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    SME marketing in practice

    Audrey GilmoreReader in Marketing, Department of Marketing,

    University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland

    David Carson

    Professor of Marketing, Department of Marketing,

    University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland

    Ken Grant

    Senior Lecturer, Department of Marketing, Monash University, Melbourne,

    Australia

    Introduction

    This paper advocates that networking is an

    inherent tool of marketing which is wholly

    compatible with SME decision-making

    characteristics in relation to marketing

    activities. After a brief overview of relevant

    SME marketing and networking literature,

    the research study aimed at understanding

    how SME owner/managers use networking

    in their marketing activities. The paper

    concludes by advocating that networking is a

    marketing ``competence and as such can be

    developed as a way of doing marketing for

    SMEs, that is, marketing by networking.

    SMEs limitations and marketingcharacteristics

    It is well documented that SMEs have unique

    characteristics that differentiate them from

    conventional marketing in large

    organisations (e.g. Carson, 1990). These

    characteristics may be determined by the

    inherent characteristics and behaviours o fthe entrepreneur or owner/manager; and

    they may be determined by the inherent size

    and stage of development of the enterprise.

    Such limitations can be summarised as:

    limited resources (such as finance, time,

    marketing knowledge); lack of specialist

    expertise (owner-managers tend to be

    generalists rather than specialists); and

    limited impact in the marketplace. In

    addition, SME marketing is haphazard and

    informal because of the way an owner-

    manager does business; they make most

    decisions on their own, respond to current

    opportunities and circumstances and so

    decision making occurs in a haphazard and

    apparently chaotic way, according to

    personal and business priorities at any given

    point in time (Scase and Goffee, 1980). Clearly

    such limitations will influence, indeed

    determine, the marketing characteristics of

    an SME. SMEs do not conform to the

    conventional marketing characteristics of

    marketing textbook theories; instead their

    marketing is characterised by the limitations

    outlined above. Thus, SME marketing is

    likely to be haphazard, informal, loose,

    unstructured, spontaneous, reactive, built

    upon and conforming to industry norms.

    Networking in SMES

    For SMEs networking can mean using a

    variety of networks. The inherent existence

    of the owner/manager ``networks is built

    around their normal interactions and

    activities such as personal contact networks

    (Knoke and Kuklinski, 1982), social networks

    (Starr and MacMillan, 1990), businessnetworks (Donckels and Lambrecht, 1997),

    industry (Andersson and Soderlund, 1988)

    and marketing networks (Piercy and

    Cravens, 1995). Clearly it is important to

    understand how owner-managers use these

    networks. Curran and Blackburn (1994)

    found that owner-managers tend to have

    relatively small and non-expensive networks

    with little resort to expected external

    contacts such as accountants and bank

    managers. While these networks were used

    deliberately to solve problems, the formation

    and development of the networks were

    The research register for this journal is available at

    h tt p :// w w w .m c b u p .c o m /r e s e a r ch _ re g is t e r s

    The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

    h tt p ://w w w . e m e ra ld - lib ra ry .c o m /ft

    [ 6 ]

    Marketing Intelligence &Planning19/1 [2001] 611

    # MCB University Press[ISSN 0263-4503]

    Keywords

    Small-to-medium-sized

    enterprises,

    Marketing decision making,

    Networking, Marketing strategy,

    Qualitative techniques

    AbstractAcknowledges that SMEs (small to

    medium-sized enterprises) cannot

    do conventional marketing

    because of the limitations of

    resources which are inherent to all

    SMEs and also because SME

    owner/managers behave and thinkdifferently from conventional

    marketing decision-making

    practices in large companies. In

    this context the discussion

    focuses on SME characteristics

    and how these impact upon

    marketing characteristics within

    SMEs. In a search for ``alternative

    marketing approaches, the

    inherent existence of the owner/

    managers ``network in its various

    guises such as personal contact

    networks, social networks,

    business networks and industry

    and marketing networks and how

    these networks are used is

    considered. Some evidence from

    an empirical study carried out

    simultaneously in Northern Ireland

    and Australia is presented which

    illustrates how and why networking

    is used by SME owner/managers

    as a tool or approach for carrying

    out meaningful marketing.

    http://www.emerald-library.com/fthttp://www.mcbup.com/research_registers
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    largely unstructured and coincidental in

    nature.

    Networking for business activities is about

    ``companies joining together with a common

    objective, working together, and co-

    operating through the exchange and sharingof ideas, knowledge and technology (Dean et

    al., 1997). Such networking can occur

    through trade events, p ersonal contacts, in

    liaison with marketing intermediaries and as

    part of the SME owner managers social

    endeavours. The characteristics of SME

    networking are therefore striking in their

    similarity to SME marketing characteristics.

    SME networking tends to be informal, loose,

    unstructured, spontaneous, reactive,

    structured around and conforming to

    industry norms.

    Marketing by networking

    In bringing together the deliberations on

    SME marketing and definitions of networks

    and networking this debate focuses on the

    notion of ``marketing by networking.

    Networking is a naturally inherent aspect of

    SME owner-manager decision making,

    particularly those decisions relating to

    marketing. This is because owner/managers

    must go outside the businesses physical

    confines in order to do business and thisbusiness is marketing-led activity. Thus,

    SME owner/managers are doing marketing

    through their natural and inherent

    networking activity, through all their normal

    communication activities, such as

    interacting and participating in social,

    business and trade activities. Some of the

    characteristics of ``marketing by

    networking are that it is based around

    people-orientated activities, it is informal,

    often discreet, interactive, interchangeable,

    integrated, habitual, and can either be

    passive or proactive.

    Marketing by networking is done through

    personal contact networks (PCNs), carried

    out with people with whom the owner-

    manager has had a relationship either in

    the past or currently. The way in which

    marketing by networking is carried out is

    often pre-determined by industry behaviours

    and norms through regular or irregular

    meeting occasions and industry activities or

    in just doing business. The frequency and

    focus may vary depending on the nature of

    the markets in which the company operates;

    for example, international networks may be

    more focused than domestic networks

    because of the need to plan ahead, whereas

    contact with domestic markets may be more

    frequent than with international markets

    because of convenience.

    For SME owner-managers, the costs of

    networking are implicitly hidden because

    any explicit costs or expenses are low in the

    immediate term. For example, the cost ofnetworking will include minor expenses such

    as a club or trade membership, the cost of

    dinner at trade functions, or the cost of

    entrance fees to exhibitions. Therefore

    owner-managers do not consciously need to

    consider the cost of this `intangible, difficult

    to access and measure aspect of their

    marketing activity as opposed to the more

    tangible, easier to measure aspects of

    conventional marketing activity. This

    inherently fits comfortably with SME owner-

    managers way of doing business.

    Networking occurs as a natural andinherent entrepreneurial activity. An SME

    owner-managers personal contact network

    will be represented by people who can help

    the entrepreneur in arriving at decisions for

    the wellbeing of the enterprise. The SME

    owner-manager/entrepreneur will be the

    focal point of this network although it may

    not always seem so in practice. The network

    will change according to current

    circumstances, one of the most documented

    examples being that of a ``start-up network

    compared with a network belonging to an

    established entrepreneur of some years. Also,networks will change according to need; for

    example, new people may be enlisted into a

    network when some new area of real or

    potential interest becomes paramount. Some

    individuals may serve the entrepreneurs

    network as regular advisers, for example,

    close friends, family, the company

    accountant or bank manager, others may

    simply form part of an ongoing and

    inadvertent information-gathering process.

    The entrepreneur may not necessarily

    appear to be the focal person but rather

    someone who is part of a broader socialgathering of peripheral activity.

    In addition to being a natural activity,

    networking can be an acquired skill or

    competency for the SME owner/manager.

    That is, owner/managers can develop

    networking skills or competencies over time;

    they can learn from experience who or where

    to network and how to do it effectively.

    Sometimes entrepreneurs will consciously

    seek out information from certain

    individuals believed to have a contribution to

    make; on other occasions information will be

    gleaned subconsciously.Some illustrations of marketing by

    networking will be provided from a

    collaborative study of Australian and Irish

    SMEs which focuses on how SMEs use

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    networking in doing business with

    competitors and customers.

    MethodologyThis research study sought an understanding

    of how SME owner-managers do marketing.Large firm models applied to small firm

    settings have been criticized, and small firm

    researchers are thus urged to conduct studies

    that are sensitive to the unique

    characteristics of small firms. Given that the

    study of small firms is a relatively new

    branch of social science research (Churchill

    et al., 1986; Brockhaus, 1987; Bygrave, 1989)

    and the relative lack of understanding of

    small firms, it is argued that emphasis

    should be placed on empirical research of a

    phenomenological nature. This points to a

    qualitative approach where the aim is toexplain rather than predict phenomena

    (Leavy, 1994) and to understand things rather

    than measure them (Gordon and Langmaid,

    1988). Furthermore qualitative methods are

    considered to be particularly suitable for

    gaining an understanding of decision making

    in small and medium-sized firms (Carson et

    al., 1998).

    Qualitative research offers a variety of

    methods. Based on the specific aims of this

    research, in-depth interviewing was deemed

    to be the most appropriate means for

    collecting the relevant data. In-depthinterviews are thought to be one of the best

    methods to investigate an individuals

    behavior or attitudes (Tull and Hawkins,

    1990); and semi-structured or unstructured

    interviews have been found to be particularly

    effective for collecting data from owner-

    managers of small enterprises (Curran and

    Blackburn, 1994).

    Findings: how SME owners/managers use

    networks for marketing

    The study focused on SME owners and

    managers who operate in business marketsin Northern Ireland and in the Melbourne

    area, Australia. The participating companies

    operated in a wide array of industries

    including engineering, textiles and food.

    These SMEs employed between ten and 250

    employees (thus in keeping with the

    European Commission definition of SMEs).

    A second criterion for firm selection was

    that the firm had been in operation for more

    than five years. This criterion was included

    so as to eliminate those firms which were

    experiencing growth volatility that is

    normally associated with the start-up phase,especially in the first four years of trading

    (Storey and Johnston, 1986; Storey, 1989).

    Within these criteria, a total of 45 SME

    owner-managers were selected. The data

    were collected by means of in-depth

    interviews. These were tape-recorded with

    the informants prior consent. The owner/

    managers were told that the purpose of the

    research was to gain an understanding of

    how SME owner/managers ``do businessrather than focusing on their definitions and

    descriptions of networking. This was a

    crucial factor in the study as it avoided a

    scenario whereby the informants would

    provide answers that they felt the

    interviewer expected. The interviews were

    semi-structured insofar as the interviewers

    had a checklist of areas to cover, rather than

    a list of pre-determined questions. As such,

    the interviewers gave the informant the

    fullest opportunity to relay stories and events

    which they deemed relevant.

    The findings in relation to interfaces of

    networking activities, networking with

    competitors and networking with customers,

    are d escribed and illustrated below.

    Networking with competitorsThe empirical study highlighted that there is

    considerably more communication between

    the SME owner/manager and his/her

    competitors than is widely reported in the

    literature. Owner/managers may

    communicate with competing firms and often

    are quite supportive of each other. Indeed,

    many owner/managers claimed to know

    their competitors personally, and would have

    no hesitation in contacting them for help or

    advice. For example, some owner/managers

    describe relationships with their main

    competitors as follows:. . . theres a lot of openness between people

    like ourselves and (the biggest competitor) . . .

    One of them came to me and said, ``Look, Im

    going to England to see (big retailer), should I

    know anything about them. . . ? Can I buy you

    lunch and come and talk to you . . . ?

    We share jobs . . . we work together. To a

    certain degree we are still competitive but if

    he has too much work on, hell send me some

    of the work to do for him; and if we have too

    much on, or were given a job that we dont

    specialise in and he does. Wed give it to him,

    and things like that.

    A high level of co-operation seemed to exist

    between some competitors. The reason for

    such collaboration in many cases was to

    prevent the client taking the work to a

    company outside the domestic market, ``It

    would have to go outside of (local region),

    thats the difficulty.

    In other cases one company might engage

    in a joint arrangement with a competitor if a

    particular project is too large for either to

    complete on their own, or if one company

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    requires new resources or skills. For

    example:. . . at times we would realise we are not going

    to get this (business) on our own, so we would

    ask one of our competitors, ``Would you fancy

    having a go at this with us? Especially if itwas an area in which we felt we were under-

    resourced. So its not difficult to work with

    our competitors. . .

    Many SME owner-managers recognise the

    advantage of maintaining good relations with

    competitors for the overall good:. . . we do try to improve professionally. I

    suppose, when you think about it, its bound

    to be for the good of everyone. I suppose thats

    inherently what its about.

    Trade associations or institutes often provide

    the ideal forum for managers to meet:

    . . .

    that is the reason we started the clothinginstitute . . . so that it would be an

    independent place for you as an employee of a

    big company . . . as a manager who wanted . . .

    something for the future you could go along

    there and speak your mind . . . It worked

    fantastically for many years.

    In speaking of the benefits of such bodies,

    most would claim that they inform of general

    developments within the industry, which

    includes what other firms are doing and how

    buoyant their business is relative to their

    own. For example:. . .

    to find out what exactly is going on. . .

    on adaily basis you know.

    . . . when I talk to other (practitioners) locally

    and Id say, ``how are things going. . . ? Or

    perhaps youre very busy, then you find out

    what the trends are from talking to these

    people. . . .

    . . . there is one annual general meeting held

    in (city) . . . where all the members come

    together and we would talk . . .. . . and after the

    after-dinner speaker, we retire to the bar and

    then people talk among themselves.

    Trade associations act as a means for the

    manager to become known to his peerswithin the industry. While occasions such as

    exhibitions or committee meetings ensure a

    certain degree of formality, they create the

    opportunity f or more social encounters:Its not a confrontational group. We all meet

    professionally and are reasonably supportive

    of one another. Whilst we compete on service

    and on price, we dont disagree with each

    other, we dont bad-mouth one another. Thats

    how I get to know the partners in the other

    firms, I would know them socially and

    professionally.

    Similarly, with professional associations,one entrepreneur stated:

    So I got myself back on branch council . . .

    That put me back in the (profession) spotlight.

    I was in the newsletters. I was Treasurer, that

    was important to get my face back into the

    limelight, to get to the Executive Director, to

    know the national people. I can be seen to be a

    ``doer in these organisations. Likewise they

    could see that I could get things done in the

    organisation.

    While SME owner-managers claim to

    communicate quite openly, the managers

    will guard against speaking too freely about

    certain things, most notably any plans they

    might have for substantial changes to the

    firm. For example, one manager who was

    very active in ``professional circles

    described how the decision to introduce a

    new discipline into his company was kept

    from other industry players by employing an

    agency to recruit the new staff members with

    appropriate skills:

    . . .

    so we didnt place the advertisement,because we were aware it may be sensitive

    and we didnt want people to know how we

    were expanding our business just yet. So the

    advertisement was placed, if you like,

    anonymously. . .

    Also SME owner-managers will be reluctant

    to expend their personal resources in the

    pursuit of something which will eventually

    benefit the entire industry. For example, a

    manager speaking of the possibility of

    introducing new technology to his company:. . . its particularly difficult because the

    research and development is in the wholeindustry . . . were trying to develop a system

    within our own business that hasnt been

    really fully developed outside the industry . . .

    were actually providing the rest of the

    industry with information.

    So while competitor collaboration does take

    place, it is balanced with caution when it is

    felt that the benefits enjoyed by each party

    are proportionate to their respective inputs.

    Managers will guard against speaking too

    freely about certain things, especially any

    plans they might have for substantial

    changes to the firm or its direction. However,in doing all of this, SME owner/managers

    rely heavily on using their networks and

    their networking skills for all aspects of

    marketing in the context of competitor

    activity.

    Networking with customersSME owner-managers often make a

    concerted effort to include customers and

    potential customers in their networking. In

    this study, the customers in most cases were

    firms, as opposed to consumers. The concept

    of building relations with another company

    is more complex than building relations with

    individuals. In discussing this with the

    managers in the study, it became apparent

    that, when they claim to have a relationship

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    with a client company, they are actually

    referring to their relationship with a f ew key

    figures in that company. More importantly,

    should that person or persons with whom the

    manager has contact leave the company, very

    often the relationship with the companydissolves, as the following comments

    illustrate:We would lose a client for a while because the

    ``link personality left. A new one comes in

    and he of course goes to the people hes used

    to dealing with, then he moves on.

    Needless to say we did suffer as the main

    people in management lost their jobs and they

    were the people who had all the contacts with

    customers.

    These companies had now realised the

    importance of developing relationships with

    a wider range of personnel throughout the

    company and recognised the importance of

    individuals who may have managerial roles

    in the future.

    Indeed the ability to form a relationship in

    the first instance and maintain it over time

    will depend on the characteristics of the

    individuals:. . . it always has to be taken into

    consideration that personalities a re very

    important, you know, and provided that the

    selling personality and the purchasing

    personality are compatible . . . that means

    quite a lot to a business.

    Some further illustrations of building and

    maintaining relationships with customers in

    the industry are given below:. . . There was a two-way network. I never

    missed a social event, I never missed any

    dinners or anything, I went. None of the other

    consultants went but I went. We had a drink, I

    met the heavies in the industry whom I didnt

    know at the time and then you get talking to

    them and they get to know your philosophies

    and when they move around the industry

    they know how you think. I suppose thats

    good.

    . . . Initially it was from my having a range of

    contacts and having the courage to approach

    them and probably having the hunger and the

    drive to help clarify in their minds how they

    could use me.

    SME owner-managers recognise that

    building relationships are vital to the

    companys success and they invest

    considerable time and effort in maintaining

    good relations with regular clients. For

    example:. . . If you have it (a relationship) with the

    individual, youll have it with the company. Imean youve got to start somewhere, and who

    better than to start it with than the person

    across the desk from you or on the other end

    of the phone.

    We would try to get to know them now . . . . We

    wouldnt be very obvious, you know we are

    not the type of people who say ``lets go out

    and get drunk over lunch, but we would meet

    them and go to the same trade functions, etc.,

    and try to be friendly but on a professionallevel. I think thats what people want.

    . . . as Managing Director with a strong

    personality I am not loved or liked by

    everyone. Not everyone would invite me into

    their home, I can tell you. I am not the most

    relaxed, ``have a beer with me type of person

    but Im in business with these people, Im

    friendly in a professional way not to go

    dancing with them.

    SME owner-managers recognise that they are

    perceived to be the point of contact by their

    clients/customers. They make themselves

    available to speak to these people ifrequested, even when a member of staff could

    quite adequately handle the enquiry. This is

    especially true of long-term customers/

    clients. For example:The private clients wont talk to anyone else.

    Its the most important thing theyve done in

    years and they have to talk to a ``partner in

    the company.

    In some cases, customers become accustomed

    to speaking to the manager:Its not a preference to speak to me, its a

    tradition, you know, because I have been here

    all the time, they just out of habit ask for me,

    whereas if I tried to ``retrain them gradually

    . . . other people in the place could deal with

    them, could deal quite well with them.

    There is a realisation among SME owner-

    managers that often customers prefer

    communicating with their ``peers:Younger people would rather talk to younger

    people, they many see us as a bit stuffy or

    something . . . I mean the senior men and

    these people would know me but the next

    generation dont know me, they know our

    younger associates and they communicate

    with them.

    Another widely held belief is that contact

    with new clients is best done in person. For

    example:. . . I think, once you get there and you know

    what the person looks like, sometimes you

    can form a better relationship on a one-to-one

    basis . . .

    These findings illustrate the variety of

    elements that will impact on how the SME

    does marketing by networking with

    customers. It is important to recognise the

    influence that personality, age and

    experience of the two communicating partieswill have on the networking relationship.

    The nature of manager-customer networking

    and how it is done will either contribute to or

    spoil the integrative way SMEs do

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    marketing. That is, the creation and

    existence of effective networking will be

    concerned with maximising marketing

    opportunities and ensuring the enterprises

    survival and development through successful

    interactions with customers and competitors.

    Managerial implications andconclusion

    Marketing by networking will be enhanced

    and improved with the advent of experience.

    This is often manifested by owner/managers

    using their networking abilities. Owner/

    managers will use their strengths to

    overcome their inherent weaknesses, learn

    from mistakes and assess what went wrong

    in order to avoid such mistakes in the future,

    learn from successes and assess all of the

    circumstances that contribute to success. As

    the composition of the SME owner/

    managers network moves between personal

    and business relationships, the nature of

    decision making also changes. Where a

    manager depends mainly on social networks,

    decisions are likely to be based on incomplete

    information and will rely more on intuition.

    As the owner/manager gathers more

    business contacts and networking becomes

    more strategic, his decision making will

    become more rigorous. Much of this

    networking development can be attributed toincreased experiential knowledge in that,

    having made certain decisions before in the

    past, the manager will have learned from

    previous mistakes and will approach the task

    in a more structured way.

    Such a realisation allows for a speculation

    that networking can be harnessed into a

    proactive marketing infrastructure. This

    discussion does not advocate that this

    infrastructure be formalised in any way,

    instead, it is argued that networking is a

    ``competence which can be developed in

    much the same way that any competence hasbeen learned, refined and developed through

    time spent doing it. At whatever stage of

    refinement or development, it is argued that

    SMEs do marketing by networking and this

    MBN can be developed proactively as an

    approach for marketing which is wholly

    compatible with the characteristics of SMEs.

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    Audrey Gilmore, David Carsonand Ken GrantSME marketing in practice

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