Investigating the relationship between entrepreneurial marketing and organizational entrepreneurship in small and medium-sized companies

Master thesis in the field of business management (marketing)

Abstract:

Most small and medium companies have an undeniable impact on the economic situation of any country. These companies owe a major part of their success to the use of entrepreneurship in their organizations. This feature has caused them to perform their assigned tasks in different ways. One of these tasks is marketing, which the owners of these companies try to look at with the eyes of entrepreneurs. Therefore, considering the importance of entrepreneurship and marketing in the space of small businesses, the researcher has tried to investigate the relationship between organizational entrepreneurship (Zahra model (1995): strategic renewal, innovation and business development) and entrepreneurial marketing mix (P5: price, product, promotion, distribution and person) in small and medium enterprises of Faraman Industrial Town, Kermanshah province. Considering that the statistical population of the research was 114 companies, therefore, 63 units were selected as a sample with statistical tests. But since the components of the entrepreneurial marketing mix of such companies are different from the marketing mix of large companies, therefore, with the help of an experimental prototype, the entrepreneurial marketing mix for these companies was obtained. According to the findings of this department, a questionnaire was designed and distributed among 62 industrial units. The results showed with the help of statistical tests that there is a significant relationship between organizational entrepreneurship and the combination of person, price and product. Also, no significant relationship was observed between organizational entrepreneurship and mixed promotion and distribution. Also, with the help of the average test of a community, the position of organizational entrepreneurship was obtained above the average.

Keywords: small and medium-sized companies, mixed entrepreneurial marketing, organizational entrepreneurship, industrial towns.

Chapter 1

Research overview

1-1-                                         Introduction  

According to the sources Limited in small and medium companies, marketing is very important in these companies. As many researchers introduce the weakness of marketing of these companies as the main reason for the failures of these companies; Therefore, in the first step, developing a marketing plan suitable for these companies seems vital, and in the next step, the need to pay attention to creativity and entrepreneurship in this plan seems essential. Therefore, the present research was carried out with these goals in Faraman industrial town of Kermanshah province. On the other hand, in order to reach reliable results, every research is required to follow the pre-defined principles and frameworks. In this research as well, the researcher has tried to compile and present the findings of his research in 5 chapters by observing these principles. Based on this, in the first chapter, the aims and generalities of the investigated subject are mentioned, and in the next chapter, the existing theoretical foundations and related background are described. In the third chapter, the research method and the method of preparing the questionnaire are explained, and in the next chapter, the research hypotheses are tested. In the conclusion, the results of the research are mentioned and based on that, suggestions are made to the owners of small and medium companies, managers of Kermashah industrial town and future researchers.

1-2- Rahimi Filabadi, 1384) as well as the weakness of traditional methods such as strategic planning, research and market forecasts (Barrett [1], 1996; Sigelko, Rivkin [2], 2005), it has become necessary to pay attention to new methods - in order to overcome these changes (Mason [3], 2007). In this regard, organizational entrepreneurship [4] is one of the ways that today's organizations, especially small and medium-sized companies [5] pay attention to. A concept that was used for the first time in 1970 (Hadizadeh Moghadam, Rahimi Filabadi, 2014) and has been defined by many researchers in different ways. At first, this concept was mostly used to measure organizational entrepreneurship in pre-established companies [6], but over time, researchers claimed that the use of this concept is important and vital for all companies, including small and medium-sized companies, and has many benefits, including creating value and economic power (Dess et al., 2003), improving performance (Dess et al., 2003; Zahra[8], 1991; Zahra, 1996) and maintaining advantage brings competition (Koratko [9], 2007; Hayton [10], 2005).

To measure the level of organizational entrepreneurship of companies, there are different models that in this research, the model presented by Zahra in 1995, which includes innovation [11], strategic renewal [12] and business development [13], has been used (Zahra, 1995; Sharma, Chrisman [14], 1999). It helps to develop and enter new markets, create and introduce new products, and use innovative business models. In addition to the entrepreneurial attitude towards these companies, the existence of limitations such as financial problems, lack of specialized manpower and small size (Hasanqalipour, Aghazadeh, 2014) as well as their unique characteristics such as flexibility, need of few resources, reliance on internal resources (Ahmadi, Safari Kohra and Azami, 2015) have caused the tasks and marketing plans of these companies, including their marketing mix[15], compared to large and non-entrepreneurial companies. be different (Martin[16], 2009). But the more these differences are created in connection with the existence of entrepreneurial attitude, the more likely these companies will adapt to the challenges caused by today's complex environment. As the marketing mix of small and medium companies is referred to as an entrepreneurial marketing mix [17] (product [18], price [19], distribution [20], promotion [21] and person [22]) and it should be a set of tools that an entrepreneurial company, by using them in an innovative way, provides the ability to earn more profit and provide higher value to primary customers - compared to other competitors (Rizvani, Galabi, 2013). This different definition requires a new look at the elements that make up the marketing mix as well as all the components that make up each of the elements of the marketing mix. Therefore, this research faces two general problems; Firstly, according to the differences between small and medium-sized companies and large companies, as well as the specific characteristics and limitations of these companies, to determine the components of each of the elements of the entrepreneurial marketing mix of small and medium-sized companies, and secondly, due to the importance of an entrepreneurial attitude to all tasks and marketing programs of these companies in today's dynamic environment, this research seeks to answer the question whether there is a meaningful relationship between the level of organizational entrepreneurship of these companies and each of the elements of the entrepreneurial marketing mix or not?

1-3-                                Importance and necessity of research

Although it is generally accepted that the principles of marketing have general applicability for small and large businesses (Reynold [23], 2002; Sheetal, Sangeta and Kumar [24], 2012), but today the marketing method of small and medium companies is different from large companies. In fact, researchers believe that many models and theories that are useful for one type of organization may not be useful for other types of companies (Morish, Deacon [25], 2009; Moorish, Deacon, 2011). Therefore, since on the one hand, many marketing principles and theories have emerged from examining and studying the experiences of large companies (Golabi, Khodadad Hosseini, Mehrabi, Salemzadeh, 2011) and on the other hand, SMEs have special and unique characteristics (Carson [26], 2005); Therefore, the marketing process of small and medium businesses should be examined separately. A problem that has been neglected in many researches and they have focused on measuring the elements and components specific to large companies in these companies. Therefore, for the validity of the questions related to the marketing mix, the specific marketing components of these companies must first be obtained with the help of interviews or separate quantitative research (in a preliminary test sample [27]).

Also, considering today's dynamic environment, the importance of preparing companies - of any size and shape - to confront such an environment is essential and vital. Meanwhile, small and medium-sized companies are more vulnerable than larger companies due to limited resources. so that wrong decisions quickly expose them to failure and liquidation (Barrett, 1996; Farber [28], 1999).

One of the effective tools that companies equip themselves with today to confront and respond to the environment is organizational entrepreneurship (Zahra, 1991), which smaller companies can easily take advantage of due to its features such as higher flexibility and less bureaucracy, and cause improvement. provide their performance (Farber, 1999).