A renewed approach to services marketing effectiveness
Abstract
Purpose
Marketing as a function is under increasing pressure to develop and implement business‐oriented methods and measures to improve its effectiveness. This paper approaches the subject of marketing audits and aims to examine its impact and perceived benefits in service organizations. Based on the Index of Services Marketing Excellence framework, it seeks to develop an updated instrument and to test the hypothesized relationships – connections between input and output marketing measures.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were taken from DunsPep Financial Sector Database. First, to validate the measurement instrument content, five individual interviews with marketing managers were carried out. Then, the same type of professionals were surveyed. Regarding structural equations modelling, a PLS‐GRAPH was utilized.
Findings
This work tries to demonstrate the connection between marketing activities and company performance, sustaining the importance of a framework designed to evaluate the former. Findings were able to confirm the usefulness of marketing auditing.
Research limitations/implications
The major limitation of this paper is traduced in sample size (n=51).
Practical implications
According to conclusions, marketing audits can be viewed as a tool to evaluate activities and to increase marketing awareness and comprehension, leading to practice improvement. In this sense, the awakening seems to be achieved of an instrument that presents itself with interest to marketers and managers of service companies.
Originality/value
In this work, the theoretical perspective was used not only to update the original instrument, but also to study the subject from a perspective beyond that usually associated with audits.
Keywords
Citation
Pimenta da Gama, A. (2011), "A renewed approach to services marketing effectiveness", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 3-17. https://doi.org/10.1108/13683041111131583
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited