Marketing strategy implementation in technology-based companies

Imagine the predicament of managers seeking insights from the modern marketing literature. There is much about what ought to be the content of marketing plans, but very little about how implementation processes unfold in practice. The lack of attention reflects an erroneous, yet widely held belief that implementation processes flow logically from a marketing plan. Most managers, on the other hand, know that well intentioned, meticulously crafted plans can fizzle out and have little influence on what eventually unfolds in the market. Most agree that while formal market planning processes pose problems of their own, implementation and making things happen in the market is often far more challenging and complex. What, for instance, are the key challenges managers face while deploying plans and building key relationships with customers via day-to-day interactions? How do managers make marketing implementation happen, and what dynamics eventually influence and shape its outcomes? In this article, we report findings from our qualitative, exploratory study that addresses these questions in the context of small and midsized industrial organizations. Based on in-depth interviews with fifty managers most responsible for their business unit's marketing implementation processes, we provide a generalized view of how the process unfolds in practice. We also discuss several implications that may interest scholars and practitioners.