Paper info

Managing via capabilities in less developed countries’ turbulent environments

Katayoun Zafari, Sergio Biggemann , John Knight and Tony Garry

The paper was published at the 32nd IMP-conference in Poznan, Poland in 2016.

One of the main problems firms struggle with when planning, making decisions, and taking action is the increasing uncertainty and turbulence in business environment. As pace of change increases, international trading grows and markets become more inter-connected and complex, dealing with turbulence and uncertainty requires more attention. To address this need, this research draws on the resource based view of the firm and social exchange theory to answer the question of how firms based in political-economical and regulatory turbulent environments of less developed economies deal with turbulence via business marketing capabilities. Data have been collected from 31 businesses and a total of 46 semi-structured interviews were conducted from businesses working in such turbulent environments. Data is then analysed within and across cases. Results highlight the relationship dynamics, dominant forms of exchange, and evolution of variable such as norms, expectations and trust in less developed economies. It also highlights useful capabilities that help firms and individuals based in such turbulent and uncertain environments have developed in successfully managing their relationships.