Business Commons^™

Light Bulb Moments: Where Do Student Entrepreneurs Get Their Ideas, Stern Neill, Mark Bieraugel

Marketing

Understanding how to support creative ideation is an important, yet, elusive, issue for marketing educators. To shed light, this study proposes ideation as a malleable state influenced by “outside-the-brain” resources. By examining venture concept ideation, this study captures the ideation–environment relationship using experience sampling to tap into the daily lives of student entrepreneurs. The findings identify how entrepreneurial ideas emerge from specific external interactions and engagements, which are contextualized using two Japanese conceptualizations of space, ba (場) and ma (間). The results inform both marketing education and entrepreneurial marketing.

Linking Managerial Capital With Explorative Strategy And Growth In China, Stern Neill, Minhua Wu, Terry W. Noel

Marketing

Purpose –This study aims to consider the effect of managerial capital (psychological, intellectual and social) on business strategy and growth. Per upper echelon theory, managerial capital enables high-level managers to drive firm performance in uniquely personal ways. The authors test the effects of managerial capital on a manager’s dominant regulatory focus (promotion and prevention balance) and whether having an explorative strategy mediates the relationship between dominant regulatory focus and the percentage of business unit growth expected from new lines of business.

Design/methodology/approach – Survey data from a sample of 211 Chinese executives were used to assess measurement and test …

Ruled By Venus, Audrey Marie Cathalifaud

Marketing

The following report contains a plan for the creation of and marketing of my own brand, Ruled By Venus. The report describes plans for brand development, segmentation and targeting, competition research, positioning, and social media marketing. All of the clothes seen in this report were designed and sewed by me. My passion for creative, sustainable fashion is the foundation for this brand.

Trust Transfer And The Intention To Use App-Enabled Carpooling Service, Minhua Wu, Stern Neill

Marketing

In China, with the rapid dissemination of mobile communications technology along with congested traffic and increasingly expensive transportation costs, consumers are turning to smartphone-enabled, ride-sharing services. Sharing economy requires trust in strangers. Based on trust transfer theory and a dyadic conceptualization of trust from cognitive to affective, the purpose of this study is to examine trust building through the use of Didi, a third-party, ride-sharing platform that mediates exchanges among strangers.

Was Television Responsible For A New Generation Of Smokers?, Michael Thomas

Marketing

Consumers’ response to mass media can be difficult to assess because individuals choose for themselves the amount of media they consume, and that choice may be correlated with their other consumption decisions. To avoid this selection problem, this article examines the introduction of television to the US, during which some cities gained access to television years before others. This natural experiment makes it possible to estimate the causal impact of television on the decision to start smoking, a consumer behavior with important public health implications. Difference-in-differences analyses of television’s introduction indicate that (1) television did cause people to start smoking, …

The Influence Of Managerial Optimism And Self-Regulation On Learning And Business Growth Expectations Within An Emerging Economic Context, Stern Neill, Raghuvar Dutt Pathak, Barbara A. Ribbens, Terry W. Noel, Gurmeet Singh

Marketing

This paper examines psychological and behavioral mechanisms that underlie business growth expectations by examining how managerial optimism and self-regulatory focus influence learning behaviors. To empirically examine these relationships, the study situates in a resource-constrained business context by studying managers in two Pacific Island economies. Results indicate that a positive view toward gains encourages exploratory learning in unknown situations; whereas, a less optimistic disposition and avoidance are related to exploitative learning. This finding is consequential as managerial learning that leans toward development of new insights and possibilities is associated with greater business growth expectations versus learning that adheres to familiar and …

Distinguishing Entrepreneurial Approaches To Opportunity Perception, Stern Neill, Lynn E. Metcalf, Jonathan L. York

Marketing

Purpose – Whether opportunities are discovered or created by entrepreneurs is a foundational question in entrepreneurship research. The purpose of this paper is to examine women entrepreneurs in high-growth new ventures and explore the cognitive resources that distinguish between three approaches to opportunity perception: opportunity discovery; opportunity creation; and a combined discover-create (ambidextrous) approach.

Design/methodology/approach – Using questionnaire responses from 165 women entrepreneurs in highgrowth new ventures, K-means clustering was used to determine three approaches to opportunity perception. The cognitive resources associated with each approach were then identified using multiple discriminant analysis. Finally, multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to …

The Impact Of Peer Mentoring On Marketing Content Mastery, Lynn E. Metcalf, Stern Neill, Lisa R. Simon, Sharon Dobson, Brennan Davis

Marketing

This article describes and assesses a course design that uses peer mentors to facilitate a collaborative, hands-on learning experience in an introductory marketing course. Results demonstrate that peer mentoring increased content mastery and had a positive effect on students’ perceptions of the learning experience. Peer marketing mentors, along with the faculty team, achieved success in providing a demanding and engaging learning environment that meets the needs of learners and equips them with content knowledge required of career-ready professionals. A step-by-step guide is provided to enable others to develop a similar experience for students in their institutions.

Seeing What Others Miss: A Study Of Women Entrepreneurs In High-Growth Startups, Stern Neill, Lynn E. Metcalf, Jonathan L. York

Marketing

A pressing question in entrepreneurial research is where opportunities come from. Prior research indicates that some opportunities stem from known parameters and outcomes; some are discovered through engagement with unknown but knowable factors; and others are unknowable until brought into being through a creative process. This paper explores the second and more prevailing view in entrepreneurial research – that individuals discover business opportunity – and examines how high-growth entrepreneurs perceive opportunity through engagement with the world. Survey results, based on responses from 165 women entrepreneurs in high-growth startups, indicate that individuals with a strong discover mindset act and think in …

Technology And Marketing Capabilities In A Developing Economic Context: Assessing The Resource-Based View Within A Boundary Condition, Stern Neill, Gurmeet Singh, Raghuvar Dutt Pathak

Marketing

While prior research confirms a positive relationship between organizational capabilities and performance in more developed and emerging economies, this research investigates technology and marketing capabilities in enterprises operating in a highly constrained economic context. Additionally, this research examines how managerial thinking and action influences the development of technology and marketing capabilities, which has received limited investigation in any economic context. Data were gathered by surveying managers in Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga, representing isolated economies with underdeveloped product markets. Results confirm the capability-performance relationship and also support the positive influence of entrepreneurial and learning orientations on technology and marketing capability development.

The Entrepreneurial Perceptions Of Strategy Makers: Constructing An Exploratory Path In The Pursuit Of Radical Growth, Stern Neill, Jonathan L. York

Marketing

For established firms, radical growth requires experimenting with new alternatives, which can test the boundaries of management's thinking. This study proposes that entrepreneurial perceptions of the strategic situation and market environment have a direct influence on corporate entrepreneurship (CE) strategy, which is strategy that supports new business development and renewal. The results indicate that strategy makers will pursue a more explorative CE strategy in situations framed as positive, less controllable and yet knowable, and in environments perceived as munificent and dynamic. Additionally, with explorative CE strategy comes a greater investment in radical growth (i.e., new lines of business). The paper …

Consumer Effects Of Environmental Impact In Product Labeling, Norm Borin, Douglas C. Cerf, R. Krishnan

Marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of different levels of environmental information on key consumer metrics. More specifically, it aims to evaluate environmentally benign products against those that have negative environmental impacts.

Design/methodology/approach – Multiple product categories and messages that varied from strongly negative to strongly positive were used to test whether the accuracy/completeness of the information changes consumers’ view of green products.

Findings – The results show that consumer perception of product quality, value, and purchase intentions does not differ significantly between products with positive environmental messages and those without any message. Products …

The Impact Of National Institutional Context On Social Practices: Comparing Finnish And Us Business Communities, Jill M. Purdy, Elizabeth A. Alexander, Stern Neill

Marketing

This paper investigates the impact of national institutional contexts on firms' socially responsible practices, the motives for such practices and methods of organising social practices. Surveys of firms in a liberal market economy (USA) and those in a coordinated market economy (Finland) are compared. Findings indicate that social practices differ between the contexts, providing empirical support for the theory of explicit and implicit forms of corporate social responsibility. The paper offers insight into how social practices are organised in different contexts and a new conceptualisation of the motives for social responsibility. Results suggest that national institutional context should be accounted …

Pragmatic Learning Theory: An Inquiry-Action Framework For Distributed Consumer Learning In Online Communities, Rama K. Jayanti

Marketing

We examine consumer social learning from distributed inquiry capabilities in online communities. Using an inquiry-action framework rooted in pragmatic learning theory, we longitudinally trace community inquiry processes and their link to individual action in six health-related online communities. Our interpretive analyses reveal leaps and lapses in social learning. Generative learning is evident when collective productive inquiry is linked to expanding individual action repertoires. Individual disengagement diverts inquiry and disrupts inquiry-action linkages, creating lapses that degenerate learning. Within these extremes, instances of individual faltering are evident when inquiry is productive but individuals fail to leverage inquiry for empowered action.

Customer Loyalty And Lifetime Value: An Empirical Investigation Of Consumer Packaged Goods, Jason Q. Zhang, Ashutosh Dixit, Roberto Friedmann

Marketing

It is traditionally accepted that customer loyalty is critical for a firm’s profitability. Recent research,however, questions the effects of customer loyalty on profitability. In light of this controversy, we examine the financial effects of customer loyalty using the framework of customer lifetime value (CLV). Our analysis reveals that in the area of consumer packaged goods, customer loyalty is positively associated with customer revenue and customer retention, both of which drive CLV. Thus, customer loyalty is indeed a predictor of long-term customer profitability to a firm. For marketers, customer loyalty continues to be a legitimate end goal to pursue in marketing …

The Potential Implications Of Web-Based Marketing Communications For Consumers' Implicit And Explicit Brand Attitudes: A Call For Research, Sreedhar R. Madhavaram, Radha Appan

Marketing

Two developments in the last two decades frame the importance of Web-based marketing communications for firms. First is the phenomenal growth of the Internet as a viable commerce and communication option and second is the clear shift in attitude research toward recognizing the pervasive role of automatic processes in almost all the social psychological processes. Therefore, this article discusses the potential implications of Web-based marketing communications for consumers' implicit and explicit attitudes. In doing so, first, this article reviews the emergence of research on implicit attitudes, distinguishes implicit attitudes from explicit attitudes, and discusses research on explicit and implicit attitudes …

Decomposing The Effects Of Organizational Memory On Marketing Implementation, Stern Neill

Marketing

There is limited evidence to explain the effect of organizational memory on marketing implementation. This paper addresses this gap by identifying multiple components of organizational memory and examining how each affects marketing implementation. Organizational memory is a collective recollection of the past that is embedded within firm culture, procedures, and expertise. The findings demonstrate potential tradeoffs to linking versus locking into the firm’s past, particularly in turbulent environments. By decomposing organizational memory’s effects, this paper explains how organizational memory can both enable and constrain marketing implementation.

Marketing Concept Manifestations In Fiji Enterprises: Confirming The Link To Organizational Competitiveness, Stern Neill, Raghuvar Dutt Pathak, Narendra Reddy

Marketing

This paper proposes an integrative view of the marketing concept (i.e., the ability to understand and satisfy customers) and examines its prevalence and effect on competitiveness in organizations operating in an isolated and less economically developed country. The marketing concept manifests as marketing expertise, market orientation, and externally directed organizational values. Based on a sample of 86 firms operating in Fiji, the results indicate that these three mechanisms promote organizational competitiveness, thus supporting the universality of the marketing concept. These findings confirm the important role of the marketing concept in the competitiveness of firms in a less developed economy.

Implementing Assessment In An Outcome-Based Marketing Curriculum, Norm A. Borin, Lynn E. Metcalf, Brian C. Tietje

Marketing

This article describes the development and implementation of assessment in our new outcome-based marketing curriculum (described fully in Borin, Metcalf, and Tietje 2007). Outcomes for the marketing curriculum were specified at the program, department, course, and lesson levels. Direct embedded assessments as well as indirect assessment methods were used to gauge student achievement. Results indicate that, on both self-reported (indirect) and direct, as well as non-embedded and embedded assessments, significant value-added learning occurred. We chronicle the stages in developing and implementing an assessment plan, and reflect on our experiences in the process to provide a roadmap for other marketing departments …

Exploring The Intention To Use Computers: An Empirical Investigation Of The Role Of Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, And Perceived Ease Of Use, Mary Helen Fagan, Stern Neill, Barbara Ross Wooldridge

Marketing

This research utilizes the Integrated Model of Technology Acceptance (IMTA) study the intention to use computers among first line managers in a mid-sized manufacturing among line managers in manufacturing organization (n=172). As hypothesized, the study found 1) a positive relationship between extrinsic motivation and behavioral positive behavioral intention to use computers, 2) positive relationship between intention a between perceived ease of use and behavioral intention to use computers, 3) a a positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and relationship between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, 4) positive relationship between perceived extrinsic motivation, 4) a a positive relationship between perceived ease of …

Flexible Learning Spaces: The Integration Of Pedagogy, Physical Design, And Instructional Technology, Stern Neill, Rebecca Etheridge

Marketing

To support pedagogical innovation, educators must reexamine physical space. This paper describes a project to redesign an existing classroom into a flexible learning space. The desired outcome was a classroom that would support a variety of pedagogical approaches and learning experiences. The findings, based on data gathered from students and faculty, indicate that the renovated classroom increases student engagement, collaboration, flexibility, and learning. A flexible learning space better enables innovative approaches to teaching and learning when compared to the traditional classroom.

Cultural Influences In Negotiations: A Four Country Comparitive Analysis, Lynn E. Metcalf, Allan Bird, Mark F. Peterson, Mahesh Shankarmahesh, Terri R. Lituchy

Marketing

Empirical work systematically comparing variations across a range of countries is scarce. A comprehensive framework having the potential to yield comparable information across countries on 12 negotiating tendencies was proposed more than 20 years ago by Weiss and Stripp; however, the framework was never operationalized or empirically tested. A review of the negotiation and cross cultural research that have accumulated over the last two decades led to refinements in the definition of the dimensions in the framework. We operationalized four dimensions in the Negotiation Orientations Framework and developed the Negotiation Orientations Inventory (NOI) to assess individual orientations on those four …

A Replicable, Zero-Based Model For Marketing Curriculum Innovation, Norm A. Borin, Lynn E. Metcalf, Brian C. Tietje

Marketing

As university curriculums inevitably change, their evolution typically occurs through a series of minor incremental adjustments to individual courses that cause the curriculum to lose strategic consistency and focus. This article demonstrates a zero-based approach to marketing curriculum innovation. The authors describe forces of change that led them to completely redesign their marketing curriculum, and they chronicle a replicable process that can be used to develop and launch an extensive transformation of an existing program that is focused yet adaptive. The process includes faculty commitment, consensus, collaboration, and compromise; stakeholder input; points of distinction; unifying themes; intended learning outcomes; instructional …

Achieving Adaptive Ends Through Equivocality: A Study Of Organizational Antecedents And Consequences, Stern Neill, Gregory M. Rose

Marketing

Confronting complex situations is the hallmark of strategic decision-making. While these situations may be perceived as equivocal, organizations must cope, act, and thrive within such ambiguities. This study explores the manifestation and regulation of equivocality during strategic marketing decision-making. The results indicate that organizations that tolerate ambiguity perceive greater equivocality in problem situations and exhibit greater adaptive behavior; however, the findings come with a caveat: while experienced firms may enjoy these benefits, the situation is more complex for firms with limited product-market knowledge.

Negotiations In International Marketing, Allan Bird, Lynn E. Metcalf

Marketing

No abstract provided.

Manufacturer Perceptions Of The Consequences Of Task And Emotional Conflict Within Domestic Channels Of Distribution, Gregory M. Rose, Aviv Shoham, Stern Neill, Ayalla Ruvio

Marketing

This study examines manufacturer' perceptions of task and emotional conflict in domestic channels of distribution. Both are expected to depend on three antecedents (centralization, esprit de corps, and communication barriers) and to affect performance relative to competitors and manufacturer's satisfaction directly and indirectly through strategy quality. The results support a positive link between task and emotional conflict and the deleterious effect of emotional conflict on satisfaction and performance.

Developing The Organization's Sensemaking Capability: Precursor To An Adaptive Strategic Marketing Response, Stern Neill, Daryl Mckee, Gregory M. Rose

Marketing

Effective strategic planning demands that organizations develop an understanding of the forces shaping the situation by engaging the collective efforts and interpretive capabilities of various representatives of the organization. This study investigates the mechanisms by which such an understanding develops and, subsequently, shapes marketing strategy. Specifically, organizations are examined as sensemaking units stimulated by perceived environmental turbulence, cultural open-mindedness, and team functional diversity. These factors are modeled as determinants of an organization's sensemaking capability, which is comprised of communicative, interpretive, and analytical dimensions. This study argues that a developed sensemaking capability increases the potential range of strategic responses and, ultimately, …

Cultural Tendencies In Negotiation: A Comparison Of Finland, India, Mexico, Turkey, And The United States, Lynn E. Metcalf, Allan Bird, Mahesh Shankarmahesh, Zeynep Aycan, Jorma Larimo, Didimo Dewar Valdelamar

Marketing

In this era of increased global cooperation, a growing number of negotiators conduct business in multiple countries and, therefore, need access to a systematic comparison of negotiating tendencies across a wide range of countries. Empirical work systematically comparing variations across a range of cultures is scarce. A comparative analysis of negotiating tendencies in five countries is presented. This study establishes the utility of the [Salacuse, J. (1998) Ten ways that culture affects negotiating style: Some survey results. Negotiation Journal, 14(3): 221–235] framework in identifying country differences across five countries, representing five cultural clusters. Significant differences in negotiation orientations both …

The Effect Of Strategic Complexity On Marketing Strategy And Organizational Performance, Stern Neill, Gregory M. Rose

Marketing

While researchers have examined many antecedents of marketing strategy, there is scant research assessing the effect of organizational cognition. In this study, organizational cognition is examined in terms of the firm’s strategic complexity, which is its capacity to integrate multiple environmental dimensions during marketing strategy making. The results from a sample of wholesale distributors reveal four strategic groups that differ based upon their degree of strategic complexity. Results support the proposition that strategic complexity is an organizational capability that enables more effective strategy making and produces superior firm performance.

A New Look At Industrial Sales And Its Requisite Competencies, Clifford S. Barber, Brian C. Tietje

Marketing

Although industrial sales is widely discussed in both practitioner and academic circles, no clear definition of “industrial” has been established. We present a definition of industrial sales that distinguishes it from other sales domains, and we draw from a panel of industrial sales executives and a random sample of industrial sales managers to generate and evaluate the importance of a comprehensive list of knowledge, skills, and value competencies that are required for success in industrial sales. Technical competencies, while important, were rated relatively less so than selling- and customer-related competencies. Among other recommendations, we implore industrial sales executives to incorporate …