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The marketing planning process is reviewed in two separate works. The first treats it as a “composite” model, comprehensively handled at both the strategic and the operational planning levels of management. The second emphasises the current lack of follow‐through by implementation of marketing strategies and plans and the consequent schism existing between researchers and practitioners.

The concept of co‐operation amongst competitors has been considered for some time in the marketing literature generally, and in the small firm marketing literature specifically. However, despite the recognition that small firms do co‐operate, there has been comparatively little attention paid to the ways in which such co‐operation takes place. Co‐operation amongst small firms tends to be only conceptualised as a group of competitors banding together to create a market presence and compete against larger, more established firms. Based on a series of in‐depth interviews with owner‐managers of small firms in a wide array of industry sectors, this paper examines the relationships that small firm owner‐managers maintain with their competitors. Specifically it reports that cooperation between competitors takes place at various levels with so‐called joint venture arrangements such as that described above, representing just one type of co‐operative behaviour. It further highlights the circumstances where co‐operation is likely to occur and how this co‐operation is manifest by examining the motivations for co‐operation and expected and actual outcomes. It also discusses the factors which may preclude cooperation between small firms and their competitors. Such factors include the nature of the industry sector, the level of competition in the market, the size of the competing firms, the age of the small firm, the existence of an association that represents the industry, the perceived level of professionalism within the industry and trust amongst firms.

The purpose of this paper is to propose the application of social practice theory for the investigation of entrepreneurial marketing (EM) practices.

A theoretical gap has been found between scholarly efforts to explain the nature of EM practice and the actual marketing practice or marketing doings of small firms.

The paper covers some of the EM literature and perspectives and examining the notion of “practice” in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and entrepreneurship research. Based on an increasing focus on practice in the social theory literature and the contributions of key social theorists, a discussion is framed in terms of how EM practice can be studied through the investigation material and bodily observations and common interpretations.

The paper offers a proposal that the observations of practitioners’ actions and activities and the investigation of common interpretations can be conceptualized to explain the nature of EM practice. It also gives avenues for future research.

The paper suggests that marketing comprises a wide scope of activities or practices and, in the case of a small firm, is all-pervasive. It also suggests that scholars engage in understanding the collective, distributed, situated, ongoing and tacit nature of EM.

The paper provides a fresh conceptual approach about how EM practice can be studied through the investigation material and bodily observations as well as common interpretations.

Small business risk is a particularly pertinent issue for researchers as there is a strong association between small business owner‐managers/entrepreneurs and risk by virtue of the high failure rates of small firms. The objective of this study was to uncover situations encountered by owner‐managers/entrepreneurs that they perceive to involve an element of risk. More importantly, it seeks to understand how owner‐managers behave when faced with such “risky” situations. A qualitative study was undertaken with owner‐managers of small firms operating in a wide spectrum of industry settings. While great variation was encountered between the entrepreneurs, areas of commonality were distilled and it was shown that the key situations owner‐managers deemed to be risky were those pertaining to cash flow, company size, entering new markets or new areas of business, and entrusting staff with responsibilities. Furthermore, it was shown that the two key tools used to manage these risky situations were the use of managerial competencies and networking.

Acknowledges that SMEs (small to medium‐sized enterprises) cannot do conventional marketing because of the limitations of resources which are inherent to all SMEs and also because SME owner/managers behave and think differently from conventional marketing decision‐making practices in large companies. In this context the discussion focuses on SME characteristics and how these impact upon marketing characteristics within SMEs. In a search for “alternative” marketing approaches, the inherent existence of the owner/manager’s “network” in its various guises such as personal contact networks, social networks, business networks and industry and marketing networks and how these networks are used is considered. Some evidence from an empirical study carried out simultaneously in Northern Ireland and Australia is presented which illustrates how and why networking is used by SME owner/managers as a tool or approach for carrying out meaningful marketing.

Discusses the advantages of using qualitative methods for services marketing research. Describes in particular the use of an “integrative” qualitative research methodology in relation to a study concerning quality in marketing in a services context. Suggests that the development of an “integrative” qualitative research methodology is built on the very practical need for researchers to develop the “best” possible methodologies for their own specific research problem or issues. Combines the notion of an integrative research methodology with the idea of a “stream of research”, or research which builds on earlier studies and explicitly allows the research to evolve and develop through distinctive stages over a given time period.

In many peripheral regional economies, the decline in indigenous industries has shifted the focus of attention onto SMEs. With a small firm base and a small local market, an economic priority in a regional economy is to instigate growth. In this context exporting is an essential growth strategy for SMEs. Therefore, the focus of this study was to understand what stimulates SME entrepreneurs to initiate export marketing, examine the difficulties and problems they encounter and ascertain what marketing activities can be used to overcome these and ensure their success in export marketing. In pursuing these issues, the findings illustrate the value of networking as an aid for entrepreneurial exporting activities. The overall conclusion of this study was that SME entrepreneurs were moving rapidly from initial stimulation to their current export positions, encountering a variety of difficulties and problems. In order to overcome these problems SME entrepreneurs used networking extensively and responded to opportunities by benefiting from their inherent flexibility and developing marketing activities to suit specific export markets.

A selection of Anbar abstracts on marketing research from the past three years are reviewed. Marketing research is categorised into three sections: the application of techniques, marketing decision areas and the definition of market segments. Current issues, trends and key developments are identified from contemporary writings and for the future it would appear that the research is entering a new period of transition.

Small businesses, usually under owner/ manager control, can suffer through a lack of knowledge and understanding of marketing planning practices. Often practices, if they exist at all, are founded on traditional industry practices and experiences which may not be suitable when translated into use with small businesses. Often the result is inadequate marketing and business failure. The need exists to increase the awareness of small firms to the importance of a planned approach to marketing and how marketing planning can be improved. From this, the monograph is concerned with the practical implications of how small firms actually plan their marketing. To do this, consideration is given to the characteristics of small firms, descriptions of marketing planning and the impact on marketing practice. Appropriate marketing technology transfer is also considered and three levels of transfer – self‐help information transfer, appreciation‐level marketing education input, and in‐depth marketing specific to the company used with small firms are discussed. From this, marketing models are developed to assess small firms′ marketing planning capability and performance; and three case examples used to illustrate actual marketing performance using the models. Conclusions are drawn on these issues from information gathered from 80 small firms.