Research On Sustainable Marketing Capabilities And Their Impact On Business Performance

Dr Peter M. Senge,in his book Fifth Discipline,raised a question: why the 500 largest enterprises in 1970s had been disappeared a third in 1980s? There are the same issues in China. Although the life cycle of each corporation is a normal phenomenon, however, there are the issues of sustainable development as every individual corporation. We found that the marketing capability to play an important role in the failure of these corporations.Sustainable marketing capabilities, which distinguish from the traditional view on marketing capabilities, are a new thought of the strategic marketing theory. The research on sustainable marketing capabilities is an early stage of development. Lots of relevant researches are short of the thorough substantial evidence. And there are seldom empirical studies of sustainable marketing capabilities. Although many researchers are beginning to be aware of the importance of the marketing capabilities, there is still little systematical study. Most researchers could not comprehend the marketing capabilities from multi-layer and strategic point, which made the research of marketing capabilities become vague. Therefore, there is a urgent demand in systematical and scientific research on sustainable marketing capabilities, which will promote the formation of the new theories of marketing science.According to mentioned research background, the objectives of this study are finding out the components of sustainable marketing capabilities and the relationship between sustainable marketing capabilities and business performance. According to the research objectives, all contents are divided into six chapters. The main contents of each chapter are as follows:Chapter 1 Introduction. Based on the academic and managerial background, the research objectives, methodology, contents of study and research plan are brought forward.Chapter 2 Literature Review and Theory Background. This chapter reviews organization capabilities and marketing capabilities studies, and provides theoretical bases for sustainable marketing capabilities. We define the sustainable marketing capabilities as it is one of sustainable development capabilities which make organizations more harmonious, communicate well with the external markets and develop effective marketing strategies and tactics based on internal customer orientation, customer orientation and competitor orientation. And we conclude that the sustainable marketing capabilities should have characteristics that it is valuable, rare, inimitable and irreplaceable and it develop dynamically in accumulated learning. And this chapter has clarified the relationship between sustainable marketing capabilities and sustainable development of corporations.Chapter 3 Research Model and Hypotheses. Based on the theoretical and conceptual discussion in Chapter 2, the research model of sustainable marketing capabilities has been showed. The model of sustainable marketing capabilities is composed of marketing culture, marketing learning capabilities and marketing operating capabilities. Marketing culture is a basic set of values and beliefs about the central importance of customer that guide the organization, which consists of customer orientation, competitor orientation and internal customer orientation. Marketing learning capabilities are abilities which can make corporations interfuncionally coordinated and can have corporations disseminate, share and apply market information. So marketing learning capabilities consist of marketing sense capabilities and interfunctional coordination capabilities. The marketing operating capabilities are abilities of practicing the marketing concept and completing the marketing mission, which include marketing strategic capabilities and marketing tactics capabilities. This chapter has discussed the internal relationship among components of sustainable marketing capabilities and the relationship between sustainable marketing capabilities and business performance. And the hypotheses to be tested in this study have been proposed. In the last of this chapter the exploratory study in five corporations in Jilin has tested the research model initially.Chapter 4 Research Methodology. Based on the literature review the scales of marketing culture, marketing learning capabilities and marketing operating capabilities have been deigned. And this chapter describes the major research activities with regards to, the operationalization of the research model constructs, the sample design and the questionnaire design. This chapter also includes description of respondent profile and the chosen statistical analysis methodology.Chapter 5 Data Analysis. A total of 130 completed and usable responses were used to analyze in this chapter. The assessment of reliability and validity of each variable used in this study has been performed using Cronbach's alpha and confirmatory factor analysis. Then the state of sustainable marketing capabilities in Chinese corporations has been analyzed by demographics of collected data. And the hypotheses in this research have been tested by correlate analysis, linear regression analysis and structural equation modeling. Chapter 6 Discussion. This chapter deals with elaboration of the findings in this research, conclusions, contributions, limitations and future research.The findings and contributions of the thesis lie in five aspects.1. In this research, the concept of sustainable marketing capabilities has been put forward. And the constructs of sustained marketing capabilities is established which consist of marketing culture, marketing learning capabilities and marketing operating capabilities. We define the sustainable marketing capabilities as it is one of sustainable development capabilities which distinguish from the traditional view on single marketing functional capability.2. The scale of sustainable marketing capabilities including marketing culture, marketing learning capabilities and marketing operating capabilities has been developed. And the assessment of reliability and validity of each variable has passed. The scale is appropriate to assess Chinese corporations'sustainable marketing capabilities.3. By demographics of collected data, the state of sustainable marketing capabilities in Chinese corporations has been analyzed. The findings show that Chinese corporation's sustainable marketing capabilities are not high. The condition of marketing capabilities could hardly support the sustainable development of corporations. And the development of sustainable marketing capabilities is urgently needed in Chinese corporations.4. The interrelation among components of sustainable marketing capabilities has been tested. Marketing culture has direct positive impact on marketing learning capabilities, and customer orientation and internal customer orientation respectively have direct positive impact on marketing learning capabilities. Marketing culture has direct positive impact on marketing operating capabilities, and customer orientation and competitor orientation respectively have direct positive impact on marketing operating capabilities. Marketing learning capabilities have direct positive impact on marketing operating capabilities. So the internal relationship among components of sustainable marketing capabilities can provide the base of practical work in developing the capabilities.5. The relationship between sustainable marketing capabilities and business performance has been tested. Marketing culture has direct positive impact on business performance, and it has more impact on long term performance than on short term performance. Marketing learning capabilities has direct positive impact on business performance, and they also have more impact on long term performance than on short term performance. Marketing operating capabilities has direct positive impact on business performance, and it has more impact on short term performance than on long term performance. It might be inferred from the conclusion that one of major reasons why many corporations marketing capabilities is unsustainable is the lack of development of components which effect more on long term performance.Therefore, the findings have significant implications to both marketing theory and practice. As to academic implications, the research on sustained marketing capabilities is a important subject of sustainable development issues, and the research in a new angle of view on marketing capabilities have brought forth new ideas in strategic marketing theory and methodology.As to managerial implications, the findings show that corporations could improve its performance by developing sustainable marketing capabilities. And the significance of sustainable marketing capabilities has been cleared. The findings can explain the reason why many corporations'marketing capabilities are unsustainable. The results from research on sustainable marketing capabilities can provide the theoretical base of practical work in developing the capabilities.