Paper for JMM / EJM, early 201028final%29.doc · Web view‘Online is one channel and requires...
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1 How can marketing academics serve marketing practice? The New Marketing DNA as a model for marketing education Paul Harrigan, Lecturer in Marketing, University of Southampton ¹ * Bev Hulbert, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Southampton ¹ * corresponding author ¹ School of Management University of Southampton Room 4040 Building 2 Highfield Southampton UK SO17 1BJ 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Transcript of Paper for JMM / EJM, early 201028final%29.doc · Web view‘Online is one channel and requires...
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How can marketing academics serve marketing practice? The New
Marketing DNA as a model for marketing education
Paul Harrigan, Lecturer in Marketing, University of Southampton ¹ *
Bev Hulbert, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Southampton ¹
* corresponding author
¹ School of Management
University of Southampton
Room 4040
Building 2
Highfield
Southampton
UK
SO17 1BJ
Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 7361
Fax: +44 (0)23 8059 3844
E-mail: [email protected]
Keywords: Marketing, Higher Education, Technology, Marketing DNA
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Abstract
This paper seeks to address how marketing academics can best serve marketing practice
through marketing education. It is contended that, where technology is driving marketing in
practice, it is afforded significantly less attention in both theory and education. Thus, the
marketing graduates that are being produced from universities are often lacking in the skills
that 21st century marketers require. Where the focus of the paper is on marketing education, a
broad analysis of the content of marketing textbooks and degree programs is presented and an
‘old Marketing DNA’ presented. The study also adopted an inductive approach to data
collection where the aim was to investigate the exact nature, constituency and role of
marketing in organizations. Qualitative in-depth interviews were undertaken with senior
marketing managers and executives in UK organizations. Findings are organized into the
areas of customer-led marketing, value-driven strategic marketing, channels, data-driven
marketing, and online and offline integrated marketing communications. The paper concludes
that there is a disconnect between marketing education and marketing practice, and goes some
way to recommending what the response of marketing academia should be through the ‘new
Marketing DNA’. This paper aims to inspire a holistic response from marketing educators to
bring their practice more in line with what is actually being practiced by marketing
practitioners in the 21st century.
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Introduction
This paper seeks to address how marketing academics can best serve marketing practice
through marketing education. It is contended that, where technology is driving marketing in
practice, it is afforded significantly less attention in both theory and education. Thus, the
marketing graduates that are being produced from universities are often lacking in the skills
that 21st century marketers require (Walker et al., 2009).
Marketing in practice in the 21st century has been almost entirely permeated by
technology, particularly Internet-based technologies (IBTs) such as web communications,
websites, databases, and analytics tools. Previously, it could have been asserted that the
different technologies (e.g. television and email) were most definitely tools that enabled
traditional marketing principles and strategies, such as the marketing mix and branding.
However, it is proposed that newer 21st century technologies have been far more disruptive to
the marketing landscape and transformed not only the way marketing is done, but the very
role of marketing in the organization.
The Internet is now a completely interactive (‘Web 2.0’) tool that requires marketers
to actually practice two-way marketing between themselves and customers. Tools such as
Facebook and Twitter are perfect examples, but the stories of failure are more common that
the success stories, where marketers continue to view these new communication media as
broadcast, rather than narrowcast, interactive channels. As well as communications, IBTs
have also transformed market research, where organizations can gather, mine and turn into
actionable insight the vast amounts of data that is naturally created with each customer
communication and interaction. Link the power of data with the new forms of
communication, and organizations really do have the ability to deliver value to customers that
will yield mutually-beneficial relationships, and ultimately higher profitability. Still,
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technology is only enabling traditional marketing theories and principles, but it is doing it to
such an extent that marketing graduates need an extensive grounding in the range of enabling
technologies tools and how they link intrinsically with marketing strategy.
However, more authors have recently questioned the link between marketing theory
and marketing practice. Authors such as Verhoef, Reibstein and Rust have pointed to
marketing’s lack of impact on other disciplines and on marketing practice (Brownlie et al.,
1994; Hunt, 1994; Reibstein et al., 2009; Rust et al., 2010; Verhoef and Leeflang, 2009). It is
asserted that more research should actually focus on what marketers in different contexts
actually do (Brownlie et al., 1994; Hunt, 1994; Reibstein et al., 2009). Where academics are
under more pressure to increase the practical ‘impact’ of their research, more emphasis must
be placed on current practical and managerial problems (Reibstein et al., 2009; Verhoef and
Leeflang, 2009). Based on this brief introduction to the powerful enabling role of technology
in marketing, this paper seeks, through empirical research, to uncover what form marketing
takes in organizations and to propose a new framework for marketing education. Thus, the
paper seeks to impact marketing theory, but also provide actionable takeaways for marketing
educators.
The paper begins by discussing marketing and the tenuous relationship between theory
and practice it inspires. The importance of technology in business and in marketing is also
introduced. Where the focus of the paper is on marketing education, a broad analysis of the
content of marketing textbooks and degree programs is presented and an ‘old Marketing
DNA’ presented. The study adopted an inductive approach to data collection where the aim
was to investigate the exact nature, constituency and role of marketing in organizations. The
findings present qualitative data from an in-depth interview process and point to a disconnect
between marketing education and marketing practice, and conclusions recommending what
the response of marketing academia should be - a ‘new Marketing DNA’.
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Background
Marketing
‘Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating,
communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers,
clients, partners, and society at large’ (Approved by the American Marketing
Association, October 2007)
It is cautioned that marketing academia, which has traditionally been one of the main sources
of marketing knowledge, is coming under greater pressure to make itself relevant to
marketing practice (Brownlie and Saren, 1995; Reibstein et al., 2009). This is particularly true
in marketing education, where often the provision of 21st century marketing skills is the remit
of industrial bodies, rather than academic institutions. Thus, it is the contention of this paper
the marketing curriculum has been left behind by advancements in marketing practice,
particularly with regard to the enabling power of technology in marketing.
The response of this paper is to adopt an inductive research design to uncover exactly
what is happening in marketing practice and to compare to what is being delivered in
marketing higher education. If we are to bridge this gulf (Reibstein et al., 2009; Verhoef and
Leeflang, 2009) between marketing academics and senior marketing managers we need to go
out with an open mind and a listening ear in our research, rather than going out with set
questions and hypotheses. As Brown (1996:13) aptly sums up, ‘experienced fishermen know
as much, if not more, about piscine habits and behavior than a shoal of academically inclined
biologists’. In short, we are at a stage where marketing academia has a lot to learn from
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marketing practice. The problem in this case is that marketing academia, through its education
of students, is not reflecting what is happening in marketing practice, and thus not delivering
marketing graduates with the skills to actually work in marketing (Walker et al., 2009).
This paper focuses on the role of technology in marketing as the main area through
which marketing practice has sped ahead of marketing theory and education. The following
section will present a brief overview of the different influences of technology on marketing in
the 21st century, while the next section will present an overview of the current state of play in
the marketing curriculum.
Technology in Marketing
It is apparent, in the 21st century, is that technology has a significant role in most
organizations’ innovation activities (Zhang et al., 2008). Although it is unlikely that
technology itself has any inherent value, value and competitive advantage emanate from the
integration of technology into business strategy. Thus, a form of innovation may comprise the
innovative use of technology for business purposes (Peppard and Ward, 2004; Zhang et al.,
2008). Furthermore, innovation can occur in almost any business process, such as marketing.
In marketing, technology has driven new approaches and techniques, such as developing
customer insight, web analytics, dashboards, search engine optimization, and social media
marketing. Practical examples of this irreversible trend are the use of social media such as
Facebook and Twitter in two-way, interactive marketing communications where control of the
‘marketing message’ is in some ways relinquished to the customers. This was most widely
popularized by Barack Obama in his 2008 Presidential campaign. Other examples are the use
of advanced analytics software to track consumer behavior online and to target advertisements
based on behavior, and thus relevance. This ‘web analytics’ domain, though, is dominated by
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IT professionals in practice. A final, and most up-to-date example of the pervasive role of
technology in marketing lies in the area of mobile technology, where the challenge of
understanding mobile marketing communications and analyzing mobile Internet behavior is a
significant ‘market’ for marketing. In all, technology has infiltrated both the front-end
communications and back-end analytics of marketing.
Specifically to marketing performance, Internet-based Technologies (IBTs) have the
potential to strengthen online connections with customers, disseminate product information,
facilitate transactions, improve customer service, and manage stakeholder relationships
(Bartezzaghi and Ronchi, 2005). IBTs also have the potential to develop a firm’s existing
markets, facilitate entry into new, international markets, and even create new products and
services (Chaffey et al., 2003). Nonetheless, these potential successes are wholly dependent
on how the business uses IBTs to leverage its processes as technology itself does not provide
a competitive advantage (Chen and Ching, 2007).
Critically, there are two theories regarding the nature of technology in society and
business. The first; substantive theory can be defined as technological determinism, in which
technology is presented as an autonomous force. Expanding this notion, technology is viewed
as being neither outside society nor an integral part of it; rather technology is an independent,
self-controlling, self-determining, self-generating, self-propelling, self-perpetuating and self-
expanding force (Feenberg, 1991; Chandler, 1995). The second; instrumental theory can be
defined as technological instrumentalism and directly opposes substantive theory, asserting
that all technology is a tool, largely under human control, that can be used for either positive
or negative purposes (Feenberg, 1991; Surry, 1997). Instrumentalists cite the knife as the
prime example, as a tool that can be used to kill, cook or cure (Levinson, 1996). Although it
immediately becomes obvious that instrumental theory offers the most widely accepted view
of technology in practice, and is the dominant view of modern governments and the policy
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sciences on which they rely (Feenberg, 1991), it is the contention of this paper that the
marketing discipline is being driven and led by technology, rather than taking the lead and
reclaiming its influence. The practical examples lie in the areas of data mining, CRM, and
consumer behavior, where software companies and IT departments lead the way and
marketing obediently follows (Rust et al., 2010). This should not be the case where
technology should be seen as an enabling tool of marketing practices. It is the role of
marketing education to reflect the disruptive and pervasive nature of technology in marketing
practice, and to prepare students to put marketing back in its place.
Marketing Education
This section will provide a brief account of the current curriculum being delivered in the
majority of higher education institutions in the UK, and review relevant marketing education
literature. Previous research in the domain of marketing education has provided some useful
commentary on the state of marketing education as a system for providing marketing practice
with suitable graduates. Principally, there is continuing debate that the gap between marketing
education and marketing practice is too wide (e.g. Kelley and Gaedeke, 1990; Lamont and
Friedman, 1997; Smart et al., 1999; Lamb et al., 1995; Gray et al., 2007; Treleaven and
Voola, 2008; Tregear et al., 2010).
Based on a review of previous research in journals, either with an educational focus or
devoting special issues to educational issues, common themes appear to be the need to
respond to the role of technology in marketing (Lamont and Friedman, 1997; Baker et al.,
2003), the global nature of marketing (Lamont and Friedman, 1997; Koch, 1997), the
quantitative and analytical nature of marketing (Floyd and Gordon, 1998; Mitchell and
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Strauss, 2001), the softer skills required to practice marketing (Kelley and Gaedeke, 1990;
Lamb et al., 1995; Kaplan et al., 2010), and the general need to be closer and more responsive
to the changing needs of practitioners (Boddy, 2007; Gray et al., 2007; Tregear et al., 2010).
Examining the marketing curriculum, there is some useful research by Helgesen et al. (2009),
which proposes the underlying philosophy of marketing education. Fundamentally, marketing
education has tended to be based on two distinct approaches; ‘instrumental’ and ‘intrinsic’
(Clarke et al., 2006). The intrinsic approach is concerned with the ‘development of individual
potentialities or the development of intellect and character’ (Peters, 1970:27), and implies that
education provides people with the capability to make their own choices in live. Thus,
‘education has value in and of itself’ (Clarke et al., 2006:192). Conversely, the instrumental
approach focuses on skills, implying ‘business schools should teach students so they can hit
the employment world fully trained’ (Clarke et al., 2006:191). Thus, education is not
perceived as an end in itself, but as the mean to an end (Helgesen et al., 2009). This paper
adopts the position that marketing education must respond to the needs of its stakeholders
who, in the main, are marketing practitioners. Thus, we must teach the skills that are required
of marketing practitioners in the 21st century (Bruce and Schoenfeld, 2006; Southgate, 2006;
Warren and O’Toole, 2005).
Returning to the themes identified as being required in the marketing curriculum, the principal
one appears to be the integration of technological skills (e.g. Spiller and Scovotti, 2008;
Mitchell and Strauss, 2001). Where digital marketing is growing exponentially in practice, it
tends to remain ‘boxed’ in to individual modules in the marketing curriculum (Spiller and
Scovotti, 2008). Mitchell and Strauss (2001) and Benbunan-Fich et al. (2001) highlight the
importance (which has only increased since 2001) of developing an understanding of web
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page and site design, web site marketing, server-side programming and management, and
information and social networking strategies. A key cautionary point in advocating the
centrality of technology in the marketing curriculum is to make the customer the focal point
of marketing, and technology the enabler. With this in mind, Baker et al. (2003) propose
designing the marketing curriculum around the concept of customer value.
Focusing on the skills required by marketing graduates to enable them to be competent
practitioners, it is reported that marketing managers find marketing theory and published
research to be abstract and of little relevance to their work (Ankers and Brennan, 2002).
Where university teaching is meant to be based on this research, this raises potential concerns
about the relevance of formal marketing education to marketing practice (Gray et al., 2007). A
principal concern appears to be that employers perceive marketing and education to be too
theoretical and not practical enough (Beamish and Calof, 1989; Phillips and Zuber-Skerritt,
1993; Neelankavil, 1994), meaning that conceptual discussions take precedence over the
development of softer or transferable skills (Gray et al., 2007; Catterall et al., 2002). Based on
research carried out among marketing managers (and students) in New Zealand, the skills
required to be an effective marketing manager are strategic thinking, leadership and
management, and a knowledge of strategic planning, product and brand management,
communication and promotion, and consumer behavior (Gray et al., 2007). Marketing
managers also emphasized the importance of business-to-business and services marketing,
which students tended to view as less important. A final point is that manager considered a
willingness to learn and interpersonal skills as important as marketing knowledge that is
lacking in many graduates (Gray et al., 2007; Kelley and Bridges, 2005). Other research has
emphasized the need to integrate key employability-related skills into marketing modules
(Davis et al., 2002). Approaches such building employability skills development into
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assessment (Treleaven and Voola, 2008), introducing separate ‘professional/career skills’
modules (Kelley and Bridges, 2005) and making students study more modules outside the
business school to broaden horizons (Pharr and Morris, 1997).
Recently, the marketing curriculum has been analyzed by several researchers (e.g. Kuster and
Vila, 2006; Stringfellow et al., 2006). Kuster and Vila (2006) found that market research was
the most commonly delivered marketing subject, followed by marketing strategy and
consumer behavior. The ‘core’ modules that were offered by more than 75 per cent of the
institutions surveyed in both America and Europe consisted of strategic marketing, principles
of marketing, marketing research and marketing communications (Kuster and Vila, 2006).
Further ‘standard’ modules offered by more than 50 per cent of institutions consisted of
international marketing, consumer behavior, product/brand marketing, services marketing,
retail marketing, B2B marketing and e-marketing (Kuster and Vila, 2006). Other modules
delivered by more than 25 per cent of institutions consisted of contemporary marketing issues,
small business marketing, supply chain/logistics, simulation/project/consultancy and direct
marketing.
This paper complements this previous research and details what is being delivered in the
marketing curriculum in the UK. Table 1 delineates the structure of 9 mainstream marketing
(‘introduction to marketing’, ‘strategic marketing’, ‘marketing management’) textbooks in use
in undergraduate and postgraduate marketing education across the UK.
Table 1 – Marketing Textbook Structure
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Expanding on each of the topics listed in Table 1, each of the marketing texts reviewed devote
a section to the role of marketing in the wider organization. This tends to be situated at the
beginning of the book, where the marketing concept is explained, internal marketing
introduced and the notion of marketing as a holistic concept in the organization is proposed.
Sections focusing on marketing planning detail the development of marketing plans.
Implicitly, this involves setting achievable marketing objectives and goals. The emphasis is
that marketing is seen as a key component of organizational strategy. The section on the
marketing environment discusses the importance of the internal and external environments in
marketing. Internally, a marketing audit serves the purpose of reviewing the current
objectives, strategy and performance. Externally, it is important to learn about the customer
environment, as well as the wider macro-environment. Analyses such as SWOT and PEST are
explained. The buyer behavior section tends to be divided into business-to-customer (B2C)
marketing and business-to-business (B2B) marketing. Regarding B2C marketing,
understanding the consumer buying process is underlined. The psychology of marketing is
introduced in some texts. Regarding B2B marketing, the distinct stages in the buying process
are outlined and the significant differences from B2C illustrated. Marketing research is
introduced as an important concept in all texts. Although it is linked to developing,
maintaining and utilizing insight on customers as the basis for marketing, it remains a
relatively distinct section in the majority of texts. Techniques such as questionnaires and
focus groups are explained. A section on segmentation, targeting and positioning introduces
the core marketing concept of segmentation; namely geographic, demographic,
psychographic, and behavioral segmentation. These traditional means of segmenting are
explained in turn, and tend to be followed by a section on differentiation and positioning. The
status of the ‘4Ps’ of marketing is enhanced by the texts under review. In most cases, different
sections are reserved for the range of marketing decisions occurring under product, price,
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promotion and place. Regarding product, texts tend to cover issues such as product levels and
branding which, without focusing on it, actually resembles the more holistic concept of the
value proposition (Anderson et al., 2006). A separate section is often devoted to services
marketing, which in today’s competitive world of competing on added-value is often
inseparable from product marketing. Moving on to price, texts focus on the various pricing
strategies and tactics, based on geography, competitors, discounts, promotions. There is little
discussion on pricing based on actionable customer insight, and the power of the customer in
pricing decisions. A section on promotion typically introduces issues such as setting the
advertising objectives, media decisions, sales, PR and direct marketing. In reality, with
technology playing a predominant role in ‘promotion’ today, almost all marketing is direct
marketing. Sections on the final ‘P’, place, typically discuss channel decisions and the
evaluation of each channel’s strengths and weaknesses. There is relatively little on multi-
channel integration, which is commonplace for most large organizations in the 21st century.
Following on from the 4Ps, marketing communications as a section focuses on the range of
communication channels available to marketers. Ranging from mass to one-to-one
communication channels, the emphasis is on an integrated marketing communications
strategy. Analysis shows that less attention is paid to interactive marketing communications,
than to more traditional direct marketing techniques. Similar to the previous section on
marketing communications, the emphasis with regard to marketing channels is the adoption of
an integrated and strategic approach. Thus, vertical and horizontal marketing channels are
explained and issues of conflict and cooperation between channels discussed. The creation of
value along the channel is also given attention. Sections on implementation and control of
marketing tend to focus on the need for marketing to be viewed strategically within the
organizations. Focusing on control, there is a recognition that marketing should be able to
justify itself through financial analysis. Thus, the range of marketing metrics in use is given
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some attention. A number of texts choose to devote a separate, and often final, section to the
different contexts in which marketing is employed. Contexts explained are services
marketing, electronic(e)-marketing and international marketing. This is a particular issue of
concern in this paper, where contexts such as services marketing and e-marketing are so often
integral elements of an organization’s marketing strategy and tactics, independent of the
product or market type.
Table 2 presents the ‘typical’ modular structure of undergraduate and postgraduate
marketing programs, based on an analysis of 17 marketing programs from across the UK. The
‘typical’ structure of these programs serves to succinctly present how marketing education is
currently framed, even boxed, into certain modules or subjects and thus illustrating the view
of the different building blocks that, together, constitute marketing.
Table 2 – Marketing Degree Structure
There is a clear link between these two elements of marketing academia, which at least
illustrates some consistency in what is being delivered in the marketing curriculum. To best
illustrate this marketing curriculum, Figure 1 presents what marketing researchers at the
author’s university have coined ‘the old Marketing DNA’. Although the title of the model
may be provocative, its content merely represents what is being delivered in the majority of
marketing education in the 21st century. Where previous authors in the marketing education
domain have criticized marketing degrees for their poor ability to equip graduates with the
practical skills necessary for industry employment (Pearce and Bonner, 2000; Davis et al.,
2002; Evans et al., 2002), and where academic marketing is criticized for being irrelevant
(Ankers and Brennan, 2002; Rieger and Wong-Rieger, 1996; Brennan et al., 2006), this paper
goes on to investigate, through an inductive qualitative approach, whether ‘old’ is a valid
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descriptor; in other words whether marketing education reflects what’s going on in marketing
practice.
Figure 1 – The ‘Old Marketing DNA’
Methodology
‘In-depth interviews should provide the means to understand why persons act
as they do, and to understand the meaning and significance they give to their
actions, in such a way that they can tell the interviewer in their own terms’
(Jones, 1985:45)
The qualitative method adopted by this study is an in-depth interview technique as part of an
inductive research design. The research assumed an inductive approach due to the nature of
the research question which sought to gain a broad yet in-depth understanding of what is
happening in marketing practice, without the development of hypotheses or a conceptual
model as such to test based on the extant literature. This approach lends itself to in-depth
interviews, which are useful for providing in-depth information through probing and
interpretation (Tashakkori and Teddlie, 2003). Important considerations around an in-depth
interview research design are sampling strategy and interview structure and execution.
Sample
In this study, a relatively large sample size was adopted, where 70 in-depth interviews were
carried out. This is well beyond the 20-30 persons that Creswell (1998:113) recommends
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should be interviewed in order to achieve ‘data in the theory’. The reason for such a large
sample was based on the nature of the research, which sought a general understanding of the
broad marketing discipline in practice. It was concluded that, due to the breadth of the
research question, reliability would be improved with a larger sample. The selection criteria
for the sample was broad, where the researcher sought to gather data from senior marketing
practitioners in UK business organizations. Specifically, the sample was constructed with
assistance from the Academy of Marketing and the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the
UK, who provided lists of company details. A stratified random sampling technique was
adopted to ensure that a representative sampling frame was constructed (Teddlie and Yu,
2007). Where the purpose of the study was exploration, the importance of randomness in the
sampling frame was underlined. In the same vein, the breadth of the sampling frame
necessitated that strata (particularly industry sector and size) were recognized.
Interview Structure and Execution
This study adopted semi-structured interviewing, where the interview protocol was rigorous
enough to ensure validity while also facilitating flexibility and encouraging respondent
interaction (Patton, 2002). For example, a typical interview included prompts such as ‘what is
your role in the organization?’, ‘what do you think marketing’s role is?’, and ‘who does the
marketing jobs in your organization?’.
The interviews were all carried out on a face-to-face basis, by the author and an academic
colleague. This allowed for in-depth interpretation through the observation and recording of
verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as audio recording (Clarke, 2001b;
Parameswaran, 2001). The setting was consistently at a venue of the respondent’s choosing,
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typically their office or a nearby café. Interviews were typically one to two hours in duration,
and all took place between January 2007 and August 2008.
Validity and Reliability
‘The challenge of legitimacy refers to the difficulty in obtaining findings and making
inferences that are credible, trustworthy, dependable, transferable, and/or
confirmable’ (Onwuegbuzie and Johnson, 2006:52)
Validity is a concept that traditionally has been viewed as quantitative (Campbell, 1957).
However, it is also a contentious issue for qualitative researchers (Onwuegbuzie and Johnson,
2006), principally due to its unclear and ambiguous nature in qualitative research (Dellinger
and Leech, 2007). Prominent qualitative researchers have argued for a ‘serious rethinking of
such terms as validity, generalizability, and reliability’ (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005:17).
Alternative terms such as ‘trustworthiness’ (Lincoln and Guba, 1986), ‘inference quality’
(Tashakkori and Teddlie, 2003) and ‘legitimation’ (Onwuegbuzie and Johnson, 2006) have
been proposed to apply rigor to qualitative research. For the purposes of this study, the
researcher has assumed the term ‘legitimacy’, as the qualitative equivalent to the inherently
quantitative terms of validity and reliability. Legitimacy was ensured through measures such
as prolonged engagement with and persistent observation of the sample population, gaining
informant feedback, weighting the evidence, rich and thick description, and peer debriefing,
(Onwuegbuzie and Leech, 2007).
Prolonged engagement is where the researchers conduct a study for a sufficient period of
time. In this study the in-depth interview process took place over a twenty month period.
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Where prolonged engagement provides scope, persistent observation provides depth. The
researchers maintained the role of observers throughout the entire process. Gaining informant
feedback is recommended by Guba and Lincoln (1989), who advocate systematically
obtaining feedback about one’s data, analytical categories, interpretations and conclusions
from the study group. As well as the inductive nature of the research design, which enabled
respondents to ‘construct’ the data themselves, the researchers also provided each respondent
with the opportunity to read the transcript of their interview (though none took this offer up).
The transcripts of interviews, typed by the researchers based on audio recordings, provided
rich and thick description and formed important bases for analysis (Becker, 1970; Patton,
2002, Peters and Wester, 2007. Regarding weighting the evidence, the researchers employed
analytical tool such as noting word repetitions, cutting and sorting key words and phrases,
searching for metaphors and analogies, and constantly comparing across cases. Finally, where
there were two researchers involved in data collection and analysis, a ‘devil’s advocate’
scenario was created. This is where each individual can keep the other one honest and pose
difficult questions about every element of the research. In addition to the two researchers,
other colleagues at the institution were asked for feedback on the data.
Findings
Findings present the qualitative data gathered and analyzed from 70 in-depth interviews. A
general consensus on the nature of marketing in organizations is followed by a presentation of
data on specific areas that have been inferred from the data. See Appendix A for a summary
of the findings. As part of the inductive nature of the research design, the structure of the
findings has been guided by the data. In analyzing and coding the qualitative data, it became
clear that five main domains were predominating and, actually ‘coming out of the data and
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just hitting the researcher between the eyes’ (Bernard, 2000:445). Qualitative quotes were
then coded into each of these domain were appropriate. The five specific domains, delineated
based on commonality of inferences and themes with the data, are marketing, customer-led
marketing, value-driven strategic marketing, channels, data-driven marketing, and online and
offline integrated marketing communications. Having presented findings relative to these five
domains, a descriptive model provides the holistic summary to the range of findings.
Marketing
A large number of respondents provided insights into the role of marketing in organizations.
As one senior marketing manager asserted, ‘marketing is about us telling the customer what
we can do, but also the customer telling us what they want’. Another manager stated that; ‘for
us, marketing begins during production. It’s not about ‘selling’ as such – it’s about involving
the customer from the off’.
Regarding technology, respondents emphasized its importance but cautioned that it is only an
enabler of marketing. For example;
‘Technology has made communication and managing information easier – it’s all
about getting closer to customers’.
‘I think technology has just given marketing the ability to do what it always sought to
– understand customers and make business easier’
However, respondents did seem to query the role of marketing education in producing
graduates that understood the newer marketing technologies and how they facilitate
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marketing. For example; ‘there is no point in us employing a graduate who knows all the
marketing principles but hasn’t got the knowledge of the technology to put them into
practice’. Other respondents provided the following opinions:
‘We are a big fan of employing graduates but unfortunately we aren’t seeing the skills
we need in marketing graduates – we’re employing a lot of stats and IT graduates to
do our marketing roles’.
‘Universities seem to provide students with a knowledge of why marketing is
important, but fall short of explaining and teaching how to actually make it happen’.
Based on an analysis of the data, a number of distinct yet inter-linked areas of marketing have
been derived. These are delineated in the following sub-sections and supported with relevant
data.
Customer-led Marketing
Findings show that marketing does tend to be led by the customer, where a key term is
‘customer insight’. A senior marketing executive stated that ‘marketing is about building
customer insight’. Thus, the role of gathering, managing and analyzing information on
customers was reported as a predominant marketing activity in organizations, as the following
quotes exemplify;
‘Customers are our most valuable asset. It’s only natural that building an insight on
them is one our most important activities’
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‘We track everything a customer does. Yes, that’s do make sure they have a good
experience with us, but it’s also to make sure we know everything we can about them
to make and save us money in the future!’
‘Market research is just so expensive, but technology has made it possible for us to do
our own ‘research’ using the data produced by customer interactions. Making sense
of that data, due to its sheer amount, is the challenge though’.
The notion of managing the experience that the customer has with the organization is also
reported to be prominent. In this regard, a marketing manager stated that ‘the Internet has
opened up the whole area of managing the customer experience across channels, and it isn’t
easy’.
Value-driven Strategic Marketing
The second component of marketing that was deemed significant from the data was the notion
of organizations selling value propositions, not just products, to customers. According to a
senior marketing executive, ‘our core product is a key selling point yes, but there is much
more that helps us compete’. This focus on marketing’s role in providing added-value to
customers is reinforced by a marketing director, who stated that ‘if we want to be successful
we have to offer the full package to customers – if we relied solely on our product we’d be
dead’.
This infers a strategic and long-term approach to marketing, based on relationships with
customers, as the following quotes illustrate;
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‘Ok, we want value from our customers as in loyalty and sales, but we understand that
to do that we have to give them value in return. Value can be anything, a good price,
convenience, after-sales service etc. etc..
‘We let customers pick and choose what they want for their money, even within one
product – we have to or we’d be left behind’
‘For us, marketing is about relationships with good customers’. It’s the only way to do
things efficiently really.
Note the word ‘good’ in the last quote, which infers that relationships are maintained with
profitable customers, not all customers. This raises the issue of customer lifetime value, which
is underlined in the following quotes;
‘Part of our marketing strategy is to work out the value of our different customers and
market to them accordingly’.
‘Of course building a brand is important, but we like to try to do that at the individual
customer level – just by providing a good service’
Channels
Channels to market was inferred from the data as another important and distinct domain of
marketing. In the multi-channel age, it was unsurprising that respondents spoke about this as a
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key issue in marketing. One senior marketing manager stated that ‘there are so many ways for
customers to get our product now, we don’t know whether we’re coming or going!’ The
differences in managing different channels was also underlined, as these quotes infer;
‘Online is one channel and requires certain skills to manage, face-to-face is another
that requires different skills, yet we have to present a united front across both’.
‘We struggle to integrate what we do across channels, so it’s a real problem for us as
we know the customer could be getting a better service’.
‘We know that online affects offline and vice versa so if we have an offer in-store we
know that it will drive customers to our website and to have it ready for that’.
Data-driven Marketing
Many respondents spoke about marketing and ‘information’ or ‘data’ in the same sentence.
Again, the term ‘customer insight’ came up, where for example one marketing director
asserted, ‘information on customers that we gather and analyze in-house drives all our
marketing decision’. This domain of marketing came through strongly in the data, and covers
areas such as CRM, CEM, data mining and analytics. Again, one executive asserted, ‘our
marketing is built solely on data we have on the market and on customers’. Building on this
notion, organizations seem to be using CRM and CEM to gather, manage and analyze data on
customers. The following quotes underline the important, yet varied, roles of CRM and CEM;
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‘Yeah, CRM is important for spotting trends in customers’ behavior. It’s just another
tool in building up a database of customer data’.
‘CRM has been around for a long time in our organization, but I suppose now it’s
becoming a more central part of our marketing decision-making’.
‘CRM and CEM…..I suppose CEM is more about us managing the experience
customers have with us across channels. To be honest we find that difficult and we
know we have to use the information we record on customer interactions better to
improve on this’.
The issue of data-overload comes through from the qualitative data, as the following excerpts
illustrate;
‘Yeah, of course customer data, and data on the market and competitors, is important
in our marketing, but we just find that there is so much to manage and bring together
from different areas’.
‘In our business it’s all about the long-term. We just have to track every contact a
customer has with us. Technology has helped us to do that and bring it all together. Of
course, it’s not perfect, but we know that any slip ups and the customer will feel let
down’.
Another relatively recent development in marketing is the increase in use of ‘dashboards’,
which present data to marketing managers in a coherent, actionable manner. As one manager
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states, ‘there is just so much data, we had to go down the route of paying for some software to
make sense of it and make it real for us’. A marketing director also states; that ‘dashboards
have been essential for us in making sense of a mass of data’. It appears that the invaluable
nature of data combined with the amount of data available has created this phenomenon. ‘Just
knowing what customers are doing isn’t enough any more – you need to be able to predict
what they’re going to do and we need data mining software skills to do that’, according to a
senior marketing manager. The analytical skills are difficult to find, according to a marketing
director, who asserts that ‘there is so much data, but very few people have got insight. To get
that you have to spend about 2/3 times on analysis people than on software’
Online and Offline Integrated Marketing Communications
The final area of marketing that has been derived from the data corresponds to the nature of
marketing as the function at the interface between organization and customer. For example,
‘the whole point of us gathering and analyzing data on customers is so that we can
communicate more effectively and efficiently with them’. In the same vein, another marketing
professional states that ‘communications with customers are vital, but are far more effective
when based on reliable customer-data, which can be very complex actually’.
The multi-channel nature of marketing communications is also recognized. The following
quotes serve to illustrate the importance of digital channels of marketing communication:
‘We communicate in so many different ways with customers, usually it depends on
what the issue is – complicated issues are face-to-face or phone, simpler ones are the
Internet or email’.
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‘We have to be ready for any customer at any point in time to contact us through any
communication channel – that is a challenge. Obviously online has different roles
than offline but it is defining these and then getting them to complement each other.
Not easy’
Another issue derived from the data is the increased interactivity that online communications
permit, and thus force organizations into. The following quotes from two marketing directors
underline this point;
‘More and more, we’re finding that it’s taking more effort to manage our online
presence. We got some advice on how to make it more ‘social’ and how important that
is, and we’re currently thinking about where to go on that’.
‘We communicate with customers across the range of channels, and are actually
finding the push for interaction no matter what the channel is a challenge. I mean,
how can we actually use Twitter to do marketing?!’
It is also emphasized that integrating online and offline communication channels is vital as
part of strategic marketing. For example, ‘online affects offline and offline affects online –
we’ve tried hard to makes these different departments in our business talk to each other so
that there is a chance for it to feel that way for the customer’.
The findings derived from this study have presented a general overview on marketing
and its constituent parts. This is summarized and presented as the ‘new Marketing DNA’ in
Figure 2. The ‘DNA’ metaphor was chosen due its applicability to marketing, where
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marketing is different in each and ever organization, yet the constituent strands and or
components may be similar and mutually dependent. Likewise, for research purposes it allows
components to be taken for specific in-depth investigation, which serves to improve the DNA
as a whole. Rather than debating the specific content of this proposed descriptive model of
marketing, this paper will go on to discuss whether marketing academia and education is
delivering graduates with the appropriate skill set to play a role in 21st century marketing, as
defined by the data gathered and analyzed in the current study.
Figure 2 – The ‘New Marketing DNA’
Discussion
This paper presents the ‘new Marketing DNA’ as a new model of marketing education. The
DNA metaphor was adopted to reflect the fluid nature of marketing’s constituent parts; how
they contribute to another in inextricable ways but how each can also be taken out and
investigated or taught in their own right. This paper adopts a different structure to traditional
research papers, where the crux of each element of the new DNA will be discussed and
examples of previous literature introduced in the following sections. Ultimately, though,
findings and conclusions are linked to the educational literature that was reviewed earlier in
the paper.
Customer-led Marketing
In the strategic marketing literature, one of the most topical issues is the concept of market
orientation and its pervasiveness in organizations (Deshpande, 1999). Market orientation
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implies a customer-focused organization engaging in activities designed to meet customer
needs (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990).
‘Communication in marketing means keeping in touch with valued customers,
providing timely and trustworthy information on service changes, and communicating
proactively if a problem occurs’ (Ndubisi, 2007:100)
When there is effective communication between an organization and its customers, a better
relationship will result and customers will have a tendency to display greater loyalty (Ndubisi,
2007). Quality in communication centers on its timeliness, accuracy, usefulness, and
credibility of information exchanged (Frone and Major, 1988). Therefore, to facilitate and
improve relationship marketing, organizations must improve the conduits of communication
from customers (Dwyer et al., 1987). There are two principle and inter-linked drivers behind
maintaining communicative relationships with customers. First, organizations often seek a
trusting relationship between themselves and their customers (Dwyer et al., 1987). According
to Macmillan et al. (2005), trust is dependent on three variables; shared values,
communication, and opportunistic behavior. Thus, by facilitating open communication with
customers, there is the potential for increased interdependence, trust, joint satisfaction, and
risk-taking (Dwyer et al., 1987). Second, and dependent on trust, organizations often seek a
level of commitment from their customers (Sin et al., 2005). There are two types of
commitment; affective (Buchanon, 1974) and calculative (Geyskins et al., 1996). Affective
commitment is the most difficult to achieve and is summed up by Scanzoni (1979:87), who
states that, ‘in a committed relationship the participants maintain their awareness of
alternatives without ‘constant and frenetic testing’. This sense of stability in business
relationships may lead to a situation in which the organization and the customer collaborate in
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the mutual creation of value (Dwyer et al., 1987). Consequently, organizations experience
efficiencies in production, advertising and customer service (Dwyer et al., 1987). The other
form of commitment (calculative commitment) occurs where switching costs are the principal
reason for the continuance of a relationship, instead of trust and satisfaction (Jackson, 1985).
In summation, by fostering trust and commitment among customers, organizations are able to
enhance customer loyalty (Sin et al., 2005; Ndubisi, 2007; Ryals and Humphries, 2007). This
is the central thesis of marketing, where the most effective way to improve firm profitability
is customer retention, not customer acquisition (Reinartz et al., 2004).
If communication is one facilitator and requisite capability of marketing, information
management is another one. According to Dwyer et al. (1987), marketing is improved by
obtaining, unobtrusively, high quality information about the customer. There are two main
drivers behind obtaining, managing and analyzing customer information. First, as the
company gains experience with its customers, it can serve them more efficiently (Reichheld
and Sasser, 1990). By recognizing the importance and role of data collection, processing and
analysis, firms are able to adapt their offerings to the specific needs and wants of individual
customers, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty, which represent the bases for
long-term business relationships (Payne and Frow, 2005).
Technology has radically assisted the process of building customer insight, where it
assists in the administration, storage and processing of customer data. Technology (e.g. CRM
and customer experience management (CEM)) facilitates the integration of dispersed
customer data from different data sources in order to create a coherent picture of the
customers and their interaction with the organization (Bradshaw and Brash, 2001;
Padmanabhan and Tuzhilin, 2003). Technology further allows for the capture of customer-
details, background information and the sharing of this customer information within the
organization (Chen and Ching, 2007; Jayachandran et al., 2005). Information integration is
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much easier with the employment of technology, which provides seamless integration
capabilities (Padmanabhan et al., 2006). Advanced systems also provide analytical
capabilities which facilitate the identification of customers’ behavioral patterns. Such an
information management capability is becoming more important as the ‘engine’ of marketing
(Payne and Frow, 2006). Ultimately, by integrating technology into marketing processes, the
potential exists to provide a single, unified view of the customer (Plessis and Boon, 2004).
We posit that a better understanding of the plethora of ways that organizations today are
gathering data, managing data and analyzing data through complex analytical tools and
dashboards is required so that marketing academics are better equipped to talk about and
teach the strategies and tactics underpinning the new practical domain of customer insight
(Baker et al., 2003; Helgesen et al., 2009).
Value-driven Strategic Marketing
It is proposed that relationships are at the centre of marketing. They are difficult for
competitors to imitate, and by providing efficient repeat exchanges and synergies,
relationships can give partners financial and operational advantages (Eyuboglu and Buja,
2007). Where organizations and even markets are themselves complex networks (Webster,
1992; Gummesson, 1997), organizations and customers become co-producers of mutual value
(Ravald and Gronroos, 1996). This principle of mutual value creation draws on the Nash’s
equilibrium, which posits that each participant’s strategy is an optimal response to the
strategies adopted by other participants, and nobody has an incentive to deviate from their
chosen strategy (Palmer, 2000). As Gummesson (1994:17) aptly asserts on opportunistic
marketing;
‘Ma
nipulative marketing can be compared with the use of artificial fertilizer and
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pesticides which increase short-term harvests but impoverish not only the soil where
the crops grow, but the whole of nature, for short-term greed’.
‘Value proposition’ has become one of the most widely used terms in marketing in recent
years (Anderson et al., 2006). Yet, there is little understanding of what actually constitutes a
value proposition (Anderson et al., 2006). What is certain is that a real value proposition is
not created solely by the marketer, but created by both the marketer and the customer in
congruence (Anderson et al., 2006). By competing on value, organizations are able to more
clearly differentiate themselves and build sustainable competitive advantage (Wallman, 2009;
Payne et al., 2008). A value proposition may include the core product plus a range of add
benefits and services on which organizations can properly and individually compete, rather
than price-based competition (Lanning, 1996; Anderson et al. 2006). It is the contention of
this paper that more research is required around the developing and delivery of value
propositions. For example, Payne et al. (2008) state that relatively little is known about how
customers engage in the co-creation of value. If we, as marketing academics, are to educate
the marketing practitioners of tomorrow, we must be producing more research to understand
how organizations are building value and competitive advantage for themselves, while also
delivering value for customers (Baker et al., 2003).
Channels
The diffusion of the Internet into both business organization’s and consumer’s daily lives
has led to a particular and obvious excitement around e-marketing. Initially, speculation
suggested that the Internet would dramatically transform the marketing landscape and
would lead to superior business performance (Brodie et al., 2007). The only place this
optimism led was to the dotcom boom and bust of the 1990s (Brodie et al., 2007). Since
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then, there has been a more cautious and considered approach to the marriage between the
Internet and marketing in an attempt to figure out exactly where and how they can create
value (Brodie et al., 2007).
Still, the use of online marketing channels is increasing exponentially while the other,
traditional marketing channels are experiencing decline (Barwise and Farley, 2005). It has
been stated that the role of the Internet in most organizations today is to complement
traditional marketing channels (Day and Ben, 2005), but while technology is infiltrating every
area of marketing, likewise the dominance of online channels is growing. Where online
channels such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs permit a level of interactivity not previously
experienced by either marketers or consumers, more rigorous research is required to build an
understanding of how to best manage these two-way media. Online channels can enhance an
organization’s customer orientation, improving sophistication, interactivity, and real-time
practice (Brodie et al., 2007). They can facilitate new, international market entry by
improving customer communication and customer information management (Brodie et al.,
2007). However, that does not mean that offline channels are redundant. Rather, the question
is how traditional channels complement new online channels? For example, it has been found
that as many as 76 per cent of retailers are unable to track their customers across channels
(Axciom, 2002). More research in these practical areas of marketing will enable a better
theoretical understanding, which should enable a more relevant marketing education, and
perhaps even let marketing theory contribute to marketing practice (Spiller and Scovotti,
2008; Mitchell and Strauss, 2001; Helgesen et al., 2009).
Data-driven Marketing
CRM is one example of data-driven marketing. CRM is defined as the ‘cross-functional
integration of processes, people, operations, and marketing capabilities that is enabled
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through information, technology and applications’ (Payne and Frow, 2005:168). Although the
term CRM is relatively new, the principles behind it are not (Payne and Frow, 2006). Rather it
is the power of technology to acquire, manage and analyze customer data that is the disruptive
force in marketing.
Through communications and interactions with customers comes valuable information
(Jayachandran et al., 2005). Therefore, the key capability of CRM is the management of
customer information and the creation of customer insight (Payne and Frow, 2006). In fact,
according to Tan et al. (2002), every business is becoming an information business.
Jayachandran et al. (2005) note the importance of information reciprocity, capture,
integration, access and use. Ultimately customer insight has the potential to be a key asset in
sustaining competitive advantage (Hogan et al., 2002). CRM, by definition, is about
leveraging customer knowledge (Payne and Ryals, 2001; Hansotia, 2002). This is because
CRM implies understanding who one’s customers are and what they really want (Todman,
2001); impossible without information. CRM is concerned with the collection and collation of
customer information from all points of customer contact and, in combination with other
relevant data, developing customer insight (Payne and Frow, 2006). Although it may seem
bizarre to question the purpose of gathering customer information, organizations do need to
see the potential for a return on investment from collating and storing significant amounts of
customer data. A brief justification is that CRM is about learning about customers (Yim et al.,
2004; Mithas et al., 2005). Information on customers can be used for various analytical
processes to create customer intelligence to better profile and classify customers, predict
customer behavior, conduct target marketing, and cross and up sell; and that’s just into the
existing customer base (Chan, 2005). There is another important justification; not all
customers are equally desirable and thus profitable (e.g. Ryals and Knox, 2001; Parvatiyar
and Sheth, 2001). In fact, it has been put forward that 20 per cent of customers are responsible
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for 80 per cent of the revenues for the majority of firms (Parvatiyar and Sheth, 2001). This
has been referred to as the Pareto 80/20 rule (Ryals and Knox, 2001). The role of managing
customer information, therefore, lies in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of
marketing where only the most valuable customers can be offered personalized offerings
(Malthouse and Blattberg, 2005).
One final point on the subject of customer information management is that information
processes must comprise a human element (Boulding et al., 2005). Currently, it appears that
the technology is driving the marketing rather than vice versa. For example, the whole domain
of web analytics is revolutionizing the understanding online consumer behavior, but it tends
to be the remit of IT departments (Burby and Atchison, 2007; Phippen et al., 2004). More
research in such an area is required to build an understanding from a marketing perspective,
so that we are able to teach it properly (Floyd and Gordon, 1998; Mitchell and Strauss, 2001).
Online and Offline Integrated Marketing Communications
It is of vital importance that organizations integrate all their marketing communication
activities, online and offline, to convey a single message toward an agreed objective.
Ultimately, technology should only act as a support to an underlying customer focus, so
online channels should not be driven by the power of the technology, rather the organization’s
customer orientation (Nielsen, 2002). This is difficult when the IT department is the only ones
with the expertise to execute online marketing activities. However, the effective use of
technology should actually lead to higher quality face-to-face contact. Often, a lack of
traditional communication in favor of overly virtual communication is a symptom of a poorly
implemented e-marketing strategy (Chen and Ching, 2007). This is another area that, in light
of recent technological advances such as Web 2.0 and social media, requires further research
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to identify the roles for the range of offline and online communication media, and how best to
integrate them in a single strategy. Then, we can teach it properly.
Conclusions and Implications
This paper has presented the ‘new Marketing DNA’ as a new model of marketing
education. Regarding the content and structure of the ‘new Marketing DNA’, it is contended
that it better represents and caters for the disruptive and pervasive nature of technology in
marketing (Maklan et al., 2008; Zhang et al., 2008; Rust et al., 2010). This paper has
presented some of the extant research in the constituent parts of the new DNA, and while this
is extremely valuable there are two weaknesses. First, previous research has tended to be
theoretically- and inward-focused rather than taking cognizance of the radical developments
in marketing owing to technology. Second, previous research has tended to be piecemeal. We
conclude that the time has come for marketing academics to take a more holistic view of
where their discipline is at, in both theory and practice, and try to apply some structure. This
is particularly important in marketing education.
Thus, rather than e-marketing being a mere context of marketing in marketing
education, in the new DNA technology is infused throughout the marketing curriculum
(Spiller and Scovotti, 2008; Kaplan et al., 2010). As the findings illustrate, organizations are
using technology to take their marketing to an almost utopian level, where customer can really
be understood, customer service made real-time, and offers really personalized (Bartezzaghi
and Ronchi, 2005; Rust et al., 2010). In actual fact, technology is only enabling many
historical aspects of marketing such as customer personalization, loyalty, and the
measurement of marketing effectiveness, thus the authors do not propose in any way the
dismissal of valuable marketing history (Petkus, 2010). Rather, the authors recommend that
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technology is recognized as the disruptive enabler of marketing that it is, and that this is
reflected in the marketing curriculum (Spiller and Scovotti, 2008; Mitchell and Strauss, 2001;
Kaplan et al., 2010).
The educational takeaway of this paper is, first and foremost, that we as marketing
educators stop for some critical reflection of our marketing curriculums. We just need to
question the fundamental and philosophical purpose of marketing education, because if it is to
produce marketing graduates and thus contribute to marketing practice through education, this
paper has shown a significant dissatisfaction with the current state of play. At the University
of Southampton in the UK, we have acted on this research and appointed an advisory board of
marketing practitioners to ensure that our education is ‘grounded’ in both theory and practice.
We have introduced modules, that when put together in a holistic curriculum, constitute the
‘new Marketing DNA’ (see Table 3). This new curriculum draws heavily on current and
seminal marketing theory, but along with repackaging it into a more integrated and
overlapping structure, also delivers many of the new technology-related skills in digital
marketing communications and marketing analytics that employers are crying out for.
Other marketing educators could start by getting more input from marketing
practitioners into the structure and content of their curriculums, bearing in mind the dynamic
nature of many marketing-related roles today. The next step might be to change some of the
content of current modules, perhaps even introducing some new electives that focus on web-
based or analytical skills. Taking a more strategic view, it is recommended that the ‘new
Marketing DNA’ be considered as a framework for the broader marketing curriculum, which
requires changes in the content of modules and the way they are delivered. At the University
of Southampton, we have now based a whole new Bachelors in International Marketing on
‘the new Marketing DNA’, which is due to launch in 2011.
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Table 3 - Postgraduate and Undergraduate Marketing DNA Modules at University
Another key takeaway from this paper draws on the notion that research and teaching
are mutually dependent academic activities. Thus, we propose that marketing research can
contribute to the ‘new Marketing DNA’, where researchers in niche areas can understand how
their area of expertise contributes to the wider marketing framework by viewing the DNA as a
framework to link tactical and niche elements of marketing to strategic and holistic
components of marketing. In summation, this paper recommends that for marketing theory
and education to inform practice in the longer term, academics need to ensure that practice
does not get any further ahead of or even further away from the marketing discipline than it
already is. We need to embed practitioner knowledge in our curriculums and understand that
marketing is now so broad, those practicing it may not even see themselves as marketers.
Future research in this area is encouraged and is achievable through investigating real
marketing problems that are being raised by practitioners (Reibstein et al., 2009). This paper
was borne out of one such concern, where a number of prominent marketers queried the role
of marketing education in providing adequately skilled marketing graduates (Verhoef and
Leeflang, 2009; Walker et al., 2009; Treleaven and Voola, 2008). Other such problems, both
on a smaller and larger-scale exist with the components of the new Marketing DNA. The
limitations of this study are that it is at a general, holistic level and lacks in-depth research in
the constituent parts of the DNA model. However, the authors are currently pursuing a larger-
scale, international quantitative investigation to empirically test the model introduced in this
paper, and to impact on marketing theory, education and practice on a global scale.
Acknowledgement
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The author would like to acknowledge the Academy of Marketing in the UK, and the Higher
Education Academy’s Business Management, Accountancy and Finance Teaching, Research
and Development group for their support in the research underpinning the ‘new Marketing
DNA’.
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Management: Its Dimensions and Effect on Customer Outcomes. Journal of Personal
Selling & Sales Management, 24(4), 263-278.
Zhang, M., Sarker, S. and McCullough, J. (2008). Measuring Information Technology
Capability of Export-Focused Small or Medium Sized Enterprises in China: Scale
Development and Validation. Journal of Global Information Management, 16(3), 1-25.
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Table 1 Marketing Textbook Structure
Chapters Overview of Contents
Marketing in the context of the wider Organization
the marketing concept is explained internal marketing introduced the notion of marketing as a holistic concept in the organization is proposed
Marketing planning detail the development of marketing plans this involves setting achievable marketing objectives and goals emphasis is that marketing is seen as a key component of organizational strategy
Marketing environment
discusses the importance of the internal and external environments in marketing internally, a marketing audit serves the purpose of reviewing the current objectives, strategy and performance externally, it is important to learn about the customer environment, as well as the wider macro-environment analyses such as SWOT and PEST are explained
Buyer behavior
tends to be divided into business-to-customer (B2C) marketing and business-to-business (B2B) marketing regarding B2C marketing, understanding the consumer buying process is underlined the psychology of marketing is introduced in some texts regarding B2B marketing, the distinct stages in the buying process are outlined and the significant differences from B2C illustrated
Marketing research
marketing research is introduced as an important concept in all texts although it is linked to developing, maintaining and utilizing insight on customers as the basis for marketing, it remains a relatively
distinct section in the majority of texts techniques such as questionnaires and focus groups are explained
Segmentation, targeting and positioning
introduces the core marketing concept of segmentation; namely geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral segmentation
these traditional means of segmenting are explained in turn, and tend to be followed by a section on differentiation and positioning.
4Ps of Marketing – Product
texts tend to cover issues such as product levels and branding which, without focusing on it, actually resembles the more holistic concept of the value proposition (Anderson et al., 2006)
a separate section is often devoted to services marketing, which in today’s competitive world of competing on added-value is often inseparable from product marketing.
4Ps of Marketing – Price texts focus on the various pricing strategies and tactics, based on geography, competitors, discounts, promotions there is little discussion on pricing based on actionable customer insight and the power of the customer in pricing decisions
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4Ps of Marketing – Promotion a section on promotion typically introduces issues such as setting the advertising objectives, media decisions, sales, PR and direct
marketing in reality, with technology playing a predominant role in ‘promotion’ today, almost all marketing is direct marketing
4Ps of Marketing – Place typically discuss channel decisions and the evaluation of each channel’s strengths and weaknesses there is relatively little on multi-channel integration, which is commonplace for most large organizations in the 21st century
Marketing communications
focuses on the range of communication channels available to marketers ranging from mass to one-to-one communication channels, the emphasis is on an integrated marketing communications strategy analysis shows that less attention is paid to interactive marketing communications, than to more traditional direct marketing
techniques
Marketing channels the emphasis with regard to marketing channels is the adoption of an integrated and strategic approach thus, vertical and horizontal marketing channels are explained and issues of conflict and cooperation between channels discussed the creation of value along the channel is also given attention.
Implementation and control tend to focus on the need for marketing to be viewed strategically within the organizations focusing on control, there is a recognition that marketing should be able to justify itself through financial analysis thus, the range of marketing metrics in use is given some attention
Contexts of Marketing (e.g. Services, E-Marketing)
a number of texts choose to devote a separate, and often final, section to the different contexts in which marketing is employed contexts explained are services marketing, electronic(e)-marketing and international marketing this is a particular issue of concern in this paper, where contexts such as services marketing and e-marketing are so often integral
elements of an organization’s marketing strategy and tactics, independent of the product or market type
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Table 2 Marketing Degree Structure
ModulesMarketing to Business and the Organization International MarketingUnderstanding of Marketing Direct and E-MarketingStrategic Marketing Service Management Brand management Ethics and SustainabilityNew Products to Market Marketing and SocietyBuyer Behavior Marketing CommunicationsMarket Research Channel ManagementData Collection and Analysis Marketing and Finance
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Table 3 Postgraduate and Undergraduate Marketing DNA Modules at University
Module Code Module Name
Undergraduate
MANG****1 Delivering the Value Proposition
MANG**** Data-driven Analytical Marketing
MANG3050 Strategic Marketing Intelligence
MANG3053 Customer Insight
MANG**** Marketing Communications and Media Management
MANG3052 Digital Marketing: Engaging with the Customer
MANG**** Measuring Marketing Effectiveness
Postgraduate
MANG6184 Introduction to Marketing
MANG6184 Introduction to Marketing
MANG6175 Strategic Marketing Intelligence
MANG6131 Strategic Marketing Decisions
MANG6095 Dissertation
MANG6230 Data-driven Marketing
MANG6146 Consumer Insight
MANG6227 Measuring Marketing Effectiveness
MANG6228 Digital Marketing Communications
MANG6040 Information Systems Strategy
MANG6176 Delivering the Value Proposition
MANG6079 Accounting and Control
MANG6047 Analytic Skills
MANG6003 Quantitative Methods
MANG6054 Credit Scoring and Data Mining
MANG6229 Multivariate Statistics for Data Mining
MANG6231 Software for Data Analysis and Modeling
1 Modules approved, to be launched in 2010/11.
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MANG**** Web Analytics
MANG6180 Web Applications
MANG**** Innovation and Creativity
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Figure1 Conceptual Model - The Old Marketing DNA
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Figure 2 Descriptive Model – The New Marketing DNA
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Appendix A Summary of Findings from the Qualitative Data
Topic Findings
Marketing
Marketing is about reacting to customer needs and wantsTechnology is a key enabler of marketing – communications and data managementMarketing education tends not to produce adequately qualified graduates, with knowledge of the key technologies that are used to enable marketing in organizationsStatistics and IT graduates tend to take up marketing roles
Customer-led Marketing
A key term in marketing is ‘customer insight’, thus gathering, managing and analyzing information is a key marketing activity Organizations tend to be tracking their own customer’s behavior to better predict and tailor marketing offeringsTechnology has made ‘market research’ more feasible and more specific to individual organizations, as they can do it themselves.Managing the customer experience across channels is a key challenge.
Value-driven Strategic Marketing
Marketing’s role is providing added-value to customers, not competing solely on the core productThe term ‘value’ is a key term; developing and delivering value propositions to customersPersonalization and customization are also raised as key issues‘Marketing is about relationships with customers’Customer profitability and lifetime value are raised as key marketing issuesBranding seems to be about building relationships with customers, at an individual level
Channels
The multi-channel nature of marketing was emphasized as a challenging realityThe different means of using and managing online and offline channels were found as a real marketing challengeIntegration of channels is also a challenge, where online affects offline and customers expect seamless interaction
Data-driven Marketing
‘Marketing’, ‘data’ and ‘information’ were often used together by respondentsInformation on customers drives a lot of marketing decisions in some organizationsAreas such as CRM, CEM, data mining and analytics came through strongly as central marketing tools, even heavily informing strategyThe issue of too much data was mentioned as a challenge in marketing, but technology, although creating it can also help make sense of it‘Dashboards’ were mentioned as key marketing toolData mining and analytical skills tend to be in short supply among marketing graduates
Online and Offline Marketing Communications
The analysis of data, and thus customer insight, should drive marketing communicationsLetting data and insight drive communications can be quite complex, but technology acts as a real enablerDifferent communication channels are used by the same customers for different issues and different timesGetting different (online and offline) communication channels to complement each other is a marketing challengeOnline communications need to be interactive, and that can be time and resource intensive to manageThere is some lack of understanding of the real interactive, two-nature of online communications – they are not a new type of old medium
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