The Relationship between marketing performance, logistics performance and company performance for retail companies

Abstract

The objective of this research is to demonstrate the importance of logistics and marketing to overall company performance. The focus is on the relationship between logistics and marketing, because, in the intra-organisational context, the different perspectives of these two functions can lead to conflict between short-term objectives. Consequently, effective coordination between these two organisational units, not only at an intra-organisational, but also at an inter-organisational level, is extremely important. The theoretical assumptions are tested empirically through an investigation of the retailing industry.

Key Words:

• Logistics
• marketing
• intra-organisational coordination
• retailing
• retailer-supplier-coordination

Notes

1 The questionnaires which were rejected were almost exclusively those which been completed online and in which a large number of values were missing. The difficulties associated with online surveys are discussed at length by Bosnjak (1997) and Theobald (2001).

2 In general, constructs are considered to be reliable where Cronbach's alpha values are 0.7 or greater. A minimum value of 0.4 is accepted for the analysis of three or fewer measurement criteria (Nunnally, 1978; Cortina, 1993).

3 Regarding the minimum value, 0.4 is usually the minimum for which the indicator reliability is seen to be acceptable (Homburg and Giering, 1998). The value at which the threshold should be set is disputed in the literature. Indicators with lower values are often accepted, particularly when they measure various different facets of a construct (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988; Balderjahn, 1985). It is for this reason that no indicators are eliminated when they are relevant to the interpretation of the factor in terms of theoretical reasoning.

4 The minimum values relating to factor reliability and the variance extracted are also controversial. Bagozzi and Baumgartner (1994) reject fixed minimum values for these indices and consider lower values for this variable to be particularly acceptable when the indicators measure various different facets of a construct.

5 Estimation of parameters had, to some extent, been conducted stepwise as the calculation of the correlation between mediator variables is not possible using AMOS (Arbuckle and Wothke, 1999). The global model fit for sub-models yields, in each case, values above the required minimum and therefore fulfills the recommended criteria.