Characteristics of SME’s Marketing

Characteristics of Seems Marketing Marketing is regarded as relevant to both large and small organizations and basic marketing principles are seen to apply to both of them. It plays a significant role for Seems as it is essential to the survival and growth of the enterprises but in the same time it is the biggest problem which owner-managers face in their business operations. Chasten (2000) says that truly entrepreneurial firms have a distinctively different approach to marketing which he defines as the philosophy of challenging established market conventions during the process of developing new solutions'.

The entrepreneurial marketing process is essentially simple, involving understanding conventional competitors and then challenging the approach they adopt. Marketing activities in Seems are shaped through a process where competitors, customers, the business environment and the limited resources are taken into account. There is no clear definition or grand unifying theory of marketing in Seems - where it has unique characteristics that differentiate it from that of large organizations, rather strategy features of several philosophies that are estimate to fit the best for the equines operations.

Marketing practices in Seems are described as: Haphazard Informal Unstructured and spontaneous Practices are often relate to promotion, selling and customer relationships Often driven by innovation Seen to operate close to their customers Quick response to the changing needs of customers Flexible It is, however, suggested that market orientation gives small firms a potential competitive advantage over larger enterprises as they: are closer to customers and able to respond their needs and wants quickly and flexibly are able to share customer information quickly and with fewer modifications, because of less organizational bureaucracy can implement marketing plans quickly, as it is more informal In addition, small firms appear to have specific weaknesses with regard to pricing, planning, training and marketing functions. Seems are seen to be hindered by poor By Natalie ins led problems narrow customer base, over-reliance on the owner-manager's marketing competency, limited resources relating to finance and time. With limited resources added to the day-to-day pressures of the business operations, a lot of impasses are considering marketing activities as peripheral and an unnecessary luxury.

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Special attention is paid to the role of the owner-manager in Seems marketing - as to the person with vision of where the business is going and at the same time person who takes care of the operational details carried out in the business environment. The marketing practices adopted in a small firm are greatly influenced by the owner- manager's decision-making and inherent skills and abilities. Unfortunately marketing is often misunderstood and understudied by owner-managers. The need for racketing is recognized but for example, the traditional way of looking at marketing with the APS is not given much attention. They also do not always appear receptive to marketing if there is no need e. G. For growth or expansion.

Furthermore, owner- managers may define marketing as quite narrowly relating only to selling and promoting. In a great part of small firms, no formal marketing research is conducted. It can be explained by a limited range of products and customers that is seen to minimize the requirements for formal procedures to collect and process customer information. It an be challenging for Seems to collect and interpret marketing information but the use of them for the basis of marketing decisions especially concerning promotion and place have a significant positive influence on small firm performance. Main sources of market information for Seems appear to be informal.

Useful way for Seems owners/managers to expand marketing expertise and knowledge is networking. 'Marketing networking' in Seems being defined as the network processes that are undertaken by Seems owner-managers in managing their marketing activities by communicating activities with people, attending relevant trade vents, gathering information regarding business activities in order to do business plan and performing marketing activities. One dimension in which entrepreneurial marketing is different to conventional marketing is its heavy reliance on relationships. More recently this has been recognized and christened 'relationship marketing, which can be contrasted to the more traditional transaction marketing.

Relationship marketing Transactional marketing Encourage close, frequent customer contact Limited contact Encourage repeat sales Focus on customer service Limited customer service Focus on value to the customer Focus on product/service benefits Focus in quality of total offering Focus on quality of product Focus on long-term performance Focus on short-term performance How we can see there is a distinct overlap between the structural and relational dimension in the network activities of Seems.

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