Customer response capability in a sense-and-respond era: The role of customer knowledge process

An organization’s customer response capability, its comptence in satisfying customer needs through effective and quick responses, is critical for sustained success. In this article, the authors examine how customer knowledge process influences customer response capability. They highlight two dimensions of customer response capability, customer response expertise and customer response speed. It is observed that apart from its direct positive association with customer response expertise and speed, the customer knowledge process also diminishes the positive association between risk propensity and these dimensions of customer response capability. The influence of customer response expertise and speed on performance is also examined. The hypotheses are tested using survey data collected from a sample of retailing firms and the findings triangulated using qualitative data collected through depth interviews with managers. The results highlight the importance of customer knowledge in enhancing customer response capability.

[1]  George R. Milne,et al.  Environmental Organization Alliance Relationships within and across Nonprofit, Business, and Government Sectors , 1996 .

[2]  John C. Narver,et al.  Market Orientation and the Learning Organization , 1995 .

[3]  C. Moorman.  Organizational Market Information Processes: Cultural Antecedents and New Product Outcomes , 1995 .

[4]  R. Calantone,et al.  The Impact of Market Knowledge Competence on New Product Advantage: Conceptualization and Empirical Examination , 1998 .

[5]  Danny Miller,et al.  WHAT HAPPENS AFTER SUCCESS: THE PERILS OF EXCELLENCE* , 1994 .

[6]  J. P. Peter.  Reliability: A Review of Psychometric Basics and Recent Marketing Practices , 1979 .

[7]  Robert A. Peterson,et al.  First-Mover Advantage: A Synthesis, Conceptual Framework, and Research Propositions , 1992 .

[8]  A. Strauss,et al.  Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. , 1992 .

[9]  Ming-Jer Chen,et al.  Nonresponse and Delayed Response to Competitive Moves: The Roles of Competitor Dependence and Action Irreversibility , 1992 .

[10]  G. Huber,et al.  Retrospective reports of strategic‐level managers: Guidelines for increasing their accuracy , 1985 .

[11]  L. Phillips.  Assessing Measurement Error in Key Informant Reports: A Methodological Note on Organizational Analysis in Marketing , 1981 .

[12]  P. M. Podsakoff,et al.  Self-Reports in Organizational Research: Problems and Prospects , 1986 .

[13]  N. Denzin,et al.  The Research Act , 1978 .

[14]  John C. Narver,et al.  The Effect of a Market Orientation on Business Profitability , 1990 .

[15]  B. Kogut,et al.  Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology , 1992 .

[16]  C. Fornell,et al.  Customer Satisfaction, Market Share, and Profitability: Findings from Sweden , 1994 .

[17]  O. Walker,et al.  Competency, prior performance, opportunity framing, and competitive response: Exploring some behavioral decision theory perspectives , 1996 .

[18]  S. Hunt,et al.  The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing , 1994 .

[19]  Subhash Sharma.  Applied multivariate techniques , 1995 .

[20]  David W. Gerbing,et al.  An Updated Paradigm for Scale Development Incorporating Unidimensionality and Its Assessment , 1988 .

[21]  L. James,et al.  Estimating within-group interrater reliability with and without response bias. , 1984 .

[22]  M. Aiken,et al.  Organizational interdependence and intra-organizational structure. , 1968 .

[23]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Markor: A Measure of Market Orientation , 1993 .

[24]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Market orientation: The construct, research propositions, and managerial implications. , 1990 .

[25]  G. Day.  The Capabilities of Market-Driven Organizations , 1994 .

[26]  N. Anderson,et al.  Innovation in top management teams , 1996 .

[27]  Z. Shapira.  Risk Taking: A Managerial Perspective , 1995 .

[28]  Johan P. Olsen,et al.  THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE PAST: ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING UNDER AMBIGUITY* , 1975 .

[29]  J. Farley,et al.  Corporate Culture, Customer Orientation, and Innovativeness in Japanese Firms: A Quadrad Analysis , 1993 .

[30]  J. S. Long,et al.  Testing Structural Equation Models , 1993 .

[31]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Market orientation: Antecedents and consequences , 1993 .

[32]  James M. Sinkula.  Market Information Processing and Organizational Learning , 1994 .

[33]  J. Barney.  Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .