Marketing Management Challenges – A Nordic Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) Perspective

Abstract

In a competitive market, large businesses & small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) compete with each other. Further, the regulatory requirements are often the same for SMEs and large enterprises. However, SMEs have usually fewer resources to develop strategic marketing management and business plan. These include market research (market segmentation, targeting, competitive environment, etc.) and tactical marketing (market positioning & strategy, marketing & selling model, etc.). The purpose of this paper is to study the main marketing management challenges of the SMEs operating in the Nordic region. Furthermore, the other objective is investigating the factors that may influence the SMEs’ international competitiveness. To fulfil the objectives, we have developed a questionnaire; and, carried out a survey for a selected number of local SMEs. The questionnaires are aiming for evaluating the effectiveness of the local SMEs marketing strategies; and, consequently to help local SMEs in developing a smarter marketing management strategy.