The external effect of marketing accountability in business relationships: Exploring the role of customer perceived value

Abstract This paper explores where and how marketing accountability of a supplier meets customer perceived value in a business relationship setting. If the supplier's firm implements marketing accountability processes, marketing activities are improved, as well as the communication of the value proposition to customers. The supplier's value proposition is in turn reflected through the creation of superior customer perceived value, which triggers attitudinal and behavioral value outcomes. Hence, the marketing accountability of the supplier, through its external manifestation with customers, ultimately influences the supplier's financial results. The aim of the paper is to discuss the external effect of marketing accountability in a business relationship context, which is often suppressed by the prevailing focus on the internal manifestations of marketing accountability, or the inside-out approach. As marketing accountability is an evolving field, bibliometric co-citation analysis is carried out to gain a better understanding of the marketing accountability's domain and scope. On the grounds of the relationship marketing theory and resource-based view, qualitative research was carried out and insights from interviews with marketing managers from different industries were analyzed. The paper concludes by suggesting the operationalization of the marketing accountability construct and pointing out the need for a multilevel and dyadic design of further empirical studies for testing the proposed external effect of marketing accountability.

[1]  D. Teece,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1997 .

[2]  Neil A. Morgan,et al.  Benchmarking Marketing Capabilities for Sustainable Competitive Advantage , 2005 .

[3]  R. Brodie,et al.  The influence of brand image and company reputation where manufacturers market to small firms: A customer value perspective , 2007 .

[4]  Andrew V. Abela,et al.  Marketing Performance Measurement Ability and Firm Performance , 2007 .

[5]  Andreas Eggert,et al.  Customer perceived value: a substitute for satisfaction in business markets? , 2002 .

[6]  B. Wernerfelt.  On the role of the RBV in marketing , 2014 .

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

[8]  M. Spence.  Signaling in Retrospect and the Informational Structure of Markets , 2002 .

[9]  Robert W. Palmatier,et al.  Resource-based theory in marketing , 2014 .

[10]  E. Jaakkola,et al.  Value co-creation in knowledge intensive business services: A dyadic perspective on the joint problem solving process , 2012 .

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

[12]  Raquel Sánchez-Fernández,et al.  The concept of perceived value: a systematic review of the research , 2007 .

[13]  Russell Abratt,et al.  Satisfaction, quality and value and effects on repurchase and positive word‐of‐mouth behavioral intentions in a B2B services context , 2008 .

[14]  G. Soutar,et al.  Consumer perceived value: The development of a multiple item scale , 2001 .

[15]  Barbara L. Gross,et al.  Why we buy what we buy: A theory of consumption values , 1991 .

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

[17]  P. Butler,et al.  Marketing Accountability and Marketing's Stature: An Examination of Senior Executive Perspectives , 2010 .

[18]  David W. Stewart,et al.  Marketing accountability: Linking marketing actions to financial results , 2009 .

[19]  Bruce H. Clark.  Marketing Performance Measures: History and Interrelationships , 1999 .

[20]  F. Wynstra,et al.  Value in business markets : what do we know? where are we going? , 2005 .

[21]  D. G. Jones,et al.  Scientific marketing management and the emergence of the ethical marketing concept , 2012 .

[22]  Stephen L. Vargo,et al.  Service-dominant logic: continuing the evolution , 2008 .

[23]  K. B. Monroe.  Pricing: Making Profitable Decisions , 1990 .

[24]  Catherine C. Marshall,et al.  Designing Qualitative Research , 1996 .

[25]  John P. Workman,et al.  Marketing Organization: An Integrative Framework of Dimensions and Determinants , 1998 .

[26]  James A. Narus,et al.  Business Market Management: Understanding, Creating, and Delivering Value (Управление бизнес-рынками: понимание, создание и донесение ценности) , 1998 .

[27]  James A. Narus,et al.  A Model of Distributor Firm and Manufacturer Firm Working Partnerships , 1990 .

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

[29]  Baljit K. Sidhu,et al.  The marketing accounting interface – lessons and limitations , 2008 .

[30]  Jay B. Barney,et al.  How marketing scholars might help address issues in resource-based theory , 2014 .

[31]  Wei-Jaw Deng,et al.  The relationships among service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and post-purchase intention in mobile value-added services , 2009, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[32]  O. Persson,et al.  How to use Bibexcel for various types of bibliometric analysis , 2009 .

[33]  C. Grönroos.  Relationship marketing: strategic and tactical implications , 1996 .

[34]  D. Larcker,et al.  Assessing empirical research in managerial accounting: a value-based management perspective , 2001 .

[35]  P. J. Sher,et al.  Past progress and future directions in conceptualizing customer perceived value , 2005 .

[36]  R. Rust,et al.  The Role of Marketing , 1999 .

[37]  Stephen L. Vargo,et al.  Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing , 2004 .

[38]  Tânia Modesto Veludo-de-Oliveira,et al.  Laddering in the practice of marketing research: barriers and solutions , 2006 .

[39]  Denise Jarratt,et al.  THE IMPACT OF MARKET AND ORGANISATIONAL CHALLENGES ON MARKETING STRATEGY DECISION-MAKING: A QUALITATIVE INVESTIGATION OF THE BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS SECTOR , 2001 .

[40]  Jin K. Han,et al.  Market Orientation and Organizational Performance: Is Innovation a Missing Link? , 1998 .

[41]  Kelley O'Reilly,et al.  Demystifying Grounded Theory for Business Research , 2012 .

[42]  Yves L. Doz,et al.  Qualitative research for international business , 2011 .

[43]  Venkatesh Shankar,et al.  Customer value, satisfaction, loyalty, and switching costs: An illustration from a business-to-business service context , 2004 .

[44]  Matthew B. Miles,et al.  Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook , 1994 .

[45]  Judy A. Siguaw,et al.  A Model of Value Creation , 2001 .

[46]  J. Lapierre.  Customer‐perceived value in industrial contexts , 2000 .

[47]  T. J. Reynolds,et al.  Laddering theory, method, analysis, and interpretation. , 2001 .

[48]  C. Prahalad,et al.  The Core Competence of the Corporation , 1990 .

[49]  A. Payne,et al.  Managing the co-creation of value , 2008 .

[50]  Jagdish N. Sheth,et al.  Marketing productivity: issues and analysis , 2002 .

[51]  B. M. Samuelsen,et al.  Customer perceived value in B-t-B service relationships: Investigating the importance of corporate reputation , 2008 .

[52]  Neil A. Morgan.  Marketing and business performance , 2012 .

[53]  P. Leeflang,et al.  Understanding the Marketing Department's Influence within the Firm , 2009 .

[54]  Neil A. Morgan,et al.  The Value of Different Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Metrics in Predicting Business Performance , 2006 .

[55]  R. Kaplan,et al.  The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action , 1996 .

[56]  Charlotte H. Mason,et al.  Market orientation, marketing capabilities, and firm performance , 2009 .

[57]  Håvard Hansen,et al.  Antecedents to customer satisfaction with financial services: The moderating effects of the Need to Evaluate , 2008 .

[58]  Tim Ambler,et al.  Measures of marketing success , 1997 .

[59]  Gregory S. Carpenter,et al.  Measuring Marketing Productivity: Current Knowledge and Future Directions , 2004 .

[60]  Daniel D. Prior,et al.  Supplier representative activities and customer perceived value in complex industrial solutions , 2013 .

[61]  Yi-Ming Tai,et al.  Perceived value for customers in information sharing services , 2011, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[62]  Richard A. Spreng,et al.  Modelling the relationship between perceived value, satisfaction and repurchase intentions in a business‐to‐business, services context: an empirical examination , 1997 .

[63]  T. Ambler,et al.  Assessing Marketing Performance: Reasons for Metrics Selection , 2004 .

[64]  M. A. M. Tena,et al.  Customer perceived value in banking services , 2006 .

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

[66]  Stephen L. Vargo,et al.  Service‐dominant logic: a necessary step , 2011 .

[67]  Wolfgang Ulaga.  Capturing value creation in business relationships: A customer perspective , 2003 .

[68]  Wolfgang Ulaga,et al.  Measuring Customer- Perceived Value in Business Markets A Prerequisite for Marketing Strategy Development and Implementation , 2001 .

[69]  A. Strauss.  Basics Of Qualitative Research , 1992 .

[70]  H. Håkansson,et al.  Dyadic Business Relationships within a Business Network Context , 1994 .

[71]  Christian Homburg,et al.  Marketing's Influence within the Firm , 1999 .

[72]  Andreas Eggert,et al.  Developing a Standard Scale of Relationship Value in Business Markets , 2001 .

[73]  Richard A. Gooner,et al.  Marketing productivity, marketing audits, and systems for marketing performance assessment: integrating multiple perspectives , 2002 .

[74]  S. Wasserman,et al.  Models and Methods in Social Network Analysis: Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences , 2005 .

[75]  Richard Makadok.  Toward a synthesis of the resource‐based and dynamic‐capability views of rent creation , 2001 .

[76]  John M. T. Balmer,et al.  Corporate marketing: Integrating corporate identity, corporate branding, corporate communications, corporate image and corporate reputation , 2006 .

[77]  R. B. Woodruff,et al.  Customer value: The next source for competitive advantage , 1997 .

[78]  Christina Goulding,et al.  Grounded theory, ethnography and phenomenology: A comparative analysis of three qualitative strategies for marketing research , 2005 .

[79]  M. McDonald.  A brief review of marketing accountability, and a research agenda , 2010 .

[80]  M. Spence.  Job Market Signaling , 1973 .

[81]  Shelby D. Hunt,et al.  A general theory of business marketing: R-A theory, Alderson, the ISBM framework, and the IMP theoretical structure , 2013 .

[82]  V. Zeithaml.  Consumer Perceptions of Price, Quality, and Value: A Means-End Model and Synthesis of Evidence: , 1988 .

[83]  A. Simpson.  Analysts’ Use of Nonfinancial Information Disclosures , 2010 .

[84]  Vladimir Batagelj,et al.  Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek , 2005 .

[85]  P. Boksberger,et al.  Perceived value: a critical examination of definitions, concepts and measures for the service industry , 2011 .

[86]  C. Grönroos,et al.  The value concept and relationship marketing , 1996 .

[87]  Annie H. Liu.  Customer value and switching costs in business services: developing exit barriers through strategic value management , 2006 .

[88]  Finn Wynstra,et al.  Combining value and price to make purchase decisions in business markets , 2000 .

[89]  Charles Teddlie,et al.  Mixed Methods Sampling A Typology With Examples , 2016 .

[90]  B. Wernerfelt,et al.  A Resource-Based View of the Firm , 1984 .

[91]  Nirmalya Kumar,et al.  Value Merchants: Demonstrating and Documenting Superior Value in Business Markets , 2007 .

[92]  T. Brashear,et al.  A structural guide to in‐depth interviewing in business and industrial marketing research , 2012 .

[93]  M. Enz,et al.  Using cross-functional, cross-firm teams to co-create value: The role of financial measures , 2012 .

[94]  Douglas M. Lambert,et al.  Managing and measuring value co-creation in business-to-business relationships , 2012 .

[95]  M. Holbrook.  Consumer Value: A Framework for Analysis and Research , 1999 .

[96]  James A. Narus,et al.  Business marketing: understand what customers value. , 1998, Harvard business review.

[97]  Pradeep K. Chintagunta,et al.  Customer Value Assessment in Business Markets: A State-of-Practice Study , 1992 .

[98]  Nick Lee,et al.  Sales force social exchange in problem resolution situations , 2009 .

[99]  David Court,et al.  Bringing customers into the boardroom. , 2004, Harvard business review.

[100]  Susan Baker,et al.  Making marketers accountable:a failure of marketing education? , 2004 .

[101]  G. Day,et al.  An outside-in approach to resource-based theories , 2014 .

[102]  L. de Chernatony,et al.  Winning Hearts and Minds: Business-to-Business Branding and the Role of the Salesperson , 2007 .

[103]  Sunil Gupta,et al.  Customer Metrics and Their Impact on Financial Performance , 2006 .