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Product innovation, a crucial source of competitive advantage, is a company’s lifeblood to thrive in global, dynamic markets. M&A enable firms to access new markets faster and acquire complementary technologies, knowledge, and resources to facilitate product innovation. Despite global disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain shortages, and M&A failure rates of 70% to 90%, firms continue to invest in M&A. Scholars seek to shed light on the conditions that create and destroy value in M&A, specifically the post-acquisition integration phase. While the effects of acquisitions on customers are an underexplored field today, customer relationships are engines for insights into changing expectations that drive product innovation. Today’s economy enables customers to switch to the competition faster than ever, and on top of that, firms see changes in customer networks after acquisitions. Research discusses the antecedents and outcomes of customer orientation but overlooks the role of customers in M&A. The post-M&A integration stage is the M&A phase where the ultimate value is destroyed or created. This study focuses on customer orientation and organizational complexity and their moderating effect on the post-M&A integration and product innovation performance relationship, concentrating on 188 innovation-centered majority acquisitions. It addresses the research question: How and to what extent do (1) customer orientation and (2) organizational complexity impact the relationship between post-M&A integration and product innovation performance? With that, this research uniquely connects the well-defined constructs of product innovation performance, post-M&A integration, customer orientation, and organizational complexity, and uses a mixed-method approach to investigate the research questions and conceptual model.Quantitative study one provides evidence that post-M&A integration had a significant positive effect on product innovation performance, especially for firms with high customer orientation, which positively moderated the main effect. Organizational complexity negatively moderated the post-M&A integration-product innovation performance relationship. When organizational complexity was relatively high with mean customer orientation, the effect of post-M&A integration on product innovation performance flipped from positive to negative. Under the conditions of relatively high customer orientation with mean organizational complexity, the effect of post-M&A integration on product innovation performance flipped from negative to positive. The results indicate that post-M&A integration was positively related to product innovation performance only for organizations with low organizational complexity. To a certain extent, customer orientation helped alleviate this negative impact of organizational complexity. Overall, study one has shown that a balanced approach of customer orientation and organizational complexity would be recommended. Study one also suggests combining the, in the literature separately considered, efficiency (synergy) and stakeholder theories. The inductive, qualitative study two, conducted with 25 semi-structured interviews, provides insights into how complexity resulting from acquisitions and the relationship with customers should be effectively managed during acquisition integrations to enable product innovation. The findings suggest that acquisitions are inflection points for customers, and customer trust is a crucial influencer of customer decisions. The themes drawn from this study reveal several areas acquirers can proactively manage to impact customer trust: the acquirer’s brand, and reputation, early customer involvement, communication, familiarity with and proximity to the customer, and the responsiveness and reliability to customer inquiries. The confidence in the business partner, that their interactions are based on integrity and reliability is critical and affects the customer-acquirer relationship; even more so when the acquirer is not known to the customer of the acquired firm. While customers should have a seat at the table, the timing of their involvement is critical. Leading innovation-driven acquisition integrations with a customer-centric mindset entails change initiatives that target employees, customers, and partners of the involved firms. The effective interplay of people, agile business processes, and connected, compatible technology between organizations is the foundation for achieving the anticipated value and synergies from integrating the acquired firm into the acquirer’s business. All of that cannot be done without evaluating the impact on the external business environment. Unfavorable decisions taken earlier in the acquisition cycle contribute to challenges later, requiring mitigation plans to be able to achieve the anticipated acquisition goals. The developed management framework guides practitioners to drive product innovation with a well-orchestrated post-acquisition integration process that balances customer orientation and organizational complexity. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

No / The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of relationship quality (hereafter referred to as RQ) and its impact on customer loyalty within an emerging retail banking market through a dual-lens theory. The research informants were recruited from a city in South-eastern Nigeria. A quantitative data obtained through bank-intercept method and online survey from 332 customers of retail banking services formed the final database. The proposed model and by implication the research hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling procedure. he results show that customer orientation, expertise and information sharing are stimulus factors that directly influence the constructs of RQ (i.e. trust and satisfaction and indirectly influence customer loyalty through the constructs of RQ. The paper also demonstrates that the stimulus factors are direct predictors of consumers’ response. The proposed model explained 49 per cent of the total variance in customer loyalty. Customer orientation, expertise and information sharing are stimulus factors that improve RQ and customer loyalty. However, the explanatory power of the proposed model is modest. Future research should therefore integrate other determinants of RQ. The paper contributes to the growing body of stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) literature within the retail environment by exploring unique stimulus and organism variables from an emerging retail banking market perspective. Additionally, by showing that the stimulus factors are direct predictors of consumers’ response, the paper challenged the existing tenets of the S-O-R framework and deepened the current understanding of the model. The paper also contributes to the social exchange theory by demonstrating how the components of RQ mediate the antecedents and consequences of the construct.

In recent years, the commercialization of the audit market has become more and more apparent, which is an inevitable trend. After the Enron scandal broke out, researches about commercialization and audit professions, audit quality have arisen. Most of these studies are focus on western audit firms. The purpose of this study is to look at the impact of commercialization of the Chinese audit industry from the auditor perspective. This paper is based on 109 responses to a survey distributed to Chinese auditors, including Big 4 firms and non-Big 4 firms. This study use market orientation, customer orientation and process orientation as indicators of commercialization. Auditor independence and auditor competence as two main cornerstones of audit quality. The data were analyzed by multiple statistics test. Our finding indicates that all three indicators of commercialization of audit market have a positive relation with auditor independence and competence. We are thus concluding that commercialization of the audit market has a positive relation to audit quality. Also, we find that auditors in Big 4 and non-Big 4 audit farm are not much difference. This may be because the Big 4 in the Chinese market do not have the same dominance as in the Western market.

Die Studie befasst sich mit der Klärung des Konzeptes der Patientenorientierung im Krankenhaus. Bei der Ausrichtung der betrieblichen Leistungen auf die Bedürfnisse der Kunden - oder genauer - Patienten sind für den Dienstleitungsbereich `Krankenhaus´ besondere Anforderungen zu beachten.Die Komplexität von Systemen der Leistungserbringung und die unterschiedlichen Interessen der an der Leistungserbringung beteiligten Anspruchsgruppen erfordert es, sowohl eine theoretische Konkretisierung vorzunehmen, als auch ein praktikables Instrument für die Erhebung und Beschreibung von Patientenorientierung in Krankenhäusern zu entwickeln. Die Studie weist messbare Indikatoren der Patientenorientierung aus und entwickelt hieraus ein Befragungsinstrument, dessen Güte durch Erhebungen in zwei Vergleichskrankenhäusern bestätigt werden konnte. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Patientenorientierung von Patienten als Organisations- und Prozessqualität wahrgenommen und eingeschätzt wird.Patientenorientierung ist eine konkrete Forderung im Qualitätsmanagement und der Erfüllungsgrad dient als Qualitätsmerkmal in der Leistungserbringung. / The study sets a focus on the concept of patient orientation in hospitals and its economic and organizational impacts. The process of shifting the whole organization ‘hospital’ towards customers - or more precisely - patients` needs generates specific demands on management, quality of services and its structures.The complexity of the organization, the variety and divergence of interests involved call both for a theoretical clarification of the concept and the development of an instrument to describe and measure the degree of patient orientation in hospitals. The study revealed indicators for patient orientation and were used to develop a new questionnaire. The quality of that instrument was tested and confirmed in two German hospitals. The results showed that patients can recognize and estimate patient orientation as part of the hospitals management(organization) and process quality. Patient orientation has to be an important aspect of quality management and can be used as an indicator of organizational performance.

<p>Background: As Porter’s diamond (1990) suggested, the business environment highly influences firms’ strategies. Today, most of the companies have to decide their strategy depending from a worldwide business environment. Yet, strategy researches and the growing importance of marketing for business success also show that customer dimension must be taken into consideration. On some markets and in certain industries, the offer is much higher than the demand and then, companies need to attract customers. On the national level, companies multiply customer surveys in order to reach their expectations. On the global level, this is more complicated. Adaptation seeks to customise product offerings to be more tailored to a particular culture’s needs and tastes, and thus, can gather a greater market share than would be allowed by offering only a standardised product. In this thesis, we decide to look deeper at industry circumstances, corporation’s customisation strategies and competitive advantages of customisation in order to know whether companies can use customisation to be more profitable. We also want to investigate how the development situation of the industry and the function of customer orientation influence the company’s strategies; and how companies use their customer adaptation strategies to adapt their products and marketing to local markets. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of our work is to develop companies’ awareness on the effects of customisation and of adapting their products to customer behaviours by developing customers’ point of view and by comparing it to companies’ strategies. </p><p>Results: According to the research results, Nestlé has adopted the customised strategies to adapt to French and Chinese dairy markets. Based on the Sheth’s model, we refined a new model by completing Sheth’s one with two dimensions - customer focus dimension and market type dimension. We characterised the customer orientation strategy and the standardisationstrategy, which are the two principal choices the companies need to do regarding the product design. Moreover, to add a new element in those well-known strategies, we introduced a nuance into the corporate strategies depending on the aiming market situation.</p>

<p>With marketing concept being maturely developed, many firms are encouraged being customer-oriented. However, as firms pursue advanced technology development which is in order to meet customers’ various needs and being competitive, the furious competition of products innovation and development is raising which leads to time and people consuming blindly for firms, and the space of being competitive is condensed. In such case, a new logic is advocated which is to ask firms to lay down the separated line with consumers, and start to consider about interaction with consumers and other value network entities, it is time to get rid of single side supply and to advocate two side collaborate. This paper argue the customer orientation should be reconsidered with transmitting into service-dominant logic, through demonstrating from several primary theory foundation, it argued that interaction and collaboration of manufacturing companies and consumers is a new features for firms to find another outlet to being competitive. Even though this mindset is not prevail, it has already started in IT sector, and gradually it will expand to others, because information technology is seen as a good facilities for interaction between companies and consumers, it will be reflected in further practical study.</p>

Background: As Porter’s diamond (1990) suggested, the business environment highly influences firms’ strategies. Today, most of the companies have to decide their strategy depending from a worldwide business environment. Yet, strategy researches and the growing importance of marketing for business success also show that customer dimension must be taken into consideration. On some markets and in certain industries, the offer is much higher than the demand and then, companies need to attract customers. On the national level, companies multiply customer surveys in order to reach their expectations. On the global level, this is more complicated. Adaptation seeks to customise product offerings to be more tailored to a particular culture’s needs and tastes, and thus, can gather a greater market share than would be allowed by offering only a standardised product. In this thesis, we decide to look deeper at industry circumstances, corporation’s customisation strategies and competitive advantages of customisation in order to know whether companies can use customisation to be more profitable. We also want to investigate how the development situation of the industry and the function of customer orientation influence the company’s strategies; and how companies use their customer adaptation strategies to adapt their products and marketing to local markets. Purpose: The purpose of our work is to develop companies’ awareness on the effects of customisation and of adapting their products to customer behaviours by developing customers’ point of view and by comparing it to companies’ strategies. Results: According to the research results, Nestlé has adopted the customised strategies to adapt to French and Chinese dairy markets. Based on the Sheth’s model, we refined a new model by completing Sheth’s one with two dimensions - customer focus dimension and market type dimension. We characterised the customer orientation strategy and the standardisationstrategy, which are the two principal choices the companies need to do regarding the product design. Moreover, to add a new element in those well-known strategies, we introduced a nuance into the corporate strategies depending on the aiming market situation.

With marketing concept being maturely developed, many firms are encouraged being customer-oriented. However, as firms pursue advanced technology development which is in order to meet customers’ various needs and being competitive, the furious competition of products innovation and development is raising which leads to time and people consuming blindly for firms, and the space of being competitive is condensed. In such case, a new logic is advocated which is to ask firms to lay down the separated line with consumers, and start to consider about interaction with consumers and other value network entities, it is time to get rid of single side supply and to advocate two side collaborate. This paper argue the customer orientation should be reconsidered with transmitting into service-dominant logic, through demonstrating from several primary theory foundation, it argued that interaction and collaboration of manufacturing companies and consumers is a new features for firms to find another outlet to being competitive. Even though this mindset is not prevail, it has already started in IT sector, and gradually it will expand to others, because information technology is seen as a good facilities for interaction between companies and consumers, it will be reflected in further practical study.

Customer-orientation is a strategy that has been adopted by many organizations. This strategy refers to the ability to assess the customer's perception of the service quality, for instance through customer feedback. Customer feedback can be acquired through surveys or given to the frontline employees. The processes for acquiring customer feedback for customer-oriented firms are generally well-developed. However, research shows that utilizing this valuable information is not conducted in a systematic matter. In this thesis, we investigate how a Swedish DSO can transfer knowledge from customer feedback internally to facilitate organizational learning. The primary empirical data in this qualitative research is gathered through interviews from the empirical context as well as with management consultants with organizational learning as their expertise. Findings from this thesis show that there is no panacea regarding how customer feedback should be presented and communicated in order to enable the organization to act on it. However, the findings indicate that an unsupportive organizational culture inhibits customer feedback to be shared effectively. Knowledge from customers must be equally valued as technical knowledge. Furthermore, it became evident that the organization endeavor a codification strategy. While this strategy is suitable for solicited feedback, this thesis argues that a personalization strategy might be more adequate for unsolicited feedback since it is difficult to express in a codified form. Our thesis is a small contribution to the limited research done on how to act on customer feedback and bring knowledge from customersto organizational learning. In addition, this thesis also contributes to existing research by investigating barriers that a regulated monopoly encounters when trying to become customer-oriented. / Kund-orientering är en strategi som många organisationer använder sig av. Denna strategi refererar till organisationens förmåga att förstå kundernas upplevelse av den service som organisationen erbjuder. Detta kan ske genom att t.ex. samla in kundfeedback. Kundfeedback kan samlas in genom enkäter eller ges direkt till de anställda som möter kunderna. Processer för att samla in kundfeedback för kund-orienterade företag är generellt sätt välutvecklade. Tidigare forskning visar dock att processer för att användandet av denna värdefulla information inte sker på ett systematiskt sätt. I den här uppsatsen, undersöker vi hur ett svenskt elnätsbolag kan överföra kundfeedback internt för att möjliggöra organisationsinlärning. Den primära datainsamlingen i den här kvalitativa undersökningen erhålls i form av intervjuer från den empiriska kontexten samt från managementkonsulter med organisationsinlärning som deras expertområde. Resultaten från denna studie visar att det inte finns något universalmedel för hur kundfeedback ska presenteras och kommuniceras för att organisationen ska agera på det. Resultaten visar dock att en organisationskultur som inte stöttar de anställda till att dela sin kunskap hindrar kundfeedback från att effektivt spridas i organisationen. Kunskap från kunder måste värderas lika mycket som teknisk kunskap. Vidare visar undersökningen tydligt att en “codification-strategy” föredras. Denna strategi är passande för kundfeedback som erhålls direkt via enkäter, dock argumenterar vi i denna uppsats att en “personalization strategy” är mer adekvat för att kommunicerar indirekt feedback eftersom att denna feedback är svår att uttrycka i en kodad form. Denna uppsats är ett litet bidrag till den begränsade forskning som gjorts gällande hur en organisation ska agera på kundfeedback och överföra kunskap till den resterande organisationen för att gynna utveckling. Utöver detta bidrar denna uppsats till förståelse gällande utmaningar som ett reglerat monopol möter då de går mot en kundorienterad strategi.