Industrial Marketing Research Research Articles

Steady as she grows

An industry in flux makes small but solid gains

Power symmetry and the development of trust in interdependent relationships: The mediating role of goal congruence

Power in business-to-business relationships has been a core theme in industrial marketing research. However, diverging approaches have been used to study power resulting in inconsistent empirical findings. In this paper we explore the complexities of establishing, nurturing and sustaining cooperative relations, investigating the interplay between power symmetry, trust and goal congruence. We draw on the narrative approach in research to understand interorganizational relationships as shared meanings and how these evolve over time. We study two cases where organizations seek to achieve seamless interorganizational relationships but find themselves engaged in rather antagonistic or unpredictable positions. We show how goal congruence mediates the relationship between power symmetry or asymmetry, and the respective development of trust within organizational structures, processes and formal roles. We make a contribution to business-to-business marketing literature by showing that goal congruence becomes a prerequisite for the development of trust, irrespective of whether symmetrical power dependence predominates. We discuss how this novel insight may inform the strategies for developing interorganizational relationship in practice.

The Current State of Affairs in Mobile Market Research

The aim of this working paper is to give an overview over the current state of affairs on the topic of Mobile Market Research (MMR). At first, recent trends in stationary and mobile internet usage and the ownership of different web-enabled devices in Germany are depicted. It is carved out that the rise in mobile device ownership and mobile internet usage might have similar impact on the global market research industry as the introduction of the stationary internet at the end of the last millennium. Moreover, a first systematization of the extensive field of MMR is given. Thereafter, the advantages and disadvantages of different web survey modes will be discussed. At first, focus is put on web surveys to which the largest potential in the market research mass market has been attributed. Here, the advantages and disadvantages of stationary web surveys are highlighted in comparison to other, already established survey modes. Thereafter, the various advantages and disadvantages of mobile web surveys are similarly discussed and compared to stationary web surveys. At this, it is pointed out that mobile web surveys differ from their stationary counterparts. Hence, research results regarding the latter cannot be transferred to the prior and vice versa. Moreover, possible areas of application of MMR are introduced to the reader. Finally, the new field of MMR is identified as an extensive research gap in the large body on survey research literature. This gap will then be narrowed down to outcome rates of surveys and individual participation as primary future research targets. At the end of the chapter a literature review on outcome rates in MMR will be conducted. At this, special focus is put on the shortcomings of past studies which a future best practice shall overcome.

Use of market research data by state chronic disease programs, Illinois, 2012-2014.

Market research data complement traditional epidemiologic data by allowing users to examine health behavior and patterns by census block or census tract. Market research data can identify products and behaviors that align or do not align with public health program goals. Illinois is a recipient of an award from the Directors of Health Promotion and Education to use industry market research data collected by The Nielsen Company for public health purposes. Illinois creates customized community profiles using market research data on tobacco use characteristics to describe the demographics, habits, and media preferences of smokers in certain locations. Local agencies use profiles to plan and target marketing initiatives, reach disparate groups within overall community populations, and restructure program objectives and policy initiatives. Local market research data provide detailed information on the characteristics of smokers, allowing Illinois communities to design public health programs without having to collect data on their own.

The field of radical innovation: Making sense of organizational cultures and radical innovation

Organic organizational structures and cultures facilitate innovation because they allow organizations to shift their understanding of what a product, service or technology means. Yet, organic organizations may have to instill mechanistic structures and bureaucratic processes if they produce successful radical innovations. Thus, the basis of innovation can be undermined by its consequences. To explore this issue, this paper analyzes data from an ongoing longitudinal case study of a SME digital-design agency that developed a radical innovation for the market research industry. The paper observes that founders of the organization shifted their position to become managers as a result of their radical innovation and that other members of the organization have, consequently, re-evaluated their attitude toward the organization. To conceptualize our findings we turn to the work of Pierre Bourdieu. His notion of fields—which structure experiences and are, themselves, structured by experiences—offers a framework to understand the dynamics within an organization that occur as a result of a successful radical innovation. The contribution of our paper is: theoretically, we relate the discussion of innovation to wider social theories of practice and, thus, introduce temporal and cultural dynamics into the account of radical innovation; methodologically, we provide an example of a longitudinal study; and, in managerial terms, we indicate where divisions occur within an organization concerning the construction of meaning between managers and employees after a radical innovation.

Modularization as a Supplier Opportunism Safeguard in Knowledge Process Offshoring Relationships: Theory and Empirical Evidence

Buyers often procure products and services from suppliers in low cost countries like India and China. Such overseas procurement, or offshoring, offers significant direct cost savings vis-a-vis in-house production. Historically, offshoring was primarily confined to manufactured goods. However, in recent years, this practice has spread to the service sector as modern technology has made it possible for geographically dispersed buyers and sellers to interact in real time and exchange data. One area that has witnessed explosive growth is the Knowledge Process Offshoring (KPO) industry comprising services such as marketing and advertising research, financial and management consultancy, research and development, and business and technical analyses, among others. While the main rationale for offshoring knowledge based services centers on direct cost advantages, buyers also have to grapple with an unintended and adverse type of cost inefficiency engendered by supplier opportunism. For example, suppliers have an incentive to expropriate quasi rents by deliberately leaking knowledge based specific assets and diverting them to other clients. Such opportunistic actions expose buyers to significant hidden costs since conventional contractual safeguards breakdown due to information asymmetry, temporal and spatial separation, and vastly different institutional environments facing buyers and sellers. Hence, the overall attractiveness of KPO arrangements is contingent upon effective governance of supplier opportunism. This paper investigates some of the preceding issues by drawing upon Transaction Cost Theory perspectives to develop and empirically test a conceptual model about the antecedents and consequences of supplier opportunism in one KPO setting, i.e., marketing research services. Using an online survey methodology, data were collected from 215 current and future buyers in the market research industry. Results show that suppliers tackle knowledge appropriation hazards by deploying creative non contractual safeguards such as modularization and standardization. Such deterrents curb supplier opportunism and create substantial buyer efficiencies. The paper discusses several managerial and research implications, and outlines the scope for further research.

Sustainable management of waste-to-energy facilities

Abstract In 1995, Porter and van der Linde defined pollution as a manifestation of economic waste. Currently, incorrect information and conflicting theories among scientists hinder the diffusion of sustainable practices in waste management [1] . New industrial market research reports highlight that the value of the global waste incineration market has increased in recent years (+$1.3 billion dollars from 2008 to 2012), and this sector will continue to grow (+$6.8 billion dollars from 2012 to 2022) [2] . The paper focuses on the Italian situation on which urgent actions are required because more than 50% of waste is landfilled [3] . The correct environmental management increases the financial performance because waste investments offer both environmental and economic benefits. The problem to solve is related to both waste management and high levels of recycling, where an unsorted fraction of waste will remain. Based on a thorough review of the topic, a national waste management plan (NWMP) for energy recovery is herein proposed for evaluating all the aspects of sustainability of waste-to-energy (WTE) plants: the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs) with respect to landfill, the estimation of financial net present value (FNPV) and the economic net present value (ENPV) and, finally, the estimation of new employment opportunity.

New Insights from Practice: Exploring Online Channel Management Strategies and the Use of Social Media as a Market Research Tool

The concept of online customer experiences, and in particular the role of social media in online customer behaviour, has recently received great interest from academia, business and market researchers alike. Despite the belief that social media, imbedded in a corresponding online channel strategy, can be the key to successfully track and analyse consumer behaviour, most of the research focuses solely on the consumer rather than the companies' strategic viewpoint. This study investigates current online channel management strategies of retail banking services, developing a much-needed typology of such practices. Based upon a thorough and rigorous data analysis process, we propose a typology of online channel strategies. The typology differentiates existing practices into initiators, reformers and consolidators, and discusses the differences between these categories with implications for theory and practice. We highlight the current and future roles of social media market research, and their strategic implications for the industry sector and market research in general, introducing the concept of ‘Strategic Social Intelligence (SSI)’.

The Growing Importance of Staple Foods and Condiments Used as Ingredients in the Food Industry and Implications for Large-Scale Food Fortification Programs in Southeast Asia

Food fortification is a viable strategy to improve the nutritional status of populations. In Southeast Asia, recent growth and consolidation of the food industry provides an opportunity to explore whether certain widely consumed processed foods could contribute to micronutrient status if they are made with adequately fortified staples and condiments. To estimate the potential contribution certain processed foods can make to micronutrient intake in Southeast Asia if they are made with fortified staples and condiments; e.g., via the inclusion of iodized salt in various processed foods in the Philippines, fortified wheat flour in instant noodles in Indonesia, and fortified vegetable oil in biscuits in Vietnam. For Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, a review of consumption trends, relevant policies, and industry practices was conducted using publicly available sources,food industry market data and research reports, and oral communication. These informed the estimates of the proportion of the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) that could be delivered via select processed foods. In the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam, the processed food industry is not always required to use fortified staples and condiments. In the Philippines, dried salted fish with iodized salt would provide 64% to 85% of the iodine RNI for women of reproductive age and 107% to 141% of the iodine RNI for children 1 to 6 years of age. In Indonesia, a 75-g pack of instant noodles (a highly consumed product) with fortified wheat flour would provide 45% to 51% of the iron RNI for children 4 to 6 years of age and 10% to 11% of the iron RNI for women of reproductive age. In Vietnam, biscuits containing vegetable oil are increasingly popular. One 35-g biscuit serving with fortified vegetable oil would provide 13% to 18% of the vitamin A RNI for children 4 to 6 years of age and 12% to 17% of the vitamin A RNI for women of reproductive age. Ensuring that fortified staples and condiments such as flour, salt, and vegetable oil are used in widely consumed processed foods would ensure that these foods contribute to improvement in micronutrient intake among populations in Southeast Asia, particularly as the consumption of these foods is increasing. Policymakers and nutrition program managers should consider the contribution to nutritional intake that fortified staples and condiments can provide through processed foods, in addition to being used for cooking in the home, and ensure that the food industry is required to use these fortified staples and condiments rather than nonfortified foods.

The structuration of relational space: Implications for firm and regional competitiveness

The central contention is that there is a coincidence of research interests between industrial marketing and economic geography in relation to spatial embeddedness in business relationships. There are nuances in relational economic geography that have not been addressed in industrial marketing research, notably that in addition to geographic proximity, co-located actors may experience more or less cognitive, organizational, social and institutional proximity. A conceptual framework is built around the processes of proximation and distanciation, which, it is argued, can be either competitively generative or competitively degenerative. These processes are investigated empirically through a qualitative study, grounded in structuration theory, of a peripheral region of England that has suffered lengthy industrial decline. The qualitative study extended over six years and encompassed 87 interviews with senior managers from both public and private sector organizations. Competitively generative proximation processes are found to be the most prominent in the region; such processes involve a mixture of cognitive cost-benefit calculation and affective commitment to the region. Important enduring relational states are identified and elaborated, notably regional loyalty and relational isolation.

Theoretical developments in industrial marketing management: Multidisciplinary perspectives

Marketing as a discipline in general, and industrial marketing in particular, has drawn upon a number of different theoretical perspectives from domains as diverse as organisational theory, systems analysis, economics, psychology, sociology and anthropology to further our understanding. However, to build this understanding and increase the relevance of marketing research, we need to be aware of the ontological assumptions and stances that such theoretical perspectives use. The purpose of this special issue is therefore to offer a platform for the exploration, comparison, application, and consideration of ontological choice and its implications in industrial marketing research. To achieve this we review early industrial marketing scholarship in this first section. In the second section, we identify the larger ebbs and flows that mark the development and advancement of industrial marketing research. In the final section, we provide an overview of the papers in this special issue in the form of a thematic exploration of theoretical developments in industrial marketing management research.

Advantage India: A Study of Competitive Position of Organized Retail Industry

Organised retail industry is one of the untapped industry sectors in India with huge growth potential. Indian retail sector mainly divided into unorganised and organised retail. Organizes retail has limited market share in this sector. Recently Government of India allowed FDI in single brand retailing and multi brand retail. Due to this decision it will create market opportunity to foreign big retail players to enter into Indian retail market. Organised retailing continues to be the least evolved industries in India and the growth of organized retailing in India much slower as compared to other Asian and European countries. The present paper discusses the competitive advantage of India for FDI in retail sector with the help of National diamond Model suggested by Michael Porter (1990) for competitive advantage of nation. The purpose of the study is to analyse the strategic competitive position of India for investment in retail sector and also analyses the world wide retail market opportunity as compared with Indian retail sector. Analysis of retail industry is done by using various market research reports on retail sector published by market research firm, government publication, and industry news and online resource. Michael Porter’s model on competitive advantage of nation is applied here with the help of secondary data and analysed the each determinants of competitiveness of nation. Some of determinant used for analysis from the report published by World Economic Forum. The findings of the study are point out that FDI in retail would undoubtedly enable Indian economy to boost at faster rate than current situation. There are various advantages to foreign retailer to enter into the Indian retail sector. Growth in disposal income and a change in the standard of living of Indian society create demand condition for retail. Absence of bigger organised retail players, largest demand and market size, availability of low cost labour, developing infrastructure, economy of scale and global sourcing are the key market potential indicators for foreign investor to invest in India. It is concluded that foreign direct investment in retail industry will create positive and favourable business opportunity for foreign retailers and all the determinant of competitiveness are positive for retail industry in India.

The Nature of Customer Portfolios: Towards New Understanding of Firms' Exchange Contexts

Purpose: Customer portfolios represent one of the central contexts for business marketing and thereby an important focus for industrial marketing research. In this article, the authors used the concept of customer portfolio to create new insights into the relational context of exchange where companies operate and manage their business. The study examines the general nature of firms' total customer portfolios in contrast to analytical portfolio studies that focus on value-segmentation of the firm's customer base. The authors contribute to the existing, largely conceptual knowledge on the topic by identifying key dimensions that systematically characterize firms' customer portfolios and building an empirical classification of portfolios. Methodology: The study is based on a nationwide cross-industry survey. The authors use cluster analysis to create the classification and discriminant analysis to investigate the importance of the portfolio dimensions for the identified clusters. Findings: The results show that firms' customer portfolios vary markedly, both in terms of structural and relational complexity. The differences denote a clear emphasis on either focused partnership, dynamic-networked, or broad market-like portfolios, posing significantly different drivers and challenges for customer relationship management. The identified dimensions, their measures, and the empirical classification offer important implications for business marketing research and practice.

Titanium Dioxide and Other Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing in Australia Industry Market Research Report now updated by IBISWorld

Titanium Dioxide and Other Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing in Australia Industry Market Research Report now updated by IBISWorld

A structural guide to in‐depth interviewing in business and industrial marketing research

PurposeThe authors aim to present a structural guide for data collection in a participant‐oriented, B2B context.Design/methodology/approachA three‐stage interview process following the work of Seidman is presented, along with key issues on how to plan, structure, and execute a B2B interview‐based hermenuetic ethnographic study.Research limitations/implicationsThe framework presented in this paper provides strong theoretical foundation for further theory development in global industrial marketing research and managerial cognition research. However, given the conceptual nature of the research, empirical scrutiny and further conceptual and empirical research are required.Originality/valueThere is a serious gap in the literature when addressing the issue of B2B contextual studies, focusing on managers, manufacturers, and various other professional personnel.

Taking time to understand theory

Purpose of the paper and literature addressedThe purpose of this paper is to examine how one of the most cited theories in sociology, structuration theory, might help inform our understanding of time in business networks. Structuration theory deals with the creation and maintenance of ideas and structures as well as with change and continuity processes. It defines a social system as any set of practices, patterns of interaction and social relationships that are relatively enduring. Research methodThis is a conceptual paper. Main contributionThis paper outlines improved theoretical and methodological bases in industrial marketing research, which specifically takes into consideration time. This new understanding draws upon Giddens structuration theory, and more recent critiques of his work.

Putting critical realism to work in the study of business relationship processes

The complexity of business relationships and networks presents particular challenges to researchers aiming to investigate processes over time. Critical Realism is proving to be particularly apposite in the study of such processes. Notwithstanding the growing use of critical realism, we acknowledge that is not an easy ontology to apply. In addition, characteristics of business relationships and industrial networks lead to specific challenges in the application of Critical Realism. This paper fills this methodological gap by offering clear support in the design and execution of a study on business relationships and networks using critical realism as ontology. We identify specific methodological challenges related to the field of industrial marketing, and how these challenges may be overcome. This will involve a discussion on how this perspective affects our view of business relationships and networks, the research design, and the theorization process, moving from thick description common in small N studies towards analytical generalization. This paper contributes to existing discussion on the use of critical realism in industrial marketing research with the introduction of a 4-task Critical Realist Research Spiral to guide researchers in the consistent use of this ontological position. This is supported by nine reflective questions to guide researchers throughout the research process.

An Evaluation of Critical Factors Influencing Product Innovation in the Food Industry—— A Case Study of China Mengjiu Dairy Company

This paper aims to identify the critical factors influencing product innovation in the food industry and exploretheir roles in Chinese food company. It firstly identifies three key factors that impact on product innovation inthe food industry focusing on the literature review of innovative factors in the food industry and itscharacteristics. Then enlightened by a case study of China Mengniu dairy company, the importance of eachfactor is assessed which shows that in the Chinese food industry market research is most critical for productinnovation. Strategy is also the crucial factor and technology plays a comparatively weak role. The findingsindicates that the factors influening product innovation can be diverse due to target industry and itscharacteristics. Therefore futher studies are encouraged to expolre the roles of factors crucial to productinnovation in other industries in China.

The influence of industry concentration on merger motives—empirical evidence from machinery industry mergers

By linking industrial organization theory and capital market research, we provide empirical evidence that merger motives of firms are influenced by underlying industry concentration. Analyzing wealth effects on target, acquirer and rival firms in the machinery industry, we observe significant different capital market reactions among merger announcements in dependence of underlying industry concentration. suggesting that different takeover motives prevail in fragmented and concentrated industries. In contrast to previous studies, we find besides efficiency motives evidence for monopolistic collusion motives in fragmented industries. Mergers in concentrated industries are primarily motivated to achieve productive efficiency gains. The absence of collusion motives may be an indication for a successful enforcement of antitrust legislation. Our results suggest that the magnitude of the influence of industry concentration in empirical merger motive research may have been previously under-estimated leading to a potential distortion of results.

Approaching global industrial marketing from a managerial cognition perspective: a theoretical framework

Purpose – This paper aims to attempt to develop an integrative theoretical framework that approaches global industrial marketing from a managerial cognition perspective.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing from the managerial cognition research, business strategy research, and international business research, this paper develops a theoretical framework that is relevant to global industrial marketing.Findings – Global industrial marketing research has much to gain from the managerial cognition literature. The framework developed in this article presents relevant managerial cognition variables, their individual and firm level antecedents, and desirable outcomes.Research limitations/implications – The framework presented in this paper provides strong theoretical foundation for further theory development in global industrial marketing research and managerial cognition research. However, given the conceptual nature of our research, empirical scrutiny and further conceptual and empirical research are required....