Cost competitiveness is a necessary but not sufficient condition to differentiate in business markets. Value dimensions relate significantly to relationship marketing outcomes, providing evidence of the nomological validity of the original scale. Given the dynamic nature of the relationship value construct, future longitudinal research could offer useful insights on how value is created over time. Although internal cost reduction, which can ultimately lead to price reduction, should not be ignored, suppliers should focus on creating value through personal interaction, service quality, product enhancements and delivery efficiency. The findings provide support for Ulaga and Eggert’s (2006a) conceptualization, indicating that relationship value is not merely a theoretical construct viewed on a high level of abstraction but rather can also be empirically measured

A Global Method for Efficient Synchronized Shading Control Using the “Effective Daylight” Concept

The majority of modern office buildings have large glass facades on every orientation. The significant impact of glass facades and dynamic controls on energy use for lighting and air-conditioning should be carefully investigated to determine ways of saving energy while maintaining comfortable conditions for the occupants. Interior roller shades are commonly used to control glare and solar heat gain. Reduced outdoor view, glare problems, increased energy use or insufficient daylight provision are some of the problems encountered with simple shading controls. Automated control of roller shades may result in improved conditions and reduced energy use if advanced criteria are used, but recent studies have shown that appropriate set points are not easy to calculate and apply in practice. This paper extends previous findings and presents the development of a new, improved control strategy applicable for any climate and orientation. The new control method, based on the “effective daylight” transmitted into the space, aims to maximize daylight utilization while satisfying visual comfort restrictions based on daylight glare probability. It can be applied to spaces with one or multiple exterior facades equipped with roller shades. The method was implemented in full-scale offices and experimental results are presented in terms of daylighting and visual comfort performance. Furthermore, the new strategy was implemented in an integrated thermal and daylighting model, validated by experimental data, to investigate the annual energy and daylighting performance of perimeter spaces with one or multiple exterior facades, and compare the new control strategy with more conventional shading controls. Overall, this study presents the principle of synchronized control of multiple shading devices on different facades (orientations) of commercial buildings. Integrated with efficient lighting and HVAC controls, it can lead to significant improvement of indoor conditions and reduced energy use

Shifting from bad practices to good practices in research: Review of Bad to Good—Achieving High Quality and Impact in Your Research edited by Arch G. Woodside (Emerald, 2016)

Arch Woodside’s new book Bad to Good—Achieving High Quality and Impact in Your Research (first edition), published in 2016 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited, addresses an extremely important topic in business-to-business (B2B) marketing and in business/marketing research in general, namely providing useful insights on how to perform highly competent research and maximize the impact of the research output. The book identifies bad practices that appear within most articles among the ranked journals in the sub-disciplines of business/marketing and provides useful remedies for such bad practices. This and other points are elaborated below

Moderation effects on the market orientation-performance connubial relationship: a developing world perspective

Market orientation (MO) occupies the front burner in strategic marketing domain. To date, available empirical evidence on the universality and effect of MO on organisational performance continue to generate mixed, conflicting, contradictory, inconsistent and at best inconclusive research findings. Thus, the study investigates the MO-objective performance measure relationship and the effects of moderation variables in Nigeria. A survey approach was used and the Narver and Slater's (1990) MKTOR scale was adapted to the Nigerian business environment and adopted for the study. Results show that contrary to prior research MO has a direct relationship with profitability and market share. Amazingly,market turbulence does not moderate the relationship, competitive intensity was found to play a moderating role in the MO-profitability relations but no effect on MO-market share relations. Technological turbulence was found to negatively moderate the MO-profitability link but not for market share. It thus, suggests that the Nigerian business has some resemblance with advanced countries. This may be due largely to western influence in the country, which leads to changing customer lifestyle and business landscape

Sensitivity Analysis On Daylighting And Energy Performance of Perimeter Office Spaces

Utilization of daylight in perimeter office spaces introduces opportunities for energy savings. Daylighting performance is affected by many interfacing factors such as glazing size and properties, shading properties and control, interior surface reflectivity, climate and orientation. These factors also affect the thermal loads and hence the energy performance of the space. This paper investigates the sensitivity of daylighting and energy performance to the above mentioned factors based on simulations using a comprehensive model developed in a previous study. The design factors with more significant impact were identified using the MC-LHS method for uncertainty analysis and the variance-based FAST method for further sensitivity analysis. The results can be expanded to provide recommendations to building designers at the design and operational phases, for both new buildings and retrofit applications

Daylight Glare Probability Measurements And Correlation With Indoor Illuminances In A Full-Scale Office With Dynamic Shading Controls

Daylight glare evaluation has been the recent focus of research on visual comfort since newer office buildings have large glass facades offering daylight provision and outdoor views. Available glare indices are related to source luminance size and location, view direction and background luminance. The Daylight Glare Probability index that considers vertical illuminance at the eye level, has been identified as one of the reliable metrics, since it was based on experiments with real human subjects. In this study, extensive experiments were conducted in a full-scale private office environment with dynamic shading controls, to measure interior luminance and illuminance conditions under variable sky conditions and shading control strategies. A high dynamic range camera with a fish eye lens was used to capture the luminance in the field of view, while horizontal and vertical illuminance was measured at different positions. The images were processed for calculating DGP values based on the “evalglare” method. The results are used to evaluate the efficiency of control strategies in terms of glare probability, while correlations between indoor illuminances, sky conditions and DGP may lead to simplified criteria and guidelines for controlling daylight glare in office spaces. Finally, the experimental results can be used for a daylight model validation for spaces with dynamic facades

Daylighting and Energy Analysis of Multi-sectional Facades

AbstractPrevious studies on dynamic facades have focused on a single type of section/shading, investigating its properties or control in order to improve comfort or reduce energy use for lighting and air-conditioning. Multi-sectional dynamic façade concepts are able to balance daylight provision and energy use reduction versus maintaining comfort levels. However, the overall potential of such systems needs to be investigated in an integrated manner. A typical multi-sectional facade consists of a top section, representing the non-viewing (daylighting) part, a main middle (viewing) section and a spandrel section. The top section can transmit daylight deeper into the space and the middle section should provide direct outside view (or privacy) and protect from glare and sunlight. The two sections may have different areas, glazing properties, and shading types and control options. This paper investigates the concept and quantifies the impact of combinations of solar protection and light redirecting devices. The analysis includes two climates and two orientations to serve as a preliminary study to assist in design guidelines for multi-sectional façades