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This paper aims to explore different strategic avenues in international markets. In particular, the authors investigate the role of four marketing tactics – marketing network, domestic network, standardization/adaptation and positioning. The authors aim at identifying optimal use of these strategic vehicles to achieve firm performance.

The authors construct a database of 132 Norwegian exporters and identify, through cluster analysis, three different categories of firms. They use multi-group analysis to explore strategy–performance pattern in each group.

All four strategic levers impact positively on the performance, but only two of them (marketing networks and positioning) with major impact. Standardization and domestic networks play a minor role. Based on these strategic levers, the authors identify three strategic groups (opportunists, networks seekers and global marketers) with different optimal export strategy patterns. The authors argue that these groups represent firms in different stages, epitomizing a learning process in three stages.

A broader perspective of strategy variables should be included to get a more complete picture of the “optimal” model for different groups of exporters. Other marketing mix factors and the firm’s stance toward governance in international markets (operation modes) should therefore be included in the repertoire of strategy drivers determining group membership and to analyse their pattern.

Opportunists are advised to focus on positioning through domestic network relations; network seekers should concentrate on building marketing networks. Global marketers may carry out standardization strategies – preferably in collaboration with their marketing partners in export markets. For the two other groups, there is no evidence that speak in favour of such approach, nor for its counterpart, adaptation. For export promotion agencies, the authors suggest enhanced support to establish network partners.

The authors introduce strategic levers not yet explored in the export literature. Furthermore, they use a contingency causal approach to explain differences in strategy development (in international markets) and the link with performance.

Applying the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory in a wine museum context, this paper aims to examine how and why experience design characteristics influence visitor satisfaction, particularly investigating the role of epistemic (learning) and hedonic (having fun) values as the underlying mechanisms of this relationship.

The authors collected field survey data from 652 visitors at a world-leading wine museum. The authors tested the research model on ten modules of the museum using path analysis and a bootstrap approach; the authors further conducted mediation analyses to test how the design of the museum’s modules influenced perceived value and satisfaction.

Content comprehensibility and surprise, as well as interactivity and ease of use, are core design characteristics that drive visitor satisfaction. More significantly, hedonic and epistemic values play a significant mediating role in influencing the relationship between design characteristics and visitor satisfaction.

The authors provide clear and actionable recommendations to help managers design museums that provide educational, entertaining and satisfying visitor experiences.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to apply the S-O-R theory in a wine museum context. The significance of this study lies in demonstrating how and why experience design characteristics support the creation of an edutainment visitor experience that drives visitor satisfaction.

Following industrial network theory, this paper aims to address network behavior from a focal company’s perspective. Special attention is paid to examining the effect of perceptions of the economic crisis on network behavior.

The study is built on a quantitative analysis of an empirical database of 300 companies based on a survey completed in 2013 in Hungary. A focal company network behavior model was developed and applied to investigate the link between variables (valuable customer relationships, valuable supplier relationships, relationship strategy and relational outcomes) and the effect of managers’ perceptions about the intensity of the crisis. To obtain a deeper understanding of the effect of the crisis, structural modeling methodology was applied during data analysis.

How crises are perceived has a moderating influence on companies’ network behavior. In a context in which a crisis is strongly perceived, valuable customer relationships are considered more important than valuable supplier relationships; relationship strategy becomes more intensive; and performance is increasingly focused on operations and less on innovation. The main difference in network behavior is found with the management of the supply side. A different level of attention is paid to supplier relationships in a high crisis-perception context than when a crisis is perceived as being less critical.

Results emphasize the importance of perceptions as a key factor in managerial attitudes, behavior and, ultimately, decision-making. This finding merits more attention from both researchers of business relationships and networks.

From a managerial point of view, the results emphasize the existence of potentially new opportunities in network management. The reinforcement of attention to the customer during a period of crisis implies the importance of the customer orientation, but also suggests that firms may have unexploited opportunities and more potential resources on the supplier side.

The paper combines an analysis of network behavior and perceptions of crisis, helping to explain managerial decisions and attitudes. Analysis was undertaken from a focal firms’ perspective and differences were investigated in attitudes concerning both supplier- and customer-side relations. How crises are perceived is a moderating variable of network behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the experience design phenomenon in the cultural sector. Specifically, it purports to articulate a set of design characteristics that support the alignment between an organisation’s design intention (i.e. intended experience) and the actual experience of customers (i.e. realised experience).

A single case study approach is adopted to explore the phenomenon from both the provider and customer perspectives simultaneously. A range of qualitative data, including 42 interviews with managers and customers as well as voluminous documentary evidence, are collected. Provider and customer data are analysed independently using a rigorous inductive analytical process to generate experience design themes and to assess possible gaps between intended and realised experience.

The findings reveal the design characteristics of touchpoints and the overall customer journey, which constitute the core experience, as well as the design characteristics of the physical and social environment, which support the realisation of the core experience, in a cultural context.

Limitations include difficulties in generalising the findings from a single case and in claiming that the set of design characteristics identified is exhaustive.

The paper makes several recommendations that are useful and relevant for customer experience practitioners in the cultural sector.

The paper’s contribution is to provide novel empirical insights into the four experience design areas of touchpoints, journey, physical elements and social elements in an experience-centric cultural context. On that basis, a conceptual framework for experience design in the cultural context is proposed.

This paper studies the moderating effect of industry structure on strategy-performance relationships in international markets.

We have carried out a survey among a sample of German, Norwegian and Singaporean small and medium sized firms, and test – using structural equation modelling (EQS) – four hypotheses founded in industrial organisation,

We find that industry structure indeed matters. The general picture is that cautious internationalisation strategies are more effective in fragmented industries than in concentrated industries. Also, with somewhat more nuance, global marketing strategies – such as standardisation and integration – seem by and large to be more effective in concentrated industries than in fragmented industries.

The operationalisation of industry structure in an international context is challenging and we have deviated from the traditional Herfindahl–Hirschman Index. This may be a limitation but we also consider it a strength, given the weaknesses of this index in an international setting. The study is cross-sectional and should ideally follow each firm over time, again a challenging endeavour.

Despite a considerable amount of studies on strategy – performance relationships in international markets, there is no general agreement on the topic. We argue that a contingency approach needs to be taken, and that industry structure is one important factor not yet analysed.

The purpose of this paper is to seek answers to the question of the impact of different classes of strategy (generic and international) on firm performance in international markets.

Survey of 213 British SME exporters, using EQS.

The paper concludes that Porter's generic strategies have both a direct and an indirect impact through international marketing strategies on firm performance, and that the combined impact of the two levels yields better returns than either of them individually. Furthermore, it questions the wisdom of a stepwise approach to international markets and highlights the importance of a challenger strategy.

This research is limited to British SMEs and needs to be supplemented by research from other countries. Also, it explores the effect of only a limited number of confirmed international marketing strategies, excluding for instance the standardisation construct – a key construct in international marketing.

Managers may derive guidance in their planning by applying the model and the findings in their own deliberations.

Little agreement has been reached as to the impact of different international marketing strategies, let alone the classification of strategies themselves. This paper analyses firm strategy in two levels – generic strategies and five groups of international marketing strategies.

As far as lasting of the great Bordeaux wines is concerned, each critic needs to identify his specificity if he is to maintain or increase market share. History shows, however, that each new critic has had to position himself in relation to the market leader, namely the American wine critic Robert Parker. The question of whether or not the differences in evaluation are real or simply part of the critics’ grading strategy can thus be raised. To illustrate this we shall examine the results of Dubourdieu and Parker's evaluation.

Using customers' evaluations of electronic service quality (e‐SQ), the purpose of this paper is to analyze internet buyer behavior and propose a typology of online buyers for wine web sites based on e‐SQ dimensions.

In all, 1,813 French internet customers filled in an online questionnaire after completing a specified task on 18 selected web sites selling wine directly to customers.

Analysis of the results confirmed the structure of the NetQual scale for wine web sites using structural equation modeling and identified three groups of customers: the “disappointed” the “reassurance seeker” and the “opportunist”.

This study has some limitations. One of them is related to the fact that the target population is representative of the French internet buyer population and not of the customer profile for the web sites analyzed. Future research should integrate customers of the different web sites analyzed and, in order to have an intercultural comparison, non‐French wine web sites should also be included in future studies.

The seven dimensions of the NetQual scale are important for consumers when they evaluate wine web sites and contribute to identify three groups of internet buyers of French wine web sites. For each group, this study provides recommendations for practitioners in order to transform visitors into buyers.

The increasingly systematic use of the internet in consumers' decision‐making processes, combined with the growth in the number of wine web sites, has led researchers and practitioners to examine service quality issues in an online context. Existing typologies do not take into account the importance of e‐SQ dimensions. This paper's typology shows how these dimensions contribute to differentiating the groups.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of market orientation on strategy orientation (communication, target and image strategy). This impact is studied by using a multicultural approach (Hungarian and French wineries).

A questionnaire was completed by 131 French wineries – châteaux and 66 Hungarian wineries. French wineries are located in the Bordeaux region. Participants were obtained by sending questionnaire to wineries lists provided by wine‐related organizations. Market orientation and strategy orientation scales were constructed by using confirmatory factor analysis and this impact confirmed by using structural equation modelling. To measure the differences of this impact between French and Hungarian wineries, multigroup analysis is practiced.

Market orientation as information gathering, and difficulties involved in searching and planning are defined. Concerning the impact of market orientation on strategy orientation, the main finding is that information gathering and planning impacts positively on the development of communication and target strategies; and the difficulties involved in searching for information impact positively on image strategy. Two main differences appear between French and Hungarian wineries: information gathering and difficulties in searching for information.

One main limit concerns the characteristics of Hungarian and French wineries that are not similar especially in terms of area size. So these cultural differences could be also explained by structural differences of the wineries.

The majority of wineries do not have organized and large information gathering systems and marketing strategies are defined by communication objectives because they have some difficulties in defining their target.

The paper shows how image and communication strategies are implemented in Hungarian and French wineries.

The purpose of this paper is to study the service-profit chain (SPC) on e-service quality dimensions, online customer value (CV) dimensions, e-satisfaction, and e-loyalty in an e-commerce context.

A total of 2,813 internet customers filled in an online questionnaire after completing a specified task on one of 28 wine web sites from seven countries.

The results highlight the impact of the dimensions of e-service quality (information, aesthetics, ease of use, security/privacy, and reliability) on the dimensions of online CV (functional, economic, and social value) as they affect e-satisfaction, which in turn influences e-loyalty. The results validate the SPC in an e-commerce context and also stress the partial mediating role of the dimensions of online CV between the dimensions of e-service quality and e-satisfaction.

The sample may not exactly match the customer profile of the web sites analyzed. In order to generalize the results, future research should replicate this study with a customer sample from each web site. Future research could also take into account other variables that may have an influence on the relationships identified. Additionally it would be interesting to replicate the study in other industries and undertake longitudinal studies in one or more industries.

From a managerial point of view, online retailers, especially in the wine sector, can positively affect CV, satisfaction, and loyalty by focussing on information, aesthetics, ease of use, security/privacy, and reliability.

This paper is the first to study the SPC by examining service quality dimensions, CV dimensions, satisfaction, and loyalty in an online context. It extends the knowledge of online retailing by validating the SPC on the dimensions of traditional service concepts, such as service quality and CV. The findings can assist online retailers to better understand the dynamics of online customer relationships and the implications for customer satisfaction and ultimately loyalty.