Abstract
This study examines organizations that emphasize differing types of marketing skills. It is based on a national survey of Health Maintenance Organizations. The organizations are first classified into groups based on their distinctive marketing skill configurations. Six groups were identified. Next, differences between these organization types are examined with respect to organization strategy, characteristics of the chief marketing executive, organizational environment, and performance. These results suggest that more successful organizations develop particular constellations of marketing skills. The results generally appear consistent with a social learning theory perspective on marketing skill development.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abell, Derek F. and John S. Hammond. 1979.Strategic Market Planning: Problems and Analytical Approaches. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Bandura, A. 1977.Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Banting, Peter M. and Randolph E. Ross. 1973. “The Marketing Mix: A Canadian Perspective.”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 1 (Spring): 1–11.
Bonoma, Thomas V. 1984. “Making Your Marketing Strategy Work.”Harvard Business Review 62 (March–April): 69–76.
Borden, Neil H. 1964. “The Concept of the Marketing Mix.”Journal of Advertising Research 4 (June): 2–7.
Boynton, Andrew C. and Robert W. Zmud. 1984. “An Assessment of Critical Success Factors.”Sloan Management Review 25 (Summer): 17–27.
Cosse, Thomas J. and John E. Swan. 1983. “Strategic Marketing Planning by Product Managers—Room for Improvement?”Journal of Marketing 47 (Summer): 92–102.
Day, George S. and Robin Wensley. 1988. “Assessing Advantage: A Framework for Diagnosing Competitive Superiority.”Journal of Marketing 52 (April): 1–20.
Dess, Gregory S. and P. S. Davis. 1984. “Porter’s Generic Strategies as Determinants of Strategic Group Membership.”Academy of Management Journal 27 (September): 467–488.
Dess, Gregory S. and Richard B. Robinson, Jr. 1984. “Measuring Organizational Performance in the Absence of Objective Measures.”Strategic Management Journal 5 (July–September): 265–273.
Dillman, Don A. 1978.Mail and Telephone Surveys: The Total Design Method. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Enis, Ben M. and Michael P. Mokwa. 1979. “The Marketing Management Matrix: A Taxonomy of Strategy Comprehension.” InConceptual and Theoretical Developments in Marketing, pp. 485–500. Eds. O. C. Ferrell et al. Chicago: American Marketing Association.
Everitt, B. S. 1980.Cluster Analysis. London: Heinemann Educational Books.
Galbraith, C. and D. Schendel. 1983. “An Empirical Analysis of Strategy Types.”Strategic Management Journal 4 (April–June): 153–173.
Ginter, Peter M. and Donald D. White. 1982. “A Social Learning Approach to Strategic Management: Toward a Theoretical Foundation”.Academy of Management Review 7 (April): 253–261.
Hambrick, Donald C. 1983. “High Profit Strategies in Mature Capital Goods Industries: A Contingency Approach.”Academy of Management Journal 26 (December): 687–707.
— 1984. “Taxonomic Approaches to Studying Strategy: Some Conceptual and Methodological Issues.”Journal of Management 10 (March): 27–41.
Hambrick, Donald C. and S. M. Schecter. 1983. “Rurnaround Strategies for Mature Industrial Product Businesses.”Academy of Management Journal 26 (June): 231–248.
Harrigan, Kathryn R. 1983. “Research Methodologies for Contingency Approaches to Business Strategy.”Academy of Management Review 8 (July): 389–405.
Hawes, Jon M. and William F. Crittenden. 1984. “A Taxonomy of Competitive Retailing Strategies.”Strategic Management Journal 5 (July–September): 275–287.
Herzberg, F., B. Mausner, and B. Snyderman. 1959.The Motivation to Work. New York: Wiley.
Hofer, Charles W. and Dan Schendel. 1978.Strategy Formulation: Analytical Concepts. St. Paul, MN: West.
Jaworski, Bernard J. 1988. “Toward a Theory of Marketing Control: Environmental Context, Control Types, and Consequences.”Journal of Marketing 52 (July): 23–39.
Korey, George and Yvonne Bogorya. 1985. “The Managerial Action Learning Concept—Theory and Application.”Management Decision 23 (2): 3–11.
Kotler, Philip. 1988.Marketing Management. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Kotler, Philip, William Gregor, and William Rogers. 1977. “The Marketing Audit Comes of Age.”Sloan Management Review 18 (Winter): 25–43.
Mascarenhas, Briance and David A. Aaker. 1989. “Mobility Barriers and Strategic Groups.”Strategic Management Journal 10 (September): 475–485.
McCarthy, E. Jerome. 1981.Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin.
McDaniel, Stephen W. and James W. Kolari. 1987. “Marketing Strategy Implications of the Miles and Snow Typology.”Journal of Marketing 51 (October): 19–30.
Miles, Raymond E. and Charles C. Snow. 1978.Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Normann, Richard. 1985. “Developing Capabilities for Organizational Learning.” InOrganizational Strategy and Change: New Viewpoints on Formulating and Implementing Strategic Decisions. Johannes M. Pennings and associates. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Peters, Thomas J. 1984. “Strategy Follows Structure: Developing Distinctive Skills.”California Management Review 26 (Spring): 111–125.
Punj, Girish and David W. Stewart. 1983. “Cluster Analysis in Marketing Research: Review and Suggestion for Applications.”Journal of Marketing Research 20 (May): 134–148.
Robinson, Richard B. Jr. and John A. Pearce II. 1988. “Planned Patterns of Strategic Behavior and Their Relationship to Business-Unit Performance.”Strategic Management Journal 9 (January–February): 43–60.
Samiee, Saeed. 1980. “Elements of Marketing Strategy: How Important Are They From the Executive Viewpoint?”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 8 (Winter): 40–50.
SAS Institute Inc. 1982.SAS User’s Guide: Statistics. Cary, NC: SAS Institute.
Shrader, Charles B., Lew Taylor, and Dan R. Dalton. 1984. “Strategic Planning and Organizational Performance: A Critical Appraisal.”Journal of Management 10 (2): 149–171.
Shrivastava, Paul. 1983. “A Typology of Organizational Learning Systems.”Journal of Management Studies 20 (January): 7–28.
Snow, Charles C. and Donald C. Hambrick. 1980. “Measuring Organizational Strategies: Some Theoretical and Methodological Problems.”Academy of Management Review 5 (October): 527–538.
Snow, Charles C. and Lawrence G. Hrebiniak. 1980. “Strategy, Distinctive Competence, and Organizational Performance.”Administrative Science Quarterly 25 (June): 317–336.
Udell, Jon G. 1968. “The Perceived Importance of the Elements of Strategy.”Journal of Marketing 32 (January): 34–40.
Varadarajan, P. Rajan 1985. “A Two-Factor Classification of Competitive Strategy Variables.”Strategic Management Journal 6 (October/December): 357–375.
Venkatraman, N. and V. Ramanujam. 1986. “Measurement of Business Performance in Strategy Research: A Comparison of Approaches.”Academy of Management Review 11 (October): 801–814.
Yao, Dennis A. 1988. “Beyond the Reach of the Invisible Hand: Impediments to Economic Activity, Market Failures, and Profitability.”Strategic Management Journal 9 (Special Issue, Summer): 59–70.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McKee, D.O., Conant, J.S., Varadarajan, P.R. et al. Success-producer and failure-preventer marketing skills: A social learning theory interpretation. JAMS 20, 17–26 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02723472
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02723472