Browsing by Author "Souchon, Anne L."

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    Does Improvisation Help or Hinder Planning in Determining Export Success? Decision Theory Applied to Exporting
    (AMA journals, 2015) Nemkova, Ekaterina; Souchon, Anne L.; Hughes, Paul; Micevski, Milena
    Exporting enables organizations to diversify risk and generate multiple income streams. In turn, the ability to make good export decisions is purported to be a main determinant of performance. Although substantive export decisions are well researched, little is known about how export decisions should be made in practice and whether different decision-making approaches should be combined. This study addresses this gap using decision theory; the authors assess the interaction of planning and improvisation and examine the impact of these approaches on export responsiveness and export performance. They develop a conceptual model through exploratory research and test it through structural equation modeling. The authors seek insights into the results through post hoc in-depth interviews and conclude that improvisation has multiple dimensions (spontaneity, creativity, and action orientation) and that there is no one “best way” for export managers to make decisions. Furthermore, export planning can enhance economic performance but detract from customer performance. In addition, improvisation improves responsiveness, whereas action orientation leads to greater customer performance and results in greater responsiveness with regard to planning. However, export managers should be wary of spontaneity and creativity, because they detract from planning outcomes.
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    Leveraging Dynamic Export Capabilities for Competitive Advantage and Performance Consequences: Evidence from China
    (Elsevier, 2017-12-01) Efrat, Kalanit; Hughes, Paul; Nemkova, Ekaterina; Souchon, Anne L.; Sy-Chango, Joseph
    As the business arena becomes more global and therefore dynamic, organizations must balance their capabilities with the demands and the conditions of the international marketplace. This leads firms to trade off the development of more capabilities with the identification of core capabilities which can best improve export competitiveness and performance. Based on the Dynamic Capabilities Approach (DCA), we develop a model of four export capabilities, namely adaptability, innovativeness, unpredictability, and task-flexibility, aimed at achieving competitive advantage in foreign markets and enhance export performance. Based on a survey of 213 Chinese exporting organizations, we find out that innovativeness, unpredictability and task-flexibility are positively related to competitive advantage. Moreover, we uncovered that in the cases of adaptability, innovativeness and task-flexibility their impact on competitive advantage diminishes under higher levels of competitive intensity, however, for unpredictability this impact becomes negative. We also confirm the necessity of addressing competitive advantage separately from firms' performance.
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    Quadratic effects of dynamic decision-making capability on innovation orientation and performance: evidence from Chinese exporters
    (Elsevier, 2018-12-10) Hughes, Paul; Souchon, Anne L.; Nemkova, Ekaterina; Hodgkinson, Ian R.; Oliveira, Joao S.; Boso, Nathaniel; Hultman, Magnus; Banin, Abena Yeboah; Sy-Chango, Joseph
    This study examines quadratic effects of three export decision-making approaches (planning, creativity and spontaneity) on innovation orientation, and the direct effect of innovation orientation on export market performance. The model, anchored in decision theory and dynamic capabilities, is tested on a sample of Chinese exporting firms using structural equation modelling. Findings indicate that while a greater proclivity to innovate is beneficial for export market performance, a more complex web of relationship is revealed between the three export decision-making approaches and innovation orientation, providing insights on the operationalization of a dynamic decision-making capability. Specifically, while an increasing level of export planning reduces an exporter’s capacity to innovate, creativity has a positive direct effect on exporters’ innovation orientation, which also benefits from extreme spontaneity in export decision-making. We discuss theoretical contributions and export managerial implications of this dynamic decision-making capability for industrial marketing management.
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    Salesperson improvisation: Antecedents, performance outcomes, and boundary conditions
    (Elsevier, 2016-03-02) Banin, Abena Yeboah; Boso, Nathaniel; Hultman, Magnus; Souchon, Anne L.; Hughes, Paul; Nemkova, Ekaterina
    Premised on the idea that not all salesperson behaviors can be pre-scripted and that, increasingly, salespersons must find ways to respond to unexpected but urgent market conditions, this study theorizes the drivers, outcomes and boundary conditions of salesperson improvisation. Using primary data from industrial salespersons, the study examines how perceptions of resource availability and customer demandingness drive salesperson improvisation and condition its sales performance effects. Findings show that higher levels of salesperson improvisation are associated with increased sales performance. Additionally, a heightened perception of resource availability and greater customer demandingness are associated with increases in salesperson improvisation. Furthermore, findings indicate that the salesperson improvisation–sales performance relationship is strengthened when resource availability is greater and when customer demandingness is lower.
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    Spontaneity and International Marketing Performance
    (Emerald, 2016-03-20) Souchon, Anne L.; Hughes, Paul; Farrell, Andrew M.; Nemkova, Ekaterina; Oliveira, Joao S.
    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to ascertain how today’s international marketers can perform better on the global scene by harnessing spontaneity. Design/methodology/approach – The authors draw on contingency theory to develop a model of the spontaneity – international marketing performance relationship, and identify three potential moderators, namely, strategic planning, centralization, and market dynamism. The authors test the model via structural equation modeling with survey data from 197 UK exporters. Findings – The results indicate that spontaneity is beneficial to exporters in terms of enhancing profit performance. In addition, greater centralization and strategic planning strengthen the positive effects of spontaneity. However, market dynamism mitigates the positive effect of spontaneity on export performance (when customer needs are volatile, spontaneous decisions do not function as well in terms of ensuring success). Practical implications – Learning to be spontaneous when making export decisions appears to result in favorable outcomes for the export function. To harness spontaneity, export managers should look to develop company heuristics (increase centralization and strategic planning). Finally, if operating in dynamic export market environments, the role of spontaneity is weaker, so more conventional decision-making approaches should be adopted. Originality/value – The international marketing environment typically requires decisions to be flexible and fast. In this context, spontaneity could enable accelerated and responsive decision-making, allowing international marketers to realize superior performance. Yet, there is a lack of research on decision-making spontaneity and its potential for international marketing performance enhancement.