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The
The entrepreneurial entrepreneurial
marketing mix marketing mix
Diane M. Martin
University of Portland, Portland, Oregon, USA 391
Abstract
Purpose – This paper identifies and examine a divergence of philosophies and practice between
corporate/traditional marketing (CTM) and entrepreneurial marketing (EM). The paper examines the
case of an entrepreneur who also possesses a deep understanding of CTM practices. The purpose of
this paper is to learn which set of marketing practices entrepreneurs are likely to privilege.
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Introduction
Periodic examination of traditional assumptions of marketing theory allows scholars
to remain relevant to emerging trends in business. Scholars note that both marketing
theories and entrepreneurship theory privilege the notion of value creation, that is, the
notion that elements are combined in a manner that results in the provision of value to
the user (Morris et al., 2002). Others creatively combine foundational theories of both
disciplines into a body of research concerned with marketing in the context of small
and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and with business practices called the marketing/
entrepreneurship interface (Gilmore and Coviello, 1999; Hoy, 2008). Scholars
acknowledge important differences between large and small business ventures and
call for greater presence of entrepreneurial elements in marketing theory education
(Carson, 1993; Stokes, 2000). This paper challenges the “one size fits all” assumptions
of marketing theory to qualitatively identify and examine philosophical and practical
differences between corporate/traditional marketing (CTM) and entrepreneurial
Qualitative Market Research: An
marketing (EM). International Journal
Criticisms of traditional marketing theory and education include: Vol. 12 No. 4, 2009
pp. 391-403
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
[. . .] an over-reliance on established rules of thumb, encouragement of formula-based 1352-2752
thinking, lack of accountability for marketing expenditures, an emphasis on the promotion DOI 10.1108/13522750910993310
QMRIJ elements of the marketing mix, focus on superficial and transitory whims of customers, the
tendencies to imitate instead of innovate and serve existing markets instead of creating new
12,4 ones, a concentration on short-term, low-risk payoffs, and marketing as a silo with static and
reactive approaches (Morris et al., 2002, p. 2).
Even the American Marketing Association’s endorsed definition of marketing, ignores
issues central to entrepreneurship: innovation, risk-taking, and proactiveness (Morris
392 et al., 2002). These scholars and others have set about to remedy this apparent lack of
entrepreneurial focus in the marketing discipline. Hill and Wright (2000, p. 43) note that
a “paradigmatic shift would allow for the full expression of the entrepreneurial
personality in the management and marketing activities of the SME.” They argue that
marketing and entrepreneurship can be conjoined more completely, creating a new,
entrepreneurial paradigm of marketing.
It is generally accepted that most entrepreneurs are specialists in a field other than
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marketing (Carson et al., 1995; Stokes, 2000; Zontanos and Anderson, 2004). In order to
examine the real potential of the marketing/entrepreneurship interface, this qualitative
study examines the work of an entrepreneur who is a marketing expert and enjoys
success as an entrepreneur in the competitive motor sport event management market.
First, a review of the literature examines marketing theory and practice by organizational
size and context, i.e. formal and traditional vs informal and entrepreneurial. Next, the
analysis uncovers the primacy of personal contact networks and interpersonal
communication for entrepreneurs in marketing enterprises. Finally, the paper concludes
with suggestions for theory and practice, training, and development.
Culture
CTM theory suggests determination of researched, established need amongst
customers first, then addressing that need. Entrepreneurial cultural (e.g. organizing
philosophy) is more often promoted by new product concepts than by researched,
established needs amongst customers. Entrepreneurs’ culture of innovativeness
suggests that they first develop an idea and then gauge customer reaction after the
development of new product. Morris et al. (2002) note that EM fosters a culture of
innovativeness, risk-taking, and pro-action throughout the firm, encourages a strategy
that seeks to exploit opportunities others have missed or ones that have not been
completely exploited, and includes tactics that are creative and develop a personal
approach to the identification and pursuit of opportunity.
Strategy
CTM strategy prescribes an organized process of segmentation, targeting, and
positioning. On the other hand:
[. . .] entrepreneurs use a bottom-up approach by serving the needs of a few customers and
then expanding the base gradually [. . .] [entrepreneurs use] trial and error in the marketplace,
being in contact with customers to learn their preferences, looking for customers with the
same profiles so they can expand their base (Stokes, 2000, p. 50).
Strategy for entrepreneurs is more fluid and innovative.
Tactics
For entrepreneurs, tactics for using the marketing mix diverge from the traditional
progression of product development, pricing, promotion, and distribution.
Entrepreneurs prefer direct interchanges and building personal relationships.
Likewise, the tactics behind entrepreneurs’ marketing intelligence is based on
personal observation and contact information, rather than formal research (Stokes,
2000). Decision making in larger organizations tends to adhere to variable time intervals:
Some are short-term issues and others are considered medium or long-term issues. EM
decisions are more immediate and fluid (Carson, 1993). Basic philosophical differences
QMRIJ between CTM and EM are manifest in material differences in organizational culture,
12,4 strategy, and tactics.
Chaston (1997) is reticent to privilege one alternative marketing style as the formula for
entrepreneurial success. This is understandable when one considers how formulaic
processes are generally anathema to the four key factors of successful entrepreneurship
organization: creation, innovation, uniqueness and growth (Hills and LaForge, 1992). The
More to the point is the primacy of relationships as indicative of one’s personal contact entrepreneurial
network. According to Carson (1993), contact networks are a natural phenomenon, not
planned processes. However, there may be some difference in how they are used. marketing mix
Marketing managers’ networks are consciously used, while entrepreneurs’ are
subconsciously used (Carson, 1993). There appears to be a distinction between the
way personal contact networks are used relative to the different roles and 395
responsibilities expected of marketing managers and entrepreneurs doing marketing.
Marketing entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs are not typically marketing experts. As such, the vocabulary and
foundations of formal marketing theory are often unfamiliar to them (Stokes, 2000).
Dodge et al. (1994) argue that the most prevalent problem in small firms is a lack of
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knowledge about the marketplace and planning. Indeed, most “owner-managers do not
define their own marketing mix in terms of product, pricing, place and promotion, but
appear to prefer interactive marketing” (Carson et al., 1995, p. 230). Small
entrepreneurial knowledge-based firms are characterized by entrepreneurs’ lack of
marketing development competencies coupled with their high technical and
professional skills (Capaldo et al., 2001). Although most entrepreneurs are unfamiliar
with formal marketing theory, they are often so personally embedded in the enterprise
that they can ill afford mismanagement of the personal contact network at the heart of
EM success. Entrepreneurs may not know the vocabulary and concepts but they are
keenly aware of the value of the results of good marketing.
Marketing scholars have identified the need to better understand strategic
relationships, alliances, and networks (Achrol and Kotler, 1999). Zontanos and
Anderson (2004, p. 231) note that “a small firm’s marketing advantage, in contrast to a
large firm, is precisely these close relationships between the entrepreneur and
customers.” Entrepreneurs must be excellent communicators; both effective at
conveying understanding and skilled at persuasion and influence. An entrepreneur
who specializes in marketing would seem to have his or her feet planted in both worlds.
Those who are both competent communicators, the cornerstone of personal contact
network success, and knowledgeable marketers, possessing a deep understanding of
CTM theory, are in a uniquely qualified to assess skills and resources from both CTM
and EM. This study examines the work of just such an entrepreneur.
Methodology
Interpretive theorists argue that social reality is negotiated and constructed through
sense-making processes (Anderson, 1987; Lindlof, 1995). Assumptions of accuracy are
not bound by a search for the “truth,” but rather by the display and analysis of an
internally consistent and coherent system of evidence (Putnam, 1983). Qualitative
analyses enable sensitivity to contextual dynamics (Barley, 1986) because they focus
primarily on explaining the characteristic forms and variations of the phenomena
under consideration (Lofland, 1971).
This study continues a tradition of research that establishes a logical link between
the development and testing of EM theory and qualitative research methods (Gibb,
1990; Hill and Wright, 2000). Gibb (1990) argued that large sample questionnaires are
misplaced in researching small firms and that more inductive reasoning based on
QMRIJ grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) is a better method. Hill and Wright (2000)
12,4 also call for in-depth entrepreneurial research programs in the ethnographic tradition.
Finally, Cope (2005) demonstrates the value of phenomenological, in-depth,
unstructured interviews in entrepreneurial research.
Although not an ethnography in the strictest sense, this study benefited from my
prior experience as both an entrepreneur and a motorcyclist providing “prolonged
396 engagement” in the ethnographic tradition. My association with motor sports is very
loosely akin to what Corsaro (1980) described and strongly recommended as, “‘prior
ethnography’: becoming a participant observer in a situation for a lengthy period of
time before the study is actually undertaken” (Lincoln and Guba, 1985, p. 251).
From 1990 to 1998, I owned and operated a marketing consulting business. Since
then, my time away from day-to-day entrepreneurial activities and education in
research methods has provided me with “fresh eyes” for participating in and observing
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magazines a lot. [. . .] I look and read and look and read and look and read. [. . .] A lot of
industry publications. We receive every industry publication. We look at everything that
comes in the door.
Tim kept a close eye on mini-bike after-market product innovations that allowed adults
to ride and compete on bikes originally designed for children. My interviews with
competitors at the second annual MiniMoto SX in Las Vegas in May 2005, revealed
several reasons for the success of MiniMoto competition. Adult riders find competing on
mini-bikes to be easier, safer, and more accessible than motocross racing on a full-size
motorcycle. Several riders moved to minis after getting hurt on their big bikes. If a rider
gets in trouble on the mini, he or she can just stand up and let the bike roll out on its own
rather than risk the danger of going down. The retro-fitted mini-bike provides adults a
chance to ride again, to be “new entrants” in a way that gives them confidence,
competence and pleasure. MiniMoto riders in the professional classifications even get
the chance to compete against top motocross racers, but doing so on mini-bikes.
Strategy
MiniMoto Magazine started as an insert to an established motor sport publication. As
interest in both the mini market segment and the magazine grew, Tim responded to
QMRIJ requests from both enthusiasts and after-market suppliers/advertisers. As he explains,
12,4 readers called for:
[. . .] more “how to” articles [. . .] [they said] can you give us more opinion of how things work
and operate? Can you give us more options on where to go and find products? What is so
great about our magazine right now is that it is so new, that people don’t even know who
makes tires for mini-bikes. And I’m going to the advertisers saying “hello, if you advertise,
398 people are going to find you.” That’s the marketing, it’s different than your ideas and
concepts, that’s how to manage a magazine. You know I really try and merge them.
The strategy works and customers know they are being heard. Tim claims that “our
customer base absolutely does what we [want them to] do because we give them
everything they ask for.” This bottom-up approach first serves the needs of a few
customers and privileges customer preferences (Stokes, 2000).
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Tactics
The tactic of direct interchanges and building personal relationships (Stokes, 2000) is
the overarching tactic in the MiniMoto SX organization. Tim notes that he calls up
motocross superstar Jeremy McGrath and “says ‘Jeremy I’m having a race’ and he
shows up. He don’t go anywhere for under $10,000. And he shows up to our races
[for free]!” The opportunity to compete with one of the top pros in the world brings
other competitors to the track to test their mettle. Even if they never make it past the
heat races, they can, as one competitor exclaimed, “I tell the guys at home I raced
Jeremy McGrath!”
Practices
Decisions about which practices to follow were based on innovative thinking and
making good use of meager financial resources. The MiniMoto SX is strategically
designed to take advantage of a major event in the motor sport industry. By holding
the annual MiniMoto SX on the night before the Las Vegas SX, a major international
motocross event, Tim takes advantage of the audience of motor sport enthusiasts
already in town for the SX:
Supercross is Saturday night [. . .] and I got into the mini-bike thing and I no sooner got into
the minibike magazine and I thought, there’s nothing to sell. I need to create some sizzle, so
let’s create a race [. . .] so let’s do it the night before the biggest Supercross in the world [. . .]
cause there’s 40,000 people that are going to come to this [Supercross] race.
Purpose
MiniMoto Magazine grew out of need to provide a place for after-market innovators to
advertise to a highly targeted market. Through constant monitoring of the industry,
Tim connected the dots and:
[. . .] realized that the mini market had tremendous potential because it was made up of a
number of cottage industries, several dozen [. . .] I’ve always loved motorcycles, so I was
looking at the industry and I saw there was all these mom and pop start-up shops and they The
needed a place to advertise. [. . .] I’m a real graphics magazine guy. The biggest magazines for
off-road [motorcycle market] which minibikes would fall into are in my opinion [too expensive entrepreneurial
for the after-market innovators]. So if you were a manufacturer that came up with a great idea marketing mix
for a lever, or a swing arm or a grip, you couldn’t afford to advertise in any of those
publications because a Dirt Rider full page ad is eight or nine grand. My whole concept was to
give these guys an arena they could participate in and [. . .] we still have passion. [. . .] so I said
let’s make a magazine where a small guy could be a big fish. So we put the full page at $1500 399
now $1800, it’s the same magazine, you can buy full color more than black and white.
Person
A deep understanding of promotions and the role of public relations in launching a new
venture allowed Tim to leverage his personality and extend his limited resources.
Careful handling of the requests from the general motor sport media outlets allowed
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Process
Tim’s understanding of CTM extends to his careful analysis of price point and the
process of developing a new market segment:
The genus of MiniMoto in Las Vegas [. . .] you know why it was so successful. It’s because
I realized that there were 42,000 people that went to Sam Boyd [arena and casino] on Saturday
night to watch Supercross, to watch Chad Reed, Ricky Carmicheal, Bubba Stewart and they
all show up on Thursday or Friday because they love to be there, they love to gamble, they
need something to do. So we created Friday night for the 42,000 people. The first year we did
it, 5000 people showed up. Then the buzz hit. Do you realize that next year we could double
the prices and we could still sell out? We’re not going to do that, we’re going to keep the prices
the same. It’s going to explode.
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