Academic Roots: The Past and Present of Entrepreneurial Marketing

Abstract

Research in entrepreneurial marketing is about 30 years old. During this period research has followed many trajectories. Two important but divergent routes are small business marketing and entrepreneurial marketing, mirroring the discourse of small businesses versus entrepreneurial firms. Today, small business marketing and entrepreneurial marketing are regarded as separatebut relatedresearch fields. Entrepreneurial marketing research has been very open-minded towards different approaches in methodology, especially compared to research within mainstream marketing in the US. During this rather long period of time, advances in other disciplines have been beneficial for our own research. One such example is the development of effectuation theory allowing us to understand entrepreneurial decision-making and, consequently, important aspects of entrepreneurial marketing behaviour. Many of the research questions regarded as important by scholars in a panel in 1986 when interest in marketing and entrepreneurship was evolvingare still regarded as important (e.g. new venture growth). Other issues have lost their relevance. But, overall, many important questions still are waiting for an answer and the whole field of entrepreneurial marketing offers tremendous research opportunities.