Final Document Guja Armannsdottir1
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UNIVERSITY OF HULL MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PRACTICES IN SMES THROUGH A CULTURAL LENS A ONE NATION PERSPECTIVE: ICEALND being a dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Hull by Guðríður Ármannsdóttir December 2010 Abstract The marketing environment has in the past two decades changed dramatically. The Internet has given businesses of all sizes the opportunity to compete throughout the world with brands of seemingly similar quality, and to promote their wares in ways previously unimagined. Simultaneously, media fragmentation and the overarching need for cost-effective and efficient marketing has changed the way marketers conduct and evaluate their marketing and marketing communications activities (De Pelsmacker et al, 2004). This research explores the emergence, relevance and applicability of marketing communications/Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) within SMEs in Iceland and if marketing communications activities are affected by organisational culture. Iceland was chosen because prior to this research, its economy was in stage of growth and substantial proportion of GDP was derived from SME activity. In order to answer the objectives, a mixed methods design was used in which senior managers in SMEs were interviewed in the first phase and surveyed, via a questionnaire, in the second phase. The findings confirmed and corroborated the previous literature regarding SMEs as managers were found to be using mostly traditional advertising methods. The results also showed that they were not using systematic methods when planning, budgeting or ii measuring their marketing communications activities. However, some findings were contradictory as managers were also found to be gathering information about their customers and appeared to be interested in what was happening in their field of business abroad. The research discovered that IMC was not regarded as important by the managers. Findings from the first phase gave foundation for the belief that a traditional culture may be a barrier towards marketing and marketing communications practise. Therefore, eight hypotheses were developed and subsequently tested in the second phase of the research. The findings offered an indication that hierarchy culture could act as a barrier towards marketing communications and that adhocracy culture could act as driver. However, further research needs to be conducted to reaffirm these findings. iii Acknowledgement This research could not have been accomplished without the help and support of many people. I would particularly like to thank my supervisor Dr. Dianne Dean, without whose assistance this thesis would not have been possible. I would like to record my gratitude for her encouragement, support, patience and guidance throughout the entire process. I would also like to thank Professor Philip Kitchen for his endless efforts in making me a better researcher, for that too I am deeply grateful. In addition, a number of HUBS faculty and staff offered encouragement and advice along the way for which I am greatly indebted. I’d especially like to thank Dr. Raphaël Akamavi, Patricia Coleman, Rebecca Conyers and Andrea de Laine. For their camaraderie and friendship, I’d like to record my appreciation and thanks to my fellow PhD colleagues:, Habibah Tolos, Octavio Ibarra, Donley Carrington, Anderson Mutemererwa, Khalid M Battal, Inga Burgmann, Andrew Hird, Chris Pich, Alexander Trautrims and Sumona Mukhuty. I would especially like to express thanks to Will and Sarah McGeown, Paul Skarratt, Emma McClean, Andrea Szabo, Matt Hudson and Maciej Hanczakowski for making this journey an enjoyable one. I would like to acknowledge and express my gratitude to all of the participants, who graciously volunteered their time and perspectives to the project. Without them, there would not have been any research. iv These acknowledgements would not be complete without thanking María Björk Kristjánsdóttir for her suggestions and assistance with both the interviews and questionnaire design. I would also like to mention my gratitude to Harpa, Lísbet, Svava, Hugrún og Hrefna for always being there for me. Finally I would like to thank my family. Firstly, I want to thank my mother for her love and support. She is a truly inspirational and also more importantly, my best friend. I am also thankful to my brothers, Kristján, Björn, Ólafur and Lárus and their families for their great encouragement over the years. In addition, I would like to show my appreciation to my nieces, Silvía Björk Kristjánsdóttir, for lending me her office space over several Christmases and Ólöf Birna Ólafsdóttir, for assisting me with data collection during August 2008. v Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my mother, Þórunn Friðriksdóttir , and Jósefína. vi Table of Contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................................................... IV DEDICATION ......................................................................................................................................... VI TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................... VII LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... X LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................................... XI CHAPTER 1 ............................................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE THESIS ............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM .................................................................................................................. 1 1.3 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY AND APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM ...................................................................... 6 1.4 OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH ............................................................................................................. 7 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH ......................................................................................................... 9 1.6 ORGANISATION OF THE THESIS ......................................................................................................... 10 1.7 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................ 13 CHAPTER 2 ...........................................................................................................................................14 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS .........................................................................................................14 2.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 14 2.2 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS DEFINED .......................................................................................... 14 2.3 INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS ..................................................................................... 15 2.4 THE MECHANICS OF COMMUNICATION .............................................................................................. 20 2.5 AN OVERVIEW OF THE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MIX .................................................................. 23 2.6 ADVERTISING ................................................................................................................................ 26 2.7 MARKETING PUBLIC RELATIONS (MPR) ............................................................................................. 29 2.8 DIRECT MARKETING ........................................................................................................................ 32 2.9 SALES PROMOTION ........................................................................................................................ 35 2.10 SPONSORSHIP ............................................................................................................................... 37 2.11 PERSONAL SELLING ........................................................................................................................ 40 2.12 E-COMMUNICATION AND INTERACTIVE MARKETING .............................................................................. 42 2.13 EXHIBITIONS AND TRADE FAIRS ......................................................................................................... 44 2.14 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................ 45 CHAPTER 3 ...........................................................................................................................................47 SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES, ..........................................................................................47 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS .........................................................................................................47