AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings - Academy of International ...

SUNDAY
Session: 1.3.9 - Competitive
Track: 2 - Marketing and Supply Chain
Manufacturer Responsiveness, Market Orientation, and Supply Chain Issues
Presented On: July 1, 2012 - 13:00-14:15
Chair: Panagiotis Ganotakis, Leeds University
Responsiveness across Markets: Evidence from Automobile Recalls
Kashef A. Majid, George Washington University
A primary portion of a firm's marketing orientation is its responsiveness which entails absorbing feedback from
consumers and transferring it back throughout the organization in order to enhance the operations of the
organization. Using product recalls within the auto industry of the United States and the United Kingdom we
examine the affect of: institutional, product level, and firm level factors on a firm's responsiveness. Our
findings indicate that the institutional environment, specifically the strength of regulations, can impact a firm's
level of responsiveness. Further, we also find evidence that specific product designs and the scope of the firm's
operations in a given market can have a significant influence on the responsiveness of the firm. (For more
information, please contact: Kashef A. Majid, George Washington University, USA: kashef@gwmail.gwu.edu)
Market Orientation and Export Performance
Xinming He, Newcastle University
Keith D. Brouthers, North Carolina State University
Igor Filatotchev, WU Vienna
Market orientation has been shown to provide a valuable resource-based advantage in domestic markets, yet it
is less clear how firms can benefit from this capability as they expand abroad. We develop and test theory to
suggest that although MO capabilities can lead to improved export performance, the export channel a firm uses
and the institutional distance between home and export market can affect the benefits derived. Using a sample
of Chinese exporters we find that firms with stronger MO capabilities can improve export performance by using
hierarchical export channels and by exporting to more institutionally distant markets where MO capabilities
provide greater value. Thus this paper makes several important contributions to the literature by providing a
better understanding of how firms can successfully deploy MO capabilities when exporting. (For more
information, please contact: Keith D. Brouthers, North Carolina State University, USA:
keith_brouthers@ncsu.edu)
International Specialization: A Bridge between Polar Views of Operating Flexibility and Location-Specific
Commitment
Ingo Kleindienst, WHU
Christian Geisler Asmussen, Copenhagen Business School
Thomas Hutzschenreuter, WHU
Torben Pedersen, Copenhagen Business School
Whether and how international diversification and cross-border arbitrage affects firm performance remains one
of the major unresolved research questions in the strategy and international business literatures. We propose
that knowing how much a firm has internationally diversified tells us very little about performance implications,
if we do not know, and do not ask, how the firm has diversified. Therefore, building on the two broad
arguments of operating flexibility and location-specific commitment, we develop a theoretical framework that
focuses on the extent to which a firm's international arbitrage strategy is characterized by specialization versus
replication and argue that these different strategies may have differential impact on profitability and risk
AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings
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