Exploring the link between market orientation and innovation in the European and US insurance markets

Despite the increasing research importance of market orientation concept in the marketing literature, few comparative studies between Europe and U.S. have been conducted. Consequently, this void limits the understanding of marketing orientation strategy in global markets. The empirical study reported in this article investigates (a) the influence of competitive environments on the understanding and uses of market orientation in insurance flrms in Europe and U.S. and (b) the effects of market orientation on firms innovativeness. The results not only provide empirical support of the concept of market orientation as defmed in the literature, but also expands it

Cross-cultural comparisons of consumer satisfaction ratings : a perspective from Albert Hirschman’s theory.

Purpose This paper seeks to propose Albert Hirschman’s theory of “exit, voice and loyalty” as a complementary conceptual framework to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and use them in conjunction to compare consumer satisfaction with services across cultures. Design/methodology/approach A model of satisfaction with complex services (higher education) is developed and then tested in two different cultures, Colombia and Spain, with a sample of 879 students. Structural equation modeling based on the partial least squares algorithm is used to test the proposed model. Findings Colombian students are more satisfied with the educational system than Spanish ones. This is explained by cultural and contextual differences that pose greater restrictions on accessibility to higher education, provide fewer choice alternatives and present more switching costs for the Colombian student. Originality/value This study applies the conditions of Hirschman’s theory in an international setting, offering a rich basis for understanding differences in consumer satisfaction that accounts for intra national diversityCustomer satisfaction; National cultures; Higher education; Students; Colombia; Spain;

Exploring the link between market orientation and innovation in the European and US insurance markets.

Despite the increasing research importance of market orientation in the marketing literature, few comparative studies between the European Union and the USA have been conducted. This limits the understanding of marketing orientation strategy in global markets. Investigates the influence of competitive environments on the uses of market orientation in insurance firms in the EU and the USA and the effects of market orientation on innovations. Using Lambin's conceptualization of market orientation, our results indicate that, although EU and US insurance firms analyze and react to their environment differently, which in turn is reflected in a differential impact on their degree of innovation, this, however, does not translate into overall market orientation differences across markets, differential relations across markets between overall market orientation and innovation degree and innovation performance. Furthermore, there is a positive impact of overall market orientation on insurance firms' innovation degree and innovation performance in both the US and EU markets. The managerial implications of these findings seem clear: the magnitude and the effectiveness of the innovation activities of a firm can be enhanced through the adoption of market orientation principlesMarket orientation; Innovation; Global marketing; Insurance companies;

Market orientation and business economic performance : a mediated model.

Previous studies have found that market orientation significantly predicts economic performance. The present study attempts to provide a necessarily partial model for how this impact takes place using innovation degree, innovation performance and customer loyalty as intermediate variables. The study targets the insurance industry in the European Union. The sample accounted for 22 percent of the companies and 17 percent of the insurance premiums in this market. The results suggest that the addition of these variables improves predictions of objective economic performance 52 percent over what is explained by market orientation alone. Furthermore, the study found that the effects of market orientation on economic performance are completely channeled (mediated) through these variables, particularly through innovation degree and innovation performance. Based on the results the paper provide guidelines for improving the market share, premium growth and profitability of European Union insurance firms.Innovation; Market orientation; Marketing research;

Brand value in horizontal alliances : the case of twin-cars.

Rival firms often cooperate horizontally in order to share risks and achieve scale advantages in production or in their research and development projects. The output of these strategic alliances is usually sold by the individual ally company under its own brand and using its own marketing mix strategies. Marketing strategies create a cumulative effect that is reflected in brand value. Although horizontal alliances often have a significant overall impact on firm profitability, undesired brand value dilution is a worrisome possibility for the partners and therefore a relevant subject of study. In this paper, we consider brand value to be the economic added value of a brand, and propose two marketbased measures of brand value: (1) price premia (which are relevant for a unit sale) and (2) revenue premia (which also account for the premia in sales volume). We apply this analysis to the Spanish market for new automobiles, in which successful and long-lasting horizontal alliances have formed. Our findings suggest that, during the introduction stage of the product life cycle, horizontal allies did not charge different price premia, but that horizontal allies profit from differences in brand reputation obtained from demand side effects such as revenue premia (specifically, the impact on sales volume). Consequently, horizontal cooperation among brands does not dilute their value at the introduction stage. Furthermore, our results suggest that horizontal allies do charge different price premia during the growth stage of the product life cycle. Consequently, horizontal allies have recognized strategies that do not dilute brand value in intense competition mitigating the brand value diluting riskBrand value; Revenue premia; Automobile market; Price premia; Marketing;

Explaining export regional involvement through marketing strategy : the case of Spanish companies exporting to Latin America

The equivalence between the absence of arbitrage and the existence of an equivalent martingale measure fails when an infinite number of trading dates is considered. By enlarging the set of states of nature and the probability measure through a projective system of topological spaces and Radon measures, we characterize the absence of arbitrage when the time set is countable

Changes in the Importance of Bank Attributes Provoked by a Financial Crisis: A Dynamic Analysis of the Uruguayan Case

How the customers react during and before an economic and financial crisis is an important yet scantily researched issue (Zurawicki and Braidot, 2005; Lado et al, 2006). We evaluate the variations in the perceived importance of the bank quality attributes as determinated by a severe shock in the situational context. The particular episode considered here is the collapse of the financial system in Uruguay in June 2002. It was a short but profound crisis; the Uruguayan banking system became insolvent with banking holidays resulting in a significant financial system confidence crisis. The specific goals of this research are two-fold (1) to explore how a shock in the external context can affect the weight perceptions of different service quality attributes, and (2) to measure the persistence of this changes over the time. Data for this study were generated utilising a two-stage, two-period approach and analysed by mixed methodology. The results of the Correspondence analysis of square asymmetric matrices performed suggest that the financial crisis provokes changes in the relative importance of the main attributes.Marketing, consumer behavior, perceived service quality, attribute importance

EXPLAINING EXPORT REGIONAL INVOLVEMENT THROUGH MARKETING STRATEGY: THE CASE OF SPANISH COMPANIES EXPORTING TO LATIN AMERICA

The equivalence between the absence of arbitrage and the existence of an equivalent martingale measure fails when an infinite number of trading dates is considered. By enlarging the set of states of nature and the probability measure through a projective system of topological spaces and Radon measures, we characterize the absence of arbitrage when the time set is countable.

Measurement and effects of teaching quality : an empirical model applied to masters programs

This study applies service quality and customer satisfaction theory to the field of education, and particularly to postgraduate studies. It examines the impact of multiple indicators of teaching quality on student satisfaction. For this purpose, a model is proposed and verified in which the teaching quality indicators are antecedents of the student's satisfaction with the professor and the program. An innovative aspect of the study is the introduction into education of the concept of customer loyalty as a result of satisfaction. In its analysis of these aspects, the study draws on data from a survey conducted among students of two business administration programs. A total of 2,446 valid questionnaires were obtained. In the proposed model, the latent variable, student satisfaction, is considered to be a consequence of the combined effect of satisfaction with certain aspects of teaching quality and the cause of the variation in the indicators on the satisfaction measurement scale. The model was tested by using the MIMIC [Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes] structural equation technique

Identifying successful marketing strategies by export regional destination.

This study develops a model that explains export sales volume by destination based on a company's export marketing strategy. A seemingly unrelated regression model (SURE) simultaneously estimates the explanatory value of the different elements of the marketing strategy, as well as company characteristics, such as experience, size and motivation to export, on entry decisions to six different regional markets made by exporting companies in a southern European country. The data were collected from a sample size of 2,264 exporting companies. Findings confirm the importance of exporting experience and proactiveness in determining high export sales volumes in every regional market except for those psychologically close. Nevertheless, different marketing strategies depending on the region lead to high export sales volumes. For example, low price strategies in the case of Latin America or differentiation strategies based on the augmented product in the case of the USA generate high export sales. Promotional expenditures are of higher importance for distant markets, but for closer markets channel development is the key.Export markets; Exports; International business; Markets;