The transferability and the applicability of marketing know-how to developing countries : an empirical study in the Saudi manufacturing sector

Abstract

For two decades, although there has been agreement among marketing researchers that marketing has an important role to play in the development process in any country, there has been an ongoing debate about the question of the transferability of modern marketing knowledge from developed countries to developing countries come under this category social-cultural setting. Moreover, the situation of marketing in some developing countries is not clear, and Gulf Corporation Council Countries are concluded. The researcher has attempted to establish a link between these two issues and fill this gap by undertaking this study. Therefore, this research attempts to extend the application of marketing know-how (concepts and activities) in companies in the Saudi manufacturing sector. Overall, the results of this research indicate that the majority of manufacturing companies in the Saudi manufacturing sector apply marketing activities on a regular basis and that marketing managers perceive the usefulness of marketing in their companies. The analysis showed that a number of marketing manager's characteristics have a relationship between them and the application of marketing activities. Higher qualifications, a specialization in business administration, experience in marketing and participation in marketing training programmes impact positively on the application of modern marketing activities in the Saudi manufacturing sector. However, marketing managers' age, nationality, country of higher education, duration in current company, or membership in any professional marketing associations do not impact on the application of marketing activities in the Saudi manufacturing sector. Data analysis also showed that the majority of a company's characteristics impact on the application of marketing activities in the Saudi manufacturing sectors. Included in this are the legal form of companies, the size of company, the level of a company's competition, and the availability of a marketing department in any company. However, type of manufacturing company, type of product, and number of product do not have any impact on applying marketing activities in the Saudi manufacturing sector. This study linked the success of manufacturing companies by sales, profits and market share and the application of marketing know-how, and concluded that when marketing activities are applied in the Saudi manufacturing sector, company sales, profits and market share increase and make a company more successful. Nevertheless, the study concluded that the majority of Saudi environmental factors are not obstacles to the application of marketing know-how in Saudi manufacturing companies. The stagnancy of governmental measures on commercial activities, lack of formal marketing education, lack of professional marketing personnel, and shortage of marketing information, were the only variables which were obstacles to the employment of marketing know-how in Saudi manufacturing companies. On the other hand, there are ten variables which are not obstacles to the employment of marketing know-how in Saudi manufacturing companies. These are; economic stability, prevalent religious values, competition in the market, focusing on production tasks rather than marketing tasks, and lack of advanced technology in the company. Finally, implications and recommendations for further research are presented in the last chapter of this study.