The integration of manufacturing and marketing: Impact on combinative competitive capabilities and business performance

A growing number of papers in the areas of both manufacturing and marketing have emphasized the integration of several decisions between the two functions. This paper proposes a structural equation modeling using AMOS to evaluate the relationship between manufacturing and marketing integration, combinative competitive capabilities and business performance. Data were collected from 199 manufacturing firms of various size, location, and industry to develop the instrument and test the relationships in the framework. The results show that two of the three hypothesized direct effects are significant at the 0.01 level. Manufacturing and marketing integration positively influences combinative competitive capabilities and combinative competitive capabilities positively influence business performance. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the influence of manufacturing and marketing integration on business performance is partially confirmed because of the insignificant statistics.