Effect of market positioning on market orientation, innovation types and firm performance linkage

Market positioning activities must be carefully planned and reconciled with other marketing strategies and business activities. Most studies have assessed the impact of market orientations and innovations on firm performance. This study was designed to test the moderating effect of market positioning on the relationship between innovation types and firm performance. The study used the resource based view, the competitive advantage paradigm as a framework in testing the theoretical relationships between the constructs. The study adopted a corelational research design and it involved the use of a questionnaire-based survey of a random sample of 220 managers of Manufacturing Companies. Demographic characteristics of the respondents are presented as well as exploratory factor analysis, scale reliabilities and confirmatory factor analysis. Regression results indicate a positive relationship between market orientation, innovation types and performance. Mixed results from moderator regression analysis are presented. Conclusions and practical recommendations are given. Key Words: Market positioning, Market orientation, innovation and firm performance

Leapfrogging in Marketing: Empirical Analysis of Kenyan Mobile Phone Industry

Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the concept of leapfrogging in the mobile phone industry in the Republic of Kenya. Design/Methodology: The study adopted a cross-sectional research design, stratified and simple random sampling techniques in collecting data from 349 respondents picked from a population of 15506 employees of three Cosmopolitan County Governments in Kenya. Findings: Outcome indicates that; perceived product quality and perceived switching cost positively and significantly influence intentions to Leapfrog. However, the urgency to replace does not influence choices to leapfrog. Originality/value: The study findings bring a new understanding of the determinants of consumer leapfrogging and their intentions to leapfrog in the mobile phone industry and highlight the role perceived product quality and switching cost play in determining intention leapfrog

The ‘T-Shaped Buyer’: a transactional perspective on supply chain relationships

This paper challenges the normative view of interdependent buyer-seller relationships and provides a more holistic perspective of the contextual reality that shapes buyer behaviour. By proposing an innovative qualitative methodology, which focusses on boundary-spanning, pre-sales interactions, the research penetrates complex and commercially sensitive buyer-seller relationships. The longitudinal research design uses web-based diaries and follow-up interviews to explore conditions of power based interdependence between buyers and sellers. The ensuing data is mapped using qualitative content analysis and the results are aggregated graphically for assessment. Using this approach the study develops a nuanced view of the dominant patterns of buyer behaviour, and challenges the opinion that a search for competitive advantage will strengthen cooperative relationships in conditions of power based interdependence. The paper introduces the metaphor of the 'T-Shaped Buyer' to explain the empirical findings and, while acknowledging the contextual limits of the study, suggests that this metaphor may cause both academics and practitioners to reflect on normative thinking

Understanding Project Champions’ Ability to Gain Intra-Organizational Commitment for Environmental Projects

A key enabler of environmental projects is the ability of the project champion to gain commitment to the project from other stakeholders in his or her organization. This paper develops a model of commitment-gaining success that is based on intra-organizational influence theory. The model also includes the project payback, customer pressure, government regulation, top management support and the project champion’s position in the organizational hierarchy. The model was tested using survey data from 241 environmental professionals describing their attempts to gain the buy-in of purchasing managers, operations managers, industrial engineers and others for environmental projects. The results (obtained from hierarchical regression analysis) show that intra-organizational commitment is positively associated with the project champion’s influence behavior—in particular, the champion’s use of three influence tactics (inspirational appeals, consultation and rational persuasion) and avoidance of a fourth tactic (ingratiation). Commitment is also positively associated with project payback and with top management support for the environment and negatively associated with environmental regulation. The paper contributes to the OM knowledge base of environmental project implementation by bringing new theory to bear on the topic, by focusing on individual-level, rather than organization-level, variables and by taking a confirmatory, large sample approach which complements extant exploratory research. In addition, the paper contributes to the OM field by evaluating various antecedents to cross-functional integration. The results also provide specific guidance to those who champion environmental projects within their companies

Trimming the Fat: GLP-1 Agonists in Treatment of NASH

Introduction: With NAFLD and NASH incidence on the rise and slated to be the leading cause of liver transplant in coming years, prevention, identification, and treatment will become paramount responsibilities of primary care providers. Current treatment for NASH/NAFLD includes counseling on diet and exercise but does not include consistent pharmaceutical intervention. GLP-1 RAs have shown significant promise regarding treating both obesity and diabetes which are known to occur concomitantly with NASH/NAFLD. Methods: A PubMed search was done on articles published within the past five years, English language, humans, adults, RCT’s and meta-analysis. This yielded 24 articles. Fifteen articles were then excluded because their patient population was only focused on type II diabetics, a subset of the patient group with NASH/NAFLD. One study was excluded because it was a personal review article, and four studies were excluded because they were not applicable to the clinical question being asked. This left four high quality articles to review. In further review of these four studies, two of the studies were continuums of each other so one was excluded. With limits and exclusion criteria, three studies were analyzed that looked at treating NASH with GLP-1 RAs. Results: Studies showed promise regarding stopping the progression of NASH with GLP-1 RAs; however, more evidence is needed to further support this treatment plan. Conclusion: GLP-1 RAs are showing promise as a potential treatment choice for NASH/NAFLD especially given their known efficacy on weight loss and management of type II diabetes mellitus. Data from three randomized control trials showed potential promise for using GLP-1 RAs for the treatment of NASH/NAFLD; however, data is mixed and does not give clear guidelines for use. There needs to be a larger clinical trial that lasts for a longer period to determine if these medications will be a viable treatment option

Exploring the Impact of Social Undermining on Salesperson Deviance: An Integrated Model

While most scholars debate the importance of doing things to improve the quality of the buyer–seller relationship and investigate the positive side of salesperson’s behavior, little is known about salesperson’s negative behavior or what causes it. In this study, social undermining theory is employed to investigate how a variety of social undermining behaviors influence salesperson deviant behavior. A sample of 469 frontline bank employees responded to a questionnaire. Structural equation modeling and moderated regression were used to test the model, which produced results suggesting that various types of social undermining affect deviant behavior by influencing employee emotional exhaustion. The results also show that salesperson motivation moderates the effect of emotional exhaustion on deviant behavior

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Volume: 96Start Page: 686End Page: 69