Triad lessons: Generalizing results on high performance firms in five business-to-business markets

Abstract

Significant differences are known to exist among organizations operating in different countries due to different national and organizational cultures, strategic orientations, and management styles. Less clear, however, is whether there are significant patterns of differences in how marketing-related factors drive performance in the most successful firms regardless of country. Building on a previous study of major Japanese firms [Deshpandé et al., 1993. Journal of Marketing 57, 22–27], an exploratory study compared samples of business-to-business relationships of Japanese, English, French, German, and US companies. We found the expected significant differences in organizational cultures, but found no country-specific slopes or intercepts in regressions relating factors such as innovativeness, organizational climate and culture, and market orientation to business performance. Successful firms appear to transcend differences in national culture and develop a common pattern of drivers of success which include primary focus on organizational innovativeness, a participative work climate, and an externally oriented organizational culture.