Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) A Comparative study of Arabic and International Research Literature with a Special Focus on The Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

Due to the interdisciplinary complicated nature of the concept Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) that has only emerged in the communication field three decades ago and has ever since witnessed dramatic developments in itself and the related fields, the current research paper aims at: shedding more light onto the nature of IMC and the sciences that the concept emerged from; undergoing meta-analysis on a total of 122 Arabic and foreign research papers to track IMC research trends worldwide and discussing the notable gap between IMC research in the Sultanate of Oman and its practice. Findings indicated that IMC is an interdisciplinary relatively new concept combining communication and marketing, then evolved further to include branding as an independent discipline. A quantitative and qualitative gap between Arabic and international research literature concerning IMC was noted, due to the limitations and difficulties of conducting such research in the Arab World. IMC research in the Sultanate falls short, although serious attempts were made in the marketing and branding research fields. Practical wise, most companies working in Oman are practicing the concept without putting it into proper evaluation.