An investigation of marketing practice by firm size

In a review of the state of knowledge at the marketing/entrepreneurship interface, Muzyka and Hills (1993) posed the following question: “Just how well do existing marketing models and the traditional marketing paradigm fit the environment, behavior, and processes found in entrepreneurial organizations?” This is a particularly important issue to consider given that small firm practices have historically been assessed in the context of existing marketing models: models based on large firm practices. Perhaps not surprisingly, small firm marketing practices have generally been criticized as non-traditional, informal, short-term, and non-strategic. However, given that the marketing discipline is undergoing a transformation with new paradigms of thought emerging (for example, relationship marketing), is it now appropriate to assess small firm practices in the context of a broader, more contemporary perspective. This research examines the relevance of the traditional marketing paradigm to smaller firms, in terms of market planning, the type of marketing practiced, and the use of performance measures. Smaller firm practices are compared with those of larger firms in the context of a framework that integrates both the transactional and relational schools of marketing thought. Thus, both traditional and emerging paradigms are considered. Three hypotheses are examined using a self-administered survey designed to collect quantitative and qualitative data pertaining to the firm's various marketing practices and processes. The sample consists of 302 firms reflecting two similar sub-samples of managers attending part-time executive programs in New Zealand n = 192 , and Canada n = 110 . These managers represent firms of varying size, age, growth rate, use of technology, and industry sector. Analysis was controlled for each of these variables, with firm size being the primary unit of analysis. The results show that in certain areas, marketing practices differ between smaller and larger firms. For example, size-related differences are reflected in the approach to market planning, where smaller firms are found to be more informal than larger firms. Smaller firms also use fewer ways to measure market performance than larger firms. At the same time, the findings also indicate that small firm marketing practices are similar to those of larger firms in many ways, with both transactional and relational marketing relevant across firm size. For example, similarities can be identif