The impacts of marketing and operations capabilities on financial performance in the UK retail sector: A resource-based perspective

•Relationships among marketing capability, operations capability and financial performance.•Marketing capability has a significant impact on operations capability.•Operations capability is significantly and positively related to retail efficiency.•Operations capability fully mediates the marketing capability–financial performance relationship.

Drawing upon the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, this study investigates the relationships among marketing capability, operations capability, and financial performance. Using archival data of 186 retail firms in the UK, we find that that marketing capability has a significant impact on operations capability, and that operations capability is significantly and positively related to retail efficiency. The results also suggest that operations capability fully mediates the relationship between marketing capability and financial performance. The findings of this study provide practical insights for practicing managers to consider when developing functional capabilities in order to achieve superior financial performance.