Search results

This paper aims to explore how senior business to business (B2B) marketing managers within a collectivist culture, contribute to knowledge development by interacting with staff in customer organizations to produce a co-owned marketing strategy.

A qualitative research strategy incorporating an open-ended questionnaire was used to collect data from 15 senior B2B marketing managers in three Korean companies that deployed the customer-centred approach. The grounded theory technique (Strauss and Corbin, 1998) and the mind map method (Burgess-Allen and Owen-Smith, 2010) were used to show how senior Korean marketing managers’ thoughts are processed and knowledge transfer occurs.

The findings show that a governance mechanism is instrumental in guiding interactive communication that results in knowledge being used that benefits the members of a partnership arrangement. The knowledge development process is enhanced by mutual trust and emotional bonds that are established through socialization. Cyclical interaction through socialization and frequent (in)formal meetings facilitates the process of turning explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge and vice versa, and encourages new knowledge to be developed. Socialization also helps to reduce learning myopia and contributes to the innovatory processes that result in customer needs being met.

The paper provides insights into the importance of boundary setting that facilitates cooperative marketing action, which results in a B2B integrated marketing intelligence and planning process.

The intelligence and security services are working closely with law enforcement agencies to counteract the activities of organized criminal syndicates and international terrorist organizations. Intelligence work is expected to become more broad based in the future and experts from the private sector will work more closely with personnel from the public sector. A number of long‐term workable partnership arrangements will be formed based on trustworthy behaviour. A greater commitment to disaster management and recovery should witness a greater emphasis on business continuity planning, and this should result in more robust corporate security systems being developed and installed.

The purpose of this paper is to make clear the role that marketing plays in the strategic decision‐making process; it highlights the influence that marketers have in the development of sustainable partnership arrangements; and outlines the link between organizational learning and strategy implementation.

A review of relevant literature and critical insights into various management theories are provided. A conceptual sustainable partnership development (SPD) model is outlined and placed in context.

In order to be successful, a partnership arrangement needs to be well resourced and effectively managed. Senior managers need to pay particular attention to the role that organizational learning plays and how strategic management knowledge is developed. They also need to understand the link between organizational learning and customer relationship management. The transformational leadership model can be embraced as it facilitates cultural change, promotes the collectivist decision‐making approach, and places product innovation within the context of a multi‐dimensional R&D strategy.

Areas of management interest that need further attention include ways in which to assess an organization's level of vulnerability; the development and application of hybrid organizational models; and how marketing decisions influence R&D programmes. Industry specific corporate social responsibility models are of interest and can be researched also.

Hybrid organizational cultures are evident in partnership arrangements and give rise to various types of communication problems. Senior managers need to be fully aware of how a partnership arrangement is to be managed in the long term in order that it can be viewed as sustainable. Attention also needs to be paid to the technical knowledge and skills required at each stage of development of a partnership arrangement.

The work integrates a diverse range of management knowledge and provides insights into what makes a partnership arrangement sustainable. The SPD model highlights the link between marketing and strategic management, and the body of marketing knowledge is interpreted from a management perspective.

The aim of the paper is to make explicit how qualitative research can enable senior marketers to formulate an internationally focused synthesised marketing strategy. A number of marketing research issues are highlighted including the need to track customer expectations; identify what customer value represents; and explain how scenario analysis and planning can be embraced in order to produce marketing initiatives that facilitate company‐customer interaction.

This paper is based on a review of the literature and can be considered a critical appraisal and appreciation. The internationally focused synthesised marketing strategy represents an extension of the marketing body of knowledge.

A number of trends have been identified in the business environment that will refocus the attention of senior marketers in the years ahead. It is envisaged that marketing researchers will work more closely with marketing intelligence officers and marketing strategists in order to actively harness the benefits associated with the internet; engage more fully in regional, national and international research projects; and provide assistance to those responsible for developing and deploying customer relationship management models and concepts.

Practising marketers and marketing academics need to undertake joint qualitative research projects in order to establish how electronic business is transforming buyer‐supplier relations through time. Qualitative research can be undertaken in order to identify customer expectations and these can be matched with the level of customer service provided. Qualitative research can also be undertaken to establish how concerns regarding an individual's privacy can be maintained when purchasing online.

Marketing practitioners need to adopt a pro‐active approach to qualitative research and engage in more future oriented research. This may require an investment in raising the skill base of marketing researchers and the development of new organizational structures.

This paper will be of interest to marketing academics, marketing researchers and senior marketing managers, as it links the marketing research process with marketing intelligence and decision‐making. Several aspects of the marketing body of knowledge have been extended and a link established with aspects of general management.

The paper sets out to explain how vertically integrated organisational marketing systems can integrate the marketing decision‐making process of suppliers, manufacturers, and marketing channel members and also to make clear why it is necessary for marketers to use marketing intelligence and why they need to pay attention to security issues.

The work is based on a literature review and is an extension of earlier work relating to the cultural similarities and differences of Japanese and Korean people. A number of marketing frameworks are made explicit and this represents a critical appreciation and extension of the body of knowledge.

Vertically integrated organisational marketing systems facilitate the relationship marketing approach and ensure that a customer service policy is implemented. Practising managers can adopt a customer service approach that embraces the concept of organisational learning. By viewing mutuality as the main objective, business relationships can be developed that are based on trust and are sustainable. Should a number of marketing skill gaps be identified, action can be taken to rectify the situation.

Future research should establish how organisational learning can transform an organisation's marketing culture; how the internet can enhance network arrangements; and how marketers can devise a customer service policy and produce marketing contingency plans.

Marketers can establish how a customer relationship management‐monitoring system ensures that the marketing decision‐making process in partner organisations promotes the use of joint project teams and facilitating technology.

Marketers can devise a marketing governance mechanism that embraces the concepts of customer service and organisational learning.

This article highlights the role that marketing intelligence officers need to fulfill if they are to assist marketing strategists in a broad range of duties. The marketing literature incorporates several bodies of knowledge, and reference is made to corporate security and the work of organized criminal syndicates. The topics covered will be relevant to both academic researchers and practising managers.

The work is based on a review of a wide literature and various established and futuristic concerns have been highlighted. The paper can be viewed as a critical appreciation.

Marketing intelligence officers need to be given a wider role in order that they engage more fully in the analysis and interpretation of data and information. Marketing intelligence officers need to develop their skill and knowledge base, and adopt a proactive stance to strategy formulation and implementation. By raising their profile, marketing intelligence officers will be able to seek out future management challenges. Senior managers need to put in place an effective corporate security system.

There is a need to establish how facilitating technology such as the internet is going to transform the working environment for marketing staff. Marketing intelligence officers need to undertake research in order to establish how consumer groups and associations exercise their power.

Senior marketing managers need to ensure that more attention is given to management development programs for marketing intelligence officers. The customer service management process needs to match more closely customer expectations with customer satisfaction levels.

A company’s vulnerability is highlighted and corporate security is linked to marketing. The usefulness of marketing intelligence systems and processes are made public, and so too is the strategic marketing concept.

The purpose of this paper is to make clear how managers in Western organizations can understand the Japanese and Korean cultural value system and interpret the strategic decision‐making process that exists within organizations exhibiting a collectivist culture.

A literature review was undertaken and several studies, either jointly or separately undertaken by the authors, were drawn upon in order to provide depth to the analysis and interpretation.

Although there are similarities between Japanese and Korean people, there are a number of distinct differences between them. These differences have come about as a result of Buddhism and Confucianism being adopted at different points in each country's history, and the fact that these countries have developed their own unique cultural value system. The differences manifest in organizational characteristics, which provide Japanese and Korean organizations with a specific identity, management model and way of doing business. What is evident, however, is that managers in both Japanese and Korean organizations are familiar with the relationship marketing concept and actively embrace the strategic marketing approach.

Undertaking research into national cultural value systems and organizational cultural value systems is complex and requires an interdisciplinary approach. It can also be suggested that more emphasis needs to be placed on undertaking research of this kind in both Japan and Korea. Furthermore, it is advocated that a longitudinal study is undertaken in order to provide both evidence of how organizational cultural value systems within a collectivist culture change through time, and how cultural traits influence the decision‐making process.

Managers in Western organizations will be able to relate to the value systems of Japanese and Korean organizations and as a consequence, will understand how long‐term trustworthy relationships are developed. This should facilitate the negotiation of business deals and result in business partnerships being developed that are based on mutuality.

The interdisciplinary approach adopted allowed the authors to view culture from several perspectives and to link more firmly national cultural value systems with organizational cultural value systems, and with organizational identity. By adopting this research strategy, the authors were able to explain how organizational identity is influenced by and reinforced by the concept of strategic marketing.

Partnership arrangements involving institutions of further and higher education provide educational provision to a broad audience. It is essential that within the framework of a partnership arrangement there is a structure in place which allows senior academics and administrators to ensure that the partnership is maintained, developed and realizes the objectives set by senior management. This paper makes reference to a centre of entrepreneurship, which academics and administrators can establish, to facilitate the development of partnership arrangements and can be viewed also as a catalyst for developing new products and services which can be turned into marketable products and services, leading to increased opportunities for income generation. The framework outlined in this paper can provide a basis for establishing a professional and relational marketing approach that should ensure that customer expectations are met, and can be used to audit, evaluate and manage a partnership arrangement.

The paper seeks to explain how competitive intelligence officers can participate more fully in strategy formulation and implementation, and how they can contribute to the strategic intelligence process.

The paper presents a review of the literature and the development of a strategic marketing intelligence and multi‐organisational resilience framework.

Competitive intelligence officers can contribute more fully to the strategic intelligence process and help establish an intelligence culture that incorporates counter‐intelligence. By adopting a broader understanding of what strategic marketing represents, marketing managers can devise new approaches to managing customer relationships and can develop international/global brand positioning strategies that when implemented counter the actions of legitimate competitors and new entrants, and disrupt the actions of counterfeiters and fraudsters.

A study can be undertaken to establish how a multi‐organisational resilience value system evolves within an organisation, and how trust and credibility among competitive intelligence professionals can be developed.

Academics and practitioners can collaborate in order to establish how an intelligence culture can be created within an organisation. Furthermore, they can also collaborate in establishing how a proactive approach to risk assessment can underpin scenario analysis and planning and aid the strategic decision‐making process.

A number of insights are provided into how competitive intelligence officers contribute to the development of a multi‐organisational resilience value system that is underpinned by an intelligence culture.