Essays on supplier responsiveness and buyer firm value - Nyenrode ...

to other EU members because The Netherlands is a competitive economy as a result
of its flexible labor market and limited dependency on foreign capital (Masselink &
Noord, 2009). Other scholars argue the Dutch economy is more prudent because of
their culture (B.Dyson, personal communication, October, 2010). The Hofstede
cultural index is a useful measure for marketing purposes to examine how to measure
different national cultures (Tellis, Prabhu, & Chandy, 2009). Scores on the Hofstede
index for the US and The Netherlands are very similar on many cultural dimensions.
However, prior research has provided some evidence to indicate that firms act
independently of some national cultural traits (Tellis et al., 2009). This is important
because findings in marketing academia from one country may not be applicable to
other counties with similar cultures. Hence, based on the importance of our findings
in Chapter 2, a pertinent question to ask is whether the market orientation and buyer
performance relationship will hold across national cultures and borders.
The contribution of this study is that we test the robustness of our previously
developed conceptual model across national borders in Chapter 2. We investigate
whether the supplier responsiveness and buyer performance relationship mediated by
Idiosyncratic Relational Risk (IdRR) holds true across the different cultures we
employ our model. Moreover, this study adds to the limited number of B2B market
orientation studies in The Netherlands and sheds new light on the responsiveness
mechanics in the Dutch context.
3.1.1 Different Results of Studies of Market Orientation in The Netherlands and
the United States
The impact of market orientation on organizational performance varies across the
world (Ellis, 2006). Ellis (2006) used a meta-analysis to analyze 58 market orientation
studies. He finds that the managerial value of market orientation diminished the
stronger a national culture varied from U.S. culture. Furthermore, Ellis (2006) found
that the United States had the strongest effect size for market orientation (r=0.36),
followed by Western Europe (r= 0.25). The effect of market orientation on
performance is sizably higher in the United States than in Western Europe. In light of
these variations in results in the impact of market orientation across national
boundaries and cultures, it is relevant for this study to examine the comparable
existing studies of market orientation in The Netherlands and the United States. This
will allow us to understand along which dimensions prior studies have differed and
possibly give us insights into how our sample from The Netherlands and the United
States may differ. The following five studies represent some of the important
comparable research that exists.
The first study by Langerak (2003) finds in a sample of firms from The
Netherlands that market orientation influences organizational performance and is
mediated by a differentiation strategy but not a low cost strategy. A differentiation
strategy and a low cost strategy are two important generic positioning strategies
(Langerak, 2003). To the contrary, a study in the United States by Narver and Slater
(1990) provides evidence that both a differentiation and a low cost strategy are
positively influenced by market orientation. Furthermore, Narver and Slater (1990)
find that market orientation positively influences organizational performance, and the
effect is channeled through a differentiation strategy and a low cost strategy. One of
the limitations of Langerak’s (2003) study was the small size of the firms in the
sample, with 76% of the firms having fewer than 200 employees. This leaves open the
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