Theoretical Applicability vs. Environmental Straitjacket:

This article is concerned with the application of the marketing audit, a commercially derived marketing tool, to a public sector non-profit organization. The paper reviews the literature extensively before turning to research findings derived from interviews with internal and external publics in the organizational environment. While findings indicate that a marketing audit would indeed be useful in underpinning marketing orientation, possibly as a prelude to marketing planning, they also show that organizational constraints may militate against adoption of marketing orientation. The article concludes by suggesting that marketing itself, as a generic paradigm, may not be an appropriate mechanism for organizations like ERS (Employment Rehabilitation Service). Rather ERS, and its private sector counterparts, may require the development of an entirely new discipline which may be more applicable than marketing.     

The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks and the Answers All Donors Crave: How You Can Inspire Someone to Give Generously,by H. McKinnon

Organizational learning and customer orientation have been a focus of research for a number of years in both marketing and management literature. Customer learning orientation is conceptualized as three important components: management customer orientation, customer feedback, and employee learning orientation. By drawing from both marketing and organizational research theories, the authors propose a model of customer learning orientation in a public sector organizational setting. Customer learning orientation is hypothesized to have a significant effect on employee attitudes of role ambiguity and self-efficacy, which in turn affects job outcomes of job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors. Using a sample of 438 employees of a public sector organization, the authors test the model through a structural equation modeling technique. The results provide general support for the model. Implications for managers of public sector organizations and future research are discussed.     

Marketing Transformation and the Concomitant Excellence of Private Institutions

The article empirically presents the findings of a study about the changes in marketing orientation and the accompanying changes in the organizational resources of the private sector institutions. This publication on the subsample of private institutions is the part of a major undertaking which was designed to: (1) to determine the degree to which marketing orientation has become the main driving force in the institutions of higher education (2) to isolate the structural characteristics which either popularize or impede the adoption of a marketing orientation, and (3)to test the central hypothesis that the increased marketing orientation leads to greater success in acquiring and managing institutional resources. The research is based on an in-depth case study method whereby 81 administrators from twenty-four universities were interviewed through personal visits. Statistical analyses indicate a rapid acceptance of marketing orientation in the private sector over the five year period of investigation. The results confirm the central hypothesis that the impellent of improved marketing orientation is higly visible on the attraction of institutional resources and the management thereof.     

Global marketing strategy modeling of high tech products

This study considers the role of global marketing strategy and its relation to market orientation, international experience, and performance in the high tech products context. Knowledge of this important domain of global marketing strategy and performance remains limited. In this respect, the study raises a number of important questions concerning how market orientation, international experience and global marketing strategy impact performance. The study empirically tests predictions of relationships by using mail survey data from 172 business units of high tech firms. Findings from the research sample support the argument that market orientation, international experience, and global marketing strategy are the key antecedents of organizational performance. Market orientation and international experience influence global marketing. The article concludes with theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings.     

Public Sector Marketing in Australia:

Government departments and public sector organisations in Australia are utilising marketing concepts and techniques that originated in the private sector. This has been reported by reference to case studies. However, no systematic attempt to assess the implementation of marketing in the public sector has been reported. This article reports a survey of the use of marketing positions in the Australian public sector over the ten year period 1982-1991. It shows that public sector organisations with similar objectives to organisations in the economic environment of the private sector may well be implementing marketing oriented management. However, a significant and consistent difference is found in the use of marketing between those public sector organisations with a social and political orientation as opposed to those organisations with a commercial and/or economic orientation.     

A Praxis Framework for Implementing Market Orientation Into Charities

There is a scarcity of research regarding the process of introducing market orientation into the not-for-profit sector. Understanding this process would greatly assist the not-for-profit sector, which is under increasing pressure to obtain funds to operate and offer appropriate services. In this article, we examine the successful introduction of market orientation into three Australian charities and identify the stages of implementation. The introduction of market orientation is analyzed from a discourse transformation perspective and a praxis framework is developed. This is amongst the first studies examining the transition to a market orientation discourse within charity organizations and the first study to develop a praxis framework to guide managers. The study also pioneers a discourse transformation perspective in market orientation research. The article thus extends our knowledge of market orientation within the not-for-profit sector and increases understanding of practitioner engagement in marketing activities.     

How to take customers into consideration in service innovation projects

At a time of great change within the higher education sector, this paper focuses on the challenges facing marketers in the UK's higher education industry. Specifically, the research identifies the extent to which university marketing managers are conscious of the importance of market segmentation particularly with regard to the growing mature learner segment, and to what extent such marketers are using the web to engage and influence this older segment. The evidence presented in this study suggests that the sample universities display an inadequate state of readiness to respond to the marketing challenges arising in the changing environment and that the opportunity to influence the growing and affluent mature learner market through online communication remains largely unexploited. A general lack of a marketing orientation within the sector prevails.     

Dimensions of customer orientation: An empirical investigation of the UK financial services sector

The UK financial services industry has experienced a number of sharp discontinuities in its marketing environment in recent years. These have ranged from changing demand patterns to wholesale deregulation and market liberalization. International competition and new entrants exploiting technological innovations have also added to the turbulence in what has been a traditionally parochial and stable sector. Under these conditions, it is to be expected that companies would develop a much sharper customer focus and, if they are to survive and prosper, that they would adopt the core principles of the marketing concept. In this paper, the findings of research which tests this assumption amongst merchant banks, retail banks, insurance companies and building societies are presented. Conclusions are drawn which indicate that there is a growing awareness of the need for a marketing orientation and that some sectors appear to be more customer‐orientated than others at this point in time. Despite this, there is also evidence that in some sectors marketing myopia may be masquerading as marketing orientation and that much work needs to be done to more fully realize the ideals of the marketing concept.     

Operationalizing the Marketing Concept in the Nonprofit Sector

ABSTRACT

This paper questions the validity of applying the market orientation construct, which was developed ostensibly for and in large multinational organizations, to a sector whose characteristics differ greatly. Instead, this paper argues for a new approach to the operationalization of the marketing concept in the nonprofit sector. The components of this 'societal orientation' are delineated, as are the organizational imperatives, antecedents and the potential consequences and benefits associated therewith.     

Assessing Marketing Performance: Reasons for Metrics Selection

In recent years both practitioners and academics have shown an increasing interest in the assessment of marketing performance. This paper explores the metrics that firms select and some reasons for those choices. Our data are drawn from two UK studies. The first reports practitioner usage by the main metrics categories (consumer behaviour and intermediate, trade customer, competitor, accounting and innovativeness). The second considers which individual metrics are seen as the most important and whether that differs by sector. The role of brand equity in performance assessment and top management orientations are key considerations. We found consistency between orientation and metrics. Within these categories we identified 19 metrics that could be regarded as primary and could therefore serve as a short-list for initial selection. However, the sector importantly moderates that selection, not least because competitive benchmarking requires similar metrics to be available. Control, orientation and institutional theories appeared to influence metrics selection and the absence of agency theory is probably due to the research method of this paper. We concluded with some propositions formally to test the basis of metrics selection.     

The Influence of Alternative Marketing Styles on Internal Competences in Small Manufacturing Firms: the Results of a UK Investigation

Increasingly firms are being encouraged to move away from traditional, transactional marketing and instead adopt a relationship marketing orientation. Concurrently another emerging academic concept is entrepreneurial marketing. Interest in this latter area has, in part, been stimulated by research on marketing processes within the SME sector. It is proposed that the merger of relationship and entrepreneurial marketing might result in 4 alternative marketing styles. To determine whether these styles exist, a mail survey of 300 small UK manufacturing firms was undertaken in the summer of 1996. The survey tool used the Covin/Slevin entrepreneurial measurement scale and a new scale developed specifically to measure relationship marketing style. Competence was measured by seeking managing directors' assessment of the current capability of their firm in the areas of positioning, innovation, H.R.M., employee productivity, quality and information management. Applying ANOVA to the responses from 104 firms suggests that respondent firms can be classified into 4 different marketing styles and that an orientation towards an entrepreneurial-transactional marketing style will generate the highest overall sales growth rate. Discriminant function analysis indicates that relationship orientated firms exhibit higher competences in areas such as the management of quality and the utilisation of information to enhance decision-making. The implications of these findings in relation to the future provision of support services to smaller firms are discussed, as is the need for further research.     

Increasing the Marketing Efficiencies of Nonprofit and Public Sector Tourist Destinations:

Site managers for nonprofit and public sector tourist destinations can increase the efficiencies of their marketing efforts by drawing from diffusion of innovation research as advocated in this paper. The definition of diffusion of innovation is applied to this market arena, along with a strategic adaptation of the rapid diffusion characteristics. The advantages of profiling early adopters is also addressed. In general, this paper presents a creative application of marketing principles, for the benefit of nonprofit and public sector tourist site administrators.     

Integrating customer orientation, corporate entrepreneurship, and learning orientation in organizations-in-transition: an empirical study

The paper addresses the issue of interrelationships between market orientation, corporate entrepreneurship, and learning orientation in the context of emerging economies. These three constructs have drawn an increasing level of interest in both marketing and management fields as organizations face challenges in a volatile environment. With a national sample of state-owned enterprises in China, the present study simultaneously tests potential relations between these structural constructs and their relationships with the organizational outcome that is reflected with marketing program dynamism. The findings of this study indicate that: (1) sampled state-owned enterprises demonstrate a higher level of changes in organizational outcome resulted from a stronger customer orientation, corporate entrepreneurship, or learning orientation; (2) learning orientation fully or partially mediates the impact of customer orientation and corporate entrepreneurship on outcome; (3) state-owned enterprises with foreign partnership have a higher level of customer orientation, entrepreneurship, and learning orientation; and (4) state-owned enterprises in the service sector have a higher level of customer orientation.     

Strategic marketing planning for heritage tourism: a conceptual model and empirical findings from two emerging heritage regions

This paper examines the process of strategic marketing planning for heritage tourism, an inherently complex and fragmented system, requiring a coordinated approach among a range of stakeholders. A conceptual model, detailing key stakeholders and specific strategic functions, as well as a prescribed method of coordination, is presented. Two regions were investigated using a qualitative methodology, which examined five strategic documents and consisted of in-depth interviews with 11 key informants from the tourism industry. Key findings indicate that weak coordination, in terms of strategic marketing planning, has negative implications for heritage tourism marketing concerning four key strategic functions, strategic orientation, resource allocation, product service development and destination promotion. The paper emphasises the importance of strategic marketing planning for each function and considers the role of the public sector in terms of providing strategic direction. Furthermore, the paper highlights the potential difficulties of engaging in heritage tourism development in a non-traditional destination.     

Public sector corporate branding and customer orientation

The objectives of branding and marketing in the public sector can differ in nature from those in the private sector, to include an improved responsiveness to public needs, rather than an increase in customer numbers. In addition, the customer orientation (a disposition that will influence brand perception) of public services is often questioned. Drawing from prior work in the private sector on the relationships expected between employee and organization customer orientation (hereafter referred to as CO), corporate brand personality, and both employee and customer satisfaction, the authors propose a number of models. These models are tested using structural equation modeling on data from a study of the employees (n = 302) and customers (n = 200) of a public hospital. Corporate brand personality mediates the positive links between employee customer orientation (hereafter referred to as ECO) and satisfaction; ECO influences brand personality, which in turn influences satisfaction. However, while both the needs and enjoyment dimensions of ECO improve customer satisfaction, the former has an unexpected, negative effect on employees. Organization customer orientation (hereafter referred to as OCO) influences customer, but not employee, satisfaction. The paper discusses the implications for managing and researching corporate branding in the public sector.     

Market Orientation and Raw Material Control

Much of the existing literature on market orientation emphasizes the role played by the competencies of companies in selling products. However, in industries that rely on a natural resource sector for its primary input, another constraint may dominate: the limitations on supply of that input. We examine this issue in the context of a particular natural resource sector, the fishery, as a case study of the more general phenomenon. Using the example of Norway's apparent lack of market orientation as a supplier of fresh fish, the paper demonstrates how the characteristics of natural resource sectors as well as how public policies are used to manage those sectors may place significant roadblocks in the way of developing a market orientation by the industries that depend on those sectors for raw material. The paper notes that there has been an increased consumer demand for fresh fish, away from the frozen product. This, in principle, should lead to an increased need for a market orientation by sellers and closer relationships between the primary processors and the distributors of fresh seafood. However, several barriers, including those associated with fishery management, hinder this process. These include the presence of a structure where earnings from fishing are independent of quality, the seasonality of supplies in the raw fish markets, the way fish quotas are managed, the structure of first hand sales, and the underdeveloped relationships between supermarkets and the primary processors. In short, the analysis identifies critical linkages between fishery management and the marketing of seafood. Its broader contribution is to increased understanding of the interdependencies between the marketing of natural resource-based products and public management of that resource.     

Adoption and Implementation of Internal Marketing Systems by Ghanaian Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

This paper explores the concept of internal marketing (IM) as an internal supportive system that could provide the infrastructure for a strategic business take-off. It investigates how IM, as a concept, is understood and made practical in the context of Ghanaian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This qualitative research method was used due to the nature of the enquiry. The government of Ghana is constantly searching for more effective ways of assisting SME performance, through various strategic growth and development schemes. Despite the fact that much has been said in the literature, the IM concept remains elusive. Most SMEs are not aware of IM and demonstrate little understanding of the concept. And SMEs have problems with the implementation of IM. The manufacturing sector demonstrates more IM orientation than does the service sector. This paper unravels sociocultural factors that frustrate the practice of IM among Ghanaian SMEs and calls for a greater awareness of the concept by stakeholders. Suggestions include more general business support for SMEs to improve performance and subsequently grow. The paper finishes by drawing attention to management implications within the practice of IM.     

Testing interaction effects of the dimensions of market orientation on marketing program creativity

Despite the plethora of research on market orientation, our understanding of how different dimensions of market orientation interact with each other in generating new intelligence for marketing programs is limited. In this paper, we develop and test a model that examines the interaction effects of the three dimensions of market orientation—customer orientation, competitor orientation, and cross-functional integration—on generation of marketing program creativity, composed of novelty and meaningfulness dimensions. In empirically testing such effects, we illustrate how to use two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation. We find significant positive interaction effects between customer orientation and competitor orientation and between competitor orientation and cross-functional integration in predicting marketing program novelty. We also find that competitor orientation and cross-functional integration significantly and positively interact with each other in improving marketing program meaningfulness. Our empirical results provide implications and directions for market orientation research.     

Marketing orientation and activities in the arts-marketing context: Introducing a Visual Artists’ Marketing Trajectory model

Abstract

Answering the call by Fillis, this paper aims to build an ‘arts-marketing orientation’ model by exploring the parallel relationship that exists between the Product Life Cycle (PLC) and the notion of the ‘career trajectory’ (as it applies to visual artists). In so doing, this paper provides a finer-grained understanding of the marketing orientation and activities of visual artists as they progress through their career. Qualitative analysis of the data (and the subsequent development of the Visual Artists’ Marketing Trajectory model) suggests that the marketing orientation and activities undertaken by visual artists deviates significantly from the assumptions underpinning traditional marketing theory. Unlike customer orientation (central to traditional marketing theories), this research suggests that in the arts-marketing context, the marketing orientation and activities of visual artists change according to the career trajectory stage in question.     

A review and evaluation of market orientation research in an emerging African economy

ABSTRACT

The paper synthesizes the level of strategic market orientation of firms operating in the emerging economy of Ghana over the last two decades. It dwells on market orientation studies in general, and the banking industry and exporting firms in particular. Market orientation has a positive relationship with performance for both foreign and domestic firms across the many studies. Foreign firms in general appear more market oriented due to experience effect and relationship with parent organizations. As competition heats up in the banking industry, organizations need to be more innovative to sustain their performance or to survive. For exporting firms, there is the need for decreased formalization and increased decentralization so as to enhance the levels of market orientation. The paper develops propositions to guide organizations in applying marketing principles in the running of their business activities. Further, the paper provides an update on the literature with suggestions for future research in the theory and practice of strategic market orientation in the context of the study.