Critical evaluation of the entrepreneurship and marketing interface: evidence from new ventures in the UK

Phua, Sabrina Yin Hsia (2013) Critical evaluation of the entrepreneurship and marketing interface: evidence from new ventures in the UK. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

Entrepreneurship is growing in popularity and importance, as is evident from the increasing amount of interest shown for this domain in practice and academia. This thesis examines an under-researched area in the field of entrepreneurship that relates marketing to new ventures. New business start-ups are a key focus of government policy, and marketing is a key component of a new approach to business management. Marketing is critical to the success of new entrepreneurial ventures, but this is a topic that has received very little attention from scholars of either marketing or entrepreneurship. However, an effective strategy allows new businesses to gain sales by providing products and services that offer superior benefits to customers. Therefore, there is a need to understand how entrepreneurial marketing works in practice; this knowledge will improve the overall success rates of new entrepreneurial ventures. Findings from this study confirm that entrepreneurs do view marketing activities as important and utilise marketing tools in the day-to-day management of their businesses. However, entrepreneurs’ marketing strategies are not formalised with the level of sophistication associated with large organisations. Rather, our data suggest that new entrepreneurs have an intuitive grasp of the key elements associated with a structured marketing strategy, even though the usage of those marketing activities may differ from that used in large organisations and text-book practices.