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Achieving high level of customer satisfaction (CS) involves spending marketing resources in terms of money, managerial time, and focus. Consistent with the return on quality framework this paper aims to look at both the costs and benefits of a satisfaction program.

This paper reports the results of a longitudinal study of a beverage distributor. Two satisfaction surveys were conducted before and after the launch of the program. Profitability was calculated using activity based costing (ABC) principles. The link between changes in satisfaction and changes in profitability was analyzed.

It was found that as a result of the launch of satisfaction program CS increased significantly, but the weighted least square analysis of the relationship between CS and customer profitability (CP) shows that it does not necessarily result in higher customer profits. CS is found to be positively related to sales volume and gross profits at the customer level. However, a net profit measure of CP, derived after careful allocation of costs based on activities, shows a much more complex and non‐linear pattern of relationship.

The paper shows that there are several valuable lessons to be drawn from the study. First, the cost of increasing satisfaction could be substantial. A positive relationship between satisfaction and profitability, posited by most of the customer satisfaction literature, could reach its limit much sooner than generally believed. Second, allocating costs based on activities in serving the customers, and not merely on revenues is important since doing so results in a different and more complete profitability profile of customers, as is described in the sample. Finally, the complexities and non‐linearities in the CS‐CP link documented in this study imply that satisfaction improvement efforts (and dollars) should be directed towards larger customers and customers who are already relatively highly satisfied.

This study examined three attitudinal dimensions of coupon usage. A review of the literature suggested that price consciousness, time value, and satisfaction/pride are three major motivational factors that determine coupon usage by consumers. Measurement of these three variables, using Likert‐type items, revealed acceptable levels of reliability. The three factors were found to relate to coupon usage as hypothesized. Further, significant differences were found in the predicted direction between coupon users and nonusers. Managerial implications and recommendations are provided.

The basic purpose of this paper is to establish and test the relationship between organizational culture and strategic alliances in a manufacturing supply chain that consists of alliance companies (manufacturers) and alliance partners (suppliers and customers). The relationships have been analyzed from the manufacturer's perspective.

This paper specifically addresses: the relationship between the culture type of alliance company and the degree of integration (trust, communication, and commitment) between the alliance companies and partners; the relationship between the culture type of alliance company and value creation in the alliance company; and the relationship between the degree of integration and value creation in the alliance company. A questionnaire was constructed and distributed to 109 companies that had some form strategic alliance with their suppliers and/or customers. The data collected were tested using analysis of variance and correlation analysis.

The culture type of the alliance company has a significant effect on the degree of integration and value creation. The degree of integration has a significant relationship with value creation. Specifically, the following have been found: ad hocracy culture favors a higher level of communication and commitment with the suppliers; hierarchy culture favors a higher level of commitment with suppliers and helps build a higher level of trust with customers and suppliers; and clan and ad hocracy cultures help in achieving a higher degree of value creation.

Identifying the link between the culture and strategic alliances in a supply chain can help decision makers choose the right kind of alliance partners and decide appropriate strategies that need to be adopted to form and maintain alliances.

The purpose of this research is to explore the resilience domain, which is important in the field of supply chain management; it investigates the effects relational competencies have for resilience and the effect resilience, in turn, has on a supply chain ' s customer value.

The research is empirical in nature and employs a confirmatory approach that builds on the relational view as a primary theoretical foundation. It utilizes survey data collected from manufacturing firms from three countries, which is analyzed using structural equation modeling.

It is found that communicative and cooperative relationships have a positive effect on resilience, while integration does not have a significant effect. It is also found that improved resilience, obtained by investing in agility and robustness, enhances a supply chain ' s customer value.

Some findings contrast the expectations derived from theory. Particularly, practitioners can learn that integration has a limited role in enhancing resilience.

The study distinguishes between a proactive and reactive dimension of resilience: robustness and agility. The relational view serves as the theoretical basis to explain the effects between three types of relational competencies (communication, cooperation, and integration) and the above-mentioned two dimensions of resilience.

Manufacturing strategy has become a subject of increasing importance to practice and research. It involves two elements: content and process. The content of manufacturing strategy has recently received considerable attention. The process of manufacturing strategy has not received the same level of emphasis. There is little prescriptive literature on the subject, and even less literature of an empirical nature. It is argued that effective manufacturing strategy is inseparable from an effective process for the development of manufacturing strategy. This article provides some beginnings with regard to the process of manufacturing strategy by (1) exploring and drawing out concepts and methodologies in existing literature which can contribute to the process of manufacturing strategy, (2) reporting on an empirical study of the process of manufacturing strategy involving 53 manufacturing executives within organisations primarily from the midwest region of the USA, and (3) developing implications for future practice and research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of managerial flexibility and analyse its relationship to the organizational responsiveness of firms. This paper seeks to measure responsiveness by determining the fit between contextual and organizational variables.

Using an empirical approach and data drawn from a wide range of countries and different industries this paper obtains a sufficiently validated multidimensional scale.

The research proposes a measurement scale of organizational responsiveness through four types of managerial flexibility: internal and external, structural and strategic.

Whereas researchers can benefit from the development of a methodology that integrates different perspectives on fit, practitioners can identify the organizational responsiveness in their organizations.

This paper contributes to the literature by proposing a method to identify the organizational responsiveness of firms and developing a measurement scale.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the moderating effect of uncertainty impacts the relationship of operational responsiveness and firm performance. Research on the relationship of supply chain fit and firm performance is discussed in isolation in different streams of research – such as in studies on responsiveness, agility, flexibility, efficiency and lean – without promptly recognising cross-stream contributions. This, at worst, prevents theory development. Therefore, the authors build a synthesis of literature from these streams. Grounded in the synthesis, a well-positioned empirical study that uses best research practices of past studies on the phenomenon is presented.

A cross-sectional survey sample of 875 Russian manufacturing firms was analysed with hierarchical regression.

The findings show that operational responsiveness leads to superior organisational performance if the relationship is moderated by uncertainty and supply chain responsiveness. Additionally, a direct relationship between operational responsiveness and operational performance was found. These results imply that efficiency is a precursor to responsiveness.

This paper contributes to the unification of practice–performance studies on lean, agility, flexibility, efficiency and responsiveness into a single stream of research: supply chain fit. The empirical results support contingency theory in the context of supply chain design. This paper also contributes by shedding light on supply chain dynamics of an under-researched national context. For managers, this paper offers concrete advice on decision-making regarding supply chain strategy trade-offs.