10.1177/0092070304265050 ARTICLE JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE WINTER 2005 Luo et al.

/ MARKETING RESOURCES
Globalization, Marketing Resources, and
Performance: Evidence From China
Xueming Luo
University of Texas at Arlington
K. Sivakumar
Lehigh University
Sandra S. Liu
Purdue University
Two important areas are underexplored in the relationship
between marketing resources and performance. First, the
subject has been primarily investigated in the context of
Western countries, and inadequate attention has been
given to emerging economies. Second, despite the recent
growth in globalization, the moderating role of globaliza-
tion on the link between marketing resources and perfor-
mance has not been investigated. Addressing these
important gaps, this article focuses on an emerging econ-
omy (China) and explores the moderating effect of global-
ization on this link. Specifically, the authors develop
several hypotheses highlighting the moderating role of
globalization activities (global product sourcing, global
market seeking, and global partnership) on the link be-
tween marketing resources (market orientation, entrepre-
neurial orientation, and innovative capability) and firm
performance. The findings of the moderating role of
globalization provide several important implications for
marketing theory development and managerial practice.
Keywords: marketing resources; globalization; firmper-
formance; resource-based theory; market
orientation; entrepreneurial orientation; in-
novative capability; global sourcing; global
marketing; global partnership; China;
emerging markets
How can organizational resources explain firms sus-
tainable competitive advantage (SCA)? This broad
research theme has attracted serious attention in the recent
past (e.g., Capron and Hulland 1999; Dickson 1996; Hunt
and Morgan 1996; Mizik and Jacobson 2003; Morgan,
Kaleka, and Katsikeas 2004). The resulting resource-
based theory (RBT) of the firm has emerged as an impor-
tant framework examining SCA in strategic management
(Barney 2001; Capron and Hulland 1999; Wernerfelt
1984). Notably, Srivastava, Fahey, and Christensen (2001)
concluded that the attention given to RBT in marketing is
not commensurate with its potential importance; Market-
ing scholars have devoted remarkably little attention to
applying RBT as a frame of reference in advancing mar-
keting theory or in analyzing core challenges in marketing
practice (p. 778). Thus, this study serves to answer their
call for increased application of RBT in marketing
research to arrive at guidelines for firms seeking to
enhance performance and customer value.
Areviewof the RBT-focused marketing literature leads
to several important and interesting observations. First,
most marketing studies using RBT to evaluate the linkage
between a firms marketing resources and performance
has been confined to firms in the Western hemisphere
(Fahy et al. 2000). In particular, very few studies examine
this link within emerging economies such as China, which
is the fastest growing economy in the world (Lin and
Germain 2003; Shenkar and von Glinow 1994). Accord-
ing to the World Bank, Chinas average economic growth
ranked among the highest in the world in the past two
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.
Volume 33, No. 1, pages 50-65.
DOI: 10.1177/0092070304265050
Copyright 2005 by Academy of Marketing Science.
decades (www.worldbank.com/data/). China has made
and continues to make important contributions to the
development and prosperity of the world economy. China
is the second-largest recipient of worldwide foreign direct
investment after the United States, and the latter is the for-
mers second-largest international trade partner (Peng and
Luo 2000). Like other transitional economies, such as
those in post-Soviet Eastern Europe (Fahy et al. 2000), the
Chinese economy is more dynamic and uncertain than
Western economies. Given the complexity and importance
of the Chinese economy, it is surprising that marketing
researchers have paid it only scant attention (e.g.,
Katsikeas, Leonidou, and Morgan 2000). As China inte-
grates fully into the World Trade Organization (WTO),
globalization is now more than ever an important factor in
influencing the competitiveness of Chinese products and
brands. Chinese firms offer a fascinating context in which
to investigate the pattern and strength of the performance
advantages of critical resources along with firmglobaliza-
tion activities. Overall, there are at least three reasons to
use China to test the broader applicability of theories gen-
erated in the Western context: (1) Chinas huge population
and market, (2) the significant differences between Chi-
nese and Western economies, and (3) increasing
integration of China into and contribution to the world
economy (Shenkar and von Glinow 1994).
Second, existing research examining the marketing
resources-performance link has overlooked variables that
could potentially moderate this link. Given the growth of
globalization in recent decades (Alden, Steenkamp, and
Batra 1999; Arnould, Price, and Zinkhan 2004; Cavusgil
and Zou 1994; Hayes, Alashban, Zinkhan, and Balazs
2002; Kotabe 1990; Zinkhan and Pereira 1994), the omis-
sion of the moderating role of globalization in research on
the resources-performance link is notable. Globalization
can be defined as a set of organizational activities that
direct the flow of a companys goods and services to con-
sumers in global markets for a profit (Cateora 1996). We
know little about how globalization influences the scope
and deployment of marketing resources. As firms
proactively or reactively compete globally, an investiga-
tion of the role of globalization would be of substantial
importance to practitioners.
We also believe that an investigation of the moderating
role of globalization could refine our conceptual under-
standing of the resources-performance link. Indeed, sev-
eral marketing and management scholars have noted the
value of using RBTto integrate the globalization and strat-
egy literature (e.g., Katsikeas et al. 2000; Peng 2001).
These scholars claimthat transferring concepts from RBT
may be a critical step toward enhancing our limited under-
standing of areas of global marketing and that a contin-
gency approach toward global marketing activities and
organizational resources, rather than a dogmatic view, is
urgently needed (Katsikeas et al. 2000). In addition, we
argue that it is appropriate to investigate the moderating
role of globalization based on the structure-conduct-
performance paradigm (e.g., Hambrick and Lei 1985).
The paradigm suggests that organizational conduct and
performance are constrained by the external environment,
including globalization (Anderson and Zeithaml 1984).
Furthermore, a contingency perspective of the resources-
performance link may potentially help explain the mixed
results (i.e., positive, negative, or insignificant) of the cor-
relation between performance and resources such as mar-
ket orientation (Matsuno and Mentzer 2000). In the litera-
ture, Kohli and Jaworski (1993) reported that market
orientation is not related to a firms actual market share.
Han, Kim, and Srivastava (1998) also failed to find a posi-
tive relationship between market orientation and actual net
income growth. In addition, there is no direct influence of
market orientation on perceived new product market per-
formance (Atuahene-Gima 1996) or perceived market
share (Pelham and Wilson 1996). Notably, Narver and
Slater (1990) found a negative influence of market orien-
tation and a positive influence of market orientation
squared on perceived financial performance. Similarly,
Voss and Voss (2000) found a strong, negative influence of
customer orientation on both subjective and objective
measures of sales, total income, and net profit. Overall, the
mixed results of the link between market orientation and
performance suggest the need for a contingency perspec-
tive to advance RBT research.
Our research is intended to alleviate these important
gaps in the literature. Particularly, the objectives of this
article are to (1) examine the link between capabilities and
performance in an emerging market using China as an
exemplar and (2) investigate the moderating role of glob-
alization activities on this link. Specifically, we consider
the moderating role of globalization activities (global
product sourcing, global market seeking, and global part-
nership) on the link between marketing resources (market
orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and innovative
capability) and firm performance.
We attempt to make several unique and important con-
tributions. First, an exploration of market-driven organiza-
tions in a transitional economy from a resources perspec-
tive is lacking in the literature (Fahy et al. 2000; Hooley
et al. 2000). As the largest emerging economy, China is
changing froma centrallycontrolled society into a market-
driven economy. Firms in such transitional economies
face hostile and complex institutional and economic envi-
ronments. Behind the bamboo curtain (Williamson
1975), China represents a unique opportunity to test orga-
nizational and marketing theories (Lin and Germain 2003;
Shenkar and von Glinow 1994). Second, by studying the
moderating role of globalization, we seek to extend our
knowledge in two ways: enabling a fine-tuned understand-
ing of the marketing resources-performance link and
examining the role of globalization on the effectiveness of
Luo et al. / MARKETING RESOURCES 51
a firms activities. Thus, this article contributes to the
resource-based perspective of organizations as well as the
globalization literature. Third, the findings of our research
will offer useful guidelines for global managers who are
looking for theoretical insights fromdeveloped economies
while at the same time expecting the demonstrated
relevance of such theories for emerging economies.
The rest of the article is organized as follows. The sec-
ond section briefly reviews the background literature. The
third section develops a conceptual framework of the mod-
erating role of globalization on the marketing resources-
performance link and derives a number of research
hypotheses based on an integration of a wide array of liter-
atures. The fourth section describes the research method-
ology followed to test the hypotheses, while the fifth sec-
tion discusses the results of data analysis. The article
concludes with a delineation of the significance of our
findings, managerial implications, and future research
directions.
BACKGROUND LITERATURE
The Resource-Based Theory (RBT) of the Firm
RBT holds that firms have idiosyncratic resources and
capabilities that are heterogeneous or imperfectly mobile
in a disequilibrium economy (Barney 1986; Capron and
Hulland 1999). Those strategic resources that generate
sustained competitive advantage are valuable, rare, and
difficult to imitate (Barney 2001). Thus, intangible
resources are more likely to result in a competitive advan-
tage than are tangible resources. According to RBT, capa-
bilities (i.e., the capability to innovate) are the key intangi-
ble firm-specific resources that allowfirms to achieve core
competency (a firms ability to deliver key success factors
in practice) and competitive advantage in the dynamic
marketplace (Day 1994; Mizik and Jacobson 2003). Capa-
bilities refer to the ability of a firm to deploy strategic
resources advantageously. It should be noted that although
RBT is a newly named theory, the concept originated with
Penrose (1959), who used it in the context of market
diversification, as opposed to the recent general economic
perspective.
RBT has been deemed superior to other theories of the
firm, including neoclassical theory, Brian-type,
Schumpeterian, the Chicago school of thought, and trans-
action cost theory (e.g., Barney 2001). Although the neo-
classical viewof the firmas a bundle of distinctive inputs is
central to RBT, it is not limited by neoclassical theorys
assumptions of perfect information, resource mobility,
and divisibility. RBT may also agree with the Chicago
schools primary goal of maximizing efficiency in produc-
tion and distribution. However, unlike RBT, the
Schumpeterian and Chicago schools of thought focus on
long-term equilibrium and hold that entry dissipates
above-normal economic rents. By contrast, RBT empha-
sizes the strategic decisions of the firm in the short and
intermediate terms. It posits that resources and inputs are
costly to copy and, like Brian-type schools of thought,
asserts that above-normal rents are achievable even in a
long-term analysis. However, RBT rejects the Brian-type
views assumption of monopoly power, game-theory-
based collusion, and Schumpeters notion of creative
destruction as the source of long-term rent. Instead, RBT
posits that hard-to-copy, costly-to-copy, and idiosyncratic
resources are the key to long-term above-market rents.
While asset specificity, competitive environment, and
firm-environment interface are essential to both transac-
tion cost theory (TCA) and RBT, RBT does not make the
opportunism assumption of TCA. All in all, Conner
(1991) concludes that RBT, with its strong and cumulative
heritage of economic theories, most closely achieves a
fundamental theory of the firm (p. 122). Thus, a resource-
based model is recommended as a way to investigate com-
petency and superior firm performance through a more
intimate integration of organization theory, marketing,
and economics (Hunt and Morgan 1996).
Strategic Resources and Performance
Resource-based theory contends that firms obtain SCA
by deploying unique and immobile firm resources and,
through SCA, are more efficient and/or effective in obtain-
ing economic rents than competitors in the industry
(Wernerfelt 1984). Economic rents resulting froma higher
level of efficiency and effectiveness in exploiting resource
advantages are different from monopoly rents. The latter
results from efforts to create imperfectly competitive con-
ditions, which may reduce the social welfare, according to
public policy (Hunt 1999) and the social network para-
digm (Achrol and Kotler 1999). In addition, RBT holds
that distinctive competencies, externally representing the
relative strategic posture of the firm vis--vis industry
competition, ultimatelylead to superior outcomes and per-
formance. As such, in the long run, the firms profitable
market position depends on its ability to achieve an advan-
tageous posture in deploying the idiosyncratic resources
(Barney 2001; Day 1994).
RBT and Globalization
Although Alden et al. (1999) noted that globalization is
a recent phenomenon that affords marketing management
both opportunities and threats, several initial attempts
have conceptualized the relevance of RBTin globalization
research. For instance, marketing scholars Katsikeas and
colleagues (2000), in a recent review of export perfor-
mance, noted that transferring concepts fromRBTmay be
a critical step toward enhancing our limited understanding
52 JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE WINTER 2005
of areas in global marketing. Integrating RBTand interna-
tional business (IB) theories, Peng (2001) noted that RBT
has provided a powerful theoretical approach to IB
research. Historically, the IB field has been critiqued as
phenomenon driven and topically scattered. Peng believes
that RBT may present a unifying framework through
which diverse topics ranging from global strategies of
multinational corporations to entrepreneurial activities in
international economies can be viewed as subscribing to
the same set of underlying theoretical and competitive
logic (p. 819).
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND
HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT
Our conceptual framework, presented in Figure 1, pro-
poses that strategic resources influence marketing perfor-
mance such as marketing program dynamism and sales
growth and that this impact is moderated by a firms glob-
alization activities. As described previously, the moderat-
ing role of globalization in the marketing resources- per-
formance link has not been tested either in developed
economies or in developing economies. This new
approach will contribute to an improved understanding of
organizational activities in a global context.
Collectively, there are several reasons why globaliza-
tion may play a moderating role in the marketing
resources-performance link. First, we suggest that global-
ization activities may moderate the effectiveness of strate-
gic resources based on the structure-conduct-performance
paradigm (e.g., Hambrick and Lei 1985). The paradigm
implies that firms (1) rely on their environment, including
globalization, for the creation, deployment, and leverage
of critical resources such as entrepreneurial and market
orientation and innovative capability and (2) need to man-
age this contingency of resources to achieve superior
performance (Anderson and Zeithaml 1984). As a result,
the marketing resources-performance link may be
contingent on globalization activities. Another theory
that can support such a moderating effect is the resource-
dependence theory (Pfeffer and Salancik 1978), which
focuses on the influences of the environment and other
external forces on how organizations compete in markets.
Similar to the structure-conduct-performance paradigm,
resource-dependency theory also suggests that the explo-
ration and exploitation of a firms marketing resources are
contingent on the managerial perceptions of the peculiari-
ties of the external environment, including globalization
activities (Achrol and Kotler 1999).
Second, a prior theoretical study by Katsikeas et al.
(2000) suggests that it is appropriate and necessary to
adopt a contingency approach toward global activities and
organizational resources based on RBT. They suggest that
applying RBT would enhance our inadequate understand-
ing of global marketing, a field some scholars have argued
is beset with low theoretical rigor (Morgan et al. 2004).
More important, a contingency approach to globalization
would be particularly helpful given the complexity of
global marketing activities (e.g., Zou and Cavusgil 2002).
Third, our extensive reviewof related empirical studies
in the marketing, strategic management, and organization
science literature indicates the need to examine the moder-
ators of the marketing resourcesperformance link. Doing
so may not only provide a deeper and more fine-tuned
understanding of this link but may also help explain the
mixed results of the correlation between performance and
key resource variables. As mentioned previously, the asso-
ciation between market orientation and performance was
found to be positive in some studies (Deshpande, Farley,
and Webster 2000; Lin and Germain 2003), negative in
other studies (Narver and Slater 1990; Voss and Voss
2000), and not significant in a few additional studies
(Atuahene-Gima 1996; Han et al. 1998; Kohli and
Luo et al. / MARKETING RESOURCES 53
H7, H8, H9 H4, H5, H6 H1, H2, H3
Marketing Resources


Entrepreneurship Orientation
Firm Performance
Marketing Program Dynamism
Market Orientation
Innovative Capability
Sales Growth
Globalization Activities

Global Market Seeking
Global Market Sourcing
Global Partnership
FIGURE 1
A Model of Marketing Resources, Globalization, and FirmPerformance
Jaworski 1993). In addition, the empirical findings of the
entrepreneurship-performance link appear inconclusive
(e.g., Dess, Lumpkin, and Covin 1997; Murray, Kotabe,
and Wildt 1995; Zahra and Covin 1995). Notably, Li and
Atuahene-Gima (2001) also reported mixed results on the
impact of product innovation strategy on performance,
with over two-thirds of the studies finding a positive rela-
tionship between product innovation strategy and firm
performance, and the rest finding a negative relationship
or none at all (p. 1123). Overall, the mixed results of the
influence of strategic resources on performance suggest
the need for a contingency perspective to advance the mar-
keting resources framework and RBT. In fact, Murray
et al. (1995) found some support for the contingency view
of global product sourcing and the moderating role of
global product sourcing on the influence of asset specific-
ity on a firms market performance. In short, both theoreti-
cal and empirical support suggests that globalization may
act as a moderator in the marketing resources
performance link.
Our conceptual framework examines the effects of sev-
eral key strategic resources (market orientation, entrepre-
neurial orientation, and innovative capability) on firmper-
formance. Our selection of these resource variables is
based on existing marketing theories in identifying SCA
sources such as marketing concept (e.g., Kohli and
Jaworski 1990), market-based assets (Srivastava,
Shervani, and Fahey 1998), and dynamic capabilities (Day
1994). In particular, market orientation has been identified
as one of the most important and relevant constructs in
marketing during the past decade. Market orientation
refers to the implementation of the marketing concept and
the philosophy that satisfying customers current and
latent needs is the ultimate purpose of the firm(Deshpande
et al. 2000). Research in marketing and organization sci-
ence has also documented firms increasing interest in
entrepreneurial orientation, which has a strong influence
on organizational outcomes (Dickson and Giglierano
1996). Entrepreneurial orientation refers to a firms pro-
pensity to focus on entering new markets and renewing
existing operations (Covin and Slevin 1991). Alvarez and
Busenitz (2001) argued that entrepreneurship is an impor-
tant new research application for RBT. Similarly, innova-
tive capability, which refers to firmsability to develop and
implement new ideas, products, and processes, was
selected because several studies found evidence that inno-
vative organizations are capable of achieving superior
performance in Western economies (Han et al. 1998;
Hurley and Hult 1998).
In our framework, we broadly define globalization
activities as organizational practices that direct the flowof
a companys goods and services to consumers or users in
global markets, including both domestic and foreign mar-
kets, for a profit (Cateora 1996). The global business and
marketing literature has primarily examined three separate
globalization activities: global product sourcing (e.g.,
Murray et al. 1995; Kotabe 1990, 1992), global market
seeking (e.g., Christmann and Taylor 2001; Katsikeas
et al. 2000; Peng 2001; Zinkhan and Pereira 1994), and
global partnership (e.g., Bello and Gilliland 1997; Clark
1990; McDougall and Oviatt 2000; Peng and Luo 2000).
Therefore, we view globalization as a multidimensional
concept and investigate the moderating role of these three
different types of globalization activities. Global product
sourcing refers to the degree to which a firm optimizes its
product mix in different countries and assembles compo-
nents, semifinished products, or finished products world-
wide (Murray et al. 1995). Global market seeking is
defined as the intensity with which a firmsells its products
globally (Christmann and Taylor 2001). Global partner-
ship refers to the propensity of a firm to share ownership
and management with foreign partners. Table 1 summa-
rizes the definitions and sources of the key globalization
and marketing resource variables, as well as sample arti-
cles using the constructs in empirical research.
The Role of Globalization on the Market
Orientation and Performance Link
According to RBT, market orientation may increase an
organizations ability to understand and satisfy its custom-
ers, thereby increasing its organizational capabilities. As
such, market orientation may be a potential source of
SCA. For example, Hunt and Morgan (1995) noted that a
truly market-oriented firm can enjoy a SCA (p. 13). Day
(1994) also noted that market orientation may result in an
outside-in type capability and better outcomes through
market sensing and customer linking.
Nevertheless, some RBT theorists believe that market
orientation can be readily imitated, mobile, and sub-
stitutable and, thus, may or may not directly predict per-
formance (e.g., Dickson 1996). As a result, some empiri-
cal studies find that the market orientationperformance
link is moderated by strategy type (Matsuno and Mentzer
2000), product, and organizational and industry character-
istics (Voss and Voss 2000), as well as by environmental
dynamics (Slater and Narver 1994). In particular, Slater
and Narver (1994) noted that, theoretically, the possible
moderating role of a competitive environment is consis-
tent with a long tradition of support for the theory that
environment moderates the effectiveness of organiza-
tional characteristics (p. 46). Akey assumption of market
orientation is that it is more potent and offers more benefits
to the firm when the environment is characterized by
greater market turbulence, higher competition intensity,
and greater market uncertainty (Kohli and Jaworski 1990;
Slater and Narver 1994). As emerging economies such as
China undergo unprecedented economic, political, and
social transformations, customers are becoming increas-
ingly sophisticated and unpredictable (Fahy et al. 2000;
54 JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE WINTER 2005
Lin and Germain 2003). Industry competition in China is
fierce (Peng and Luo 2000). As a result, the turbulent and
hostile environment in China should require firms to be
more market oriented in order to survive and prosper. In
global markets, building a strong market orientation is
critical for achieving the superior performance needed to
dampen the effects of environmental turbulence and com-
petition. Therefore, we contend that the performance
advantage of market orientation as a strategic resource
may be contingent on external environmental factors (e.g.,
globalization activities).
We posit that the link between market orientation and
performance will be strengthened when firms engage in
global partnerships, seek global markets, and source
global products. All three globalization activities expose
the firm to diverse information relevant to global opera-
tions. This means that the amount of information col-
lected, disseminated, and used becomes more varied, rele-
vant, and useful compared to a situation in which no
globalization activities exist. As the behavioral perspec-
tive on market orientation taken by researchers demon-
strates, information collection, dissemination, and utiliza-
tion are the specific ways in which market orientation is
manifested in firms (e.g., Kohli and Jaworski 1993; Lin
and Germain 2003). Clearly, globalization greatly aids
these activities and the effectiveness of these activities on
organizational performance. Although this argument
gives the broad logic for our explanation (Kohli and
Jaworski 1990), we next focus specifically on each of the
three globalization activities.
Because most developed economies are already highly
market oriented, many foreign partners will transfer their
market-driven philosophies to less-developed countries
such as China (Ambler, Styles, and Wang 1999). As a re-
sult, we propose that the performance advantage of market
orientation is stronger for firms with global partnerships
than for firms without them. Similarly, market seeking in
the global field would require and reward market-oriented
practices, given the more dynamic, complex, and hostile
nature of global competition (Clark 1990; Fahy et al.
2000). Thus, we propose that the performance advantage
of market orientation is stronger for firms that proactively
seek global markets than for firms that do not seek them.
Finally, we argue that product sourcing and importing in
the global field would require and reward more market-
oriented practices than in the domestic field (Murray et al.
1995). In addition, global sourcing may bring in new for-
eign technology applications and advantages (Clark 1990;
Nakata and Sivakumar 1996). As a result, we argue that
the performance advantage of market orientation is stron-
ger for firms with global product sourcing than for firms
that lack them. The preceding discussion leads to the
following hypotheses.
Hypothesis 1: The performance advantage of market ori-
entation is stronger for firms that engage in global
partnerships than for those that do not.
Hypothesis 2: The performance advantage of market ori-
entation is stronger for firms that more aggressively
seek global markets.
Luo et al. / MARKETING RESOURCES 55
TABLE 1
Main Constructs and Their Definitions
Construct Construct Source Construct Definition Exemplar Studies Using the Construct
Global Market Seeking Christmann and Taylor
(2001)
The intensity with which a firmsells its prod-
ucts globally
Yli-Renko, Autio, and Sapienza (2001);
Katsikeas, Leonidou, and Morgan (2000);
Peng (2001)
Global Product
Sourcing
Murray, Kotabe, and Wildt
(1995)
The degree to which a firmoptimizes its prod-
uct mix in different countries and assem-
bles components, semifinished products, or
finished products worldwide
Murray et al. (1995); Kotabe (1990, 1992)
Global Partnership Peng and Luo (2000) The propensity of a firmto share ownership
and management with foreign partners
Bello and Gilliland (1997); Clark (1990);
McDougall and Oviatt (2000); Peng and
Luo (2000)
Market Orientation Deshpande, Farley, and
Webster (2000)
The implementation of the marketing concept
and the philosophy that satisfying customer
current and latent needs as the ultimate pur-
pose of the firm
Han, Kim, and Srivastava (1998); Hunt and
Morgan (1995); Kohli and Jaworski
(1990); Matsuno and Mentzer (2000);
Slater and Narver (2000)
Entrepreneurial
Orientation
Lumpkin and Dess (1996) The intentions and actions of a firmpursuing
new market opportunities and the renewal
of existing operations
Barringer and Bluedorn (1999); Covin and
Slevin (1991); Davis, Morris, and Allen
(1991); Shane and Venkataraman (2000);
Zahra, Ireland, and Hitt (2000)
Innovative Capacity Lukas and Ferrell (2000) The ability to develop and implement new
ideas, products, and processes related to
technology
Deshpande, Farley, and Webster (1993); Han
et al. (1998); Hult and Ketchen (2001);
Hurley and Hult (1998); Li and Atuahene-
Gima (2001)
Hypothesis 3: The performance advantage of market ori-
entation is stronger for firms that more aggressively
source global products.
The Role of Globalization on
the Entrepreneurial Orientation and
Performance Link
Entrepreneurial orientation, another potential SCA
resource according to RBT, is characterized by the ability
of a firmto proactively seek opportunity (Miles and Snow
1978) and enter new markets proactively (Lumpkin and
Dess 1996). In particular, Morris and Paul (1987) defined
entrepreneurial orientation as a firms willingness to
encourage creativity, flexibility, and to support risk. Most
commonly, it represents the intentions and actions of a
firmpursuing newmarket opportunities and the renewal of
existing operations (Covin and Slevin 1991). It is believed
that strategic entrepreneurial orientation is a key source of
a companys competitive position and financial perfor-
mance (Zahra, Ireland, and Hitt 2000). Covin and Slevin
(1991) provided some empirical support for the positive
association between entrepreneurial orientation, innova-
tive culture, and better business performance. However,
other studies have suggested that the link between entre-
preneurial orientation and performance is moderated by
external variables such as environmental hostility (Zahra
and Covin 1995). Dess et al. (1997) noted that due to envi-
ronmental challenges and organizational complexities,
simple linear relationships may be inadequate to explain
the entrepreneurial orientationperformance link. Theo-
rizing the contingency and configurational models of
entrepreneurial orientation, they found support for the
moderat i ng role of envi ronment al uncert ai nt y,
environmental heterogeneity, and business strategies.
We seek to add to this contingency hypothesis of entre-
preneurial orientation by extending it into the global mar-
keting context. Particularly, we contend that the
performance advantage of entrepreneurial orientation as a
strategic resource may be contingent on external environ-
ment factors (e.g., globalization activities). Research sug-
gests that entrepreneurial orientation results in better
performance in dynamic, complex, and hostile environ-
ments (i.e., in global markets), but not in stable environ-
ments. This is true because stable environments generally
reward the efficient exploitation of extant opportunities,
rather than new entries in the form of entrepreneurial ori-
entation (McDougall and Oviatt 2000; Zahra and Covin
1995). As a result, we propose that the link between entre-
preneurial orientation and performance will be strength-
ened when firms aggressively seek global markets and
source products fromother countries. Competing and sell-
ing in global markets may require and motivate firms to
dynamically strive for new markets and proactively seek
new opportunities as entrepreneurs (Murray et al. 1995).
Similarly, importing globally may also lead to newmarket
opportunities for global exports and facilitate the firm to
more easily sell in those exporting counties (Clark 1990),
which may enhance the firms market performance. How-
ever, we contend that global partnership will weaken the
link between entrepreneurial orientation and perfor-
mance, for two main reasons. First, partners in developing
countries such as China may not be as risk taking with re-
gard to strategic thinking as foreign businesses, given
East-West differences in culture, mindset, technology, and
product sophistication (Lin and Germain 2003; Nakata
and Sivakumar 1996). This divergence is likely to inhibit
the firm from aggressively seeking new markets and new
regions. Thus, the potential performance advantage of en-
trepreneurial orientation may be suppressed in a global
business partnership. Second, the performance benefit of
entrepreneurship is curtailed in international joint ven-
tures, which experience more institutional and political
regulations than do purely local businesses (e.g., Peng and
Luo 2000). Such regulations confine firms capacity to
seek new opportunities as entrepreneurs, as well as the
potential of entrepreneurial orientation for high-level
performance (McDougall and Oviatt 2000; Zahra and
Covin 1995).
Hypothesis 4: The performance advantage of an entre-
preneurship orientation is weaker for firms that en-
gage in global partnerships than for those that do
not.
Hypothesis 5: The performance advantage of an entre-
preneurship orientation is stronger for firms that
more aggressively seek global markets.
Hypothesis 6: The performance advantage of an entre-
preneurship orientation is stronger for firms that
more aggressively source global products.
The Role of Globalization in the Link Between
Innovative Capability and Performance
While entrepreneurial orientation focuses on entering
newmarkets and renewing existing operations, innovative
capability reflects the ability to develop and implement
new ideas, products, and processes related to technology
(Lukas and Ferrell 2000). Innovation is a necessary com-
plement to entrepreneurial orientation for a firms success;
aggressively pursuing new opportunities with entrepre-
neurship, while failing to meet customer needs with inno-
vation, is unlikely to lead to long-term success (Hult and
Ketchen 2001). In the same vein, without continuously
exploiting new markets or renewing existing opportuni-
ties, innovation alone cannot lead to superior perfor-
mance. Han et al. (1998) noted that in the organization lit-
erature, there is an established relationship between
innovative culture and organizational outcome.
Furthermore, we expect that the performance advan-
tage of innovative capability as a strategic resource may be
56 JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE WINTER 2005
contingent on factors in the external environment. In the
strategy literature, Li and Atuahene-Gima (2001:1123)
identified the mixed results of the innovation-performance
link and concluded that it is necessary to advance the inno-
vation literature by identifying and testing moderators. In
particular, they found that in Chinas highly uncertain and
complex environment, factors such as market change and
unpredictability, dysfunctional competition, and institu-
tional support moderate the innovation-performance link
in new-technology Chinese ventures. As a result, in our
context of globalization, we argue that the link between in-
novation capability and performance will be strengthened
when firms aggressively seek highly competitive global
markets and source products globally. Because the global
marketplace is increasingly competitive, newproducts and
innovations are essential for success (Achrol and Kotler
1999; Li and Atuahene-Gima 2001; Moxon 1975). Sour-
cing globally may spread new cultural perspectives and
technological developments, which lead to more new
products and innovations (Clark 1990). Thus, global mar-
ket seeking and product sourcing may positively moderate
the innovative marketing resourcesperformance link.
However, we argue that the link between innovative capa-
bility and performance would be weakened by global part-
nership, for two reasons. First, according to the stage
theory of globalization, foreign partners from developed
countries are more likely to invest intensively in R&D to
develop and market cutting edge technologies in their
home courtiers first and only than to introduce technolo-
gies to other developing countries in a phased manner
(Clark 1990; Moxon 1975). As such, foreign partners are
less likely to commit all of their resources in local markets
to strive aggressively for new products and innovations in
local markets (Peng and Luo 2000), suppressing the possi-
ble performance advantages of innovative capability. Sec-
ond, differences in national culture and business strategic
goals exist between the foreign businesses and local part-
ners (Lin and Germain 2003; Peng and Luo 2000). Such
differences may result in different views of R&D and new
technology, which are essential for long-term returns but
not always for short-term benefits (Moxon 1975). While
foreign partners may be more focused on short-terminter-
ests, local businesses may be interested in both short-term
and long-termreturns. This inherent difference in strategic
goals in the global business partnership would also likely
reduce the performance advantage of product innovation
and innovative capability.
Hypothesis 7: The performance advantage of innovative
capability is weaker for firms with global partner-
ships than for firms without them.
Hypothesis 8: The performance advantage of innovative
capability is stronger for firms that more aggres-
sively seek global markets.
Hypothesis 9: The performance advantage of innovative
capability is stronger for firms that more aggres-
sively engage in global product sourcing.
METHOD
Sample
This research used a national sample of companies in
China, the largest and fastest-growing emerging economy
in the world. We examined firms headquartered in various
economic zones (coastal and interior regions) across
China with nationwide operations. Only organizations in
the designated economic zones were included to control
for possible biases (i.e., level of openness of markets, geo-
graphic location, extent of economic development, and the
degree to which firms are exposed to Western business
practices). Due to the rapid growth of the Chinese econ-
omy, the marketing practices of the firms in economic
zones may also represent those of other major metropoli-
tan areas in China. Firms in economic zones were ran-
domly selected from the China Basic Statistical Units
Yearbook (China Statistical Press), which lists registered
business enterprises in China. The directory provides
basic information about individual business enterprises,
including address, phone number, business nature and
scope, major products/services, turnover, number of
employees, and ownership (state owned, privately owned,
or foreign invested). Selected firms were telephoned,
resulting in a prequalified sample, then appointments were
made with each firm. Research assistants confirmed the
basic information obtained from the directory with man-
agers, such as the size and ownership of sample firms, and
requested their completion of the questionnaire.
Pretesting
Pretesting was conducted in three stages. First, an Eng-
lish version of the questionnaire was prepared. Agroup of
U.S.-based international market researchers and business
professionals examined the proposed questionnaire. It was
developed based on preexisting measures. Iterative pre-
testing was conducted with this group to refine the ques-
tionnaire. Next, the questionnaire was translated and back-
translated into Chinese by two independent translators in
accordance with established standards (Peng and Luo
2000). Finally, the questionnaire was tested in a pilot study
with 10 Chinese companies in China.
Data
Because previous studies have reported difficulties
attaining reliable data from mail surveys in China, data
collection proceeded via person-to-person interviews
Luo et al. / MARKETING RESOURCES 57
instead of through mail surveys (e.g., Atuahene-Gima and
Li 2002). Independent research assistants from universi-
ties in the selected economic zones collected the data.
Prior to the interviews, one of the authors spent several
days locally in China, training the research assistants to
ensure commonality in data collection methods and to
minimize the possible misunderstanding of questions.
Research assistants personally met with managers and had
each one complete the questionnaire during the interview.
The surveys were then collected and forwarded to the
authors. The data in this study consisted of 233 usable
responses from personal interviews with marketing man-
agers and other senior management. Twenty-six percent of
the respondents were marketing managers, 34.3 percent
were more senior managers, 21.7 percent were owners,
and 17.6 percent were other types of managers. Among the
firms sampled, 52.5 percent had 500 or fewer employees,
and 8.3 percent had 50 or fewer employees. The largest
industry segment was manufacturing (61.9%), followed
by the service sector (21.9%), distribution (8.6%), and
retailing (5.4%); 2.2 percent classified themselves in more
than one category.
Measures
All measures of market orientation, entrepreneurial
orientation, and innovative capability were operational-
ized using a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1
(strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). There were three
measures of globalization activities. Global Product Sour-
cing was assessed by the managers degree of agreement
or disagreement with an item stating that the majority of
the products sold by the firm are imported (e.g., Murray
et al. 1995). Global Market Seeking was measured by a
question asking the percentage of products sold globally
(Christmann and Taylor 2001). Global Partnership was
assessed by a question designed to determine whether the
firm was purely Chinese owned or a Chinese-foreign
partnership.
Our Market Orientation measure came from
Deshpande and Farleys (1998) 10-itemscale of customer-
focused market orientation. This scale was validated and
found convergent with two other popular market orienta-
tion scales (Kohli and Jaworski 1993; Narver and Slater
1990). The Entrepreneurial Orientation Scale was a 5-item
measure from the literature (Davis, Morris, and Allen
1991). The included items assessed the firm relative to its
key competitors on its ability to identify new opportuni-
ties, propensity to take risks, tendency to engage in strate-
gic planning activities, ability to identify customer needs
and wants, and ability to persevere in making its vision of
the business a reality. Our Innovative Capability Scale was
a 5-item Likert-type measure developed by Hurley and
Hult (1998). This measure was designed to capture the
firms ability to develop and implement new ideas,
products, and processes in order to bring new technology
into use (Han et al. 1998).
Finally, this study adopted two performance measures.
The first is the Marketing Program Dynamism (MPD)
Scale developed by Sinkula, Bakers, and Noordewier
(1997). MPD is considered an appropriate measurement
of firm performance given the fact that Sinkula et al.
(1997) suggested that conventional profitability perfor-
mance measurements (i.e., return on investment) might
not best reflect the consequences of market orientation and
innovativeness. This outcome measurement consisted of
four items measuring changes in an organizations product/
brand mix, sales strategies, and sales promotion/advertising
strategies. The second performance measure was the
firms sales growth in percentage over the previous year.
Ideally, actual firm financial performance data would be
the most appropriate measure. But such data in China are
deemed highly confidential and extremely hard to collect.
The perceptual-based performance measures are quite
accepted for research in China given the reported diffi-
culty in getting actual data (Ambler et al. 1999; Atuahene-
Gima and Li 2002).
RESULTS
The reliability and validity of the measurements are
examined with the two-step approach suggested by
Anderson and Gerbing (1988). As reported in Table 2, all
coefficient alphas of the multi-item variables are above
.70, indicating adequate internal consistency (Nunnally
1978). We also checked the potential problems of halo
effect and common method variance. One popular proce-
dure used to test the existence of common method bias is
the Harmans one-factor test (Podsakoff and Organ 1986).
If a single factor can be extracted or if one factor can
explain a majority of the variance, the threat of common
method problem is high. Results of factor analysis did not
indicate a single-factor structure that would account for a
majority of the variances. This suggests that common
method variance is not a cause for concern in the sample.
Market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation,
innovativeness capability, and MPD measurements were
tested and validated by confirmatory factor analysis
(CFA). The CFA results of the multi-itemscales appear in
Table 2. The CFA results showed that convergent validity
of the measurements exists. This is because all path esti-
mates from latent constructs to their corresponding mani-
fest indicators were significant (i.e., t-statistics > 2). For
each set of measures, results also showed that the average
variance extracted for each measure was greater than the
squared structural link between the two measures, indicat-
ing evidence of discriminant validity (Fornell and Larcker
1981). An examination of all the latent trait correlations
between constructs indicated that all of these correlations
58 JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE WINTER 2005
Luo et al. / MARKETING RESOURCES 59
were significantly different from one, providing further
support for discriminant validity.
The overall Goodness-of-Fit statistics show that
although the chi-square of 535.96 with 246 degrees of
freedom is significant at the .01 level, the ratio of chi-
square to degrees of freedomis desirable, with a value less
than 2. CFA results support the validity of the measure-
ment models given the acceptable levels of the Compara-
tive Fit Index (CFI = .915), the Goodness-of-Fit Index
(GFI = .903), the Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index (AGFI
= .892), and root mean square error of approximation
(RMSEA = .067). The Pearson correlation results are
reported in Table 3.
Hypothesis Testing Results
In Table 4, we present the regression results. Following
Sharma et al.s (1981) process of testing-moderated
TABLE 3
Correlations Among Variables
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. Global market seeking .00
2. Global product sourcing .45* 1.00
3. Global partnership .20* .18* 1.00
4. Market orientation .01 .01 .13* 1.00
5. Entrepreneurial orientation .04 .11 .23* .67* 1.00
6. Innovative capability .01 .18* .13* .58* .60* 1.00
7. Marketing program dynamism .13* .36* .02 .31* .28* .21* 1.00
8. Sales growth .08 .34* .07 .03 .24* .19* .15* 1.00
*p < .05.
TABLE 2
Results of Measurement Model
Factor Composite
Measurement Model Paths Loading t-Value Reliability
Market Orientation .90
1. Our business objectives are driven primarily by customer satisfaction. .55
a

2. We constantly monitor our level of commitment and orientation to serving customer needs. .72 8.07
3. We freely communicate information about our successful and unsuccessful customer experiences across
all business functions. .65 7.62
4. Our strategy for competitive advantage is based on our understanding of customers needs. .73 8.18
5. We measure customer satisfaction systematically and frequently. .82 8.71
6. We have routine or regular measures of customer needs. .84 8.80
7. We are more customer focused than our competitors. .70 7.94
8. I believe this business exists primarily to serve customers. .47 6.07
9. We poll end users at least once a year to assess the quality of our products and service. .59 7.09
10. Data on customer satisfaction are disseminated at all levels in this business unit on a regular basis. .57 6.95
Entrepreneurial Orientation .87
1. Relative to our competitors, our company has higher propensity to take risks. .55
a

2. Relative to our competitors, our company has higher tendency to engage in strategic planning activities. .78 8.32
3. Relative to our competitors, our company has higher ability to identify customer needs and wants. .82 8.51
4. Relative to our competitors, our company has higher ability to persevere in making our vision of the
business a reality. .69 7.72
5. Relative to our competitors, our company has higher ability to identify new opportunities. .79 8.35
Innovative Capability .78
1. Technical innovation, based on research results, is readily accepted. .77
a

2. Management actively seeks innovative ideas. .81 12.04

3. Innovation is readily accepted in program/project management. .77 11.48
4. People are penalized for new ideas that dont work. .36 5.15
5. Innovation is perceived as too risky and is resisted. .24 3.36
Marketing Program Dynamism .75
1. Changes in organizations products. .62
a

2. Changes in organizations brand mix. .57 6.50

3. Changes in organizations sales strategy. .74 7.38
4. Changes in organizations sales promotion/advertising strategies. .63 6.89
NOTE: Fit statistics:
2
(246) = 535.96, p = .00; Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = .915, Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI) = .903, Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index
(AGFI) = .892, and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .067.
a. Fixed parameter.
relationships, the changes of R
2
s were found to be signifi-
cant when adding the interaction items of globalization
activities and capabilities (the change of R
2
was .059 for
MPDand .106 for was sales growth). Next we checked the
interaction items to test the moderated hypotheses.
Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 state that the market orientation
performance link is strengthened by global partnership,
global market seeking, and global product sourcing,
respectively. Hypothesis 1 was not supported (b = .05 for
MPDoutcome and b = .04 for sales growth). However, the
market orientationperformance link was stronger with
global market seeking (Hypothesis 2: b = .21, p < .05 for
sales growth) and global partnership (Hypothesis 3: b =
.24, p < .05 for sales growth). Thus, Hypothesis 2 and
Hypothesis 3 were partially supported. It should be noted
that there is no universal, undisputed approach to hypothe-
sis testing that can guarantee a meaningful empirical test
or offer fully objective analysis and description of results
(Sawyer and Peter 1983:131). Thus, like this type of
research, we also assume that sampling error would be an
unlikely explanation of results when choosing a predeter-
mined p level in hypothesis testing (Sawyer and Peter
1983; Zinkhan 1993). Nevertheless, our results lend some
support for the hypothesis that globalization activities,
such as the intensity of seeking foreign market opportuni-
ties or a strategic alliance with foreign investment,
strengthen the market orientationperformance link in the
context of the emerging Chinese economy. This finding is
an important step toward generalizing the marketing con-
cept in the global economy; if the performance advantage
of market orientation is contingent on globalization
activities, developing economies may have to adapt a mar-
ket orientation strategy into their international settings.
Our results seem to indicate that the influence of market
orientation on performance is stronger for firms undergo-
ing globalization transformation in China. This finding,
based on the RBT, supports the contingency perspective
and moderating results in the Western economy context
(Matsuno and Mentzer 2000; Narver and Slater 1990;
Voss and Voss 2000). Interestingly, our results show that
market orientation strongly influences firm performance
in China and that its impact on sales growth may be
expanded when the firm aggressively seeks foreign
markets and forms alliances with foreign businesses.
The performance advantage of entrepreneurial orienta-
tion was hypothesized to be weaker for firms that engage
in global partnerships than for those that do not (Hypothe-
sis 4), stronger for firms that more aggressively engage in
global market seeking (Hypothesis 5), and stronger for
firms that more aggressively engage in global product
sourcing (Hypothesis 6). The entrepreneurial orientation-
performance link was weakened by global partnership
(Hypothesis 4: b = .18 for MPD outcome, b = .28 for
sales growth), supporting Hypothesis 4. In addition, the
link was strengthened by global product sourcing
(Hypothesis 5: b = .16 for sales growth) and global market
seeking (Hypothesis 6: b = .20 for MPD), partially sup-
porting Hypotheses 5 and 6. These results provide some
support for the hypothesis that globalization may moder-
ate the entrepreneurial orientationperformance link in
the context of Chinas emerging economy. Entrepreneur-
ial orientation, though less addressed in marketing
60 JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE WINTER 2005
TABLE 4
Model Estimation Results
Marketing Program Dynamism Sales Growth
Independent Variable
a
Standardized Coefficient VIF
b
Standardized Coefficient VIF
Market orientation .19* 1.98 .26* 2.33
Entrepreneurial orientation .18* 2.05 .38* 2.49
Innovative capability .16* 1.76 .20* 2.57
Global product sourcing .11 1.20 .27* 1.19
Global market seeking .09 1.12 .08 1.09
Global partnership .02 1.17 .05 1.13
Market Orientation Global Product Sourcing .05 2.21 .04 2.24
Market Orientation Global Market Seeking .07 2.87 .21* 3.61
Market Orientation Global Partnership .06 2.06 .24* 2.43
Entrepreneurial Orientation Global Product Sourcing .09 2.18 .16 2.21
Entrepreneurial Orientation Global Market Seeking .20* 2.49 .07 3.24
Entrepreneurial Orientation Global Partnership .18* 2.18 .28* 2.35
Innovative Capability Global Product Sourcing .04 1.64 .06 1.70
Innovative Capability Global Market Seeking .18* 3.70 .00 3.93
Innovative Capability Global Partnership .14 2.20 .26* 2.87
R
2
.19* .27*
a. Mean-centered variables used to minimize the effect of multicollinearity.
b. VIF = variance inflation factor; if VIF results are large in size (i.e., VIF > 10), there would be concern of multicollinearity.
*p < .05, one-tailed tests.
literature (e.g., Davis et al. 1991), has been a major
research stream in strategic management (Barringer and
Bluedorn 1999). However, Zahra (1993) noted that there
is a paucity of empirical documentation of the effect of
entrepreneurship on company performance (p. 11). Our
finding also seems to corroborate the contingency
approach to entrepreneurship (e.g., Dess et al. 1997;
Murray et al. 1995; Zahra and Covin 1995), which sug-
gests that the link between entrepreneurial orientation and
performance is moderated by external environmental vari-
ables. Our studyis anextensionof entrepreneurshipresearch,
for (1) the entrepreneurial orientationperformance link is
not universal and depends on international settings, and
(2) not all global partnerships create synergy leading to
superior performance. Our research may serve to answer
McDougall and Oviatts (2000) call for research on the
intersection of international marketing and entrepreneur-
ship. These researchers note that entrepreneurship is an
important topic of interest to academic researchers, busi-
ness managers, and policy makers. After all, todays entre-
preneurs are competing globally in attracting, retaining,
and managing customers. However, the paths of research
on entrepreneurship and global business have intersected
too infrequently (p. 902). Global entrepreneurship should
become an important topic for marketing researchers,
business managers, and policy makers. In a similar vein,
Shane and Venkataraman (2000) concluded that entrepre-
neurship will become a field of important, relevant, and
fruitful research.
Finally, the innovative capabilityperformance link
would be weakened by global partnership (Hypothesis 7),
strengthened by global market seeking (Hypothesis 8),
and strengthened by global product sourcing (Hypothesis
9). The results indicate that the innovation-performance
link is weaker for firms with global partnership (Hypothe-
sis 7: b = .14 for MPD, b = .26 for sales growth), sup-
porting Hypothesis 7. Although this link was not moder-
ated by global product sourcing (Hypothesis 9: b = .04 for
MPD, b = .06 for sales growth), it was stronger for firms
that seek global markets (Hypothesis 8: b = .18, p < .05 for
MPD), partially supporting Hypothesis 8. These results
provide some support for the hypothesis that globalization
may moderate the innovation-performance link in the Chi-
nese economy. Our finding supports the importance of
innovation. Indeed, prior studies (e.g., Deshpande, Farley,
and Webster 1993) provide support for a positive relation-
ship between innovation capability and organizational
outcome and performance. Hurley and Hult (1998) sug-
gested that high innovative capability would enable the
firmto implement more innovations and develop compet-
itive advantage (p. 42). More important, our study
extends the literature on the direct link between
innovativeness and performance to a newfrontier, one that
focuses on the possible moderators of external
environmental factors (Li and Atuahene-Gima 2001).
Overall, the reported results indicate that the innovation-
performance link is not universal to all international
settings and that not all global partnerships create synergy
with innovative capabilities leading to superior
performance.
DISCUSSION
This study examines the contingent relationship
between marketing resources and performance by intro-
ducing globalization as a moderator. Our results, based on
a sample of Chinese firms, show that the marketing
resourcesperformance link is moderated by some global-
ization activities. Extending the extant research using
Western firms (Dess et al. 1997; Jaworshi and Kohli 1993;
Matsuno and Mentzer 2000; Murray et al. 1995; Voss and
Voss 2000; Zahra and Covin 1995), our results indicate
that the performance advantages of marketing resources
are contingent on external factors such as global partner-
ship, market seeking, and product sourcing. In particular,
the market orientationsales growth link is strengthened
by global partnership and global market-seeking activi-
ties. The entrepreneurship-performance link is strength-
ened by global product sourcing, but weakened by global
partnership. In addition, the innovative capability-
performancelinkis weakenedbyglobal partnershipactivity.
Although we believe that our overall conceptual frame-
work is supported by the empirical data, we do note that a
few results do not support some of the hypotheses (e.g.,
the role of global product sourcing on the innovation-
performance link is not supported by data). Typical of survey-
based research in this research domain, our data collection
and analysis do not consider the relative influence of tan-
gible resources (such as cheap labor, raw materials, and
capital) and intangible resources (the focus of our
research), thereby omitting some variables that could
potentially influence the marketing resources-performance
link. The omission of such tangible resources might be one
reason for the mixed results of the moderating role of glob-
alization. However, we also believe that tangible resources
were perhaps much more important determinants of a
firms performance in traditional Chinese society prior to
the burgeoning globalization. In contrast, in modern
China, which is closer to market-driven, customer-based
economies, intangible resources should be more critical.
Nevertheless, our results provide some support for the
moderating role of globalization on the marketing
resourcesperformance link. Further exploration to tease
out these fine-grained relationships will be a fruitful direc-
tion for future research. Overall, our research framework
and the empirical findings offer several important mana-
gerial and research implications.
Luo et al. / MARKETING RESOURCES 61
Managerial Implications
This study has a number of implications for marketing
managers in the global context. Managers should develop
key market-driven strategies (e.g., market orientation,
entrepreneurial proclivity) in the firm to seize the enor-
mous business opportunities in the Chinese market. As
China, the largest emerging economy and the second-
largest recipient of worldwide foreign direct investment,
enters the WTO and hosts the 2008 Olympic Games, it
offers massive business and marketing opportunities to
global managers. In such a dynamic environment, market
mechanisms and regulations are increasingly adopted
(Peng and Luo 2000; Shenkar and von Glinow 1994). As
the Chinese government embraces a free-market econ-
omy, firms must change radically to meet the new chal-
lenges (Miles and Snow 1978). Without governmental or
monopolistic protection, Chinese firms are compelled to
be more innovative and market oriented than their tradi-
tional counterparts. Western managers may help advance
Chinese employees market-based knowledge and capa-
bilities by creating a learning organization (Hurley and
Hult 1998; Slater and Narver 1994). Our results consis-
tently show the significant influence of various firm
resources on performance, such as marketing program
dynamism and sales growth. As a result, it is recom-
mended that firms in a transitional society develop market
orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and innovative
capabilityfirms key SCA resources (Day 1994; Hurley
and Hult 1998).
Our results show that the link between strategic
resources and performance is not uniform across situa-
tions and that the nature and extent of globalization activi-
ties moderate this relationship. Our findings suggest that
managers in Chinese firms can obtain superior perfor-
mance by aligning their globalization activities with the
marketing resourcesperformance linkages. Thus, man-
agers can use this enhanced understanding when forming
conclusions related to organizational activities. For exam-
ple, our results suggest that the market orientationsales
growth link can be strengthened by global market seeking
and global partnership. Managers could take full advan-
tage of entrepreneurship in enhancing performance when
adopting a global product-sourcing strategy (Kotabe
1990; Murray et al. 1995), since global product sourcing
was found to fortify the influence of entrepreneurship on
sales growth. Interestingly, global market-seeking strat-
egy was found to have synergy with all three capabilities
(market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and inno-
vative capability) in obtaining above-normal rent. How-
ever, global partnership with foreign investors may have a
cannibalistic influence on firm performance. Our results
indicate that it weakens the influence of entrepreneurship
and innovation on performance in terms of marketing pro-
gram dynamism and sales growth, although it positively
moderates the market orientationsales growth link. As a
result, managers should exercise caution when partnering
with foreign investors and should consider the overall
impact before making decisions.
Finally, increasing globalization pushes managers to
think beyond the traditional resource-based perspective
and toward consideration of a number of relevant factors
that help increase organizational performance (Cavusgil
and Zou 1994; Kotabe 1992; Morgan et al. 2004; Zou and
Cavusgil 2002). Although globalization was the focus of
this research, managers must consider other factors that
will enable their firms to use their strategic resources more
effectively.
Research Implications
Our study represents a small but important step toward
testing the applicability of theories generated in the con-
text of Western economies to transitional economies.
More studies are needed to explore market-driven organi-
zations in dynamic environments in a transitional society
from a resources perspective (Fahy et al. 2000; Hooley
et al. 2000). Given the fact that firms in transitional econo-
mies deal with challenging and complex environments,
emerging economies represent a unique opportunity to test
organizational and marketing theories (Fahy et al. 2000;
Shenkar and von Glinow1994). In particular, China offers
a fascinating context to investigate the pattern and strength
of the performance advantages of critical resources along
with firm globalization activities, due to its huge size, its
significant differences from Western economies, and its
increasing importance in advancing the global economy
(Shenkar and von Glinow 1994). Thus, more studies that
test Western theories (e.g., RBT) in China would be
particularly useful in generalizing knowledge and
advancing theory development globally.
Our study extends the theoretical domain of RBT(Bar-
ney 2001) by introducing the role of globalization. We
propose a fine-tuned argument of the marketing
resourcesperformance link and examine the role of glob-
alization on the effectiveness of a firms activities. Future
research could be conducted to distinguish between the
short-term and long-term implications for firms. For
example, does a particular resource-globalization combi-
nation achieve short-term objectives while jeopardizing
long-term goals? Do the optimal resource mix and global-
ization initiatives change during the life of the firm and/or
during the product life cycle?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors deeply appreciate the detailed and specific
guidelines from the editor and the constructive comments
from the reviewers on previous versions of the article.
62 JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE WINTER 2005
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Xueming Luo ([email protected]) is an assistant professor in the
Department of Marketing in the College of Business Administra-
tion at the University of Texas at Arlington. Before joining the
University of Texas at Arlington faculty, he was on the faculty of
the State University of New York at Fredonia. His research has
appeared in various journals, including the Journal of Business
Research, the International Journal of Research in Marketing,
the Journal of Advertising Research, the Journal of Interactive
Advertising, and Industrial Marketing Management.
K. Sivakumar (Ph.D., Syracuse University; k.sivakumar@lehigh.
edu) is the Arthur Tauck Professor of International Marketing &
Logistics and a professor of marketing at Lehigh University.
Prior to joining Lehigh in 2001, he spent 9 years at the University
of Illinois in Chicago. His research interests include pricing,
global marketing, and innovation management. His research has
been published or is forthcoming in the Journal of the Academy
of Marketing Science, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of
International Business Studies, Decision Sciences Journal, Mar-
keting Letters, the Journal of Business Research, International
Marketing Review, the Journal of Product Innovation Manage-
64 JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE WINTER 2005
ment, Pricing Strategy & Practice: An International Journal,
Psychology & Marketing, and other publications. He has won
several awards for his research (including the Donald Lehman
Award) and is on the editorial board of several scholarly journals.
He has won outstanding reviewer awards from two journals.
Sandra S. Liu ([email protected]) is an associate professor in
the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing at Purdue
University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Lon-
don, and her current research interest focuses on strategic mar-
keting issues in the context of customer contact, including
knowledge management in a corporation in transition and sales
management in a knowledge economy. With her extensive indus-
try experience, she has written a number of books and journal ar-
ticles, which have appeared in the International Journal of
Research in Marketing, the Journal of Business Research, the
European Journal of Marketing, Marketing Intelligence and
Planning, among others.
Luo et al. / MARKETING RESOURCES 65