The Strategic Market Planning-Implementation Interface in Small and Midsized Industrial Firms: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

When marketing strategy objectives fail to materialize, is it because the strategy was unsound or the implementation was ineffective, or both? Findings from a two-stage exploratory study of marketing implementation in smaller industrial organizations suggest that the complex interactions between planning and implementation processes, and planners and implementors, impact eventual marketing effectiveness. Depth interviews with fifty managers most knowledgeable about their firm’s marketing implementation processes shed light on the different ways in which the interactions are managed. Findings suggest that promoting closer interactions between market planners and implementors, or assigning the responsibility of both functions to a person or a group improves likelihood of strategic marketing success. Several implications likely to interest scholars and practitioners are discussed.