Graham J. Hooley

The performance impact of marketing resources

Recently, there has been much interest in the role of marketing resources in contributing to the creation of competitive advantage and subsequently firm performance. Most of this work to date, however, has been conceptual or theoretical in nature, and there has been little empirical research into the nature and impact of marketing resources. Drawing on literature from both the marketing and strategic management disciplines, the authors develop and empirically test scales for measuring marketing resources and assess their impact on performance outcomes. The findings indicate that marketing resources impact on financial performance indirectly through creating customer satisfaction and loyalty and building superior market performance.

The Marketing Concept: Putting the Theory into Practice

This paper attempts to develop a typology of current approaches to marketing in UK industry. It reports the results of a national postal survey of over 1,000 UK chief marketing executives. Cluster analysis was used on the survey data to isolate four distinct marketing approaches which are current in UK industry. These are described as “marketing philosophers”, “sales supporters,” “departmental marketers” and “unsures”. Three of these orientations suggest a natural progression from sales support through departmental marketing to the adoption of marketing as a guiding philosophy for the whole organisation. While it is recognised that this kind of cross‐sectional analysis cannot be used to conclude that all business moves through these stages towards marketing orientation, the paper presents attitudinal, organisational and executional evidence to suggest that this is a viable hypothesis.

Market Orientation in the Transition Economies of Central Europe:: Tests of the Narver and Slater Market Orientation Scales

Abstract The Narver and Slater (Narver, J.C., and Slater, S.F.: The Effect of Marketing Orientation on Business Profitability. Journal of Marketing 54 (1990): 20–35.) market orientation scale is tested in the context of the transition economies of central Europe and found to be both valid and reliable. Relationships between market orientation and both marketing strategy and performance broadly follow predictions from the Western literature indicating that the adoption of a market orientation is equally applicable in transition as in Western economies. A number of different approaches, however, are evident in the transition economies suggesting that other business orientations may coexist with a market orientation creating a richer and more complex set or organizational drivers.

Competitive positioning and the resource-based view of the firm

Two apparently contradictory paradigms have come to dominate the strategic management literature over the last decade. The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm seeks to explain sustainable competitive advantage through the rent earning capability of internal scarce resources while the marketing paradigm stresses the need for external market orientation to achieve competitive success. This paper reconciles the two through the concepts of competitive positioning. It develops a hierarchy of marketing resources, assets and capabilities and discusses how these can be deployed to achieve alternative competitive positions. A research agenda is proposed.

Marketing Capabilities and Firm Performance: A Hierarchical Model

The resource based theory of the firm (RBV) is briefly reviewed together with its recent application in the marketing literature. Significant contributions by Webster (1992) and Day (1994) are identified and an integration of the two presented as a hierarchical model of marketing capabilities. Three research propositions concerning the relationships between marketing capabilities and performance are developed and tested empirically in the transition economies of central and eastern Europe. In line with expectations from the theory of the RBV, higher order marketing capabilities are seen to be more important than operational capabilities in explaining superior competitive performance. The overall model is shown to be a helpful conceptualization of marketing capabilities and a number of issues for further research are identified.

The resource underpinnings of competitive positions

Competitive positioning is central to market‐focussed management, comprising the choice of target market the firm will operate in, and how it will compete in that market. Positioning decisions are complex and require the firm to find a profitable match between market requirements and firm ability to satisfy them. Equally important, however, is the longer term sustainability of any position created in the market place. Drawing on theory from the strategic management and marketing domains the authors argue that the competitive position achieved is a key marketing resource with the potential to generate sustainable competitive advantage. The paper examines alternative competitive positions, the marketing resources necessary to underpin them, and how they are defended against competitor imitation or encroachment. Some positions are found to be inherently more defensible than others.

Market orientation in the service sector of the transition economies of central Europe

The Narver and Slater market orientation scale is tested in the context of service firms in the transition economies of central Europe and found to be both valid and reliable. The survey examined levels of market orientation in 205 business to business services companies and 141 consumer services companies in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. As predicted by the predominantly western marketing literature, those service firms with higher levels of market orientation; were more often found in turbulent, rapidly changing markets; were more likely to pursue longer term market building goals rather than short term efficiency objectives; more likely to pursue differentiated positioning through offering superior levels of service compared to competitors; and also performed better on both financial and market based criteria. A number of different business approaches, however, are evident in the transition economies suggesting that other business orientations may co‐exist with a market orientation creating a richer and more complex set of organizational drivers.

Generic marketing strategies

Abstract A sample of 616 single business companies provided data to investigate the nature of generic marketing strategies in UK industry. A wide range of marketing strategy components —marketing objectives, strategic focus, market targeting, quality and price positioning—were used to cluster strategies. Five generic strategies were identified and were analysed by market type, corporate attitudes, and performance using discriminant analysis. The study provides more in-depth insights into the nature of marketing strategies than has been possible hitherto. The theoretical, practical and methodological implications are discussed.

Marketing lessons from the UK's high‐flying companies

This article presents the results of a comprehensive investigation into the practice and effectiveness of marketing in the UK, and provides an overview of the state of the marketing art in the UK. The survey compares and contrasts the marketing practice of the best performing companies in the sample, the “high‐fliers”, against the remainder of the sample, the “also rans”, in order to isolate the special marketing characteristics of an organisation which outperforms its rivals in a competitive marketplace. The authors have identified the “high‐flier” characteristics and summarised them in a six point plan for marketing excellence.

Strategic orientation and corporate performance

Abstract In recent years British industry has shown a remarkable improvement in efficiency without a corresponding improvement in international market performance. This paradox is explored through detailed interviews with a large sample of British senior marketing executives. Two types of companies are distinguished: those orientated to long run market share and those more orientated to short run profit performance. The study suggests an increasing appreciation of the constraints of the latter approach. Interestingly, companies orientated to long term market share are shown to have not only superior market positions but also stronger financial performance.