Implementing a new Framework for Targeting Strategies: The Moderating Role of Regulatory Focus Orientation
(A2021-94661)

AUTHORS

Marina Kyriakou, University of Piraeus; MARKOS TSOGAS, University of Piraeus

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to investigate the adoption of targeting alternatives and offer empirical evidence of their effects on overall firm performance. Kotler’s model is being innovatively enriched by the variable of time and the inclusion of RF theory in an attempt to explain manager’s decision making rational. Results of an e-mail survey in a single European country reaffirm that firms decide among these strategic targeting options. All the examined relationships were found to be nonlinear in nature, while the newly introduced construct of time (speed) of entry to the selected segments, was found not to affect directly the firm’s capabilities, but to moderate the relationship between those capabilities and the resulting firm’s performance. Finally, promotion and prevention focus are pure moderators of targeting decisions, boosting the speed of expansion in cases of perceived product superiority and limiting the number of the targeted segments in times of environmental uncertainty.

REFERENCES

This work has been partly supported by the University of Piraeus Research Center.