Volume 20, Number 2 Article by Neetu Andotra and Pooja June, 2008
Antecedents and Consequences of Expanded Marketing Mix Encounters across Diverse Entrepreneurial Profiles :
Demand uncertainty and competitive pressure are driving small scale industries (SSIs) to improve their offerings and thus enhance the demand pattern via superior product quality, warranties and guarantees for products, making a wider assortment available, and better locations (for supply chain related offerings). Some factors, including offerings, entrepreneurial characteristics and strategic orientation, are considered to be antecedents in evaluating core business performance, while customer orientation and other marketing output are treated as a consequence of the expanded marketing mix. The authors collected data using two self developed schedules and administering them to 83 functional SSIs, subdivided into 22 distinct lines of activity, and 100 customers of village Barwal of district Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir. The lack of sufficient demand and inter-state flow restrictions emerge as the key operational factors affecting SSI entrepreneurial endeavours. The findings indicate that the nature of businesses undertaken and educational background of entrepreneurs are more significantly related to marketing problems than any other socio-economic factor; producers divest control by assigning marketing activities to resellers and ignoring government markets; and customers responded favourably to product attractiveness, equal prices for all customers from retailers, and the offer of product warranty. Education has emerged as pivotal in enhancing entrepreneurial core competency to solve various business related problems and in redesigning the marketing-mix to allow for optimal societal welfare, place effectiveness, consumers’ convenience, product attractiveness and optimal packaging cost strategies. Entrepreneurs are also required to be proactive in utilising available opportunities and in fostering cooperatives by establishing strong-tie personal network alters.
Reprint No 08205
