Marketing Canon: Principles for Influencing Decision Making in Firms

¶ … Marketing Canon: Approaches Based on Principles for Influencing Decision Making in Firms Operating in several geographical locations, quite a number of firms have many product lines, which many marketing scholars believe are ever confronted by myriad dilemmas. To facilitate consistent decision-making processes, it is vital for the firms to come up with overall but common marketing strategies while at the same time, it is very essential for firms to permit their employees the ease to make their specific circumstances suit marketing decisions.

However, allowing such flexible measures always leads to challenges in making marketing decisions because everyone, including managers often project dissimilar mental pictures and models of marketing. Existing literature suggest two approaches for formulating a common means to making decisions that provides different levels of flexibility. The first approach is that firms could depend on mechanical approaches that influence decisions made by stipulating standard modes of operations (Homburg and Furst, 2005).

The second perspective provides that firms ought to nurture shared norms and values in employees such as information sharing and teamwork in order to arrive at correct decisions (Homburg and Furst, 2005). Statement of the Problem Although the suggested approaches are more flexible, they fall short of the influence they are supposed to give firm managers in the process of making marketing decisions (Homburg and Pflesser, 2000). This research suggests a third approach for formulating a common ground for tackling the apparent conflicting importance of flexibility and consistency.

In this research this third approach is referred to as Marketing Canon which can be defined as: an organization's peculiar principles synthesized from its practices in order to provide guidance throughout the organization in making choices in market decisions. Purpose of the Study The study intends to evaluate the concept of Marketing Canon in detail by adding four contributions to the existing literature. 1. Establish a formal definition of the construct deduced from an examination of the general idea of Canon from different literature sources where it is majorly used. 2.

Help firms with guidance on developing their own marketing canon 3. Establish a conceptual framework that encompasses consequences and the antecedents of using the marketing canon 4. Find out how using marketing canon and its performance relationship can influence the impact of three unsteady environments namely: structural flux, market turbulence and competitive intensity.

Research Question How to apply peculiar principles of an organization accumulated from experiences and the related impacts? H0: Why using marketing canon has uniform effects on broad contexts while in other contexts they are more valuable and have different gradations? Ha: Can the use of market canon be applied across similar contexts and why they are more important in some contexts but vary in others? Literature Review Existing literature on making marketing decisions suggests that other influences include routines, values, and culture and market orientations in an organization (Homburg and Furst 2005).

Market orientation means an organizations responsiveness, generation and dissemination of market intelligence (Jaworski and Kohli 1993). The role of market orientation is to make a firm more focused on the competitors and the customers.(Narver and Slater 1990), while on the other hand the function of marketing canon is to provide guidance for marketing decision making, for instance, branding and segmentation in a uniformly consistent way in an organization.

This concept is much more directional and specific, for example, positioning of a brand should consistently remain the same over time and across many regions. This differs from the accepted general trends in a market oriented organization. Organizational culture refers to the values employees share amongst themselves depending on the rules of conduct provided by the organization (Deshpande and Webster 1989).Organizational values can be defined as widespread sets of beliefs about how people should act within the organization, for instance, matters relating to integrity and teamwork (Kabanoff, Waldersee, and Cohen 1995).

There are three ways in which marketing canon is different from organizational values and culture. To begin with, organizational values and culture impact on all employees by focusing on their conduct while marketing canon only touches on those who directly or indirectly make marketing decisions. Secondly, values and culture have distant and unrelated impacts on how marketing tasks perform (Sinkula, Baker, and Noordewier 1997), while marketing canon has a more direct influence.

Thirdly, marketing canon basically indicates guidance from the experiences of the firm while culture and values reflect an unspecified manner of behavior (Challagalla, Murtha & Jaworski, 2014) Routine refers to clear series of conduct for highly structured but simple problems (Bingham and Eisenhardt2011). For instance, where highly structured activities like managing customer service are concerned organizations may formulated standard operating procedures or definite routines (Homburg and Furst 2005). But in contrast, marketing canon sets guidelines for unstructured or more complex marketing tasks.

More so, marketing canon needs judgment while being applied but routines only call upon managers to identify a situation and use quasi-automatic and ready-made solutions (Cohen and Bacdayan 1994). These comparisons mean that routines need highly standardized processes for their formulation whereas the setting up of marketing canon is apparently more involving. Scholars have suggested that the main role of marketing professionals should be to produce organization-specific knowledge because this represents a means of competitive advantages (Nonaka and Von Krogh, 2009).

This research proposes that organizations can depend on their peculiar experiences for coming up with that type of knowhow; however performance cannot be improved by drawing from experience alone (Bingham, Eisenhardt, and Furr 2007). For that reason, organizations require procedure for converting such experiences into knowledge that can be applied. Generally, marketing literature has never examined the idea of organization derived experiences from specific principles as a possible means to competitive advantage.

Many scholars have indicated that marketing may be taking a back seat mainly because senior executives have lost touch with the role and value of marketing (Webster, Malter, and Ganesan2005). Actually, such scholars have a limited view of marketing which they related to communication in marketing. In this respect, marketing canon intends to provide an opportunity to define the role of marketing and solidify its place within organizations.

When senior executives from different departments in an organization clearly appreciate the core principle of their organization they will most likely understand the value and role of marketing. Methodology This chapter on methodology will mainly focus on 1) Explaining the rationale behind choosing the methodology that has been used and 2) aptness of the method for the overall accomplishment of the topic of this work. This chapter has been divided into relevant chapters to justify the means and methods of the methodology employed along with variations thereof.

It hence establishes the method as being useful to reach the desired outcomes. (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2007). The research onion, a process described by Saunders et al., (2012, p.83) best explains the way to follow a research work and has hence been used here as the basic premise for this work. Research Philosophy According to Trochim (2006), the academia views the work of researches to get a better grasp of the subject in question. Research work also puts forth the diverse views prevalent on the topic across many regions.

There are two ways of looking at it Positivism and Post-positivism. These are two constructs that aid the research work. Positivism is the approach that precludes metaphysics and makes demands on observational explanations. The other viewpoint lays stress on the perceptions that can be enlarged to development of the larger construct. They, in tandem, guide any research work of consequence. Positivism is the experimental determination and assertion of observation in nature. It helps logical deductions and can be tested for authenticity to known means and measures.

A positivist is he, who follows the rigors of controlled examination for deriving logical outcomes, and the work carried out by him depicts the testing tenets minutely. The main thrust of positivists is on objectivity rather than subjectivity. At the other spectrum is the post-positivist who emphasizes that no research could ever be entirely objective in content and result. Presumptions, they believe, are inherent in any endeavor, scientific or not.

They are of the view that anticipation is a given in any pursuit.(Trochim, 2006).This study would be best served in its purposes through Post-Positivism. Research Approach Trochim (2006),has also proposed two processes that may be followed to arrive at results conclusively: inductive and deductive methods. In deductive techniques one starts by taking a perspective view of the larger influence. The parameters are then eliminated systematically sequentially to arrive at the aim of the research work. It is alternatively known as Top-down approach.

Inductive technique works in exactly the reverse fashion. The basic object of research is first approached in its minutest form and is then gradually built up to accomplish the larger construct of the work under consideration. It is thus a bottoms-up approach. This approach used in this work is of inductive type. Research Methods This research employs theories-in-use and discovery-oriented approaches which incorporates detailed interviews with the existing literature as a way of developing conceptual themes (Malshe and Sohi 2009).

And so it uses the questionnaire interviews gleaned from managerial insights with different perspectives from a multidisciplinary study of military tactics, religion and legal doctrines. Furthermore, it uses archival data from marketing doctrines of a professional services firm to complement the archival data. The research employs the survey drawn from three sets of questionnaires. Existing literature suggests the application of purposeful sampling in order to get authentic samples that can give wealthy insights into an upcoming construct (Patton 1990).

For that reason, this study heavily draws from the expertise of professional service firms knowledgeable in formulating marketing philosophies for fortune 500 customers because similar concepts may not mean the same thing to different parties (Tuli, Kohli, and Bharadwaj 2007). The second sample employed in the study brought together 100 customers of professional services organizations from various industries. For the purposes of obtaining a wide spectrum of perspectives, the research carried out surveys with a third category of respondents different from the first two who could provide authentic information from the previous interviews.

After exhausting informants for the quantitative survey, the research made use of 10 expert participants representing firms of various sizes covering many industries, their product categories and their positions. These included executive VP, CEOs, and marketing managers boasting experiences ranging between 10-20 years in both global and regional industries. Amongst the chosen participants were both women and men in different enterprises such as healthcare/life sciences, professional services, consumer-packaged goods and technology.

Quantitative interviews are important for examining programs that target specific outcomes, evaluating those that are believed to be dynamic or are evolving, those that explore particular differences between participants' outcomes and experiences, describing and capturing program processes, and those that qualify what a program means to the participants by documenting changes in the implementation of the program at different stages.

However, quantitative interviews are not very useful for interpreting programs with emphasis on similar outcomes for all participants, gauging the predetermined impact of a program on participants and their effects on evaluation, and in determining whether an intervention occasioned effects or changes in participants. This is because establishing casualties needs better controlled conditions (Sewell, n.d). One challenge to the research design is that the methodology seems rather intrusive than in the qualitative approach. Apart from that participants may reveal more than they want to, leading to delayed regrets.

This method may lead to mood swings and friction of personalities or lack of interpersonal dynamics between the interviewees and the interrogator more than in survey methods. And since quantitative interviews need a lot of experience and skills, it will be time consuming and expensive to train the respondents and conduct the interview. Besides, analyzing and interpreting qualitative data is much easier than doing the same for quantitative interviews.

And again, it is more subjective than in the former method because the researcher or evaluator has to decide which specific quotes or instances to include in the report. Even though the importance of quantitative interviewing rests in its openness and flexible nature, it is still very essential for the planner of evaluation to look keenly into the process in order to provide the primary framework and structure which will enable the study to be worthwhile and useful.

In order to overcome these shortcomings, the research will progress in seven stages of designing and implementing a research interview. The seven stages cover designing, themes, interviews, analysis, transcription, verification and reporting (Sewell, n.d). The appropriateness of the chosen method lies in its use of a five-tiered approach to gaining insight into marketing. The first stage is to define the program in terms of selected industry insiders.

This is followed by an accountability step since a few conversational and informal interviews with respondents might immediately prove that the research is reaching its target audience or that the main services are present. The third step involves refining and understanding and in this stage, interviewing is quite essential. Quantitative interviews with respondents are appropriate to data gathering, processing and drawing conclusions that are necessary for modifying and refining the research further.

The fourth stage monitors advancement toward possible results because this method works best in relation to objective quantitative procedures and indicators. Whereas the quantitative processes in a literal sense show whether the objective results are being met, quantitative measures answer more to the ways participants react to what is taking place and what this means to their lives.

The last stage deals with the impact of the design which involves selective application of quotations from respondents through publications, news releases and reports as effective means of spreading the word out about any happening. It is to be expected that even if the feedback is neither significant nor positive, challenges will still be.