Identification of Marketing Capabilities: A Study on Indian Product Based B2B Telecom Start-Ups

Abstract

New technology based start-ups play a very important role in developing the economy of a country. In India telecom sector has seen unprecede nted growth over the decade and this has led to emergence of several telecom related start-ups. However, product based B2Bstart-ups are still rare and they have to undergo several challenges to stay afloat. Surprisingly not much research work has been undertaken in identifying capabilitie s among early stage start-ups although the early phase represents a very crucial phase for pro duct based firms and in determines the success or failure for start-ups. Present study explores th e inherent marketing capabilities that enable commercialization among such early stage start-ups by adopting a multiple case based inductive methodology with Indian telecom start-ups as our co ntext. We have identified market orientation, positioning and segmentation, selling and after sal es services as components of marketing capability of such start-ups. We also identify seve ral idiosyncrasies among telecom start-ups visa-vis established firms in the sector. Finally we m ake a case for policy level intervention to promote telecom start-ups in the Indian context.