IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joamsc/v46y2018i4d10.1007_s11747-017-0533-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The copycat CMO: firms’ imitative behavior as an explanation for CMO presence

Author

Listed:
  • Cecilia Wiedeck

    (Technical University Dortmund)

  • Andreas Engelen

    (Technical University Dortmund)

Abstract

The present study adds to the CMO literature the perspective of firms’ imitative behavior on why firms have CMOs in their TMT. We propose that a firm’s decision to have a CMO on its TMT is driven not only by contingency-reated considerations but also by social ones, as the decision is significantly influenced by industry peers. Empirical findings based on 505 large US firms from 2000 to 2012 indicate that firms’ imitative behavior is a significant driver of CMO presence, especially when firm uncertainty is strong and inference uncertainty is low. Post hoc analyses indicate that this imitation behavior tends to be performance neutral at best.

Suggested Citation

  • Cecilia Wiedeck & Andreas Engelen, 2018. "The copycat CMO: firms’ imitative behavior as an explanation for CMO presence," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 632-651, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:46:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s11747-017-0533-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11747-017-0533-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11747-017-0533-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11747-017-0533-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g8o1o6tag is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Hui Feng & Neil A. Morgan & Lopo L. Rego, 2017. "Firm capabilities and growth: the moderating role of market conditions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 76-92, January.
    3. Vibha Gaba & Ann Terlaak, 2013. "Decomposing Uncertainty and Its Effects on Imitation in Firm Exit Decisions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(6), pages 1847-1869, December.
    4. Keith D. Brouthers & George Nakos, 2004. "SME Entry Mode Choice and Performance: A Transaction Cost Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(3), pages 229-247, May.
    5. Katie Kelting & Adam Duhachek & Kimberly Whitler, 2017. "Can copycat private labels improve the consumer’s shopping experience? A fluency explanation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(4), pages 569-585, July.
    6. Head, K. & Mayer, T. & Ries, J., 2000. "Revisiting Oligopolistic Reaction : Are FDI Decisions Strategic Complements?," Papiers d'Economie Mathématique et Applications 2000.49, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    7. Michael Lubatkin & Zeki Simsek & Yan Ling & John F. Veiga, 2006. "Ambidexterity and Performance in Small-to Medium-Sized Firms : The Pivotal Role of Top Management Team Behavioral Integration," Post-Print hal-02311781, HAL.
    8. Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2005. "Simple solutions to the initial conditions problem in dynamic, nonlinear panel data models with unobserved heterogeneity," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(1), pages 39-54, January.
    9. Kim, MinChung & Boyd, D. Eric & Kim, Namwoon & Yi, Cheong H., 2016. "CMO equity incentive and shareholder value: Moderating role of CMO managerial discretion," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 725-738.
    10. Keith Head & Thierry Mayer & John Ries, 2002. "Revisiting Oligopolistic Reaction: Are Decisions on Foreign Direct Investment Strategic Complements?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 453-472, September.
    11. Morgan, Neil A. & Slotegraaf, Rebecca J. & Vorhies, Douglas W., 2009. "Linking marketing capabilities with profit growth," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 284-293.
    12. Cristian L. Dezsö & David Gaddis Ross, 2012. "Does female representation in top management improve firm performance? A panel data investigation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(9), pages 1072-1089, September.
    13. Hermann Achidi Ndofor & David G. Sirmon & Xiaoming He, 2015. "Utilizing the firm's resources: How TMT heterogeneity and resulting faultlines affect TMT tasks," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(11), pages 1656-1674, November.
    14. Sanjeev Bhojraj & Charles M. C. Lee & Derek K. Oler, 2003. "What's My Line? A Comparison of Industry Classification Schemes for Capital Market Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 745-774, December.
    15. David Hirshleifer & Siew Hong Teoh, 2003. "Herd Behaviour and Cascading in Capital Markets: a Review and Synthesis," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 9(1), pages 25-66, March.
    16. Pravin Nath & Vijay Mahajan, 2017. "Shedding light on the CMO revolving door: a study of the antecedents of Chief Marketing Officer turnover," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 93-118, January.
    17. Jun Xia & Justin Tan & David Tan, 2008. "Mimetic entry and bandwagon effect: the rise and decline of international equity joint venture in China," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 195-217, February.
    18. Sushil Bikhchandani & David Hirshleifer & Ivo Welch, 1998. "Learning from the Behavior of Others: Conformity, Fads, and Informational Cascades," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 151-170, Summer.
    19. Clarke, Richard N, 1989. "SICs as Delineators of Economic Markets," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(1), pages 17-31, January.
    20. Palley, Thomas I., 1995. "Safety in numbers: A model of managerial herd behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 443-450, December.
    21. Andrew Delios & Ajai S. Gaur & Shige Makino, 2008. "The Timing of International Expansion: Information, Rivalry and Imitation Among Japanese Firms, 1980–2002," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 169-195, January.
    22. Mooweon Rhee & Young-Choon Kim & Joon Han, 2006. "Confidence in Imitation: Niche-Width Strategy in the UK Automobile Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(4), pages 501-513, April.
    23. Donald C. Hambrick & Albert A. Cannella, 2004. "CEOs who have COOs: contingency analysis of an unexplored structural form," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(10), pages 959-979, October.
    24. Jeongil Seo & Daniel L. Gamache & Cynthia E. Devers & Mason A. Carpenter, 2015. "The role of CEO relative standing in acquisition behavior and CEO pay," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(12), pages 1877-1894, December.
    25. Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2005. "Simple solutions to the initial conditions problem in dynamic, nonlinear panel data models with unobserved heterogeneity," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(1), pages 39-54, January.
    26. Gilliatt, Neal & Cuming, Pamela, 1986. "The chief marketing officer: A Mavervick Whose time has come," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 41-48.
    27. Bikhchandani, Sushil & Hirshleifer, David & Welch, Ivo, 1992. "A Theory of Fads, Fashion, Custom, and Cultural Change in Informational Cascades," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(5), pages 992-1026, October.
    28. Wang, Rui & Saboo, Alok R. & Grewal, Rajdeep, 2015. "A managerial capital perspective on chief marketing officer succession," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 164-178.
    29. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g8o1o6tag is not listed on IDEAS
    30. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    31. Krishna Palepu, 1985. "Diversification strategy, profit performance and the entropy measure," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(3), pages 239-255, July.
    32. Huang, Teng-Ching & Lin, Bing-Huei & Yang, Tung-Hsiao, 2015. "Herd behavior and idiosyncratic volatility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 763-770.
    33. Eric Abrahamson & Lori Rosenkopf, 1997. "Social Network Effects on the Extent of Innovation Diffusion: A Computer Simulation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(3), pages 289-309, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tuck Siong Chung & Angie Low & Roland T. Rust, 2023. "Executive confidence and myopic marketing management," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 1118-1142, September.
    2. Feng, Cong & Fay, Scott, 2021. "Chief stores officer and retailer performance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Puput Tri Komalasari & Marwan Asri & Bernardinus M. Purwanto & Bowo Setiyono, 2022. "Herding behaviour in the capital market: What do we know and what is next?," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 745-787, September.
    2. Bendig, David, 2022. "Chief operating officer characteristics and how they relate to exploration via patenting versus venturing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 297-309.
    3. Pravin Nath & Neeraj Bharadwaj, 2020. "Chief marketing officer presence and firm performance: assessing conditions under which the presence of other C-level functional executives matters," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 670-694, July.
    4. Vibha Gaba & Ann Terlaak, 2013. "Decomposing Uncertainty and Its Effects on Imitation in Firm Exit Decisions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(6), pages 1847-1869, December.
    5. Chang Liu & Dan Li, 0. "Divestment response to host-country terrorist attacks: Inter-firm influence and the role of temporal consistency," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-16.
    6. Claudio Giachetti & Ettore Spadafora, 2017. "Conformity or Nonconformity in Multinationality? Performance Implications for the Italian Ceramic Tile Manufacturers," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(5), pages 683-715, October.
    7. Chang Liu & Dan Li, 2020. "Divestment response to host-country terrorist attacks: Inter-firm influence and the role of temporal consistency," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(8), pages 1331-1346, October.
    8. Ya You & Shuba Srinivasan & Koen Pauwels & Amit Joshi, 2020. "How CEO/CMO characteristics affect innovation and stock returns: findings and future directions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 1229-1253, November.
    9. Jie Wu & Kathryn Rudie Harrigan & Siah Hwee Ang & Zefu Wu, 2019. "The impact of imitation strategy and R&D resources on incremental and radical innovation: evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 210-230, February.
    10. Wang, Yong & Yao, Xiaotao & Li, Kaige, 2022. "Imitation and rapid internationalization of emerging market firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(6).
    11. Stéphane J. G. Girod & Richard Whittington, 2015. "Change Escalation Processes and Complex Adaptive Systems: From Incremental Reconfigurations to Discontinuous Restructuring," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(5), pages 1520-1535, October.
    12. Pedro Albarran & Raquel Carrasco & Adelheid Holl, 2013. "Domestic transport infrastructure and firms’ export market participation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 879-898, May.
    13. Shiu, Ji-Liang & Hu, Yingyao, 2013. "Identification and estimation of nonlinear dynamic panel data models with unobserved covariates," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 175(2), pages 116-131.
    14. H. T. Tran & E. Santarelli, 2013. "Determinants and Effects of Innovative Activities in Vietnam. A Firm-level Analysis," Working Papers wp909, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    15. Lionel WILNER, 2019. "The Dynamics of Individual Happiness," Working Papers 2019-18, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    16. Ming Liu & Sumner LaCroix, 2011. "The Impact of Stronger Property Rights in Pharmaceuticals on Innovation in Developed and Developing Countries," Working Papers 201116, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    17. Feri, Francesco & Meléndez-Jiménez, Miguel A. & Ponti, Giovanni & Vega-Redondo, Fernando, 2011. "Error cascades in observational learning: An experiment on the Chinos game," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 136-146, September.
    18. Jonathan E. Alevy & Michael S. Haigh & John List, 2006. "Information Cascades: Evidence from An Experiment with Financial Market Professionals," NBER Working Papers 12767, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Akay, Alpaslan & Khamis, Melanie, 2011. "The Persistence of Informality: Evidence from Panel Data," IZA Discussion Papers 6163, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Cristina Guillamón & Enrique Moral-Benito & Sergio Puente, 2017. "High growth firms in employment and productivity: dynamic interactions and the role of financial constraints?," Working Papers 1718, Banco de España.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:46:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s11747-017-0533-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.