SME marketing in practice

Abstract

Acknowledges that SMEs (small to medium‐sized enterprises) cannot do conventional marketing because of the limitations of resources which are inherent to all SMEs and also because SME owner/managers behave and think differently from conventional marketing decision‐making practices in large companies. In this context the discussion focuses on SME characteristics and how these impact upon marketing characteristics within SMEs. In a search for “alternative” marketing approaches, the inherent existence of the owner/manager’s “network” in its various guises such as personal contact networks, social networks, business networks and industry and marketing networks and how these networks are used is considered. Some evidence from an empirical study carried out simultaneously in Northern Ireland and Australia is presented which illustrates how and why networking is used by SME owner/managers as a tool or approach for carrying out meaningful marketing.

Foresight capabilities and SME product/service adaptiveness: the moderating effect of industry dynamism

“…These practices enable them to strategically adapt their products and services in response to market dynamics. The study also established that SMEs do not depend only on developing network ties in order to understand the external environment and be able to react to changes in the external environment (Gilmore et al, 2001;Wu, 2011). They are able to develop foresight techniques and practice activities.…”

“…We therefore argue that planning and visioning will have a direct positive impact on SMEs' ability to strategically adapt their products and services to market needs. However, following the complexity theory (Stacey, 1995) and SME resource constraints argument (Gilmore et al, 2001;Nyuur, 2015), it is likely that the value of planning and visioning on SME performance would diminish with increase in dynamism and hostility in the external business environment. Based on the above, we hypothesise that:…”

“…Such networks also help SMEs proactively and strategically posture themselves as well as adapt their products/services for good performance (Moreno and Casillas, 2008). Scholars have suggested that SMEs have substantial constraints which inhibit their ability to use a wide range of foresight practices or techniques and therefore rely heavily on developing network ties in order to understand the external environment and strategically adapt to changes in the external environment (Gilmore et al, 2001;Nyuur, 2015;Wu, 2011). Moreover, SMEs are found to struggle in using more complex foresight techniques and therefore tend to use networking and other simple foresight methods such as brainstorming, desk research, and expert interviews for monitoring and understanding the business environment (Jannek and Burmeister, 2007;Johnston et al, 2008).…”

“…Within the SME context, some scholars suggest a number of difficulties that hinder SMEs from engaging in foresight activities (Gilmore et al, 2001;Nyuur, 2015;Robinson and Pearce, 1984). Others however acknowledge that SMEs indeed do engage in strategic foresight practices in order to survive in the sophisticated and uncertain business environment (Bianchi, 2002).…”

UK Fashion Designers Working in Micro-sized Enterprises; Attitudes to Locational Resources, Their Peers and the Market

“…What little is known about the strategic behavior of MSEs points to the importance to them of supplementing their limited resources with those outside the firm (Gilmore, Carson, & Grant, 2001) and observation of and interaction with user communities (Di Maria & Finotto, 2008). We show that, even in a world in which ideas are observable globally via the internet, location and proximal resources are important to at least a significant subset of fashion design firms, but that the importance attached to such resources and other features of the local geography, and the use made of them is, not homogeneous.…”