Sales management research has concentrated on examining the antecedents and consequences of salespeople’s performance. Many of the existing studies have focused on assessing the direct relationship between antecedents and the consequences of salespeople’s performance. Suggestions from sales scholars (Walker, Jr., Churchill, Jr., and Ford 1977; Bagozzi 1978) of the indirect relationships antecedents and consequences of salespeople’s performance have received little attention (Challagala and Shervani 1996; Joshi and Randall 2001). In general, this research is aimed at examining empirically the direct and indirect relationship between antecedents and consequences of salespeople’s performance. In particular, this research has examined the association between three organizational variables and two salespeople’s individual personality characteristics with performance. The hypotheses and supporting logic for linkages between the variables are drawn from several research foundation and theories, Walker, Jr., Churchill, Jr., and Ford’s (1977) model of determinants of salespeople performance, marketing organizational control and psychological theories. The proposed hypotheses were tested with data collected from salespeople working in multi-industries in the UK. Confirmatory factor analysis was utilized to assess the measurement model, and path analysis with structural equation modelling was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate strong direct relationships between individual competencies, formal control and market orientation with salespeople’s behaviour performance, as well as important indirect relationships between formal control and salespeople’s behaviour performance. Perceived organizational support (POS) and individualism collectivism variables were found to moderate the association between formal control and behaviour performance. The findings of this research have contributed to sales management literature by adding new empirical evidence on the direct and indirect relationship between market orientation, organizational control, perceived organizational support variables, individual competence salespeople's individual characteristics and salespeople’s performance. In relation to managerial implications, the findings would be able to help managers in decision making, particularly in selecting, recruiting and managing salespeople.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the role of friendship groups as the context of socialization and to provide an account of the actual use of fashion goods in the consumer socialization process. The thesis draws on recent reviews in socialization (Harris, 1999), which suggests a re-examination of the role of the environmental in consumer socialization. This work suggests studying what consumer knowledge, skills and competence means for consumers in different contexts (Cook 2004) and the actual use and consumption of goods need to be featured in consumer socialization studies (Ekström 2006). It also suggests that talking and emotional sharing is a significant part of women's friendships and that these friendships take place against a backdrop of an activity (Sheehy 2000). In light of this recent work, this thesis studies consumer socialization in the female's friendship groups' by qualitatively inquiring about their consumption and use of fashion. Analysis and interpretation of the data collected through focus groups and interviews with 12 to 16 year-old adolescents revealed that the information flow in friendship groups leads to communication, which serves as the key catalyst of consumer socialization. The friendship group, furthermore, emerged as the 'site' where the socialization process took place, as suggested by Harris (1995; 1999). Adolescents are able to strengthen both rational and symbolic skills within their friendship group by participating in the background act of 'going shopping' and by talking about consumption related issues, hence enabling them to operate as successful consumers in the marketplace. The gendered consumer identity is also negotiated within the context of shopping, consuming fashion, and marking individuality versus belonging in one's friendship group. Finally, the data analysis revealed that the adolescents surrealize the images in fashion communications as a way to resists such advertisements.

The thesis proposes an holistic customer satisfaction model that can be used as a metric for marketing performance evaluation. The hypotheses aim to develop an integrated customer satisfaction model that synthesizes customer satisfaction antecedents and consequences. The rationale behind this thesis and its relevant hypotheses is multi-faceted. Chiefly, customer satisfaction is considered as marketing's sine qua non; often cited, in the first pages of most of the best-selling marketing books, as the ultimate purpose of the marketing function and even as the short definition of marketing. As such, if there is one metric by which marketing performance should be evaluated with, it should be against its scope and how well it fulfils its goal. Customer satisfaction measurement is not an exact science by default mainly because it deals with human beings and their behaviour that is not only difficult to surface but also difficult to measure. This challenge translates into a plethora of customer satisfaction definitions, antecedents and consequences leading to reluctance to employ customer satisfaction formally for such a serious matter such as marketing performance evaluation and control. Thus, the thesis is a synthesis of prominent customer satisfaction models in an effort to integrate them into one, since the evaluation activity does take an holistic perspective whereas partial models pose the risk of losing synergies that may form in the whole. A multi-method approach is employed to arrive at the integrated customer satisfaction model to be used as a marketing performance metric, commencing with a rigorous review of available models in the literature, continuing with in depth interviews with company managers to understand the industry utilised for the research and content analysis of customer-completed questionnaires and also documents of voluntary expressed free-flow voice of customer (availa1?le online where customers rate companies). The latter consists of elaborate questionnaires completed by customers regarding the different elements of the model. Structural Equation Modelling is deployed to build and test the holistic model as it is the only technique that can simultaneously deal with antecedents and consequences. The first (literature review) and second (in-depth interviews with managers and content analysis of customers' reviews and opinions regarding their purchase experience) phases of the research revealed a massive 25-construct model for customer satisfaction with thirteen antecedents (expectations, performance, disconfirmation, service quality, value, dissonance, emotions/affect, equity, regret/rejoice, assimilation/contrast, attribution, recovery and justice) and eleven consequences (stated loyalty, switching, price tolerance, repurchase, share of wallet, trust, complimenting, complaining to the firm, complaining to a third party, positive and negative word of mouth). In order to test the model, in phase three, a survey questionnaire was designed and calibrated to collect data for analysis using LISREL. Thorough and strict CFA and SEM revealed that thirteen (eight antecedents: performance, disconfirmation, service quality, value, dissonance, emotions/affect, equity, regret/rejoice, and four consequences: trust, repurchase and positive and negative word of mouth) constructs constituted the holistic customer satisfaction model empirically verified in the present thesis.

This thesis examines graphic trade cards in eighteenth-century consumer cultures in Britain, France and North America. Trade cards were single-sheet commercial notices promoting the names and locations of individual trades-people alongside the goods and services they supplied. They formed part of a larger category of prints distributing economic information to buyers and sellers. However, the production, role and function of trade cards made them distinct from other forms of commercial advertising. I examine their modes of production and use to suggest the part they played in the professionalisation of retail practices as well as the fashioning of vocational identities for tradesmen. I consider the consumer profile that trade cards targeted and suggest that they appealed to distinct sets of shoppers who read the cards in conjunction with other texts, graphic prints and educative illustrations in books and magazines. Trade cards functioned as multimedia advertisements for an audience interested in cultures of knowledge as well as shopping and new consumer goods. I examine how early engravers used trade card commissions to raise their profile as imaginative artists. I consider the ways in which trade cards supported long-term socioeconomic relationships between buyers and sellers over time and space, and examine their roles as invoices and gifts in systems of credit. I am particularly interested in understanding how trade cards functioned uniquely as promotional notices and mediatory devices for a limited period in the history of consumer culture. The final chapter examines French and American trade cards. In their national contexts, trade cards advertised through a culturally-encoded graphic and textual vocabulary familiar to native consumers. They helped develop and disseminate the emblems and symbols that promoted national identities, agendas and priorities at the end of the eighteenth century. I extend this analysis beyond national geographic boundaries to demonstrate how trade cards also functioned as international business cards, supporting commercial networks in global trade.

The influence and role of time in consumer behaviour is a domain that has recently received increasing – albeit incomplete – attention in the consumer research literature. Such acknowledgement of the growing appreciation of a time dimension in a range of consumer-related phenomena clearly supports the focus of the present research – the time emphasis of perceived benefits and value sought by a consumer in the context of consumption and adoption of an innovative product category. The research draws upon consumer research and marketing literature, integrating findings from psychology and sociology, to develop two distinct but related conceptual frameworks for empirical investigation. Framework I investigates consumer-related factors as antecedents to the pursuit of temporally emphasised benefits motivating a product‟s consumption behaviour. Framework II investigates the relationship and influence of temporal-based value sought by consumers on a product‟s adoption decision process in terms of its speed, potential outcomes and process dynamics. The main objective is to establish answers to related research questions operationalised using the research vehicle of organic food, a product category representing a rising market trend and an innovative non-durable consumer good. A set of hypotheses is drawn up and empirically examined based on data gathered in the UK from two samples. Data is collected using a large-scale questionnaire-based approach, where each data set is analysed separately along with analyses which combine cases from both samples. The findings and the associated discussion provide important insights and overall support for the conceptualisation presented and developed in this research. General findings indicate that some psychological and behavioural consumer-related factors comprising level of involvement, perceived prior knowledge level and product usage level are more significant antecedents of temporal-based benefits sought than social and demographic factors. Results also show significant associations between temporal-based value sought in organic food and the speed and outcomes of its adoption decision process. In addition, the adoption decision process is found to be temporally dynamic, with active steps that have a carry-over effect on subsequent steps in the process. Findings extend a new temporal perspective to understanding perceived benefits and value of innovative products, offering theoretical and managerial contributions and implications for consumer researchers and marketers in relation to temporal motivations in consumption and adoption behaviour.

Relationship marketing (RM), the idea of establishing, maintaining and developing long-term customer relationships, is considered as one of the most important aspects for business success. This study focuses on the upper-end of relationship management, which is primarily concerned with maintaining and developing long-term strategic business relationships (SBRs) with a few selected, strategically important customers. In this research, a comprehensive conceptual framework is developed to assess relationship quality (RQ) for both buyers and suppliers in SBRs. The dyadic approach in conjunction with a multi-strategy research design, consisting of a qualitative and quantitative study, provides an holistic overview of RQ and presents new insights into strategic buyer - supplier relationships. Consequently, the objectives of this study are firstly, to develop a research model for both buyers and suppliers in SBRs; secondly, to reveal details and differences in the RQ model between buyers and suppliers; and finally, to examine the effects of individual RQ factors on suppliers’ business performance. The study finds that the interpersonal RQ between a key account manager and a dedicated purchasing manager is fundamental for the success of a SBR. The findings suggest that the developed RQ model fits well to both buyers and suppliers. Furthermore, the results of this research support the assumption that RQ influences business performance and finds that account managers’ perceived satisfaction best predicts business performance. From a managerial perspective, this study helps managers to better understand RQ in SBRs as it comprises the perspectives of both buyers and suppliers. The multi-strategy research design and the qualitative study provide numerous examples of best practice methods. The quantitative part of the study also contains various benchmark results that can be used to assess other SBRs.

It has long been thought that openness to international trade can be beneficial to a country in terms of growth, and that trade liberalisation can assist in enhancing countries growth rates. For a long time such arguments were based on static theories, in which trade raises the level of income, but not the long-run growth rate. Recently, models have emerged that show how countries can increase their long-run growth rates through trade. Trade can affect growth through a number of channels. For developing countries however, the primary benefit that trade provides is likely to be access to the technology of more advanced countries. This study examines various aspects of the relationship between openness to trade and economic growth in developing countries. The study concentrates on North-South trade, since it is expected that imports from the North enhance growth by allowing access to more advanced knowledge and technology. It is shown that trade with the North can benefit countries in the South in terms of higher growth, through the importation of Northern goods. Evidence is also found to suggest that trade has a role in transferring to the South the benefits of Research and Development (R&D) conducted in the North, although these results tend not to be robust. The second part of the study examines the impact of trade liberalisation on openness and growth. It is found that trade liberalisation has tended to lower openness to imports from the North, at least in the short-run. The results suggest the possibility of a J-curve effect whereby openness initially falls, but then recovers somewhat. In the long-run we may expect openness to rise following liberalisation, but this cannot be shown in our dataset. The relationship between liberalisation and growth is also found to follow a J-curve, with liberalisation initially leading to a reduction in growth, but in the long-run increasing growth in per capita income.

The globalisation process of national economies, through trade and foreign direct investment flows, has been one of the most important forces of economic changes in the latest decades. This thesis contributes to the growing literature on firm level adjustment to globalisation. This literature initiated a new paradigm in international trade based on heterogeneous firms. The recent availability of large firm-level data sets and new theoretical models allow to examine how heterogeneous firms react to internationalisation processes, and how their responses determine changes at more aggregate levels. In each chapter of this dissertation we deal with one different aspect of firm-level adjustment to globalisation processes using a data set of manufacturing firms based in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is a good example of a globalised economy given that it is second largest host of multinational enterprises and relatively open to international trade. Overall, our results support the view that heterogeneous firm-level adjustments are important to our understanding of the impact of internationalisation processes on national economies. We argue and find evidence (in chapter two) that import competition does not necessarily lead to higher elasticity of the demand for labour at firm and industry-level, as it has been claimed before. Furthermore, we show (in chapter three) that foreign affiliates contribute disproportionately to the export performance of United Kingdom manufacturing sectors. The export decisions of multinational enterprises seem to depend on motives different from those of domestic firms. Finally, we present evidence (in chapter four) of the relationship between firm-level productivity and participation to globalisation processes, through trade or foreign direct investment, comparing not means, but productivity distribution functions, which allows to account for the heterogeneity of productivity level across firms. In general, these findings underline the importance of building from micro economic evidence to gauge the likely impact of globalisation processes on national economies.

This thesis is a study of morality in marketing, focusing specifically on marketing in relation to the natural environment, i.e. green marketing. An interdisciplinary approach is adopted, incorporating a broad range of literature pertaining to issues of morality in marketing. The contribution of this literature is analysed, and the green marketing literature is assessed according to the moral perspectives applied. The need for greater insight into the development and communication of moral meanings in the marketing process is thus identified, and an organization culture perspective is articulated by which to effect this in the context of green marketing. This cultural perspective is then used as the basis for the exploratory, empirical research which forms the core of the thesis. Utilising an interpretive, comparative case study approach, and following a grounded theory methodology, data is presented to illustrate the content and process of green marketing strategies and tactics in three types of organizations - conventional, social mission, and business-NGO collaboration. The moral tone of these projects is examined and the cultural dynamics which attend the greening process are explored in order to reveal the moral meanings subsequently communicated and legitimised within and around the case organizations. Consequently, a picture of contemporary green marketing practice grounded in empirical data is developed, and the theoretical implications discussed. Moreover, the proposition is advanced that there is a tendency in corporations for green marketing to be accompanied by a process of 'amoralization', i.e. a removal of moral meaning and significance for the natural environment. Specific actor roles and processes of amoralization are set out, and potential explanations advanced. The implications and wider ramifications of these findings are discussed, and the possibilities for introducing greater moral consciousness and feeling into marketing are discussed. Finally, some management implications and directions for further research are considered.

This thesis is concerned with the general trade theoretic issue of what explains tariffs. Two possible theories are investigated: (i) the optimum tariff argument where countries exploit their market power to affect world prices, and (ii) the political economy argument, where well-organised interest groups who have a preference for the tariff protection level can influence their governments through lobbying. The main contribution of this thesis is the use of the many-country, two-good trade model, which can be found in the customs union literature, to investigate the importance of the (world) market structure on the welfare effects of tariffs. This model, where a good is exported by more than one country, allows us to examine the welfare effects of tariffs which vary with how the goods are divided initially among the countries. The theory of optimum tariffs and retaliation, usually in the two-country, two-good context, suggests that the country whose endowments of goods are relatively large tends to 'win' a trade war. Still, the analysis in this chapter shows that there is a greater possibility for a country to win even if the country's endowments are relatively small if the world market of its exportable moves closer to the monopolistic market, i.e. there are less countries exporting the same good and/or the world endowment of that good is divided more disproportionately among its exporters. An important feature of the many-country, two-good trade model is that tariffs are strategic complements between countries that have the same trade pattern and are strategic substitutes otherwise. Therefore, two possible trade agreements can be investigated: (i) an agreement between countries whose tariffs are strategic complements, and (ii) an agreement between countries whose tariffs are strategic substitutes. Since these trade agreements imply different sources of gain for a country (gain from an improvement in terms of trade for the former and gain from an increase in volume of trade for the latter), this thesis examines the choice of a country by comparing the welfare implications between the two possibilities. It is found that a country would prefer to have a trade agreement with the country whose endowments of goods are relatively large regardless of the strategic complementarity or substitutability of their tariffs. Finally, this thesis attempts to endogenise the lobby formation by modelling an individual's decision to participate in lobbying prior to the stages of interaction between a government and lobbies studied by Grossman and Helpman (1994). It is found that no one lobbies individually in equilibrium if the total population and/or the fixed cost of lobbying are too large. An incentive that leads individuals to form a lobby is the ability of the group to restrain the individuals' otherwise offsetting lobbying efforts. An interesting result is that, in equilibrium, some individuals might choose to join the lobbies that lobby against their interests to moderate their efforts rather than to join the lobbies that lobby in their favour. This result raises a question whether the standard industry-lobby in the literature might exaggerate the actual lobbying activities.