The Effect of Dynamic Marketing Capabilities on Startup Performance (Case Study: Art Incubators)

Dynamic marketing capabilities provide startups with the platform and market knowledge that entitle them to achieve their goals and survive the competition. The study aims to examine the impact of dynamic marketing capabilities dimensions on startups’ performance in Jordan. This quantitative study employs a questionnaire to solicit answers from respondents who are the incubates that use business incubator services. A total of 302 entrepreneurs from different incubator centers in Jordan participated in the online survey. Using the SmartPLS program version 4, structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to examine the study model. The findings indicate that startup performance is significantly impacted by dynamic marketing capabilities (β = 0.937, t = 127.2, p = >0.00). Concerning absorptive capacity, both dimensions revealed a significant impact on startup performance: potential absorptive capacity (β = 0.251, t = 7.932, p > 0.000) and realized absorptive capacity (β = 0.177, t = 5.409, p > 0.000). For knowledge management, the results for knowledge acquisition were β = 0.360, t = 11.089, p = >0.000, for knowledge dissemination, β = 0.102, t = 2.367, p = >0.018, and for responsiveness to knowledge β = 0.318, t = 6.852, p = >0.000.

In recent years, the dynamic capabilities view has attracted attention in the management literature, and theoretical papers note many research challenges. Currently, one of the most significant issues is the role of the marketing function in the development of dynamic capabilities, and some recent discussions have even introduced the new term ‘dynamic marketing capabilities’. The main area of interest is how to achieve a well‐integrated framework to serve as the starting point for empirical papers. Although the most recent research proposes a wide range of processes as possible dynamic marketing capabilities, it is difficult to find consensus among these proposals. To resolve this difficulty, this paper seeks to define the dynamic marketing capabilities construct based on accepted components in the generic dynamic capabilities view. More specifically, it defines the role of dynamic marketing capabilities through absorptive capacity and knowledge management. By identifying these components and relating them in an integrative model, the authors propose to explain how dynamic marketing capabilities work and precisely which marketing processes promote both components.

The competitive environment within which organizations operate is evolving faster than ever, prompting organizations to change to keep up with the environmental changes. The dynamic capabilities (DCs) view seeks to answer how organizations attain and sustain competitive advantage in changing environments. In the past two decades, there has been a proliferation of research in the DCs domain; yet much remains to be investigated regarding the antecedents and outcomes of DCs. The term “dynamic marketing capabilities” (DMCs) refers to a subset of DCs with the emphasis on customer value. This research studies four DMCs: proactive market orientation, agility, opportunity creation, and value innovation. The development of DCs may be triggered by the necessity to reconfigure resources in dynamic environments or by managers’ decisions to change the current way of doing things in an attempt to improve performance. Therefore, environmental dynamism and dynamic managerial capabilities are antecedents of DCs. To achieve competitive advantage, organizations can employ two distinct but complementary strategies. First, they can match environmental demands by reconfiguring and renewing their organizational resource base. Second, they can create market turbulence. Therefore, these two strategies act as mediators between DMCs and organizational outcomes. A conceptual framework is developed in order to examine the relationship between DMCs, their antecedents, and outcomes. A sample of 270 usable responses was obtained from top and senior managers working in Australia. After ensuring the constructs’ reliability and validity, the hypotheses were tested by means of hierarchical regression analysis and structural equation modeling. The results indicate that environmental dynamism and dynamic managerial capabilities positively affect the studied DMCs; however, the effect of dynamic managerial capabilities is stronger. Moreover, DMCs have a positive impact on operational marketing capabilities and induced market turbulence; these in turn positively affect organizational outcomes. The multi-mediation tests confirmed that operational marketing capabilities and induced market turbulence mediate the effect of DMCs on organizational outcomes. This study contributes to and extends the knowledge of DCs by proposing an integrative conceptual framework, explaining the antecedents of DMCs and the mechanism by which DMCs are linked to organizational outcomes. The findings re-emphasize the need for DCs in dynamic environments and highlight the critical role of dynamic managerial capabilities. Another contribution is that the study incorporates the element of induced market turbulence, hitherto missing in the literature pertaining to DMCs. This study also emphasizes that operational marketing capabilities mediate the relationship between DMCs and organizational performance. Moreover, four distinct DMCs (i.e., proactive market orientation, agility, opportunity creation, and value innovation) are identified, and scales are developed and validated to measure them. The findings suggest that these DMCs perform as anticipated. This research provides several insights for managers regarding DCs and how to apply them to organizations. The results of this study demonstrate that it is necessary for organizations to invest in developing DMCs, not to achieve performance improvement directly, but to optimize their operational marketing capability configuration. This, in turn, improves organizational outcomes. Moreover, managers are encouraged to invest in the development of DCs as a strategic rather than tactical approach. Another implication is that in ambiguous environments, organizations need to not only adapt to the environment, but also to employ strategies of environment constructing.

PurposeThis paper aims to introduce dynamic marketing capability (DMC) as a construct relevant for business research and business practice, and to test its validity in relation to company product innovations and company agility.Design/methodology/approachThis study tests a hypothesized model using partial least squares structural equation modeling on data from a survey conducted with 155 companies based in Poland.FindingsThis study provides evidence that DMC facilitates company innovations in terms of their speed and market success. Thus, DMC complements other organizational capabilities that were previously found effective for new product development (NPD) with regard to intra- and inter-organizational processes. However, the influence of DMC on company innovation success is stronger in the case of companies that operate without the pressure to customize. Thus, this approach is more relevant for companies that provide standardized offerings and which target various customer segments, rather than companies that operate in customer niches or when their NPD processes are strongly orchestrated by their customers, e.g. in B2B sales within hierarchical supply chains.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited by the cross-sectional empirical setting in that one country is used to test the research hypotheses. Further studies may focus on the combined effects of DMC and other important organizational capabilities, for example, flexible manufacturing, and may provide a detailed picture of DMC development by applying a longitudinal approach and case studies.Practical implicationsGenerally, managers can use this research to rethink their corporate strategies. The study proposes a specific strategic approach to corporate innovativeness: companies may acquire meaningful market benefits through systematic reconfiguration of their marketing assets, combined with the introduction of new products. However, managers should analyze their business model and industrial setting to verify to what extent their companies operate in a context relevant for reconfiguring marketing resources. If the pressure for strong customization is high in the existing customer base, investing in DMC may not be relevant, as new offerings are rather customer tailored, i.e. designed by “big fish” buyers. On the other hand, many companies may leverage their innovations with DMC in both B2B and B2C settings, as long as they can provide standard solutions as their market offerings.Originality/valueThe study contributes to marketing theory in three ways. Firstly, the study conceptualizes DMC as a distinct dynamic capability aligned with dynamic capabilities view (from which DMC logically originates), and proposes how DMC is linked nomologically with company innovativeness and agility. Secondly, a measurement instrument for DMC and an empirical test for the model are both provided. Thirdly, the paper presents evidence that the link between DMC and product innovations becomes restricted in the presence of certain contingencies, specifically with regard to the so-called customization norm.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore mechanisms of the overseas marketing assets needed for marketing dynamic capability in Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) settings. Marketing assets of foreign subsidiaries contribute to the dynamic capability of MNEs, which are crucial for their sustained competitiveness. This kind of mechanism attracts much attention in academia and industry. However, there are few studies on how dynamic capabilities are developed in MNEs considering the organizational structure of geographically dispersed assets in multiple locations. This paper aims to examine the effect of knowledge-based and relational-based marketing assets on dynamic marketing capabilities and the mediating effect of customer orientation on Chinese MNEs.Design/methodology/approachIntegrating the dynamic capability approach and the international marketing literature, this study examines the impact of two types of marketing assets of foreign subsidiaries, focusing on knowledge-based and relationship-based marketing assets, on the dynamic marketing capabilities of Chinese MNEs. A large-scale empirical study of Chinese MNEs operating in overseas markets was performed, and the questionnaires were distributed and collected.FindingsThe results suggest a positive impact of knowledge-based and relationship-based marketing assets on marketing dynamic capability. We find that customer orientation has a positive mediating effect on the relationship between marketing assets and marketing dynamic capability. We also find that the competitive strength of the overseas market negatively moderates this relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThis study aims to contribute to the existing literature with a more fine-grained understanding of marketing assets and marketing dynamic capability, then provides theoretical guidance and management suggestions for the formulation and implementation of internationalization strategies of Chinese MNEs.Practical implicationsThe findings outline several important implications for MNEs seeking into expand to overseas markets.Originality/valueThis paper contributes a novel, combined perspective on marketing assets and marketing dynamic capability.

This paper investigates how market knowledge can benefit science‐based firms. By reviewing the literature on dynamic capabilities and recent empirical works on the impact of market knowledge on technological innovation, we derive the concept of dynamic marketing capabilities and explore its validity through a qualitative study of high‐performing pharmaceutical firms. We provide a description of key variables involved in market knowledge creation and release, and highlight how these activities support the creation of new products and the changes in the new product development process. We discuss our results by pointing out that dynamic marketing capabilities can contribute to a more granular understanding of management practices and performance heterogeneity in science‐based settings and conclude our work by identifying its limitations and providing fruitful directions for future research on this topic.

The impact of dynamic marketing capabilities (DMCs) and strategic information management (SIM) on international start-up success: A meta narrative analysis

International new venture performance: Role of international entrepreneurial culture, ambidextrous innovation, and dynamic marketing capabilities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the indirect relationship between dynamic capabilities (DCs) and organizational outcomes through matching and creating market change. In addition, the research aims to gain a deeper understanding of the role of marketing in DCs and to extend beyond a simplistic discussion of DCs by studying proactive market orientation and value innovation as specific DCs.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was developed and data were collected from 270 senior executives. After ensuring reliability and validity, the hypotheses were examined by applying structural equation modeling and Monte Carlo simulation.FindingsThe findings indicate that dynamic marketing capabilities (DMCs) are critical in the reconfiguration of operational marketing capabilities, which in turn lead to enhanced organizational performance. The results also suggest that organizations with enhanced DMCs are able to initiate market disruption and achieve superior performance by out-competing their rivals.Practical implicationsThe research provides guidelines for managers wanting to exploit their DMCs by showing that organizations can match the environment, create market turbulence or combine both strategies to fully exploit their DMCs. This study also provides managers with actionable tools that are specific, robust and easily applied.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few to incorporate induced market turbulence into the DC literature and conceptualize, develop and validate scales to measure it. The study provides empirical evidence for the claim that operational marketing capabilities are necessary to utilize the benefits of DMCs.

Achieving market performance via industry 4.0 enabled dynamic marketing capability, sustainable human resource management, and circular product design

Examining the role of information technology in cultivating firms’ dynamic marketing capabilities

Objective – Literature suggest that companies should focus their Market Orientation (MO) on good marketing and business performance. However, previous research in this area deals mostly with large companies. The objective of this research is to study the significance of MO for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with the specific production strategy of Make-To-Order. Methodology/Technique – The sample of this study is 111 Indonesia SMEs. The descriptive research design is supported by exploratory research. The structural model is analysed using the Structural Equation Modelling approach with LISREL 8.8 and SPSS 16.00. Findings – The result shows that MO does not have a significant impact on Marketing Performance. In the context of MTO, SMEs do not need to have a high Market Orientation to have satisfactory performance. It is more important for them to take care of the relationship with their principal companies. Government regulations, such as raw material regulations, also have an impact on SMEs performance. It is recommended that future research explore the types of capabilities of SMEs relating with the era of Industry 4.0. Other strategic orientations, such as production orientation, could be considered as factors in future research. Type of Paper: Empirical Keywords: Strategic Leadership Competence; Entrepreneurial Orientation; Market Orientation; Dynamic Marketing Capability; Business Environment; Marketing Performance; Maklun (MTO Strategy). Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Susanto, Y.B. 2019. The Impact of Market Orientation and Dynamic Marketing Capability on the Marketing Performance of ‘Make-To-Order’ SMEs, J. Mgt. Mkt. Review 4(3) 157 – 170 https://doi.org/10.35609/jmmr.2019.4.3(1) JEL Classification: M3, M30, M31.

Facilitating dynamic marketing capabilities development for domestic and foreign firms in an emerging economy

Innovation can become a sustainable competitive advantage for service firms. However, there is lack of empirical research on how marketing capabilities support innovation. This study differentiates between operational and dynamic marketing capabilities, the latter related to strategic marketing, marketing planning and market knowledge skills. Based on a sample of 152 service firms, the results show that operational marketing capabilities influence on those dynamic marketing capabilities. Strategic marketing and marketing planning capabilities impact positively on firm's performance while market knowledge capabilities impact positively on service innovation.

The ever-changing environment in a highly competitive marketplace presents unlimited business opportunities and endless challenges for international startups. To explore the coupled relationship between dynamic marketing capabilities, strategic information management, and international startup performance. For the first time, this study adopts a dynamic analysis and survey methodology and establishes a scoring and analysis model under a dynamic system. A questionnaire study with real data was conducted through 500 international startups in Hebei, China, and the data were processed and analyzed with the help of analytical software. The study discusses the coupling relationship between dynamic marketing capability, strategic information management capability, and enterprise performance, and reveals the intrinsic influence law of the three from multiple dimensions. Specifically, the three dimensions of dynamic marketing capabilities, namely, market knowledge management capabilities, interface synergy capabilities, and customer relationship management capabilities, can all positively affect the performance of enterprises, only the overall effect of the three dimensions on the performance is different, in which the market knowledge management capabilities can significantly improve the performance of enterprises. The strategic information management innovation of internationalized startups has a mediating effect between dynamic marketing capabilities and corporate performance, playing an indirect positive feedback role. The above study contributes to the future marketing management and performance improvement of internationalized startups.