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Period 1: Theories of Marketing
Topic 1 – Reading Materials:
Article 1: Narver & Slater (1990): The Effect of Market Orientation on Business
Profitability" - Journal of Marketing, October 1990
Empirical or Conceptual?
The article is empirical, based on research and data analysis.
Qualitative or Quantitative?
It is quantitative, involving the analysis of numerical data.
Testing New Theories & Hypotheses?
Yes, it tests the theory of market orientation's impact on business profitability.
Contribution - Academic & Managerial Relevance?
It contributes academically by providing empirical evidence of the relationship between
market orientation and profitability. Managerially, it offers insights for businesses on the importance
of market orientation. Business practitioners seeking to implement a market orientation have had
no specific guidance as to what precisely a market orientation is and what its actual effect on business
performance may be.
Positioning - How is it Related to Existing Knowledge?
The article positions itself by building upon existing knowledge related to marketing and
strategy. It expands on the traditional product-centric approach and introduces the idea of market
orientation, emphasizing customer-centric strategies. It also delves into the relationship between
market orientation and profitability, providing empirical evidence to support its claims.
Customer orientation is the sufficient understanding of one’s target buyers to be able to
create superior value for them continuously. It requires that a seller understand a buyer’s entire value
chain.
Competitor orientation means that a seller understands the short-term strengths and
weaknesses and long-term capabilities and strategies of both key current and key potential
competitors.
Interfunctional coordination – the coordinated utilization of company resources in creating
superior value for target customers. The coordinated integration of the business's resources in
creating superior value for buyers obviously is tied closely to both customer and competitor
orientation.
Literature suggests that a market orientation has primarily a long-term focus both in relation
to profits and in implementing each of the three behavioural components of market orientation.
Conclusion - What do they actually add to our knowledge?
The article establishes a positive link between market orientation and business profitability,
providing valuable empirical evidence to support the concept.
For both commodity and non-commodity businesses, market orientation is an important
determinant of profitability.
For both commodity and non-commodity businesses, relative costs appear also to be an
important determinant of profitability. Thus, on average, both types of businesses can pursue either
or both differentiation and low cost strategies.
For non-commodity businesses, short-term market growth presents a profitable opportunity,
whereas for commodity businesses, which in general are less adaptable than the non-commodity
businesses, short-term market growth appears to reduce profitability.
, Non-linear relationship be- tween market orientation and profitability that we observe
among the commodity businesses.
Businesses having the highest degree of market orientation are associated with the highest
profitability.
Article 2: Slater and Narver (1998) Customer-led and market-oriented, let’s not
confuse the two, strategic management journal, 19, p1001-1006
Empirical or Conceptual?
The article appears to be conceptual in nature, as takes existing information and given the
date we have it discusses and distinguishes between two concepts, "customer-led" and "market-
oriented”, and gives a new perspective.
Testing New Theories & Hypotheses?
It may not primarily test new theories or hypotheses but rather seeks to clarify and distinguish
between existing concepts, namely, "customer-led" and "market-oriented."
Contribution - Academic & Managerial Relevance?
The contribution is likely to be academic in terms of providing conceptual clarity around
"customer-led" and "market-oriented" approaches. It may also have managerial relevance by helping
businesses understand the distinctions between these two approaches and their implications.
The first, being 'customer- led,' is a short-term philosophy in which organizations respond to
customers' expressed wants. The second, being 'market-oriented,' represents a long-term
commitment to understanding customer needs-both expressed and latent-and to developing
innovative solutions that produce superior customer value.
Positioning - How is it Related to Existing Knowledge?
The article likely positions itself by building upon and clarifying existing knowledge related to
marketing and strategic management concepts, specifically the differentiation between being
"customer-led" and "market-oriented."
In a relatively stable environment (e.g., retail banking), responding quickly to evolving
customer wants and focusing on customer satisfaction may provide the foundation that enduring
relationships are built upon. These relationships can be durable and valuable, and thus provide a
foundation for competitive advantage. In a turbulent environment though, the more enduring
advantage is an ability to anticipate evolving customer needs and to generate new value-creating
capabilities based on that knowledge.
,Conclusion - What do they actually add to our knowledge?
The article is likely to add conceptual clarity and insights into the distinction between
"customer-led" and "market-oriented" approaches, helping readers understand the differences and
implications of each approach.
A customer- led philosophy tends to be reactive and short term in its orientation, and focuses
on customers' expressed desires and on measures of customer satisfaction. Being customer-led may
be successful in relatively predictable environments where it is most important to take care of a
stable served market. It also may be attractive to some managers in dynamic environments because
of the uncertainty and risk associated with attempting to lead the customer. However, being
customer-led in a dynamic environment will rarely lead to a position of competitive advantage since
it provides insufficient stimulus for the significant innovation that discontinuous change requires.
A market orientation is concerned with understanding both expressed and latent customer
needs. Like customer-led businesses, market-oriented businesses listen closely to the voices of their
customers. Moreover, those voices are only one source of information on which plans and strategies
should be based. Their commitment to continuous market learning, to discovering latent needs and
unserved markets, and to organization-wide mobilization of resources, enables them to achieve
market- focused innovation and to sustain competitive advantage in all types of markets.
Article 3: Homburg, Jozi&Kuehnl (2017), Customer experience management: toward
implementing an evolving marketing concept, J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci., 45, p377401
Empirical or Conceptual?
The article appears to be more empirical in nature, as it takes the lead discusses the concept
of Customer Experience Management (CEM) and its implementation.
Does it Test New Theories & Hypotheses?
The article may introduce and discuss new theoretical concepts and hypotheses related to
Customer Experience Management but may not primarily focus on empirical testing.
Conclusion - What do they actually add to our knowledge?
The article is likely to add insights into the evolving nature of Customer Experience
Management and how it can be practically implemented. It may also provide a conceptual framework
for understanding and managing customer experiences.
Specifically, we derive four firm capabilities for continually renewing CEs: touchpoint journey
design, touchpoint prioritization, touchpoint journey monitoring, and touchpoint adaptation. A firm
capability refers to an organizationally embedded pattern of processes and routines, commonly
representing an intangible resource in research.
Article 4: DE SWAAN ARONS, M., DRIEST, F. V. D., & WEED, K. (2022). The Ultimate
Marketing Machine. Harvard Business Review, 84–91.
Empirical or conceptual?:
Conceptual
Shared principles of high performers’ marketing approaches:
- Big data, deep insights. High performers in our study are distinguished by their ability to
integrate data on what consumers are doing with knowledge of why they’re doing it, which
, yields new insights into consumers’ needs and how to best meet them. These marketers
understand consumers’ basic drives.
- Purposeful positioning. Top brands excel at delivering all three manifestations of brand
purpose—functional benefits, or the job the customer buys the brand to do; emotional
benefits, or how it satisfies a customer’s emotional needs; and societal benefits, such as
sustainability. In addition, a powerful and clear brand purpose improves alignment
throughout the organization and ensures consistent messaging across touchpoints.
- Total experience. Companies are increasingly enhancing the value of their products by
creating customer experiences. Some deepen the customer relationship by leveraging what
they know about a given customer to personalize offerings. Others focus on the breadth of
the relationship by adding touchpoints. Our research shows that high-performing brands do
both— providing what we call “total experience”.
Five drivers of organizational effectiveness:
- Connecting. Leaders excel at linking their departments to general management and other
functions. They create a tight relationship with the CEO, making certain that marketing goals
support company goals; bridge organizational silos by integrating marketing and other
disciplines; and ensure that global, regional, and local marketing teams work
interdependently.
- Inspiring. Our research shows that highperforming marketers are more likely to engage
customers and employees with their brand purpose—and that employees in those
organizations are more likely to express pride in the brand. It enhances collaboration and, as
more and more employees come into contact with customers, also helps ensure consistent
customer experiences.
- Focusing. Winning companies were more likely to measure brands’ success against key
performance indicators such as revenue growth and profit and to tie incentives at the local
level directly to those KPIs.
- Organizing for agility.
New marketing roles. We have found it useful to categorize marketing roles not by
title (as the variety seems infinite) but as belonging to three broad types: “think” marketers,
who apply analytic capabilities to tasks like data mining, media-mix modelling, and ROI
optimization; “do” marketers, who develop content and design and lead production; and
“feel” marketers, who focus on consumer interaction and engagement in roles from customer
service to social media and online communities.
The networked organization. To populate a team, the orchestrator and team leader
draw from marketing and other functions as well as from outside agencies and consulting
firms, balancing the mix of think, do, and feel capabilities in accordance with the team’s
mission (“The Orchestrator Model”). Companies are using this model to create task forces
for a range of marketing programs, from integrating online and physical retail experiences to
introducing new products.
, - Building capabilities. At a minimum the marketing staff needs expertise in traditional
marketing and communications functions—market research, competitive intelligence, media
planning, and so forth. But we’ve seen that sometimes even those basic capabilities are
lacking.
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