The conceptual model was tested on a sample of high revenue Hungarian
companies, using mail questionnaires administered to all firms
belonging to the top 10% in terms of sales revenues. The sample was
drawn from the database of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office
(www.ksh.hu); 2500 questionnaires were sent out via mail with an alternative
option to administer the questionnaire online. To improve the
response rate, follow-up phone calls were used to inquire whether the
questionnaire had reached a competent key respondent and to gain information
about the reasons for non-response. A managerial summary
of one of the authors' former research results was offered as a nonmonetary
incentive to all respondents. The data collection resulted in
296 returned questionnaires, representing a response rate of 12%. The
key respondents were Chief Marketing Officers, or—when such a position
did not exist—General Executives in charge of marketing-related
decisions, with a mean of 12.1 years of job-specific experience and
decision-making authority. Table 1 summarizes the profiles of the sample
firms