Marketing in medium‐sized manufacturing firms : The state‐of‐the‐art in Britain, 1987‐92

Many studies have highlighted the important role that marketing plays in contributing to a firm’s competitive success. In most cases, however, research has focused on either large businesses, or, to a lesser extent, very small businesses, essentially ignoring the many “medium‐sized” firms in between. Thus, this paper aims to assess, in quantitative terms, both the extent to which marketing has been adopted, and the rate of its adoption between 1987 and 1992 within UK medium‐sized manufacturing firms. The investigation is based on a mail survey, conducted in 1987, of 231 companies, which was repeated in 1992, resulting in the analysis of a matched sample of 81 firms. The survey suggests that although most businesses claim to be considerably marketing‐oriented in their overall business philosophy, they do not necessarily “practise what they preach”. Further, it shows that the state‐of‐the‐marketing‐art changed little during the five‐year period and raises questions about the evolution of marketing in small and medium‐sized enterprises and about the extent to which the normative models of marketing practice are applicable to smaller firms.