Selecting a mode for entering or expanding in a foreign market is a crucial strategic decision for an international firm. This article identifies and compares the most influential factors that affect the international modes of entry and expansion decisions of US and Japanese firms. Using mail...

Co‐operation is implicit in attempts to create ongoing buyer‐seller relationships, yet Darwinian theories have stressed the self‐centredness of man and social commentators have observed a trend away from collectivism towards individualism. Relationship marketing represents a dynamic...

Since the 1960s, quality function development (QFD) has been recognized worldwide as a suitable planning tool for translating customers' needs into product specifications. QFD methodologies, as opposed to traditional quality approaches, are most often cited as essential for advancing the...

This article predicts that strategic planners in organisations of the future need to consider the potential benefits of collaborating, co‐operating and co‐ordinating with others serving the same markets, rather than pursuing conventional “competition”. The author defines this new mindset...

Purpose – This paper introduces a new approach for autonomous internet‐based environmental scanning, which combines concept of weak signals with “information foraging theory”. Design/methodology/approach – Early detection and rapid action with respect to developments in the operating...

Purpose – To test empirical relationships between export market information use and export knowledge and export performance. Design/methodology/approach – Confirmatory factor analysis, using LISREL 8.50, based on a postal survey. The setting selected was the Norwegian seafood industry,...

Purpose – The interdependence of firms in the marketplace implies that the effectiveness of an action cannot be valued without considering potential reactions. Therefore, the main objectives of this paper are to analyse the effect of the initiating company characteristics on the perceived...

Purpose – The objective of the study was to compare competitive intelligence (CI) practices of exporters in South Africa and Belgium. Design/methodology/approach – An e‐mail and postal survey in a sample of 292 Belgian and 309 South African exporting companies was carried out in which...

Purpose – To assess which components of the marketing orientation, along with the new measure societal marketing orientation, predict the performance of the firm and which are moderated by the environment. Design/methodology/approach – Survey research in 1999 and hierarchical regression of...

Purpose – To examine how companies in the maturity stage of the product life cycle can implement and maintain a successful niche market strategy to increase competitiveness in the face of new competition, with particular reference to the global textile industry. Design/methodology/approach –...