Author

  • Lawrence Mpele Lekhanya

    • Durban University of Technology, South Africa
    • South Africa

Abstract

Previous research revealed that Small , Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) have been struggling to grow including in rural and remote areas. However, there is little empirical research into how SMMEs promote themselves. To date is not clear about what marketing intelligence and marketing promotional communications they use. The survey intends looking to make contribution in closing research gap by seeking to understand the marketing intelligence and marketing promotional communications tools used by rural SMMEs and to what extent they used these tools and what are the limitations they have. This research aims to examine the perceived marketing intelligence and marketing communications tools used by South African rural SMMEs , to identify limiting factors to the used and establish the extend to use and their implications. The study population consisted of 374 respondents in five rural areas of KwaZulu – Natal province in South Africa (Empangeni, Ulundi, Nquthu, Escourt and Kwa-Nongoma). A quota sampling method was used to determine desired target population. Quantitative Likert scale questionnaire was designed and personal distributed to the respondents. Respondents were giving 7 days to complete questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS (21.0) version. Figures and tables were used to present research findings. Statistical analysis revealed that marketing intelligence and marketing promotional tools were applied and found to be significant. The study found that promotional communication tools that cover both marketing promotional mix and marketing intelligence used by rural SMMEs are significant (p=.000*)

Keywords

References

  • Ailawadi, K. L., Beauchamp, J. P., Donthu, N., Gauri, D. K. & Shankar, V. (2009). Communication and Promotion Decisions in Retailing: A Review and Directions for Future Research. Journal of Retailing, 85(1), 42–55.
  • An integrated marketing strategy 2012 to 2030. (2014). An Integrated Marketing Strategy for Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries Products in the Republic of South Africa, 2012–2030. [Online]. Available at: http://www.nda.agric.za/doaDev/sideMenu/Marketing/Policies%20and%20Strategies/An %20Integrated%20Marketing%20Strategy%20for20Agriculture%20Forestry%20and%20Fish eries%20Products%20in%20the%20Republic%20of%20South%20Africa.pdf (Accessed 21/03/2014).
  • Becherer, R. C., Halstead, D. & Haynes, P. (2001). Marketing Orientation in SMEs: 1 – 17. Journal of Research in Marketing & Entrepreneurship , 3(1).
  • Carson, D. & Gilmore, A. (2000). Marketing‎at‎the‎interface:‎not‎‘what?’‎but‎‘how?‎ Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice , 8(2), 1-7.
  • Esposito, A. (2013). Insights about Integrated Marketing Communication in Small- and Medium-Sized Italian Enterprises. Business Systems Review , 2 (1), 80-98.
  • Ettorre, B. (1995). Managing Competitive Intelligence. Management Review, 15-19. Fao.Org. (2010). Marketing information systems. [Online]. Available at: www.fao.org/docrep/w3241e/w3241e0a.htm (Accessed 18/08/2014).
  • Gabrielli, V. & Balboni, B. (2010). SME Practice towards Integrated Marketing Communications. Marketing Intelligence & Planning , 28(3), 275-290.
  • Igbaekemen, G. O. (2014). Marketing intelligence as a strategic tool for competitive edge. British Journal of Marketing Studies , 2(5), 17-34.
  • Kotkar, M., Itankar, S., Ghodghate, N. & Rewatkar, S. (2013). Effective Utilization of Marketing Communication Channel by FMCG Retailers of Rural India, International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM): Special Issue for National Conference on Recent Advances in Technology and Management for Integrated Growth 2013 (RATMIG 2013
  • Kotler, P. (2005). Marketing management (13th edition), Harvard business review, Prentice Hall
  • Lekhanya, L. M. & Mason, R. B. (2013). The use of marketing strategies by small, medium and micro enterprises in rural KwaZulu-Natal, SAJESBM, 6,
  • Mapheto, L. M., Oni, O. A. & Matiza, T. (2014). the Utilisation of Integrated Marketing Communication Strategies by Small Retailers in Mankweng, South Africa. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy, 5(15).
  • Mohammadsaid, S. & Freihat, S. (2012). The role of marketing information system in marketing decisionmaking in Jordanian shareholding medicines production companies. http://www.arpapress.com/volumes/vol11issue2/ijrras_11_2_18.pdf (Accessed 19/08/2014).
  • Nwankwo, S. & Gbadamosi, A. (2011). Entrepreneurship Marketing Principles and Practice of SME Marketing. Oxfordshire: Routledge
  • Odunlami, I. & Ofoegbu, O. E. (2011). Effect of Marketing Communication in Promoting Organisational Sales. A Case Study of Sunshine Company. Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences , 2(5), 408-412
  • Reijonen, H. & Laukkanen, T. (2010). Customer relationship oriented marketing practices in SMEs. Marketing Intelligence & Planning , 28(2), 115 – 136.
  • Ross, P., McGowan, C. G. & Styger, L. E. J. (2012). A Comparison of Theory and Practice in Market Intelligence Gathering for Australian Micro-Businesses and SMEs, [Online].Available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2253691 (Accessed 19/08/2014)
  • Shoham, A., Rose, G. M. & Kropp, F. (2005). Market orientation and performance: a meta- analysis. Marketing Intelligence & Planning , 23(4/5), 435-454.
  • Slimani, T. (2013). Concepts and Tools for Marketing Intelligence Development, http://www.igiglobal.com/article/concepts-and-tools-for-marketing-intelligenc development/80173 (Accessed 27/08/2014).
  • Smith, O. (2011). The power of marketing intelligence, [Online]. Available at: http://www.smetimes.in/smetimes/in-depth/2011/May/31/the-power-of-marketing intelligence354533.html (Accessed 18/08/2014).
  • Suttle, R. (2009).Three Examples of Marketing Intelligence. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/three- examples-marketing-intelligence-25483.html (Accessed 27/08/2014).
  • Tsikirayi, C. M. R., Muchenje, B. & Katsidzira, Z. (2012). Impact of integrated marketing communications mix (IMCM) in small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Zimbabwe as a marketing tool, Research in Business and Economics Journal,
  • Venkatesan, V. S. (2001). Market research in Australian SMEs: An empirical study. The Journal of SEAANZ , 9 (2).
  • Venter, P. & Van Rensburg, M. (2014).The relationship between marketing intelligence and strategic marketing. SAJEMS NS , 17(4), 440-4.
  • Walker, D. C. Jr., Mullins, J. W., Boyd, H. W. Jr. & Larreche, J. C. (2006). Marketing strategy: a decisionfocused approach. 5th edition, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
  • Wong, H. & Merrilees, B. (2005). A brand orientation typology for SMEs: a case research approach. Journal of Product & Brand Management , 14(3), 155 – 162.
  • Zikmund, W. G. (1996). Exploring Marketing Research. The Dryden Press, Fort Worth, TX.

Downloads

No downloads have been recorded for this article yet. Figures appear here once readers begin downloading the full text.

How to Cite

Lekhanya, L. M. (2014). Perceived marketing intelligence and marketing communications tools used by rural Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise in South Africa. Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 6(12), 1004-1010. https://doi.org/10.22610/jebs.v6i12.556

Share this article

License

Copyright (c) 2014 Lawrence Mpele Lekhanya (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author (s) should affirm that the material has not been published previously. It has not been submitted and it is not under consideration by any other journal. At the same time author (s) need to execute a publication permission agreement to assume the responsibility of the submitted content and any omissions and errors therein. After submission of revised paper in the light of suggestions of the reviewers, the editorial team  edits and formats manuscripts to bring uniformity and standardization in published material.

This work will be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) and under condition of the license, users are free to read, copy, remix, transform, redistribute, download, print, search or link to the full texts of articles and even build upon their work as long as they credit the author for the original work. Moreover, as per journal policy author (s) hold and retain copyrights without any restrictions.

Keywords

Section

Research Paper

Published in

Vol. 6 No. 12 (2014) E-Commerce, Monetary Policy & Inclusive Development View issue contents

Published

2014-12-30

Submissions

Have research to publish? Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies welcomes submissions.

Make a Submission