Factors Influencing the Marketing Mix for Small Business Marketing - Research Proposal Example

Factors influencing the marketing mix for small business marketing ---The case study approach Dissertation -----Proposal of dissertation: Factors influencing the marketing mix for small business marketing – the case study approach. 2. Aims and objectives: This dissertation on the Marketing Mix of Small Businesses, aims to investigate, study, discuss and evaluate the marketing mix adopted by small businesses and study its overall impact on business performance. Studies revolving around the marketing strategies employed by small business have been far and wide, therefore, through this study, an attempt has been made to look into various case studies and literature review and ascertain the various methods employed by owners of small businesses to market and promote their products, and draw logical inferences / observations from the same. This aim study assists consists of four main objectives: Marketing Mix: Identify and describe the concept of marketing mix as it pertains to small businesses: The four Ps of marketing which comprise of the marketing mix include: Product; Price; Place; Promotion. Small Business: Describe the context: local / national situation of current small businesses and their typical models and frameworks theories: By literature review as secondary data from books, websites, and published research materials, magazines etc. I will have acquired some data about business model. Additional, For the purpose of this study, this dissertation will focus on the small businesses: Crispy Green, The Brownstone Boutique and Wild Canada Clothing to research and compare. Marketing Mix of Small Businesses: Small businesses have historically been a vital part of the economic environment of any nation and a steady contributor towards its economic development. Such favouritism within the management studies towards larger businesses can partly be associated with the emergence of the industrial era. However the new interest in the concept of entrepreneurship, particularly with regard to small business has resurged recently and hence it is extremely vital to study such an aspect in order to understand the manner in which existing management theories and concepts apply to the management of small businesses. In order to better understand this phenomenon, this dissertation uses evidence from the vast amount of research as well as through the study of theories and models relevant to the topic in question. Furthermore, despite the difference clearly stated above, regarding the focusing solely on small businesses, it is worth mentioning that all businesses, regardless of their size operate with one ultimate objective – maximisation of profits. Thus, a brief overview of the similarities as well as differences between the marketing strategies adopted by various types of businesses, shall be included to provide a broader insight into the subject. Research Hypothesis: Small Businesses are innovators Small businesses make extensive use of cheaper alternatives such as the internet for all purposes from product promotions to sale as well as establishing customer relationships Small business owners largely rely on information marketing 3. Background: the topic are and its importance Small businesses is are running run and managed by an entrepreneur. According to W. Zimmerer and M. Scarborough (2008) point out that an entrepreneur is one who creates a new business in the face of risk and uncertainty for the purpose of achieving profit and growth by identifying significant opportunities and assembling the necessary resources to capitalize on them. Small business has a few of competitive advantages with against large companies. These nimble competitors can dart into and out of niche markets as they emerge and recede; they can move faster to exploit market opportunities; and they can use modern technology to create within a matter of weeks or months, products and services that once took years and all of the resources a giant corporation could muster (W. Zimmerer and M. Scarborough, 2008, p5). Small businesses are an essential part of any industry especially owing to the immense contribution such businesses make towards the economy as well as towards the growth and development of any country. Their contribution lies not only in terms of generating employment on a small scale, but also towards product development and innovation. However, the small businesses function differently as compared to the larger firms. The reason being, that the small businesses not only lack adequate capital but also do not have sophisticated marketing techniques, a dedicated team of management, to handle its various departments and particularly handling customers and product development, testing the feasibility of a certain project which it aspires to launch etc. But nevertheless, the small businesses manage to garner profits and revenue and sustain their businesses in the face of growing competition. It is on account of this very reason, that studying the marketing mix of small businesses is important. All in all, the marketing mix can better realization of its advantages in small business. Therefore I think it is very feasible and has prospect in the future. May be it is very be a system of science in small business. That is the main reason I choose this title. 4. Literature Review This section outlines the initial literature review, highlighting the main theoretical areas that underpin the work. It is mean that This section will include reviews of what is already known about my topic and issues discussed in the paper. For example: The marketing mix of small businesses has been often described as a ‘concept’, a ‘measurement’, a ‘business tactic’, an ‘orientation’, or a ‘culture’ according to the review of historical research / study on the subject (Raaij and Stoelhorst, 2007; Cadogan, 2003; Hill, 2001; Siu and Kirby, 1998; Romano and Ratnatunga, 1995). One of the most significant elements that surfaced during such literature review was the fact that the concept of marketing mix or marketing strategy adopted by the small businesses has been often referred to as “cultural” (Deshpande et al., 1993; Narver and Slater, 1990), and "behavioral" in nature (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990) and the terms "resource capabilities and allocation" (Kyriakopoulos and Moorman, 2004; Ruekert, 1992) have been associated with it to emphasize the need for designing an independent and distinct marketing mix especially suitable for a small business. This is because, the market orientation – which can either be categorized as proactive or responsive behaviour, of any business helps in determining its future prospects (Slater and Narver, 2004) and can lead to designing of policies which are ‘market oriented’ / market driven (Narver et al., 2004; Hills et al, 1999; Jaworski et al., 2000). Nevertheless, irrespective of the varied disparities concerning the marketing approaches or the ‘orientation’ style adopted by the businesses, it is implicit that the fundamental objective behind development of all such strategies is to achieve maximum customer satisfaction by competing with the business rivals in a given environment, with the help of the resources available at the disposal of the owners or proprietors. Thus while investigating the approaches adopted by small businesses, it is extremely vital to understand the concept along with its cultural and managerial implications (Lafferty and Hult, 2001). The marketing style of small businesses is distinct and largely dissimilar to those adopted by large corporations (Blankson et al., 2006; Stokes, 2000), and a study of such a concept would help researchers to draw valuable conclusions within this unique and so far unchartered territory (McCartan-Quinn and Carson, 2003; Becker et al., 1999). 5. Research methodology and Data Analysis In order to outline this dissertation, This research is based on will collect secondary data. I will first consult which is used secondary data because they are usually available, because of its easy accessibility and it offers more scope to analyze and compare the examples used in the study can used to relative to case studies to enhance it. On the process of doing the While conducting this research, there are different kinds of resources were used to improve the quality and efficiency of this research. Firstly, there are many relevant books and journals, to do the literature review, it is necessary to use those resources. Secondly, there are many published electronic journals available online too; it is helpful to widen the author’s knowledge and sight. Thirdly, the other important way to require acquire resource is via the Internet which provides juice brands, relevant news, reviews, supply chain information in practice and so on. The above has showed are secondary data. To build on understandings developed in small business I will focus on case studies various examples, which will be discussed at length to afford a broad view of the marketing mix employed by small businesses. This case is based around the development of that idea in three main stages: the feasibility study, the route to market entry and the business plan. Case Studies Examples The case studies discussed below show a brief overview of the factors which small businesses take into consideration while marketing their products / services. CASE – 1: Crispy Green Crispy Green is a small business, based in Fairfield, N. J., comprising of merely seven employees, and is involved in making and selling freeze-dried fruit snacks. The company was founded in August 2004 for selling natural food products which are a healthier alternative than most of the packaged food usually available in the market. CASE – 2: The Brownstone The Brownstone Boutique is a lifestyle fashion store founded in 1998 by Princess Jenkins, and is based in New York. CASE – 3: Wild Canada Clothing, Inc., Wild Canada Clothing was founded by entrepreneurs Lucy Neuman and Nick Russell in the year 2006. It is retail clothing company which deals with exclusive products used for outdoor activities. The products include t-shirts, baseball caps, and fleece jackets and vests with logos of outdoor sports such as kayaking, mountain climbing, bicycling, skating, surfing and horseback riding with the companys slogan - "Go Play Outside" written across each one. The products are available for both men and women in wide range of colors with unique names such as sunrise pink, sunset red, twilight purple, desert rose, cactus green, ocean blue, mountaintop white, and river rock grey. The products offered by Wild Canada Clothing are moderately priced which acts as the USP since most of the consumers want to buy sports wear of cool brands which are mostly priced at premium rates. The moderately priced products of Wild Canada Clothing offer its customers with a better and cheaper alternative. The company mainly targets customers within the age group of 25 - 45 years who have a fondness for outdoor activities / sports. 6. Scope and limitations In this dissertation, section the various problems encountered while conducting this study are included there would be some problems and limitations meet during the progress of the writing. And there are three major problems were faced while writing this dissertation: firstly, I have never run a small business, so I cannot understand the real problem in small business and some detail in running. Secondly, it needs me use marketing theory to know how to solve the problems of running small business. Of course, it is an opportunity that I can use them in my small business if I success doing this research. Finally, I will have to learn and where to find some more useful information for study, such as book, newsdissertation, magazine and video and so on. 7. Timescale This section outlines the main tasks that should be carried out to complete the work according to timescale. Items: Date: Carry out literature review To end of December Data collection and analysis February Write up main body of dissertation February Submit Final draft To end of March Amendment and modification To end of March Submit final dissertation 7th April 8. Reference Baker, J. M., (2003). The Marketing Book, Butterworth - Heinemann Publication, Pp. 288 – 289 Baker, M. J., (2001). Marketing: Critical Perspectives on Business and Management, Vol. 5, Taylor & Francis, Pp. 52 – 53 Crispy Green (2010). About Us, Accessed: Jan 31, 2010 from: < http://www.crispygreen.com/about-us/about-us.html> Kurtz, D. L., MacKenzie, H. F., Snow, K., (2009). Contemporary Marketing, Cengage Learning, Pp. 81 – 83 John F. Lescher (1995), Online Market Research, 1st ed, Canada. J. Paul Peter, Jerry C. Olson and Klaus G. Grunert (1999), Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Strategy, European edition, Mc Graw Hill. Thomas W. Zimmerer & Norman M. Scarborough (2008), Essentials of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, 15th ed, Pearson Prentice Hall. The Brownstone Woman, (2010). About Us, Accessed: Jan 31, 2010 from: Raaij, van E. M., Stoelhorst, J. W. (2007), "The implementation of a market orientation - A review and integration of the contributions to date", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 42 No.11/12, pp.1265-1293 Cadogan, J.W., Sundqvist, S., Salminen, R.T. & Puumalainen, K. (2002). Market-orientedbehaviour. Comparing service with product exporters. European Journal of Marketing, 36(9/10),1076-1102. Hill, J. 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Journal of Marketing, 54(2), 1-18 Kyriakopoulos, Kyriakos and Christine Moorman (2004), “Tradeoffs in Marketing Exploitation and Exploration Strategies: The Overlooked Role of Market Orientation,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 21 (September), 219-240 Ruekert, R.W., (1992), ‘Developing a Market Orientation: An Organizational Strategy Perspective’, in: International Journal of Research in Marketing 9 :225-245 Slater, S.F., Narver, J.C., & MacLachlan, D.L. (2004). Responsive and Proactive MarketOrientation and New-Product Success. The Journal of Product Innovation Management, 21(5),334-347 Hill, J. & McGowan, P. (1999). Small business and enterprise development: questions aboutresearch methodology. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 5(1), 5-18 Jaworski, B., Kohli, A.K. & Sahay, A. (2000). Market-Driven versus Driving Markets. Journal of theAcademy of Marketing Science, 28(1), 45-54 Lafferty, B.A. & Hult, G.T.M. (2001). A synthesis of contemporary market orientationperspectives. European Journal of Marketing, 35(1/2), 92-109 Blankson, C., Motwani, J.G. & Levenburg, N.M. (2006). Understanding the patterns of market orientation among small businesses. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 24(6), 572-590 Stokes, D. (2000). Putting Entrepreneurship into Marketing: The Processes of Entrepreneurial Marketing. Journal of Research in Marketing & Entrepreneurship, 2(1), 1-16 McCartan-Quinn, D. & Carson, D. (2003). Issues which Impact upon Marketing in the Small Firm.Small Business Economics, 21(2), 201-231 Read More