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BAM: Developmental Paper sessions

Barriers to Marketing Strategy Implementation: the Cooperative Context

Summary

The focus of this research is to understand what the organizational barriers to

implementing a marketing strategy are, and how they could be over come.

Engagement with the relevant literature has led to the identification of constructs that

represent the organizational factors. This led to a more focussed literature review

regarding the properties of these constructs and the related implications. Based on

these insights, research propositions have been developed. These propositions will be

further examined using data gathered from cooperative businesses. The results will

contribute to filling the knowledge gap around the implementation of marketing

strategy, and inform the management actions that impact on this.

Track:

Marketing and Retail: Strategy and Planning

Word Count:

2161 (excluding diagrams and reference list)

Authors:

Georgina Whyatt, Lyndon Simkin and Yuksel Ekinci

Oxford Brookes University.

Barriers to Marketing Strategy Implementation: the Cooperative Context

Introduction

The purpose of this research is to explore the organizational factors that are seen as

barriers to marketing strategy implementation, and how they can be overcome. To do

this, it is necessary to first understand what the barriers are, and what it is about them

that hinders implementation. With such an improved knowledge of these properties

and their related consequences, it is possible to then consider how management can

act to overcome these barriers. Engagement with the relevant literature has led to the

development of a range of research propositions. These propositions act as a

foundation for data gathering in the context of cooperatives (mutually owned

businesses).

It is increasingly recognised that marketing networks and relationships managed by

the organization are key to implementing the marketing strategy and the related

customer experience. This is the responsibility of the whole organization, and not

simply the marketing function (see Achrol and Kotler, 2012). However, research into

marketing strategy implementation within this new understanding is limited (Thorpe

and Morgan, 2007). This study’s contribution is to increase knowledge about the

barriers to implementation, and with that the required management actions to

overcome those barriers.

Marketing Strategy Formulation and Implementation

The development and implementation of the marketing strategy - along with its

evaluation and revision - are key parts of an organization’s strategic marketing plan

(Cravens and Piercy, 2012). Marketing strategy development requires an

understanding of the external trading environment, market trends and the

organization’s resource base and capabilities, and should be aligned with the overall

business strategy and objectives (Brassington and Pettitt, 2012). It is created and

agreed by marketing executives in conjunction with the senior management of the

organization (Dibb et al., 2012). The marketing strategy articulates the behaviour of

organizations in their interactions with stakeholders and key target audiences, and the

related management responsibilities (Varadarajan, 2010). This encompasses the

pursuit of opportunities in specific markets to gain competitive advantage (Cravens

and Piercy, 2012), as well as providing the context for a programme of planned

activities that frame the implementation process and engagement with targeted

customers (Dibb et al., 2012). Implementation is the operationalization of the

marketing strategy (Rosier et al., 2010), and requires management decisions to be

made around inter alia, resource allocation and internal mechanisms, controls and

procedures. It is these internal factors that are seen as key to effective marketing

strategy implementation (Cravens and Piercy, 2012; Dibb et al., 2008).

Implementation: Who is Responsible?

It is recognized that without effective implementation, however well formulated a

strategy is, it will have little value (Martin, 2010). This challenge is very simply

articulated by Piercy (1998) when he stated that organizations “know quite well what

they want to do in marketing; usually however there are real problems in getting the

job done” (p. 200). The question is raised as to who or what is responsible for

marketing strategy implementation (Thorpe and Morgan, 2007). On one hand, there

is a ‘traditional’ view that marketing strategy is something that the marketing function

is – almost solely – responsible for articulating and then delivering. An alternative

view, which is increasingly prevalent in more recent literature, is that marketing

strategies, like other business strategies (see Mintzberg and Waters, 2004), evolve as

environmental circumstances change, and are everyone’s responsibility (e.g.

Bourgeois and Brodwin, 1984; Greyser, 1997). In this instance, formulation and

delivery activities occur concurrently, or at least overlap, and the whole organization

is – very consciously – involved.

Four decades ago, Drucker (1973) recognised this when he said that marketing must

not be viewed as a separate function, “it is the whole business seen from the point of

view of its final result”. More recently, Achrol and Kotler (2012) refer to a ‘paradigm

shift’ in which “marketing’s role and responsibilities [have] expanded from sales and

advertising to product development and a firm-wide responsibility for customer care”

(p35). This focus on organization-wide delivery has been borne out of research that

has moved ‘marketing’ from concern with the value of each transaction to that which

has identified such concepts as relationship marketing, which considers the ‘lifetime

value’ of customers (e.g. Webster, 1992; Piercy, 1998; Payne and Holt, 2001);

stakeholder networks, with a range of ‘publics’ (e.g. Payne et al., 2005; Hooley et al.,

2012); and ‘sustainable marketing’ (Belz and Peattie, 2012). The last claims to

enhance customer relationships without compromising the ability of future

generations and stakeholders to achieve their objectives. For Achrol and Kotler

(2012), this represents a “Kuhnian shift … [which] … significantly bends the

marketing worldview” (p 35); it emphasises customer experiences, marketing

networks, and sustainability and development. Given this changing structural

approach to marketing thought and strategy, it is not surprising that there is a need for

greater understanding of the organization-wide factors that lead to success – and

failure – in marketing strategy implementation.

Alongside that evolution of thought is a growing awareness of the paucity of

marketing literature that focuses on implementation, where implementation is often

seen as a mere by-product of strategy formulation (see Thorpe and Morgan, 2007;

Varadarajan et al., 2001). Although there is research around aspects of marketing

strategy implementation, such as front line behaviours or market orientation, there is a

very limited amount that considers marketing strategy implementation from an

organization-wide management perspective. It is only by taking this broad

organizational view that a span of potentially valuable insights can be generated

(Thorpe and Morgan, 2007; van Raaij and Stoelhorst, 2008; Simkin, 2002). The

research highlighted in this paper is of interest because it contributes to filling the gap

in our understanding of marketing strategy implementation from a firm-wide

perspective.

The Cooperative Context

In recent years, cooperatives have observed a growing interest - amongst stakeholders

and potential customers - in the mutual structure, and community base, of the

organization as an indicator of trust, concern for society’s well being, and the future

health of a range of stakeholders (Gertler, 2004; International Cooperative Alliance,

2012; McKinsey, 2012; Webb et al., 2006). As a result, increasing numbers of

cooperatives are adopting a ‘Marketing our Cooperative Advantage’ (MOCA)

approach as a part of their marketing strategy. This creates a circumstance where a

number of different organizations share a common platform for a major part of their

marketing strategy.

The Value for Practitioners

This research will aid organizations in finding ways of addressing any disconnect

between stakeholder/ customer experiences and expectations, and the reality of

procedures, capabilities and behaviours inside the organizations (e.g. Day, 2011;

Dobni and Luffman, 2003; Ahmed et al., 2003; Sashittal and Jassawalla, 2001).

Management is responsible for ensuring that these factors do not obstruct the

successful implementation of the marketing strategy.

The outcome of this research will contribute to cooperatives’ understanding of how to

– more effectively and efficiently than currently – implement a ‘Marketing our

Cooperative Advantage’ marketing strategy. Further research will establish how

generalizable this work is to other types of organizations.

Method

The starting point has been a review of the literature that identifies a broad range of

organizational factors that hinder marketing strategy implementation. This managerial

perspective approach is recommended by inter alia, Thorpe and Morgan (2007), van

Raaij and Stoelhorst, (2008) and Simkin (2002), as it serves as a foundation for the

integration of management actions. The next stage in the literature review was to

understand the properties, and the related implications, of these barriers in the

execution of a marketing strategy. This enabled the development of a set of research

propositions around the barriers, their properties and the management actions for

more effective marketing strategy implementation.

These propositions are being explored further in 20 semi-structured interviews,

focussing on the implementation of MOCA, with managers in a variety of roles in

selected cooperatives. The purpose of these interviews is to obtain an understanding

of how management and marketing executives perceive these barriers, and how they

impede implementation. In this way comparable insights into the implementation

process can be gained from different organizations and role perspectives.

It is anticipated that this will lead to a set of issues designed to inform the

examination of what cooperative organizations do to overcome the barriers to

implementation. Although the empirical data will be gathered from organizations in

different industry sectors, they all have a common ownership structure (cooperatives)

and are all committed to one common element - a ‘marketing our cooperative

advantage’ approach - within their marketing strategy. This common theme in

respondent organizations’ marketing strategies enables a purposive approach to

sampling, and identifies a group of experts in the subject.

Building on the ‘Barriers’ Literature

To date, a review of the literature that takes an organization-wide view has identified

a range of barriers to marketing strategy implementation. However, it is unclear as

whether these are particularly relevant to either the sequential or adaptive approaches,

or both. In summary, these are organizational myopia and resistance to change,

weakened marketing function due to competing management approaches to

restructuring (Piercy, 1998); politic-ing behaviours by middle management, inter-

functional conflict and rivalry, ineffective information flows between functions and

within management tiers, allocation of inadequate resources, inappropriate business

processes, weak performance measures, and poor understanding of the marketing

strategy and its goals (Ahmed et al., 2003; Ballantyne, 1997, 2003; Cespedes and

Piercy, 1996; Dibb et al., 2008; Noble and Mokwa, 1999; Thorpe and Morgan, 2007;

Simkin, 2002). These identified barriers have formed the foundation for the creation

of four constructs: (1) cross-functional conflict and rivalry; (2) perceived lack of top

management commitment; (3) culture and behaviours that are not aligned to the

strategy; and (4) ineffective business competences and processes. The diagram below

(Figure 1) shows how these four constructs enable effective marketing strategy

implementation.

Figure 1: Enablers of Marketing Strategy Execution

Each of these constructs has been explored further, in the related - more focussed –

literature exploring each set of enablers. This process has identified some solutions to

addressing these barriers. Firstly, it is suggested that cross-functional collaboration

can be addressed by, inter alia: clear internal communication of organizational values

and goals (Norburn et al., 1995); a focus on social cohesion and a ‘super-ordinate

identity’ (Nakata and Im, 2010), as well as balanced representation within cross-

functional teams (Moses, 2011); building internal relationships (Dibb and Simkin,

2000). Secondly, commitment from top management is demonstrated by, inter alia:

middle managers perception that ‘procedural justice’ is in place (Rosier et al., 2010;

Barton and Ambrosini, 2013); management training to understand the complexity of

marketing and to change perceptions and practices (Simkin, 2002); adequate

resources in place (Dibb et al, 2008). Third, culture and behaviours can be aligned to

the marketing strategy by, inter alia: nurturing a climate of friendliness, mutual trust

and respect which encourages market oriented in-role behaviours (Lings and

Greenley, 2010); reduction of perceived bureaucracy and the encouragement of

dialogue (McKenna et al., 2010); management response to intelligence about

employees’ feelings and attitudes, and the recruitment of employees who are

receptive to the organization’s values (King and Grace, 2012); the appointment of

champions to encourage and enthuse key employees (de Chernatony and Segal Horn,

2003) and ‘cultural flame-keepers’ (Gebhardt et al., 2006); the dissemination of

stories, symbols and artefacts that represent the organization’s community (Hatch and

Schultz, 2003). Finally, the competences and business processes that enable effective

implementation are, inter alia: the ability to innovate while maintaining the brand

promise (Aaker, 2012), effective information flows (Cespedes and Piercy, 1996);

competence to build linkages with customers and other stakeholders (Ballantyne,

2003); a diversity of mind sets to maintain ‘open mindedness’ (Neill et al., 2007; Day,

2011). Figure 2 below shows the management actions, drawn from the literature, that

enable each of the four ‘blockages’ to marketing strategy implementation to be

addressed.

Figure 2: Addressing the Blockages

It is proposed that ‘solutions’, in the form of management actions listed above, have a

positive impact on marketing strategy implementation. Empirical work is examining

these relationships further. The results will contribute to our understanding of the

properties and implications of the constructs identified above, and facilitate more

effective implementation of marketing strategies.

Next Steps

The next steps are to clarify the propositions (as part of a theoretical model), about the

relationship between the constructs (organizational factors), their properties (how they

impede marketing strategy implementation), and their implications and consequences

(how management can address these barriers). Data gathered in organisational

contexts will further inform this model. The empirical study will form the basis for

discussion at the conference.

This research will result in a more holistic view of the impediments facing execution

of marketing strategy, informed by research exploring such blockers from across the

strategy, marketing and organisational behaviour literatures. In the context of co-ops,

a set of appropriate recommendations will be derived to help remedy such

deficiencies. As a result, organisations will be better able to execute their marketing

strategies and mitigate the problems hindering execution. As far as the authors are

aware, none of the earlier research into marketing strategy implementation has

considered it in the context of cooperatives.

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