Some Exploratory Models for Assessing Small Firms′ Marketing Performance (A Qualitative Approach)

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.