Relationship between the product differentiation and firm performance of Japanese invested enterprises (JIEs) in Vietnam
Main Article Content
Abstract
The amazing proliferation of product choices as well as remarkable improvements in innovation activities during recent decades have become key driving forces of product differentiation, which is deemed as a sustainable competitive advantage of firms in technological-driven economy. The concept of product differentiation in this paper will be approached from innovation perspective, referring to capabilities of firms to enhance product quality, design, and unique features. In addition, firm performance is measured comprehensively through Balanced ScoreCard (BSC). Utilizing survey data from 158 JIEs operating in Vietnam, this study finds out the positive association between product differentiation and firm performance in both manufacturing and service industry. Unique product feature is examined to be the most important determinant of product differentiation affecting performance of JIEs, which should be prioritized in sustainable development of JIEs.
Article Details
Keywords
product differentiation, firm performance, product quality, product design, unique product features, Japanese Invested Enterprises (JIEs)
References
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40. Holton, R. M., 1958, The Distinction between Convenience Goods, Shopping Goods, and Specialty Goods, Journal of Marketing, 23 (July),pp: 53-56.
41. Hoque, Z., 2004, A contingency model of the association between strategy, environmental uncertainty and performance measurement: impact on organizational performance, International Business Review, 13: 485-502.
42. Hurley, R. and Hult, T., 1998, Innovation, market orientation andorganizational learning: an integration and empirical examination, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 62, July, pp. 42-54
43. Ittner, C., Larcker, D. and Randall, T. 2003, Performance Implications of Strategic Performance Measurement in Financial Service Firms, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.28, No.7-8, pp.715-741.
44. James Glieck, 2000, Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything.
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46. Kaish, Stanley, 1967, Cognitive Dissonance and the Classification of Consumer Goods, Journal of Marketing, pp:28-31.
47. Kaplan, R.S., and Norton, D. P., 1992, The Balanced Scorecard Measures That Drive Performance. Harvard Business Review.
48. Kardes, F. R., & Kalyanaram, G. 1992, Order-of-entry effects on consumer memory and judgment: An information integration perspective. Journal of Marketing Research, 29, pp. 41–58.
49. Kedera S. Nolega, MagretOloko (PhD), Sakataka William (PhD) and Evans BiraoriOteki, 2015, Effects of Product Differentiation Strategies on Firm Product Performance: A Case of Kenya Seed Company (KSC), Kitale/ International Journal of Novel Research in Marketing Management and Economics, Vol. 2, Issue 3, pp: 100110.
50. Kevin Zheng Zhou & Kent Nakamoto, 2007, How do enhanced and unique features affect new product preference? The moderating role of product familiarity. Journal of the Academic Marketing Science. (35): pp 53–62. DOI 10.1007/s11747-006-0011-3
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66. Patrick E. Murphy and Ben M. Enis, 1986, Classifying Products Strategically. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 50, pp: 24-42.
67. Perera S.G.H, Poole M, 1997, Customer-focused manufacturing strategy and the use of operations-based non-financial performance measures: A research note. Accounting, Organizations and Society, Chapter 22, pp: 557-572.
68. Porter, M.E, 1989, The competitive advantage of nations, pp.395-397
69. Porter, M.E., 1980, Competitive Strategy, New York: Free Press.
70. Rahman, M., 2011, Differentiation of services to achieve competitive advantage: airlines meeting the needs of the physically challenged persons.
71. Randall G. Holcombe, 2009, Product differentiation and economic progress. The Quarterly journal of Austrian economics, 12. No.1, pp: 17–35
72. Sarah Yang Spencer, Therese A. Joiner, and Suzanne Salmon, 2009, Differentiation Strategy, Performance Measurement Systems and Organizational Performance: Evidence from Australia. International Journal of Business, 14(1), ISSN: 1083−4346, pp: 83 -103
73. Scheuing, E., E., 1974, New product management, Dryden Press
74. Scott M. B, Jack, W.W. & Hause, E.L., 2012, Using Employee and Customer Perspectives to Improve Organizational Performance. Kenexa Research Institute, Lawrence Fogli, Editor
75. Tangen, S., 2005, Demystifying productivity and performance, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 54 (1): 34-46.
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78. Werts, C. E., Linn, R. L., &Jöreskog, K. G., 1974, Interclass reliability estimates: Testing structural assumptions. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 34, pp.25-33
2. Allen, R.S. and Helms, M.M., 2002, Employee perceptions of the relationship between strategy, rewards and organizational performance, Journal of Business Strategies, Vol. 19
3. Amabile, T.M., &Gryskiewicz, S.S, 1987, Creativity in the R&D laboratory, Technical Report Number 30. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership
4. Arasa, Robert, 2014, The relationship between competitive strategies and firm performance: Case of mobile telecommunication companies in Kenya, International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, Vol. 2, Issue 9, ISSN 2348 0386.
5. Arroyo, P., & Pozzebon, M. (2010). Implementing a Three-Level Balanced Scorecard System at Chilquinta Energía. International Journal of Case Studies in Management, 8(2), 1-20.
6. Atkinson, A.A., Waterhouse, J.H. and Wells, R.B. 1997, A Stakeholder Approach to Strategic Performance Measurement, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 25- 37.
7. Atkinson, M., 2012, Developing and using a performance management framework: a case study, Measuring Business Excellence, 16 (3): 47-56.
8. Bain, I.S., 1956, Bamers to New Competition, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
9. Bayus B.L., Erickson G,M , Jacobson R., 2003, The Financial Rewards of New Product Introductions in the Personal Computer Industry. Article in Management Science, 49(2):197-210
10. Bisbe, J., and D. Otley, 2004, The effects of the interactive use of management control systems on product innovation, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 29,pp 709737.
11. Bititci, U.S., Carrie, A.S. and Mcdevitt, L., 1997, Integrated Performance Measurement Systems: A Development Guide, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 17, No. 5-6, pp. 522-534.
12. Bosch. J., 2000. Design and Use of Software Architectures – Adopting and Evolving a Product-line Approach. ACM Press
13. Bucklin, Louis (1976), Retrospective Comment on Retail Strategy and the Classification of Consumer Goods, The Great Writings in Marketing, H. A. Thompson, ed., Plymouth, MI: The Commerce Press, pp: 382-388.
14. Bucklin, Louis, 1963, Retail Strategy and the Classification of Consumer Goods, Journal of Marketing, pp: 51-56.
15. Carpenter, G. S., Glazer, R., & Nakamoto K., 1994, Meaningful brands from meaningless differentiation: The dependence on irrelevant attributes. Journal of Marketing Research, 31, pp 339–350.
16. Chakravarthy, B., 1986, Measuring strategic performance. Journal of Strategic Management, 7(5), pp 437-458.
17. Chamberlin, E., H., 1965, The theory of monopolistic competition, a reorientation of the theory of the value, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusets.
18. Chenhall, R.H., and K.M. Langfield-Smith, 1998, The relationship between strategic priorities, management techniques and management accounting: An empirical investigation using a systems approach, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 23 (3): 243-264.
19. Copeland, Melvin T., 1923, The Relation of Consumers’ Buying Habits to Marketing Methods, Harvard Business Review, pp: 282-289.
20. Czarnecki K. and Eisenecker U. W., 2000, Generative Programming: Methods, Tools, and Applications. Addison Wesley.
21. Damanpour, F. and Evan, W. M., 1984, Organizational innovation and performance: The problem of organizational lag. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29: 392-409.
22. Dhar, R., & Sherman, S. J., 1996, The effect of common and unique features in consumer choice. Journal of Consumer Research, December, 23, 193–209.
23. Doyle, D., P., 1998, Adding value to marketing: the role of marketing in today’s profitdriven organization, Kogan Page, London.
24. Dumond, E.J., 1994, Making Best Use of Performance-Measures and Information. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 14(9), 16-31
25. Enis, Ben M. and Kenneth J. Roering, 1980, Product Classification Taxonomies: Synthesis and Consumer Implications, in Theoretical Developments in Marketing, C. W. Lamb, Jr., and P.M. Dunne, eds., Chicago: American Marketing Association, 186-189.
26. Erik Strøjer & Smith, Valdemar, 2008, Commercialization of Innovations and Firm Performance, Working Papers 08-26, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics.
27. Evans, J., R., and Berman, B., 1997, Marketing, the seventh edition, Prentice Hall Inc., New Jersey
28. Field, A., 2000, Discovering Statistics using SPSS for Windows. London – Thousand Oaks – New Delhi: Sage publications.
29. Foote, N., N., 1972, Market segmentation as a competitive strategy, in Engel., J., F., Fiorillo, H., F., Cayley, M., A., (editors), Market segmentation – concepts and applications, Holt, Rinehart & Winston
30. Forsman H, 2011, Innovation capacity and innovation development in small enterprises. A comparison between the manufacturing and service sectors, Research Policy ,40, pp 739–750.
31. Franco-Santos, M. and Bourne, M., 2005, An examination of the literature relating to issues affecting how companies manage through measures, Production, Planning and Control, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 114-124.
32. Geringer, J. & Hebert, L., 1991, Measuring performance of international joint ventures. Journal of International Business Studies, 22(2), 249-263.
33. Globerman, S., 1979, Foreign direct investment and spillover efficiency benefits in Canadian Manufacturing Industries. Canadian Journal of Economics, 12, 42-56.
34. Gordon E. Miracle, 1965, Product Characteristics and Marketing Strategy. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 29, pp. 18-24
35. Götz O, Liehr-Gobbers K, Krafft M., 2009, Evaluation of structural equation models using the partial least squares (PLS) approach. In Handbook of Partial Least Squares: Concepts, Methods and Applications, Vinzi VE, Chin WW, Heneseler J, Wang H. (eds). Springer: Berlin.
36. Govindarajan, V., 1988, A contingency approach to strategy implementation at the business-unit level: Integrating administrative mechanisms with strategy, Academy of Management Journal: 828-853.
37. Haarla, A., 2003, Product differentiation: does it provide competitive advantage for a printing paper company?. Laboratory of Paper Technology, Helsinki University of Technology Reports, Series A17, pp: 20 – 176.
38. Hill, Charles W.L., 2011, Global business today. McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 7th Edith, Chapter 3, pp:93-123
39. Holbrook, Morris B. and John A. Howard, 1977, Frequently Purchased Nondurable Goods and Services, in Selected Aspects of Consumer Behavior, Robert Ferber, ed., Washington, DC: National Science Foundation, 189-222.
40. Holton, R. M., 1958, The Distinction between Convenience Goods, Shopping Goods, and Specialty Goods, Journal of Marketing, 23 (July),pp: 53-56.
41. Hoque, Z., 2004, A contingency model of the association between strategy, environmental uncertainty and performance measurement: impact on organizational performance, International Business Review, 13: 485-502.
42. Hurley, R. and Hult, T., 1998, Innovation, market orientation andorganizational learning: an integration and empirical examination, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 62, July, pp. 42-54
43. Ittner, C., Larcker, D. and Randall, T. 2003, Performance Implications of Strategic Performance Measurement in Financial Service Firms, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.28, No.7-8, pp.715-741.
44. James Glieck, 2000, Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything.
45. Joy I. Dirisu, OluwoleIyiola and O. S. Ibidunni, 2013, Product Differentiation: A tool of competitive advantage and optimal organizational performance. A Study of Uniliver Nigeria PLC, Edition 9th, pp: 258- 281.
46. Kaish, Stanley, 1967, Cognitive Dissonance and the Classification of Consumer Goods, Journal of Marketing, pp:28-31.
47. Kaplan, R.S., and Norton, D. P., 1992, The Balanced Scorecard Measures That Drive Performance. Harvard Business Review.
48. Kardes, F. R., & Kalyanaram, G. 1992, Order-of-entry effects on consumer memory and judgment: An information integration perspective. Journal of Marketing Research, 29, pp. 41–58.
49. Kedera S. Nolega, MagretOloko (PhD), Sakataka William (PhD) and Evans BiraoriOteki, 2015, Effects of Product Differentiation Strategies on Firm Product Performance: A Case of Kenya Seed Company (KSC), Kitale/ International Journal of Novel Research in Marketing Management and Economics, Vol. 2, Issue 3, pp: 100110.
50. Kevin Zheng Zhou & Kent Nakamoto, 2007, How do enhanced and unique features affect new product preference? The moderating role of product familiarity. Journal of the Academic Marketing Science. (35): pp 53–62. DOI 10.1007/s11747-006-0011-3
51. Khaled Mohammad Abu Aliqah, 2012, Differentiation and Organizational Performance: Empirical Evidence from Jordanian Companies. Journal Economics, 3(1): pp: 7-11
52. Kim B. Clark and Takahiro Fujimoto, 1991, Product Development Performance: Strategy, Organization, and Management in the World Auto Industry. Chapter 1, pp 01-08
53. Kotler, P., 1998, Marketing management – analysis, planning, implementation, and control, the 8 edition, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
54. Kotler, P., Wong, V., Saunders, J. and Armstrong, G., 2005, Principles of Marketing, 4th European ed., Pearson Education Limited, Essex.
55. Kuehn A. A. and Day R. L., 1962, Strategy of Product Quality, Harvard Business Review, November-December, p. 101
56. Lee Branstetter and Yoshiaki Nakamura, 2003, Is Japan’s Innovative Capacity in Decline? University of Chicago Press, pp: 191 -223
57. Luck, David J. 1959, On the Nature of Specialty Goods, Journal of Marketing, 24 (July), pp: 61-64.
58. Marr, B. and Schiuma, G., 2003, Business Performance Measurement - Past, Present, and Future, Management Decision, Vol. 41, No. 8, pp. 680-687.
59. Mayer, Morris L., J. Barry Mason, and Morris Gee, 1971, A Reconceptualization of Store Classification as Related to Retail Strategy Formulation, Journal of Retailing, 47 (Fall), pp: 27-36.
60. Meyers-Levy, J., & Tybout, A. M., 1989, Schema congruity as a basis for product evaluation. Journal of Consumer Research, 30, pp 359–368.
61. Morgan, N.A., Kaleka, A. and Katsikeas, C.S., 2004, Antecedents of export venture performance: A theoretical model and empirical assessment. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 68
62. Mosakowski, E., 1993, A resource-based perspective on the dynamic strategyperformance relationship: An empirical examination of the focus and differentiation strategies. Journal of Management, vol. 19.
63. Neely, A.D., 1998, Measuring Business Performance: Why, What and How, The Economist and Profile Books Ltd., London, UK.
64. Neely, A.D., 2002, Business Performance Measurement: Theory and Practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
65. Nunnally, J.C., and Bernstein, I.H., 1994, Psychometric Theory, (3rd ed.) McGrawHill, New York.
66. Patrick E. Murphy and Ben M. Enis, 1986, Classifying Products Strategically. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 50, pp: 24-42.
67. Perera S.G.H, Poole M, 1997, Customer-focused manufacturing strategy and the use of operations-based non-financial performance measures: A research note. Accounting, Organizations and Society, Chapter 22, pp: 557-572.
68. Porter, M.E, 1989, The competitive advantage of nations, pp.395-397
69. Porter, M.E., 1980, Competitive Strategy, New York: Free Press.
70. Rahman, M., 2011, Differentiation of services to achieve competitive advantage: airlines meeting the needs of the physically challenged persons.
71. Randall G. Holcombe, 2009, Product differentiation and economic progress. The Quarterly journal of Austrian economics, 12. No.1, pp: 17–35
72. Sarah Yang Spencer, Therese A. Joiner, and Suzanne Salmon, 2009, Differentiation Strategy, Performance Measurement Systems and Organizational Performance: Evidence from Australia. International Journal of Business, 14(1), ISSN: 1083−4346, pp: 83 -103
73. Scheuing, E., E., 1974, New product management, Dryden Press
74. Scott M. B, Jack, W.W. & Hause, E.L., 2012, Using Employee and Customer Perspectives to Improve Organizational Performance. Kenexa Research Institute, Lawrence Fogli, Editor
75. Tangen, S., 2005, Demystifying productivity and performance, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 54 (1): 34-46.
76. Tholke, J. M., Hultink, E. J., & Robben, H. S., 2001, Learning new product features: A multiple case examination. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 18(1), 3–14.
77. Trout J. and Rivkin S., 2008, Differentiate or die: Survival in our era of killer competition, Edition 2nd, pp: 01-126
78. Werts, C. E., Linn, R. L., &Jöreskog, K. G., 1974, Interclass reliability estimates: Testing structural assumptions. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 34, pp.25-33