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A generic strategic framework of alternative international marketing strategies and market segmentation is presented on the basis of intra- and inter-cultural behavioral homogeneity.

The market orientation is addressed within the context of multiple stakeholder orientation to each stakeholder group, which exist simultaneously, giving a multiple stakeholder orientation profile (MSOP). The empirical study of marketing executives identifies where marketing capabilities and assets are both different and similar among executives with a market focus in their MSOPs, and those with other MSOPs.

Theory predicts that slack resources provide the means for achieving flexibility in developing strategy options. The outcome of generating and investing slack resources to achieve flexibility should be improved company performance. There is also a prediction that low performing companies are likely to have lower levels of slack than high performing companies, and therefore are likely to have less potential for achieving flexibility to impact on performance. However, as the literature features several inadequacies a comparative study of high and low performing British companies was carried out to address these inadequacies. While multiple measures of slack were found to be predictors of company performance in high performing companies, they seemingly have negligible impact on performance in low performing companies. Also, only certain types of slack resources are seemingly more prominent in high performers than in low performers. The results provide a development and refinement of the previous limited knowledge about slack resources. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Moderation of external environment related to business administration revealed the inexistence of relationship between stakeholder orientation and company performance. Such moderation showed that the relationship between the two only exist in terms of stakeholder orientation types and performance measures. The use of external environment moderation to establish relationship between stakeholder orientation and company performance showed viability under the United Kingdom market.

An analysis of modulators influencing alignment skill reveals that major influences include decision-making mode, market orientation, marketing capability and organizational slack. These modulators function as mechanisms that help managers modify, influence and control alignment skills so as to effectively synchronize the organization to the outside environment. Data was gathered using survey forms submitted to a total of 35 managing directors of companies of different size and industry type.

The inability of companies to provide for the diverse needs of its stakeholders could be harmful to company performance. This problem is aggravated by factors such as the scarcity of resources and the complications brought about by networks of strategic alliances. There has been no empirical proof on the attention given by companies to stakeholders' needs. Empirical data is gathered from a sample of UK firms having consumers, competitors, employees, shareholders and unions as the five stakeholder groups.

A study has been carried out of market orientation and its links with company performance in the UK. The study indicates that where clients have little power and a sector is undergoing rapid technological change, market orientation may not improve a company's performance. Environmental factors may thus be an important variable in determining the impact of market orientation, and these factors vary according to national business cultures.

Despite the importance of market orientation in the marketing and strategic management literature, it has been the subject of few conceptual and empirical studies. Also, the latter have addressed only the degree of market orientation and not its nature or form. The empirical study reported in this article focuses on the form of market orientation. Five different forms of market orientation were identified, along with three factors that discriminate between them. Although there are some performance differences between the forms of market orientation, the market environments that they are associated with are not significantly different. As well as providing additional empirical evidence, the results provide empirical support to, and extensions of, the conceptualization of market orientation given in the literature. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

An empirical study of marketing planning decision making has revealed few differences between samples of UK and US companies. Although few companies consider that their decision making is effective, there seems to be a reluctance to use decision making methods that are advocated in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments are presented on the article "The Logic of Being Illogical in Strategic Marketing Planning," by Nigel Piercy and William Giles, originally published in the 1989 issue of the "Journal of Marketing Management." The author expresses his concerns regarding the validity of some assertions about the process of strategic marketing planning. Referring to traditional models of strategic planning, the author discusses some of the confusion surrounding the proper application of such models and suggests an alternative model of the strategic marketing planning process.

Although planning has obviously been established as an activity or function of management since the early writings on management, surprisingly little attention has been given in the literature to planning in the management of marketing. The attention which has been given has been largely prescriptive methodology; only seven major empirical studies have been identified, which have researched actual organisational marketing planning. The following exposition presents a consolidation of the empirical results of these seven studies, which is expected to be of value to managers and academics alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on marketing planning is largely prescriptive in nature, with little or no reporting of empirical research. Additionally, the latter has been mostly concerned with classifying the official planning procedures that organizations have adopted. This article reports research which has investigated the perceptions of individual managers toward marketing planning. The overall result is that many differences of perception were identified, including major differences between managers in the same organizations. This insight also allowed for the development of a number of theoretical positions. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Orientation to the diverse interests of stakeholder groups is central to strategic planning, and failure to address the interests of multiple stakeholder groups may be detrimental to company performance. However, some companies may be unable to address all these interests, owing to a scarcity of resources, and the impact of multiple stakeholder orientation may be influenced by the environment. Despite calls by leading writers in the literature, there is no empirical evidence about the potential association of orientation to multiple stakeholders with company performance. The results of a study of UK companies designed to elucidate this association are reported in this paper. Although the results give some support to the proposition that orientation to multiple stakeholders is positively associated with performance, such associations are contingent on the external environment, as they are moderated by competitive hostility, after controlling for the intervening effects of market growth. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)