Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to report the results of an exploratory investigation of the organizational impact of knowledge management (KM).Design/methodology/approach -A search of the literature revealed 12 KM practices whose performance impact was assessed via a survey of business organizations.Findings -KM practices were found to be directly related to organizational performance which, in turn, was directly related to financial performance. There was no direct relationship found between KM practices and financial performance. A different set of KM practices was associated with each value discipline (i.e. customer intimacy, product development and operational excellence). A gap exists between the KM practices that firms believe to be important and those that were directly related to organizational performance.Research limitations/implications -The majority of the research constructs were formative, thus improving the measurement of KM practices will prove vital for validating and extending these findings. The findings were based solely on organizations from North America and Australia and may not reflect KM practices in other geographic, economic or cultural settings.Practical implications -This study encourages practitioners to focus their KM initiatives on specific intermediate performance outcomes.Originality/value -The paper examines the relationship between KM practices and performance outcomes. It was expected that a direct relationship between KM practices and organizational performance would be observed. It was also expected that organizational performance would mediate the relationship between KM practices and financial performance. These expectations were supported. KM practices showed a direct relationship with intermediate measures of organizational performance, and organizational performance showed a significant and direct relationship to financial performance. There was no significant relationship found between KM practices and financial performance.

PurposeColor is ubiquitous and is a source of information. People make up their minds within 90 seconds of their initial interactions with either people or products. About 62‐90 percent of the assessment is based on colors alone. So, prudent use of colors can contribute not only to differentiating products from competitors, but also to influencing moods and feelings – positively or negatively – and therefore, to attitude towards certain products. Given that our moods and feelings are unstable and that colors play roles in forming attitude, it is important that managers understand the importance of colors in marketing. The study is designed to contribute to the debate.Design/methodology/approachThis article reviews the literature relating to color psychology in the context of marketing, highlights inconsistencies and controversies surrounding the color psychology, and, examines the impact of colors on marketing.FindingsFindings of the study are that managers can use colors to increase or decrease appetite, enhance mood, calm down customers, and, reduce perception of waiting time, among others.Research limitations/implicationsThe direction for future research and limitations of the study are presented.Originality/valueReviews the literature relating to color psychology in the context of marketing.

This study examined the customer orientation -performance link in small-and medium-sized businesses and tested for the possible effects of innovation orientation, market dynamism and competitive intensity on the degree of customer orientation among these firms. Specific performance measures used were new product success, sales growth and return on investment (ROI). Based on constructs of these measures, a research scale was developed for the study and data were collected via a self-administered mail survey among a UK samples of smalland medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The results show a positive effect of customer orientation on SME performance. There are also findings on the varied influences of innovation orientation and the competitive environment on the levels of SME customer orientation. In the light of existing literature, implications of our findings for SME managers, the study's limitations and future research directions are subsequently addressed.

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