Search results

Market knowledge is usually believed to be useful. Both the concepts of “knowledge” and “useful” are, however, rather ambiguous and used in multiple ways. The concepts are clarified, and requirements for adequate knowledge use discussed. An important conclusion is that academian marketing knowledge can be useful, requiring, however, both knowledge, time‐consuming and motivated efforts.

The objective is to determine if there are groups of subsidiaries that are different in regard to the implementation of strategies, structures, and processes and the transfer of marketing knowledge in emerging markets.

A survey with 101 largest foreign subsidiaries located in Brazil was conducted. The data collection process was conducted online and by telephone.

Three subsidiary groups based on the configuration of their international marketing activities were characterized: Cluster 1, called “Subsidiary with Knowledge Marketing Activities”; Cluster 2, called “Subsidiaries with Global Marketing Activities”; and Cluster 3, called “Subsidiaries with Local Marketing Activities.” Compared to the two other groups, Cluster 1 is the group with the minor number of companies, but it has a better strategic performance than other clusters.

This study was developed in only one emerging country, Brazil, and with 101 subsidiaries from MNCs. This could be extended to other countries, such as China, Russia, India, and Turkey and with more subsidiaries. Related to the construct measurements, one limitation is the qualitative measure of performance.

Subsidiaries that work with global marketing should pool their efforts to create and transfer marketing knowledge to improve their performance. Subsidiaries with local marketing activities may even perform more satisfactorily in the short term, but they should concern to contribute to the overall competitive edge of the corporation.

The discussion about marketing in emerging markets and the way in which the transfer of marketing knowledge can be reflected in the performance.

Previous research focused on open innovation (OI) suggests that enterprises benefit from adopting the journey; however, the relationship among OI, marketing journey and knowledge-intensive innovation marketing activities (KIIMA) remains unclear. The present study proposes a conceptual model of the marketing journey linking heterogeneous modes of marketing collaboration to knowledge-intensive activities.

The conceptual model was tested via ordinary least squares (OLS) linear regression based on a sample of data drawn from the Eurostat database.

The results indicate that strategies are a robust proxy for evaluating KIIMA, and partnerships, heterogeneous sources of knowledge and different marketing modes for collaboration among European knowledge-intensive firms are core antecedents of KIIMA, such as new-product development and marketing innovation, as well as firms' sustainable competitive advantage.

This study fills the gap by tracking the role of the journey within marketing collaborations on KIIMA, and it intervenes in the debate about interactive marketing innovation mechanisms. The study contributes to OI, knowledge management and the marketing literature by identifying the heterogeneous modes for marketing collaborations under which the marketing journey enhances knowledge-intensive activities such as those for marketing innovation.

The knowledge‐based view of the firm suggests that knowledge is the firm’s key resource for creating and sustaining economic rent. This perspective raises an important question for marketers: What is marketing knowledge? We argue first that marketing knowledge resides in three key marketing processes: product development management, customer relationship management, and supply chain management. Second, we argue that marketing knowledge is the extent of understanding of these three marketing processes, an extent which can be measured by evaluating awareness of factors, control of factors, and application of knowledge in new markets. We empirically test this conceptualization of marketing knowledge and, as a predictive validation, examine its relationship with marketing innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to detail teaching and learning strategies designed to incorporate advances in marketing and continued interest in new marketing knowledge.

The current debate concerning the transfer of new marketing knowledge from academics to practitioners is reviewed. Teaching and learning strategies that increase exposure to and interest in new marketing knowledge are described.

Certain classroom strategies that increase the transmission of new marketing knowledge appear to increase the receptivity towards future advances. The argument is made that the use of such strategies helps move marketing academics from a push strategy for disseminating marketing knowledge to a pull strategy.

The strategies described here have been used with highly motivated, experienced students, such as executives.

The specific classroom techniques have been refined over a number of years and offer ideas that are immediately applicable to marketing faculty.

The educational approach presented here derives from a firm grounding in both research and teaching and offers a practical approach to bridging the academic‐practitioner divide.

This paper aims to adopt a contextual approach to the knowledge-performance linkage by deepening into the role of marketing and sales employees’ knowledge resources in the generation and delivery of superior customer experiences (CEs) and into the motivational antecedents of knowledge acquisition and development.

To gather information about the variables studied in this research, a survey was conducted among Spanish firms with at least 100 employees, resulting in a representative sample of 346 companies. Structural equation modeling based on partial least squares was then applied to test the hypothesized relationships.

The results show that employees’ motivation (and especially intrinsic motivation) affects CE both directly and indirectly through its influence on marketing-specific human capital. More precisely, customer knowledge and different types of marketing-related skills (creativity, targeting, problem-solving, social media management and communication skills) are the only constituents of marketing-specific human capital that significantly affect relative CE performance (i.e. performance vis-à-vis competitors), while product/service and market knowledge do not play a relevant role.

The results contribute both to the knowledge management and intellectual capital literatures by highlighting the motivational levers of human capital in the context of the marketing and sales function and the specific types of employee knowledge resources that induce superior CEs. Consequently, marketing and sales managers are provided with useful guidance to shape their human resource management policies and to establish their knowledge priorities.

Discusses issues concerning the relationship between codified marketing theory and practical strategic marketing expertise, particularly with respect to the importance of “tacit” or unarticulated knowledge. The trajectory of argument draws attention to the role of words as symbolic modelling devices and explores implications of this position for theorising marketing expertise. Makes use of a multidisciplinary perspective and draws material from work in cognitive science, the psychology of expertise and the philosophy of science. Sets the problematisation of practical theory in marketing within a broader context of a possible epistemological “crisis” of rationality in practical disciplines. The conclusion suggests that an epistemology of expertise for marketing management demands both theoretical and linguistic sophistication and implies a pedagogic shift towards a model of philosophic enquiry in marketing.

The paper aims to establish which formally and informally published sources of knowledge were mainly used by executives in the computer service industry to obtain knowledge of current developments in the field of marketing and to examine the purposes for which the knowledge gathered from these sources was employed.

Marketing managers in 141 large computer services businesses completed a questionnaire concerning the extents to which they used books, marketing magazines, academic journals, and grey literature (GL) for instrumental, conceptual, and symbolic purposes. Four “motivating factors” (e.g. occupational learning orientation) were examined plus three other influences (e.g. length of time in a marketing role). The possible consequences of the extensive use of various sources were explored.

Only 2 per cent of the sample read academic marketing journals, and just 3 per cent looked at marketing textbooks. However, 89 per cent of the sample accessed (mainly internet‐based) grey marketing literature and 62 per cent read marketing magazines. Nearly, one in six of the respondents stated that they had read practitioner “how to do” marketing books. Several hypothesised independent variables exerted positive and significant impacts on the degrees to which magazines; GL and practitioner books were employed to obtain marketing knowledge.

It was not possible to examine exactly why a particular knowledge source was preferred for a specific purpose. Potential connections between past academic research outputs and the contents of contemporary grey marketing literature and articles in marketing magazines could not be investigated. The results imply that GL must be recognised as a vital source of marketing knowledge. Issues relating to the codification and wider distribution of GL, copyright, the shortage of specialised GL bibliographies in the marketing area, and the long‐term availability of materials in electronic form need to be addressed.

This was the first empirical study to connect the use of marketing knowledge sources to the purposes (instrumental, conceptual, symbolic) for which the knowledge contained within them was required.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether or not marketing academics practise what they preach. Are they marketing‐oriented in their main business of knowledge creation and dissemination?

The epistemological marketing literature and performance at producing true marketing knowledge are critically reviewed. Practitioner marketing knowledge is investigated through the literature, personal contacts and a simple direct research study.

The paper finds that only one kind of knowledge, so‐called “marketing science”, is now regarded as valid. Unfortunately, this kind of knowledge can only be built through extensive and independent testing. After 50 years of following this approach, the output is very small, very expensive and largely of no interest to practitioners because marketing knowledge means something quite different to them. Marketing academics have become myopic as to what marketing knowledge is, and they have become production‐oriented, with the objective of producing as much of it as possible.

There is a need to stop trying to tell practitioners what to do and to shift one's research emphasis to conceptual humanism, postmodern science, direct and action research, tools for practitioners, marketing facts, and educating the whole student.

The paper has made an attempt to change the course of marketing academic literature.

The importance of integrating both internal and external knowledge into the product/service innovation process has been widely recognized in the knowledge management and innovation literature. Likewise, the role of the marketing and sales function as a driver of innovation has been stressed because of its market-facing role. However, limited research has investigated the complementarity of both internal and external knowledge regarding product/service innovation performance in a marketing context. The purpose of this study is to analyze marketing departments’ role in accessing internal and external knowledge resources (i.e. marketing-specific relational capital [RC]) to reach improved product and service innovation performance.

The analysis uses empirical evidence collected by a structured survey of 346 respondents representing marketing and sales functions in Spanish companies.

The survey revealed that marketing-specific internal relational capital at the department and inter-department levels, as well as noncustomer external RC, are directly associated with product/service innovation performance. Further, the analyses show that the relationship between customer-specific RC and innovation performance is mediated by other types of RC, making it a fundamental antecedent to the innovation process. Finally, significant differences in marketing-specific RC subcomponents were found between business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) firms.

This study makes a valuable contribution to marketing and management literature by revealing the types of social interactions in the marketing function that enable access to knowledge sources that promote successful product/service innovation.