Business-to-business marketing practices in West Africa, Argentina and the United States

Ko Q. Dadzie and Wesley J. Johnston

J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and

Jaqueline Pels
Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Min ones, Argentina
Abstract Purpose This study aims to examine the nature of business-to-business marketing practices in two West African nations, Ghana and Ivory Coast, and compare them with marketing practices in another emerging market economy (Argentina) and a developed economy (the USA). Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected in both West African nations, Argentina and the USA, using a standard survey instrument used in previous contemporary marketing practice (CMP) studies. Descriptive statistics were used to determine cross-national differences in intensity of use of various CMP activities in Ghana and the Ivory Coast in comparison with Argentina and the USA. Then, cross-national differences in various combinations of marketing practices were identied using cluster analysis. Findings Business-to-business marketing practices in West African nations conform with the CMP framework in that rms practise both transactional marketing and relationship marketing simultaneously. However, there are differences in the intensity and scope of business-to-business marketing practices in Ghana and the Ivory Coast in comparison with Argentina and the USA. While West African business-to-business rms emphasize traditional transactional marketing with some network marketing components, Argentine rms have a greater emphasis on pluralistic marketing and interaction marketing. By contrast, US rms practise pluralistic marketing (transactional, database, interaction, and networking) with some transactional marketing activities. In addition, West African business-to-business rms are similar to Argentine rms in that a proportion of rms practise marketing at a low level of intensity and rarely use database marketing. These differences are attributable to the nature of market conditions in West Africa. Research limitations/implications The CMP results generalize to West African nations. However, a direct correspondence is unlikely because of the dominance of transactional marketing practice among West African rms. Further research needs to investigate a broader set of institutional environments in order to provide a clear link between CMP and environmental conditions in emerging African markets. Practical implications Managers can determine the appropriateness of international benchmarks for West African market conditions. Originality/value Linking CMP to market conditions in the paper provides an extension to the validity of the CMP framework. Keywords Marketing strategy, West Africa, Argentina, United States of America, Emerging markets, Business-to-business marketing Paper type Research paper

An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.

Introduction
Changes taking place in the business environment worldwide have led to a resurgence of academic debate about the nature of marketing practice and its validity within the contemporary business environment (Brown, 2005; Day and Montgomery, 1999; Gro nroos, 1991; Kotler, 1992; Webster, 1992). The extant literature suggests that marketing has gradually evolved from the classic transactional marketing paradigm to a more process-based relational marketing paradigm. However, some scholars have questioned the relevance of the academic literature (Coviello et al., 2002; Sheth and Sisodia, 1999; Price and Arnould, 1999; Varadarajan and Jayachandran,
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0885-8624.htm

1999) for managerial practice. One stream of research has recently begun a longitudinal, cross-national investigation designed to link academic and practitioners views of marketing practices. This stream of research, organized under the umbrella of the Contemporary Marketing Practice (CMP)[1] program, has improved our understanding of how marketing in practice differs from the academic literature. In particular, the CMP research program suggests that the classic transactional marketing paradigm and the relational marketing paradigm co-exist, and that rms serve their markets in a variety of ways, contingent upon market conditions (Coviello et al., 2002). Although the CMP framework has a universal appeal, much more empirical research needs to be done to improve our cumulative understanding of contemporary marketing in global markets. This is especially true for emerging and transitioning economies (Faria and Wensley, 2000). Much of
The data for the Ivory Coast were collected as part of a collaborative effort with the University of Cocody under USA Information Agency Grant No. IA-ASJL-G8190027, and with the nancial support of the Center for Business and Industrial Marketing at Georgia State University. The authors would like to thank Ralf Wagner and Rod Brodie, Andre Torres Urdan and other JBIM reviewers for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper, and Seth Buatsi for help in data collection.

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing 23/2 (2008) 115 123 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0885-8624] [DOI 10.1108/08858620810850236]

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the empirical work using the CMP framework (for a review, see Brodie et al., 2008) has been conducted in Western industrialized nations, with the exception of the recent work in Argentina (Pels et al., 2004; Pels and Brodie, 2003), and Russia (Wagner, 2005). Because of its focus on business-tobusiness rms, the conclusions from the Argentina study are of special interest to this study. Based on a comparative study of business-to-business marketing practices in Argentina, the USA and New Zealand, Pels et al. (2004) concluded that, although business-to-business marketing practice in Argentina conforms to the pluralistic nature of marketing posited under the CMP framework, there were some important differences in the scope of marketing practices between Argentina, the USA and New Zealand. Among them was the low level of marketing practice by some Argentine rms and the heavy emphasis on interaction marketing as a function of the Argentine social environment (Pels et al., 2004). Given that Argentinas economy is larger than most emerging economies, there is a need for more research on other emerging nations with much smaller economies, less developed free-market governance systems, and different social and economic conditions. In this study, we extend the Argentine study by Pels et al. (2004) to West African business-to-business marketing rms by addressing two research questions. The rst question relates to whether the domain of business-to-business marketing in West Africa is more (or less) transactional than relational when compared to marketing practice in the USA and in Argentina. This issue is at the heart of the CMP proposition that rms practice transactional marketing, relationship marketing and a hybrid of both with similar levels of intensity. Thus, knowledge of the relevance of relationship marketing relative to traditional transactional marketing is important in establishing the validity of the CMP framework in emerging African economies as well as in providing benchmarks for new and multinational rms in these nations. The second research question addressed is whether market conditions that are linked to business-to-business marketing practices in the West African nations are similar to those in Argentina. This issue is becoming critical to our understanding of the differences between small and big emerging market economies as these nations are increasingly being characterized on the basis of the size of their economies. Thus, Argentina, like other large economies, such as Brazil, China and India, is characterized as a big emerging market (BEM) (Cateora and Graham, 2007). Empirical investigation of environmental conditions that account for differences in marketing practices between BEMs and small emerging markets (SEMs) is sparse. We chose West African nations for this study because, among emerging nations, African business practices are under-researched (e.g., Okoroafo, 2004) and, therefore, worthy of inclusion in the CMP research efforts. Although considerable research has been done on marketing in African nations (e.g., Arnould and Mohr, 2005; Akaah et al., 1988; Bonsu and Belk, 2003) these scholars have not been concerned with the domain of contemporary marketing. Consequently, we chose Ghana and the Ivory Coast for the empirical investigation of CMP theoretical framework. Additionally, both nations are considered to be among the few African nations with attractive opportunities for foreign direct investments (Hirsch, 2000). 116

Furthermore, Ghana and the Ivory Coast provide good examples of business-to-business marketing practices in SEM nations so comparisons can be made with practices in Argentina, which is a BEM, and the USA, which is a developed economy. As the summary census data in Table I indicate, the economies of both West African nations are under $20 billion as compared to Argentinas economy of $182 billion and the US economy of $13 trillion. However, both African countries have been implementing market reforms aimed at ensuring private enterprise and free market economy. The economy of Ghana has averaged a 5.8 percent growth rate as compared to Argentinas growth rate of 9.2 percent and the 3.5 percent rate for the USA. Because of political instability, Cote dIvoires economic growth rate was negative (0.3 percent) in 2005 (World Bank, 2005). Thus, the second research question seeks to determine the environmental conditions that are linked to business-tobusiness marketing practices in West Africa. The paper proceeds by rst reviewing the business marketing environment in the West African nations of Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Next, we present the studys methodology and analysis of the data. Finally, we discuss the results and the managerial and theoretical implications.

Ghana and the Ivory Coast as emerging markets

The term emerging economies has been used variously to describe the economies of former middle income countries, newly industrialized countries, and developing nations that satisfy one of three conditions. The rst condition is that the economy must meet a certain level of absolute economic development as measured by gross domestic product (GDP). The second condition is that the economy must have been going through a rapid period of economic growth, while the third condition pertains to the pursuit of market reforms based on a market governance system (Arnold and Quelch, 1998; IFC, 1999). Based on the notion that any of these conditions can be used to characterize a nation as an emerging market, Hoskinsson et al. (2000) identied 61 emerging market nations including China and former Soviet block nations. Only seven Sub-Saharan African countries were included in the 61 emerging economies, including Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Most African nations are SEM nations as compared to the BEM nations, such as Argentina, China, and India. As such, several distinct differences may be discerned among them on the basis of the three conditions for attaining emerging economy status. With respect to economic growth, many African nations have lagged behind their counterparts in Asia and Latin America as the result of poor performance of structural adjustment programs put in place in the 1980s. Market governance has yet to be rmly established in many African nations, and changes in governments often imply changes in trading policies. As a result, doing business in emerging African nations is challenging. Ghana has a population of 22 million and an economy based on the export of cocoa and natural mineral resources such as gold, diamond, bauxite, and manganese. With an income per capita of $400 (World Bank, 2005), Ghanas economy is typical of most African economies. The country has pursued a structural adjustment program under World Bank supervision since the 1980s. As a result, the economy

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Table I Micro economic indicators of business environment

Indicatora Population (in millions) Gross domestic product (in billions) Real GDP growth rate/annum (%) GNI per capita (US$) USA 296.5 13,000.0 3.5 43,740 24.2 74.6 1.2 630 10 5 625 17 Ghana 22.2 10.7 5.8 450 24.6 36.6 38.8 17 12 81 842 29 Ivory Coast 18.2 16.1 2 0.3 850 21.20 57.5 21.7 16.8 11 45 1,395 25 Argentina 38.7 183.3 9.2 4,470 35.6 54.0 10.4 133.4 15 32 1,750 33

Structure Industry (%) Services (%) Agriculture (%) Number of internet users (per 1,000) Starting a businessb Procedures (number) Time (in days) Cost to import (US$/container) Procedures (number)
Sources: a World Bank (2005); b World Bank (2007)

has experienced rapid growth of 5.8 percent per annum in recent years. A recent World Bank survey of the nature of business sectors indicates that Ghana has moved into the top 100 countries in its rankings of how easy it is to do business (World Bank, 2007). The political environment has been described as very stable during the past three decades and the volume of business-to-business activities is expected to grow in the future. The Ivory Coast is located west of Ghana with a population of 18.2 million people and a strong economy based on the cultivation and export of cocoa. Its income per capita of nearly $850 (World Bank, 2005) is one of the highest in Africa. The nation, however, has been embroiled in a civil war for the past decade. Hence, the continued economic growth of the Ivory Coast, despite the looming civil war, is remarkable and the volume of business-to-business activity should increase with improvement in the political stability. The environmental conditions in Ghana and the Ivory Coast are similar to those of most African nations. However, they also differ from conditions in BEMs, such as Argentina. With a population of 38.7 million (World Bank, 2005), and income per capita of $4,470 (World Bank, 2005), Argentinas economy is much bigger than that of most emerging African economies and meets most of the important features of a big emerging market economy, including physical size, strong rate of growth, political importance, and a regional economic driver (Cateora and Graham, 2007). Although market conditions in emerging African economies are different and are moving steadily towards free-market economy type, there are still barriers that warrant caution in the application of theories tested in advanced economies to current conditions in emerging African nations. One such barrier is that the fragile market economy is liable to change because of limited economic prosperity and persistent state control. These conditions imply that economic shortages still do occur and when they do, managers may nd it difcult to implement any form of marketing strategies. Similarly, the effects of economic shortages can impact the relevance of Western marketing practices in various types of markets in Africa (Akaah et al., 1988; Dadzie, 1989). Consequently, we 117

seek to investigate the relevance of the CMP framework for current market conditions in two West African nations; Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

The CMP framework

The potential value of the CMP framework for explaining marketing practices in emerging African economies derives from the fact that its theoretical foundation draws from a variety of constructs including relationship marketing, resource dependency theory, channel research, and network relationships, strategic management, and information technology (Coviello et al., 2002). Under the CMP framework, marketing is operationalized as a comprehensive process comprising the following nine activities: 1 purpose of exchange; 2 nature of communication; 3 type of contact; 4 duration of exchange; 5 formality in exchange; 6 managerial intent; 7 managerial focus; 8 managerial investment; and 9 managerial level. The Appendix presents the full denition of each activity. These nine activities are then used to measure contemporary marketing along four dimensions: transactional marketing, database marketing, interaction marketing, and network marketing. According to the CMP framework, transactional marketing (TM) refers to the exchange process between customers and suppliers characterized by discrete economic transactions that are conducted at arms length with emphasis on a formal and impersonal process. Database marketing (DM) is offered as the next stage in transitioning from a transactional marketing to relational marketing emphasis. Firms at this stage undertake very limited ongoing relationships and rely on technology to personalize relationships. The third type of relationship marketing, interaction marketing (IM), is characterized by reliance on face-to-face communication to

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pursue complex and personal interactions with customers. Finally, rms in the network marketing (NM) stage are characterized as emphasizing total relationships with members in a market or industry (Coviello et al., 2002). It is important to note that these four aspects of marketing practice within the CMP framework are not mutually exclusive and are, therefore, relevant to all supply-demand relationships, thus making them suitable for comparing the business-to-business marketing practices of rms in emerging and developed economies. However, given the different market conditions in emerging African nations, we investigate the application of the CMP framework in explaining marketing practices in these nations.

Table II Company characteristics

USA Ghana Ivory Coast Argentina (n 5 60) (n 5 83) (n 5 114) (n 5 112)

Firm type Bus-to-bus goods Bus-to-bus services Both Age (years) 5 and under 6-10 Over 10 Employees 20 and fewer 21-100 Over 100 Ownership Locally owned Foreign Joint venture Export level (%) None 1-10 More than 10

25.3 39.7 35.0 22.8 8.8 68.4 29.2 30.7 40.1 86.4 7.3 6.3 50.0 10.3 39.7

46.6 26.4 27.0 15.4 29.4 54.2 44.3 14.5 41.2 56.3 5.9 37.8 50.4 37.1 12.5

43.7 25.0 31.3 19.2 30.3 50.5 42.5 15.2 42.3 54.4 20.5 30.1 49.5 38.0 12.5

36.1 63.9 NAa 18.7 32.5 48.8 19.0 32.9 38.1 51.6 NAa 48.4 48.4 25.6 26.0

Methodology
To examine marketing practices in West Africa in comparison with marketing practices in Argentina and the USA, we conducted eld surveys of business marketing practices in Ghana, the Ivory Coast and the USA, using the same instrument employed by Pels et al. (2004) for their study in Argentina. Data collection procedures and sample characteristics The data used for this research were collected following the procedure used by Coviello et al. (2002). Following the CMP protocol (see http://cmp.auckland.ac.nz/), the survey was administered by working MBA students in to managers in their rms. Participants received the survey during the rst week of a marketing class and were asked to collect the data as a take-home project. This non-probabilistic data administration process allowed for close supervision by the instructors as part of their class projects, an approach that is common in international marketing studies (Neelankavil et al., 2000), where controlling the potential effect of eld conditions on the quality of the data is very critical (Dadzie et al., 2002). In all countries, steps were taken to minimize potential bias from the use of student interviewers. Students were trained on how to administer the surveys, as well as the importance of administering the survey to the most senior marketing manager in the company who was most knowledgeable about the rms marketing activities. In Ghana the questionnaire was administered in English and in French to the Ivory Coast samples because these are the business languages used. The Ivory Coast survey was a translated version of the English version used in Ghana. For the West African surveys additional questions were included to obtain information about the inuence of the changing nature of the marketing environment and the consequences of the market liberalization polices in these nations. These were the inuences of changing demand, increased competition, and increased availability of technology. The survey instrument was examined for face and content validity by selected professors in each country before the pre-test in each country. Based on the pre-test results, further changes were made, including the length of the questionnaire, which was shortened by eliminating some of the items related to environmental conditions. The data collection process for Argentina is provided by Pels et al. (2004). Table II provides a summary of the proles of rms in the different samples. The distribution of responding rms focusing on goods versus services is similar for the West 118

Note: a Argentina sample was not broken down by these categories Source: For Argentina Pels et al., 2004, p. 392

African countries and Argentine sample while the USA had more business-to-business service rms. In all four samples, the typical rm has been in operation for over ten years and is locally owned and the proportion of joint venture-owned rms was similar for Ghana the Ivory Coast and Argentine rms. Firm size, measured by number of employees, was also approximately the same across all four countries but Ghana and the Ivory Coast had a larger number of smaller rms (20 employees or less). In all countries approximately half of the rms were involved with exporting. Based on the similarities in the Ivory Coast and Ghana samples, they were subsequently pooled for the analysis: a t-test revealed no signicant differences among respondents on selected study variables, including the type of market served (goods versus service), years in operation and type of ownership (joint venture versus local ownership). Data analysis The comparative analysis of business-to-business marketing practices across USA, West African and Argentine rms involved two separate analyses. Consistent with Brodie et al. (2007), we treated the four marketing activity constructs; transactional (TM), database (DM), interaction (IM), and network marketing (NM), as formative measures. This means that traditional validation measures were not relevant and, hence, were not applied. In the rst analysis, marketing activity indices for TM, DM, IM, and NM were computed using the nine items that were used each of the activities to provide measures of the intensity of each practice (see the Appendix). The method used was the same as for Pels et al. (2004) where the nine items were summed and converted to

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an index ranging from 0.0 to 1.0. Second, we performed cluster analysis to identify common combinations of marketing activities (TM, DM, IM, and NM) also in a similar way to Pels et al. (2004).

Findings
Incidence of business-to-business marketing practices The comparisons of the CMP indices are presented in Table III. For TM, intensity of practice was rated as medium to high by 68 percent of USA rms, 59 percent of West African rms and 52 percent of Argentine rms. This pattern of practice suggests that TM is very actively practiced in all four countries. However, for DM, the index for medium and high intensity of practice was highest among USA rms (67 percent), while all the corresponding indices for West African and Argentine rms were lower at 30 percent and 39 percent, respectively. This nding also suggests that DM is rarely practiced in this sample of emerging market nations. With respect to IM, the medium-high indices were 90 percent for USA rms and Argentine rms, but only 65 percent for the West African rms, while the corresponding gure for NM were 64 percent, 68 percent, and 76 percent for the USA, West Africa, and Argentina, respectively. Combinations of business-to-business marketing practices Following Pels et al. (2004), the K-mean cluster algorithm was used to identify common combinations of marketing practices in each country. The nal number of clusters for the analysis was based on cluster interpretability and homogeneity. The analysis yielded three clusters of marketing practices in each country, with the Ghana and Ivory Coast samples combined. The results for the cluster analysis for the USA and West African samples are provided Table III Comparison of marketing activity index values (%)
USA Ghana & Ivory Coast Argentinaa (n 5 114) (n 5 1172) (n 5 183)

in Tables IV-VI, To help facilitate country comparisons, we also included the results for the Argentina study (Pels et al., 2004). For the USA sample the data show that the largest cluster of business-to-business rms seems to emphasize IM and NM (51 percent), while the second largest cluster emphasizes pluralistic marketing. For the West African sample the largest cluster (48 percent) emphasizes TM, and the second largest cluster (32 percent) TM/NM, while the smallest cluster (20 percent) reects a low level of marketing activity performance. The Argentine results differed from the West African results, where the largest cluster of rms (50 percent) emphasizes NM. The second largest Argentine cluster (32 percent) emphasizes pluralistic marketing in contrast to the TM and NM emphasis for the second West African cluster. The smallest and third Argentine cluster (18 percent) is very similar to the third African cluster by virtue of the low level of marketing activity. Our research indicates that West African rms, Argentine rms, and USA rms use transactional marketing and network marketing, more or less, to the same extent. However, database marketing is used only marginally by West African rms and Argentine rms, while used intensively by USA rms. In addition, Argentine rms are similar to USA rms in that they use interaction marketing more extensively than do West African rms. Collectively, the results suggest that, in West Africa, business-to-business marketing practice is still predominantly transactional marketing, followed by a transactional/network marketing hybrid; while in Argentina Table IV Clusters analysis results US sample
Cluster label Transactional Database Interaction Network Percentage of rms Pluralistic IM/NM 0.67 0.65 0.86 0.77 51 TM Mean (all rms) 0.73 0.69 0.82 0.74

0.83 0.81 0.90 0.86 31

0.70 0.60 0.71 0.58 18

Transactional marketing Low Medium High Database marketing Low Medium High Interaction marketing Low Medium High Network marketing Low Medium High

32 38 30 32 47 21 10 65 25 36 28 36

40 30 30 70 30 0 35 15 50 24 14 54

48 40 12 60 31 9 35 15 50 24 14 54

Table V Clusters analysis results West African sample

Cluster Transactional Database Interaction Network Percentage of rms TM/NM TM Low 0.43 0.32 0.27 0.40 20 Mean (all rms) 0.63 0.42 0.38 0.53

0.78 0.52 0.47 0.70 32

0.69 0.42 0.39 0.50 48

Table VI Clusters analysis results Argentina sample

Cluster Transactional Database Interaction Network Percentage of rms Pluralistic IM/NM 0.51 0.46 0.82 0.71 50 Low 0.60 0.51 0.61 0.51 18 Mean (all rms) 0.61 0.57 0.76 0.68

Note: Index scores less than 0.60 categorized as low, 0.60 to 0.79 as medium and 0.80 or above as high Source: a Pels et al. (2004, p. 392)

0.68 0.67 0.80 0.73 32

Source: Pels et al. (2004, p. 393)

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and the USA, it is predominantly relational, followed by pluralistic marketing. Linking CMP to market conditions To explain business-to-business marketing practice in terms of the prevailing market conditions in West African nations, additional proles were derived for the three CMP clusters derived in earlier analysis by using the three measures of the environmental dynamism construct. These variables included changing demand environment (ve items), the competitive environment (ve items), and the technological environment (ve items). Table VII presents the results of the cluster analysis. The largest cluster transactional marketing has the highest scores on competitive intensity, while the second largest cluster, the transactional/networking hybrid cluster, has the highest scores on all three environmental variables. This nding suggests that West African business-to-business marketing practice is clearly contingent on the level of environmental stability; that is, rms characterized as facing more turbulent consumer demand, in a competitive and technological environment, tend to emphasize networking/transactional marketing activities, while rms operating in less dynamic market environments tend to practice very little marketing.

environmental prole of the West African business conditions can explain this question In general, West African rms emphasizing transactional marketing and transactional/ relational marketing are in the early stages of the evolution of marketing practice. Where market conditions are far less demanding, the norm appears to a low level of intensity of marketing practice. As free market competitive conditions become more intense, some emerging market rms emphasize transactional marketing and combine these with one aspect of relational marketing. This stage of combination marketing is found in small emerging markets such as those in West Africa as well as in a big emerging market such as Argentina. However, the emphasis is on pluralistic marketing as found in both big emerging market economy (Argentina) and the USA is not prevalent. Managerial implications The results have several managerial implications. The rst implication is the need for caution when seeking to improve business-to-business marketing practices under current conditions of free-market polices and reforms in West African nations. The study results suggest that managers need to be cognizant of the fact that some of the international benchmarks reected in other emerging market economies, such as Argentina, and the industrialized nations, such as the USA, may lack relevance for West African rms. This is especially true of database marketing. Hence, heavy investment in database technology may not be the most effective use of limited resources for most West African rms. Similar implications are suggestive of our ndings relating to interaction marketing activities. Firms in this study make less use of interaction marketing activities, perhaps as an adaptation to the low level of dynamism in the current marketing environment, while interaction marketing is relatively more important in Argentina. Hence, the usefulness of interaction marketing may increase as the marketing environment becomes more dynamic. In addition, rms in more dynamic markets need to benchmark their marketing activities in the transactional and relational marketing areas, as happens in Argentina. For the majority of rms, however, the traditional transactional marketing activities may be the norm. For other rms facing increasing customer demand and competition, the development and conguration of network relationships with other rms and government agencies may be critical for survival. Another implication derives from the narrow focus of West African business-to-business marketing practices in comparison to that of the industrialized Western markets, such as the USA. While our study suggests that the narrow focus may be a function of the lack of competitive pressure, a myriad of other factors may also account for this focus. Therefore, this nding cannot be asserted with condence until the inuence of other environmental factors, (such as the nature of state control on marketing decisions and activities, organizational culture, leadership inuences, etc.), have been considered. Theoretical implications Our study has important theoretical implications, especially as it relates to the applicability of the CMP framework in a global context involving small emerging markets economies, big emerging market economies and industrialized market economies. We found that, although rms practice pluralistic marketing regardless of the type of economy (SEM, BEM, 120

Implications
Empirical results Given the changes taking place in the global environment, there is interest in determining whether changes in marketing practices are uniform between rms in the developed nations and emerging market economies (Pels et al., 2004). Our ndings support this claim in that we consistently found that some rms combine both dimensions of marketing while other rms emphasize one or the other in all four countries Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Argentina, and the USA. From the perspective of emerging African economies, our ndings suggest that both local and foreign competition may use the international benchmarks in establishing marketing programs in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. As in the case of Argentina, some low level of marketing activity occurs for a certain proportion of rms in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, while a combination of transactional and relationship marketing is the norm. There are distinct differences between West African practices and the international benchmarks involving Argentina and the USA One such difference is the emphasis on transactional over pluralistic marketing obtained in the USA and Argentina. While the CMP framework proposes that pluralistic marketing is one of the major international benchmarks across all markets, the West African results suggest that pluralistic marketing is not that common. Rather, transactional marketing is more the norm. Thus the question arises why is transactional marketing more prevalent than relational marketing in West Africa? The Table VII Environmental prole of West African clusters
Cluster Level of competition Technological changea Changing demand pressuresa
a

TM/NM 3.3 3.5 3.2

TM 3.1 1.5 1.9

Low 1.0 2.2 1.7

Note: a Five-point scale with 5 strong pressure and 1 low pressure

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and industrialized market economy), the scope and intensity of pluralistic marketing vary in a seemingly evolutionary pattern with SEM at the bottom of the pattern, BEM in the middle and advanced market economies at the top. This pattern corresponds to the market pyramid pattern (Cateora and Graham, 2007). Thus, CMP in countries at the bottom of the market pyramid, such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast and Argentina, have a large proportion of rms with a low level of intensity of marketing practice across both domains. As rms in SEMs face signicant competitive market conditions, they integrate transactional marketing with some components of relationship marketing, while their counterparts in BEMs such as Argentina integrate pluralistic marketing. These rms may be operating at market conditions that parallel middle of the market pyramid conditions. Finally, a high level of intensity of pluralistic marketing occurs as rms reach the top of the market pyramid, as is reected in the dominance of pluralistic marketing practices in the USA and Argentina. Future research To compare our results with the CMP study in Argentina, we limited our study to only business-to-business rms and, therefore, our ndings may not be generalizable to the full CMP framework proposed by Coviello et al. (2002). So, future study should replicate the full CMP framework in emerging markets to fully conrm the generalizability of the framework in emerging African economies. In addition, many emerging markets operate under conditions of strong state intervention in marketing activities, a feature that is not recognized by the CMP framework. Therefore, future research could consider the impact of state intervention on CMP activities, especially among rms characterized as engaging in low marketing activities. We believe that expanding the CMP framework to emerging economies is extremely important for several reasons. First, as Prahalad and Hart (2002) point out, the GDP of the emerging economies is collectively (as a market) larger than the GDP of Japan, Germany, France, the UK and Italy combined. This market is not to be ignored. Thus, the study of emerging markets and how marketing is practiced in these countries are extremely relevant both to academics and to managers. Second, the dominance of emerging market nations in the global market economies, especially BEM nations, may call for a reconceptualization of marketing to reect the emerging nations, characterized by consumers with lower purchasing power. In this regard, the recent efforts of the CMP studies in Argentina (Pels et al., 2004), Russia (Wagner, 2005), and in Africa are but an initial step. Collectively, these studies show the important differences between developing and transitional markets (i.e. Argentina versus Russia), between SEM and BEM (West Africa versus Argentina), and between developed and emerging markets (USA versus West Africa versus Argentina). The heterogeneity of our ndings suggests that further studies are needed (i.e. India and China) in order to improve our understanding of how CMP is conducted in these regions. Another important aspect that these studies highlight is that there is a link between contextual and historical factors and choice of marketing practice. Tying together all the various contextual factors that inuence the practice of marketing under the variety of global market conditions requires a new theoretical framework and sound theory. Thus, future work 121

should focus on additional theoretical analysis of CMP. Such analysis may consider institutional theory to explain how conformity emerges in marketing practices. Similarly, future analysis that tests resource dependency and transaction cost theory seems to hold promise for systematic examination of CMP practices around the world. Ideally, future analysis of this kind should focus on both country-specic studies, as well comparative studies in order to increase our cumulative understanding of the nature of CMP in both BEMs and SEMs.

Note
1 The CMP web page provides a complete description of the CMP project, aims, research program and list of publications http://cmp.auckland.ac.nz

References
Akaah, I.P., Dadzie, K.Q. and Riordan, E.A. (1988), Applicability of marketing concepts and management activities in the Third World: an empirical investigation, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 134-47. Arnold, D.J. and Quelch, J.A. (1998), New strategies in emerging markets, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 7-20. Arnould, E.J. and Mohr, J.J. (2005), Dynamic transformations for base-of-the-pyramid market clusters, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 254-74. Bonsu, S.K. and Belk, R.W. (2003), Do not go into that good night: death-ritual consumption in Asante, Ghana, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 30, June, available at: www. journals.uchicago.edu/JCR/journal/issue/v30nl/300104/ 300104.text.html Brodie, R.J., Coviello, N.E. and Winklhofer, H. (2008), Contemporary Marketing Practices research program: a review of the rst decade, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 23 No. 2, special issue, contemporary marketing practices, pp. 84-94. Brodie, R.J., Winklhofer, H., Coviello, N.E. and Johnston, W.J. (2007), Is e-marketing coming of age? An examination of the penetration of eM and rm performance, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 2-21. Brown, S.W. (2005), When executives speak, we should listen and act differently, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 64 No. 4, pp. 1-4. Cateora, P.R. and Graham, J. (2007), International Marketing, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York, NY. Coviello, N.E., Brodie, R.J., Danaher, P.J. and Johnston, W.J. (2002), How rms relate to their markets: an empirical examination of contemporary marketing practices, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 66, July, pp. 33-46. Dadzie, K.Q. (1989), Demarketing strategies in shortage marketing environment, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 157-65. Dadzie, K.Q., Johnston, W.J., Yoo, B. and Brashear, T. (2002), Measurement equivalence and applicability of core marketing concepts across Nigeria, Kenya and US rms, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 6, pp. 428-55. Day, G.S. and Montgomery, D.B. (1999), Charting new directions for marketing, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 63, special issue, pp. 3-13.

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Faria, A. and Wensley, R. (2000), Marketing management within networks: revelations about the research process and cultural specicity as prospects for reconciliation between practice and academe, in Pels, J. and Stewart, D.W. (Eds), Marketing in a Global Economy, The International Marketing Educators Conference, American Marketing Association, New York, NY. Gro nroos, C. (1991), The marketing strategy continuum: toward a marketing concept for the 1990s, Management Decision, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 7-13. Hirsch, S. (2000), Africas potential as emerging market cited, UN Business Weekly, available at: www.globalpolicy. org/socecon/inequal.afrfdi.htm Hoskinsson, R.E., Eden, L., Lau, C.M. and Wright, M. (2000), Strategy in emerging economies, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 43 No. 3, pp. 249-67. International Finance Corporation (IFC) (1999), available at: www.ifc/EMDB/SLIDES/img009.glf Kotler, P. (1992), Marketings new paradigm: what is really happening out there?, Planning Review, Vol. 20 No. 5, pp. 50-2. Neelankavil, J.P., Mathur, A. and Zhang, Y. (2000), Determinants of managerial performance: a crosscultural comparison of the perceptions of middle-level managers in four countries, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 121-40. Okoroafo, S.C. (2004), Marketing orientation, practices, and performance of Sub-Saharan African rms: a review, Journal of African Business, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 163-85. Pels, J. and Brodie, R.J. (2003), Proling marketing practice in an emerging economy: the Argentine case, Journal of Global Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 67-91. Pels, J., Brodie, R.J. and Johnston, W.J. (2004), Benchmarking business-to-business marketing practices in emerging and developed economies: Argentina compared to the USA and New Zealand, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp. 386-96. Prahalad, C.K. and Hart, S.L. (2002), Fortunes at the bottom of the pyramid, Strategy-Business, Vol. 26, January. Price, L.L. and Arnould, E.J. (1999), Commercial friendship: service provider-client relationships in context, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 63, October, pp. 38-56. Sheth, J.N. and Sisodia, R.S. (1999), Revisiting marketings lawlike generalizations, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 71-87. Varadarajan, P.R. and Jayachandran, S. (1999), Marketing strategy: an assessment of the state of eld and outlook, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 120-43. Wagner, R. (2005), Contemporary marketing practices in Russia, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 39 Nos 1/2, pp. 199-215. Webster, F.E. (1992), The changing role of marketing in the corporation, Journal of Marketing , Vol. 56, October, pp. 1-17. World Bank (2005), World Development Indicators, World Bank, Washington, DC. World Bank (2007), Doing business report 2007, available at: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/ NEWS/0,contentMDK:21043365 , pagePK:34370 , piPK:34424 , theSitePK:4607,00.html 122

Further reading
Berry, L.L. (1983), Relationship marketing, in Berry, L.L., Shostack, G.L. and Upah, G.D. (Eds), Emerging Perspectives on Service Marketing, American Marketing Association, Chicago, IL, pp. 25-38. Berry, L.L. (1995), Relationship marketing of services: growing interest, emerging perspectives, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 236-45. Brodie, R.J., Coviello, N.E., Brooks, R.W. and Little, V. (1997), Towards a paradigm shift in marketing? An examination of current marketing practices?, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 18 Nos 5/6, pp. 555-78. Brodie, R.J., Coviello, N.E., Pels, J. and Gro nroos, C. (2001), Proling contemporary marketing practices: cross national comparison, in Breivik, E., Falkenberg, A.W. and Gronhaugh, K. (Eds), Rethinking European Marketing, Proceedings of the 30th EMAC Conference, European Marketing Academy, Brussels. Dadzie, K.Q., Akaah, I.P. and Riordan, E. (1988), Incidence of market typologies and pattern of marketing activity performance in selected African countries, Journal of Global Marketing, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 87-107. Dia, M. (1996), Africas Management in the 1990s and beyond: Reconciling Indigenous and Transplanted Institutions, The World Bank, Washington, DC. Gro nroos, C. (1978), A service-oriented approach to marketing of services, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 12 No. 8, pp. 588-601. Morgan, R.M. and Hunt, S.D. (1994), The commitmenttrust theory of relationship marketing, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58, July, pp. 20-38. Pels, J. (1999), Exchange relationships in consumer markets?, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 33 Nos 1/2, pp. 19-37. Prahalad, C.K. and Hammond, A. (2002), Serving the worlds poor, protably, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 80 9, September, pp. 24-32. Sheth, J.N., Gardner, D.M. and Garrett, D.E. (1988), Marketing Theory: Evolution and Evaluation, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY. Steenkamp, J.-B.E. (2005), Moving out of the US silo: a call to arms for conducting international marketing research, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 64 No. 4, pp. 6-8. Tichy, N.M. (1982), Managing change strategically: the technical, political, and cultural keys, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 59-80.

Appendix. Marketing practice measures derived from the nine CMP dimensions
1. Purpose of exchange When dealing with our market, our focus is on: . Generating a prot or other nancial measure(s) of performance (TM). . Acquiring customer information (DM). . Building a long-term relationship with a specic customer(s) (IM). . Forming strong relationships with a number of organizations in our market(s) or wider marketing system (NM).

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2. Nature of communication Our marketing communication involves: . Our organization communicating to the mass market (TM). . Our organization targeting a specically identied segment(s) or customer(s) (DM). . Individuals at various levels in our organization personally interacting with their individual customers (IM). . Senior managers networking with other managers from organizations in our market(s) or wider marketing system (NM). 3. Type of contact Our organizations contact with our primary customers is: . Impersonal (e.g. no individualized or personal contact) (TM). . Somewhat personalized (e.g. by direct mail) (DM). . Interpersonal (e.g. involving one-to-one interaction between people) (IM/NM). 4. Duration of exchange When a customer buys our products we believe they expect: . No future personalized contact with us (TM). . Some future personalized contact with us (DM). . One-to-one personal contact with us (IM). . Ongoing one-to-one personal contact with people in our organization and wider marketing system (NM). 5. Formality of exchange When people from our organization meet with our primary customers, it is: . Mainly at a formal, business level (TM). . Mainly at an informal, social level (DM). . At both a formal, business and informal, social level (IM/ NM). 6. Managerial intent Our marketing activities are intended to: . Attract new customers (TM). . Retain existing customers (DM).

Develop cooperative relationships with our customers (IM). Coordinate activities between ourselves, customers, and other parties in our wider marketing system (NM).

7. Managerial focus Our marketing planning is focused on issues related to: . Our product/service offering (TM). . Customers in our market(s) (DM). . Specic customers in our market(s), or individuals in organizations we deal with (IM). . The network of relationships between individuals and organizations in our wider marketing system (NM). 8. Managerial investment Our marketing resources (e.g. people, time, money) are invested in: . Product, promotion, price, and distribution activities (or some combination of these) (TM). . Technology to improve communication with our customers (DM). . Establishing and building personal relationships with individual customers (IM). . Developing our organizations network relationships within our market(s) or wider marketing system (NM). 9. Managerial level In our organization, marketing activities are carried out by: . Functional marketers (e.g. marketing manager, sales manager, major account manager) (TM). . Specialist marketers (e.g. customer service manager, loyalty manager) (DM). . Non-marketers who have responsibility for marketing and other aspects of the business (IM). . The managing director or CEO (NM). Source: Coviello et al. (2002).

Corresponding author
Ko Q. Dadzie can be contacted at: kdadzie@gsu.edu

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