Gerald E. Hills & Claes M. Hultman (2011) Academic Roots The Past and The Present of EM
Gerald E. Hills & Claes M. Hultman (2011) Academic Roots The Past and The Present of EM
To cite this article: Gerald E. Hills & Claes M. Hultman (2011) Academic Roots: The Past and
Present of Entrepreneurial Marketing, Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 24:1, 1-10,
DOI: 10.1080/08276331.2011.10593521
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Academic Roots: The Past and Present of
Entrepreneurial Marketing
Gerald E. Hills, Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois
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Résumé. Le marketing entrepreneurial fait l’objet de recherches depuis environ 30 ans. Au cours de cette
période, diverses avenues de recherche dans le domaine ont fait l’objet d’études. Deux avenues importantes,
mais divergentes sont le marketing chez les petites et les grandes entreprises, qui sont des exemples types des
différences qui existent entre les petites et les grandes entreprises. Aujourd’hui, le marketing chez les petites
entreprises et le marketing chez les grandes entreprises sont considérés comme étant deux champs de recherche
distincts, quoiqu’apparentés. La recherche en marketing entrepreneurial a été jusqu’à ce jour très ouverte à
diverses approches méthodologiques, surtout comparées à la recherche en marketing en général aux États-Unis.
Au cours de cette assez longue période, les avancées dans certaines autres disciplines furent bénéfiques pour la
recherche en marketing entrepreneurial. Un tel exemple est celui de l’élaboration de la théorie de l’effectuation qui
nous a permis de comprendre la prise de décisions chez les entreprises et, par conséquent, des aspects importants
du comportement de marketing chez les entreprises. Plusieurs des questions qui étaient considérées comme
importantes par un panel d’universitaires en 1986, une période pendant laquelle le marketing et l’entrepreneuriat
étaient en évolution, le sont encore aujourd’hui (p. ex. la croissance des nouvelles entreprises). Par contre, d’autres
sujets n’ont plus la cote auprès des universitaires, mais en général, plusieurs questions sont toujours en attente
d’une réponse et le domaine de recherche qu’est le marketing entrepreneurial offre des opportunités de recherches
extraordinaires.
Tyebjee et al. (1983). In the 90s, both education at various university levels and published
research in entrepreneurial marketing (EM) grew significantly. We find more courses,
conferences and symposia organized than ever before (Hills et al., 2010). Particularly
satisfying is that the number of Ph.D. candidates and new dissertations in the field are
increasing. This is very promising for future expansion and we expect an increasing number
of young scholars disseminating new knowledge.
Today it is a Scattered Research Field
As in other emerging academic research fields, we can expect multi-direction development
processes. Looking at EM in the past and its long journey, it is not surprising to find the
present scholarly knowledge rather scattered. EM is not yet a well-defined area of research
and, in fact, we are continuing to define both the concept of EM and the research domain.
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The lowest common denominator is the study object, the entrepreneur, and EM is
directly linked to marketing as practiced by entrepreneurs (see Figure 1).
Entrepreneurial decision-making
• Proactive Observable
• Growth oriented Entrepreneurial
The Business
• Risk-taking Propensity Marketing
Environment
• Innovative Outcome
• Opportunity oriented
The Definitions of EM
Definitions of EM and its interface reflect entrepreneurial behaviour. Concepts such as
change, innovations and opportunities are typically present. One example is an early
definition of the interface (Gardner, 1994: 37):
… the interface of entrepreneurial behaviour and marketing is that where
innovation is brought to market. […] Marketing’s role in innovation, then, is to
provide the concepts, tools, and infrastructure to close the gap between innovation
and market positioning to achieve sustainable competitive advantages.
As the interface has evolved, we have regarded EM to represent something more complex
than just supply concepts and tools to position and create sustainable competitive advantage
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The history of scholarly academic work regarding marketing and entrepreneurship was
recently reviewed for the past quarter century by Hills, Hultman and Miles (2008). What
has not been done, however, is to compare the perceived importance of specific marketing/
entrepreneurship (M/E) research issues by leading scholars at an early stage, in 1986,
as compared to today. During that early period, there were three discussion oriented
research workshops held with invited participating scholars. These meetings were held in
conjunction with the annual conferences of the International Council for Small Business,
the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and the American Marketing
Association. These closely preceded the first Research Symposium on Marketing and
Entrepreneurship. As noted in the first conference proceedings (that came to be called the
“blue books”), the objective was to engage in brainstorming and discussion to identify
critical knowledge voids and to attach research priorities.
If a theory is a systematically related set of statements, including some law-like
generalizations—that are empirically testable—then the starting point is to work toward
that so-called set of statements (Hunt 1976: 3). This was the objective of the symposium—
to initiate this process. We inevitably adopted what Zaltman called the “theories in use”
approach, an inductive process that, in this case, assumed that the current practices of
successful entrepreneurs provided an appropriate source for identifying researchable
propositions (Zaltman, LeMasters and Heffring, 1982: 113-138). Still today, we need
concepts at the M/E interface, the building blocks of theory, and also taxonomies if we are
to progress. There was also a call for longitudinal studies, to better understand the process
of new venture creation and growth.
So, 21 invited panelists in the workshops first offered their high-priority research
issues, and then there was an exchange of ideas for a total of 10 hours in the three meetings.
Additional participants were added who were well known to be knowledgeable in this
research realm. Based on tape recordings and notes, the research questions shown in Table
2 were listed and rated on a 10-point importance scale from 1 (most important) to 10 (least
important).
In 2010, for comparative purposes, peers identified the current leading scholars, a
questionnaire using the research questions from nearly a quarter century ago was developed,
and the leading researchers were emailed the questionnaire to obtain their ratings, again on
a 10-point scale. This survey of expert opinion resulted in 20 respondents.
Using “5” as the midpoint on a 10-point scale as our measure of “importance,” we can
then draw implications. In the case of the t1 (1986) means, all of the research questions
were viewed as “important.” Currently (t2), however, 20 of the original 28 research
questions were considered to be important (≤5.00). There were nine questions reported in
6 hills and hultman
Table 2. Past (t1) and Present (t2) Research Opportunity Importance in the Field of Entrepreneurial
Marketing: Most Important (1) to Least Important (10) in t2
Rank Standard
Comparable
Research Question Order (t2 Deviation
t1 Means
Means) (t2)
To what extent is firm growth a function of market limitations (such as size and window of
3.55 2.34 4.00
opportunity) as opposed to owner propensity for growth?
How can market research techniques be better developed and used to identify market
3.64 2.75 3.15
opportunities?
What conditions dictate a departure from a planned marketing strategy? 3.73 2.66 4.65
Is niche marketing more linked to entrepreneurial success than the pursuit of larger, broader
3.84 2.22 3.96
markets?
How does the marketing function within the organization develop over time and with firm gro
4.00 2.94
wth?
When does a firm grow to a size at which it is “out of touch” with its markets and needs formal
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the historical study for which there were no t1 means in Table 2, however, and five of these
were “important” currently (t2 ≤ 5.00). Including these research questions results in 25
of the t2 research question means being “important,” certainly confirming that numerous
research opportunities remain at the M/E interface as perceived by leaders in the field. This,
of course, does not include many other opportunities not identified long ago at t1.
Why are half of the research questions in time period 1 no longer viewed as important?
Hopefully, this is partly explained by the new knowledge that has been generated in the
past two decades, thereby offsetting the void that existed! Respondents in this survey were
also asked to indicate research questions where there has been “significant” progress in
addressing these questions. Several respondents did not reply to that request, but some
indicated that progress had indeed been made regarding a number of research topics. So,
indeed, several questions may be less important today because of progress due to research.
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It may also be that some expert respondents are more confident in their replies due to
learning that has taken place over time. This could be contributing to higher standard
deviations today and more “unimportant” means.
Let us now examine the 10 most important research questions shown in Table 2. Looking
to the lower means (and highest importance) currently, the question regarding new venture
growth is revealing. What curtails growth in new ventures: lack of owner/entrepreneur
propensity or such market limitations as size and the window of opportunity? This factor
may be the most important influence affecting firm growth. Also, the inadequacy of market
research techniques for identifying market opportunities is increasingly noted. Opportunity
recognition is a market- and marketing-focused process and yet the mainstream marketing
discipline has largely ignored the need for new knowledge in this area. Instead, the focus is
only on evaluation after the initial identification of the business idea.
The research question in Table 2 regarding a “departure from a planned marketing
strategy” is also striking, given our knowledge today of the vast number of business plans
that are modified or aborted early on in response to market forces.
Another highly rated research opportunity concerns niche marketing. Despite the
temptation to assume this is most appropriate, there are clearly numerous exceptions.
Why? Is this an evolutionary issue that must be considered at various stages of growth,
for example? This leads us to a similar but broader question regarding the entire marketing
function within the organization. To what extent does marketing change over time and with
respect to firm growth?
Also concerning market research, the research question that addresses the stage of
organizational growth as it pertains to being “out of touch” with its markets is revealing. At
what stage does the entrepreneur begin to need formal market research to replace the loss
of day-to-day market immersion?
The seventh-ranked question again concerns the issue of flexibility of marketing
strategies under uncertainty. There is also a specific focus on not only failures in general,
but market-related failures (vs., for example, technology). Also of considerable importance
is the relationship between the creativity process and the marketing process. A related
manuscript recently presented a creativity model of the opportunity recognition process
and there is a significant conceptual parallel. Also, tied for the top 10 in current importance,
the leadership role of the entrepreneur is equal in importance to the promotion function
when no image or market presence exists.
It may be seen in Table 2 that the remaining “important” research questions (≤ 5.00)
refer to several uniquenesses of new firms that seemingly demand differences in marketing.
For example, there is attention to no customer loyalty, a need for more qualitative research
8 hills and hultman
into market feasibility, less marketing professional infrastructure, solo leadership start-ups,
technology and other types of product markets, intuitive decision making by entrepreneurs,
early life cycle uniquenesses, as well as smaller firm size, pricing flexibility and the unique
pressure to generate cash flow. Marketing educators are also challenged to determine if
their curricula are non-entrepreneurial!
The “unimportant” (≥ 5.00) items currently are shown in Table 2, because in studying
the response distributions, nearly all questions resulted in skewed distributions supporting
the importance of the items as seen by at least some of our expert respondents. Also, with
certain questions, it appears that the expert respondents no longer debate existing support,
so there is less importance attributed as a research question.
Finally, as shown in Table 3, the changes in mean importance between t1 and t2 are
rank ordered, with all but one of the changes representing a shift to being less important as
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compared to more than two decades ago. Beginning with the largest change with a mean of
2.01 (on the 10-point scale) is attention to contingency/situation-based marketing strategy,
feasibility methodologies and avoiding formal market research. Several other research
questions dropped in importance as well, confirming the discussion just concluded. If there
is less than a .5 difference in the means of t1 and t2, they are not listed in Table 3. Using this
decision guideline, the one item of higher importance concerned the conditions dictating “a
departure from planned marketing strategy.”
Table 3. Historical Changes in Research Question Importance (means t2 minus t1) Largest to Least
Change in Mean Importance
Difference
Research Question
(t2 minus t1)
Is marketing strategy success in new ventures typically contingency (or situation) based? 2.01
What methodologies can best enable us to screen new business vs. new product market
1.83
feasibility?
Do entrepreneurs avoid marketing research due to their blind faith in their idea/product? 1.51
Do entrepreneurs make intuitively vs. scientifically based marketing decisions (and rely less
1.31
on a corporate-type planning process?
Are innovative new products faced with great uncertainty, due in part to the absence of
1.15
market information?
Is a non-price based strategy better for new/small firms than for larger, mature firms (with
1.11
more resources)?
Are competitive market position and margins more important to new firm success than the
1.10
management team?
What role does luck play in market opportunity identification and market strategy success? 1.02
Is a made-to-order or custom vs. a commodity strategy better for small/new firms? 0.82
Are there more market-related venture failures than technology/product-based failures? 0.82
To reach cash break even, do firms use a combination of marketing strategies to shorten the
0.68
process?
Is there an inverse relationship in ventures between technology sophistication and marketing
0.63
sophistication?
Is there less professional marketing infrastructure for entrepreneurs (vs. accounting, legal)
0.59
and if so, why?
What conditions dictate a departure from a planned marketing strategy? -0.92
academic roots: the past and present of entrepreneurial marketing 9
better clarified, and we need more empirical observations to reveal the complexity of EM
behaviour. However, each conference and each special issue of established international
journals dedicated to EM are important supplements to the already existing outlets for our
joint research efforts.
Acknowledgements
The following experts contributed their research importance ratings to this study: Nicole
Coviello, Jenny Darroch, Jonathan Deacon, Fabian Eggers, Joseph Giglierano, Kenneth
Grant, David Hansen, Gerald Hills, Claes Hultman, Chicery Kasouf, Sascha Kraus,
Morgan Miles, Michael Morris, Sussie Morrish, Gina O’Connor, Minet Schindehutte,
Robert Schwartz, Stanley Stasch, Richard Teach, and Can Uslay.
Contact Information
For further information on this article, contact:
Gerald E. Hills, Turner Endowed Chair and Professor of Entrepreneurship, Bradley University, 1501
West Bradley Avenue, Peoria, IL 61625
E-mail: [email protected]
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