Search results

It is well known that the results of academic marketing research are not widely used by practitioners. This is attributed to a range of factors including language barriers and poor communication between the academic and practitioner communities. In spite of this, there exists little research within marketing that has focused on how potential users of academic research such as business or marketing managers prefer to receive research information. To start filling this void in the research literature, we report a study of managers' media preferences for receiving academic research information.

A survey of managers who had taken part in a larger study into the competitiveness of service enterprises was conducted. Cluster analysis was used to assess different media preference segments.

Findings contradict expectations derived from media richness theory. For example, a substantial number of managers prefer written communication modes, which according to media richness theory are not effective ways of communicating complex information such as academic research results. Cluster analysis suggested that three media preference segments existed.

Further research should investigate why managers appear to prefer particular communication modes, particularly printed media.

The paper examines the appropriateness of different types of media used to communicate complex academic research information to practitioners. Findings should be useful to academics that aim to disseminate effectively their findings to practitioners.

Due to their limited resources small‐ and medium‐sized firms are often assumed not to influence or “drive” their industries or markets. However, based on insights from social cognition and studies of firms' reputations it is argued that small firms might benefit from actively influencing their reputations as well as the standards against which they are evaluated. The purpose of this paper is to explore empirically whether small firms actually try to influence their markets in such a manner.

A detailed longitudinal tracking of a top manager's (of a medium‐sized manufacturing firm) interactions with the firm's external constituencies is applied to investigate whether and how this manager tries to influence other market actors.

The results show that considerable efforts are devoted to try to influence a wide range of external actors in relation to a range of topics, but with an emphasis on the characteristics of his own firm. This indicates that the firm aims to induce and benefit from a good reputation.

The value of the paper is that it demonstrates how small firms can “drive” their small enterprises, markets in a more subtle and incremental manner as opposed to how market driving is presently understood.

Given that marketing practitioners often perceive theory as something abstract, with little relevance to their work, the objective is to explain why and how competent application of theory can be highly useful and even lead to competitive advantage.

Conceptualisation and personal interpretation, with real‐world case examples.

Knowledge of relevant theoretical principles, if combined with thorough contextual knowledge and applied in a competent manner, can lead to competitive advantage based on better judgement and decisions.

The arguments and conclusions presented in the paper improve understanding of the potentially vital role of theory in practice, and provide a credible alternative to the common misperception that theory is of little value to the practitioner.

Aims to address the important but little researched question of why so many firms fail and so few succeed in their pursuit of opportunities.

By reporting investment behaviour and performance among firms in the turbulent seafood industry, it was possible to raise important questions that guide the analysis of why some firms succeed while many fail in pursuing opportunities. Based on in‐depth interviews with top managers, the thinking and behaviour of one successful firm are analysed and compared with other less successful firms in the filleting branch of the seafood industry.

Shows with that the opportunity‐seeking behaviour of unsuccessful firms is influenced by over‐optimism, the success of other firms, and pressure to follow the “herd”. But also that the success of one firm addressed specifically is based on deep‐seated knowledge expressed as a simple rule that cuts through the various influences and guides its pursuit of opportunities.

The study focuses on a single industry and is limited to technology investments in manufacturing firms. An important implication is that, in turbulent environments, salient and positive information may easily overshadow the actual risk in pursuing apparently clear‐cut opportunities. This implies that opportunities and their associated threat(s) should be scrutinized carefully.

Provides insights into the under‐researched question of why so many firms fail and so few succeed in their pursuit of opportunities.

To examine whether upstream firms in the food chain are knowledgeable about end‐users or consumers and to identify factors that might influence their acquisition of such knowledge.

A cross‐disciplinary approach is used to gain theoretical insights into the research questions. Consumer knowledge and influencing factors are revealed through an empirical study of producer and exporter firms in the Norwegian salmon farming industry. The study focuses on managerial knowledge of how consumers perceive the importance of the colour and texture of flesh and the fat content of salmon.

A relatively large proportion of the managers are not knowledgeable about consumers' quality perceptions. Closeness to consumers in the form of sales to the respective markets, or downstream location in the food chain, do not appear to improve knowledge. A differentiation strategy is not associated with more accurate consumer knowledge.

The study focuses on knowledge of a limited aspect of consumers' quality evaluation only and important chain actors such as retailers were not included in the study. Upstream firms pursuing a quality‐based differentiation strategy must take into account the fact that not all consumers are willing to pay a price premium for high quality, and that those who do might use surrogate indicators to infer quality.

The paper addresses the important but little researched area of distribution of end‐user knowledge in the food chain. It investigates reasons why and when upstream actors will benefit from end‐user knowledge.

This paper explores whether and how firms and their management are influenced by two types of environmental turbulence which have only been given scant attention in past research on market orientation, i.e. turbulence due to unpredictable supply conditions and turbulence created by frequent and unpredictable interactions with multiple market actors. The paper reports a case study of one successful firm exposed to these types of environmental turbulence. Here, the focus is on central aspects of the firm's environmental contact over time, including who it interacts with and the informational content and direction of interactions. In this way the authors are able to investigate important aspects of how firms keep in touch with, learn about, and are influenced and restricted in a turbulent environment. The study reveals several intriguing findings. For example, external actors initiated the majority of firm‐environment interactions and the firm focuses more on other constituencies than customers. Findings are discussed and implications highlighted.

Managers are frequently exposed to abstract, theoretical concepts, of which some are attended to while others are neglected. To become meaningful for managers, new abstract concepts must be reflected upon and given content. In this paper, we explore how and to what extent managers understand and make use of the exemplar concept of “market orientation”. The reported findings indicate that managers’ understanding and use of the concept of market orientation, in their goal‐directed effort to perform, are influenced by the actual context in which they are embedded and operate. Our findings also indicate that managers’ understanding of market orientation can deviate substantially from the meaning reflected in the academic literature.

This paper studies the accuracy of small‐ to medium‐sized (SME) managers' perceptions of their information exchanges with important market actors such as customers, competitors and suppliers. In this way, examines an important dimension of managers' network perceptions, which are assumed to be necessary for optimal utilisation of their networks. By comparing managers' perceived frequency of information exchanges with external actors with an “objective” tracking of their actual behaviour, reveals substantial perceptual errors. Findings are discussed and implications highlighted.

It is commonly assumed that a prime purpose of developing research‐based marketing knowledge is that it should be useful to marketing managers and other practitioners. However, evidence suggests that academic marketing knowledge is only to a limited degree utilised in practical life. It is thus important to understand why this is the case, as well as how use of academic knowledge can be enhanced. This paper focuses on scientific knowledge about market orientation and explores a range of factors, which might impair its practical application. More specifically, it examines what types of knowledge marketing practitioners might perceive as useful and discusses a range of potential barriers to successful transfer of market orientation knowledge from academia to practitioners. Substantial barriers are identified which relate to attributes of market orientation knowledge itself and characteristics of both academics and practitioners. Findings are discussed and implications highlighted.

This paper sets out to identify the knowledge and skills that marketing practitioners need to possess and use, to improve marketing management and firm performance.

The data from a survey of marketing managers, academics and senior students in New Zealand, relating to the skills essential to work as a marketing manager, were analysed by analysis of variance to assess the extent of convergences or divergence among the responses of the three groups.

The essential skills are an ability and willingness to learn about product‐markets, to solve marketing problems, to communicate with internal and external stakeholders, and to work in teams, plus the knowledge of a wide range of marketing subject areas needed to set these skills in context. To progress from junior to senior posts, marketing graduates need to develop strategic thinking, leadership and management skills, and must demonstrate knowledge of strategic planning, product and brand management, communication and promotion, and consumer behaviour.

This study extends previous research by incorporating the views of three stakeholder groups about a broad range of knowledge and skills. Further, research is required to assess the generalisability of the results from these relatively small samples located in only one institution (albeit large and influential), and to investigate whether experience alone is a sufficient basis for junior marketers to acquire the knowledge and skills to become effective marketing managers and planners, or whether academics should help them to fast‐track their careers by means of targeted courses for intending practitioners.

Broad agreement between practitioners and academics suggests that relevant knowledge and skills are probably being taught. However, the differing view of students suggests that the effectiveness of university courses must be questioned.

The study reports the opinions of three stakeholder groups on a vital aspect of marketing education.