| The Problem. The study was undertaken to examine the relationships between the performances of small manufacturing businesses and their business definitions (employing the five patterns of business classifications proposed by Derek F. Abell (1980)), their extent of continuous market analysis, their differential allocations of funds to marketing-controllable variables, and the importance they attached to each of these variables.;In view of the ever-increasing difficulties faced by small manufacturing firms (inadequate sales, competitive weakness, and managerial ineptitude), these firms' strategic marketing capabilities require a thorough study in order to provide insights which may be used to improve their long term ability to compete.;The Method. A structured questionnaire was responded to by 224 firms. A descriptive survey method was utilized to conduct the research, employing the descriptive elemental and descriptive-correlational approaches. Statistical procedures used were Student's t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients.;The Results. It was found practicable to group small firms according to Abell's (1980) scheme of five categories of business classification. This categorization gives useful insights into small manufacturing businesses' strategic marketing performances. Firms in the first category, Single Segment Concentration, perform well, but not as well as those in the second category, Customer Want Specialization. Firms found in the third category, Customer Group Specialization, tended to be even less profitable.;From the study, 58% of the small firms examined did not engage in continuous market analysis. Among the 42% which reported engaging in some kind of market research activities, only 27% were involved in continuous market analysis. For those firms that engaged in continuous market analysis, the indication was that there were significant positive relationships between the extent of continuous market analysis, and (1) the degree of attention to needs satisfaction of customers, (2) profitability, and (3) rate of growth. However, firms in the study allocated an average of only 3.28% of their marketing budgets to market research.;The study found that the levels of importance attached to the four marketing-controllable variables (Product, Place, Promotion, and Price) were associated with varying degrees of benefits. |
