Guest editorial

Citation

Geigenmuller, A. (2012), "Guest editorial", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/jbim.2012.08027faa.001

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Volume 27, Issue 6

The 9th AMA Relationship Marketing conference took place in Berlin, Germany in the Fall of 2009, bringing together international thought leaders in Relationship Marketing research. This volume represents a small sampling of the many notable presentations that were given at this conference.

Included in this volume is “Antecedents of knowledge generation competence and its impact on innovativeness,” a paper by Griese et al. which suggests that even though knowledge generation competence (KGC) is not commonly associated with internal information processing, KGC plays a key role in generating internal knowledge, which is enhanced by the integration of customer information. The authors identify a firm’s learning orientation and human resource practices as integral determinants of knowledge generation competence. The paper concludes that a learning culture and specific human resource practices will enable KGC to impact a company’s innovativeness.

In the Gao et al. manuscript, “Guanxi as a gateway in Chinese-Western business relationships,” organizational culture is examined as to its role in relationships between Chinese and Western businesses. Generally described as a collectivist or relationally-oriented society, China’s emergence as an international business leader raises concern with regards to the understanding of culturally based practices used by Chinese businesses. A comparison is made between the norms of Western business relationships relative to norms that are standard in Chinese interpersonal relationships. This article introduces the concept of guanxi gateway ties that suggests a special class of non-threatening relationships can develop from interactions between cultural insiders and outsiders.

“Managing in a time of crisis: marketing, HRM, and innovations,” by Breni et al. explores the link between selected dimensions of market orientation, HRM and innovation, before and during the economic crisis in Slovenia. This exploratory analysis is a longitudinal study of the 101 best Slovenian employers, which includes over 15,000 respondents, representing the largest study of its kind in southeast Europe. The findings suggest that HRM positively impacts organizational performance, while innovation has a negative impact on organizational performance, at least in the short term.

The Geigenmueller, Bettis-Outland paper, “Creating brand equity in B2B trade show services,” addresses the issue of branding in a B2B trade show context. The authors contend that though branding is historically seen as a strategy for tangible goods, more service-based organizations are pursuing a branding strategy in order to differentiate their offerings from the competition. Branding can enable trade show organizations to better segment and target their audience, while at the same time make it easier for potential trade show participants to determine the most appropriate trade fairs to attend. Given growing pressures on organizational finances, trade show branding can be beneficial to all trade show participants by making it a more productive and efficient experience.

Anja Geigenmüller