The essence of marketing: a cross-cultural inquiry into prevailing beliefs and practices

Abstract

This doctoral research constituted a cross-cultural inquiry into the contribution of professional marketing education to marketing practice. The essence of marketing, as a collective term, contains the essential ingredients to enable marketing to become a viable system for business; namely, marketing orientation, marketing planning and marketing training connected by the management of change. The Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma programme was selected as the educational vehicle through which sample surveys were conducted at pre-course, pre-examination and post- qualified stages of respondents' career development. Cross-cultural distinctions and symmetries were examined and accounted for by national culture, experience base and by size of employing organisation in the countries of the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, so that an insightful understanding could be achieved between belief and practice. Perceptual gaps were discovered and proposals through the research surveys made to help to bridge the gap between the ambitions of the individual for change and the adoption of integrated marketing by the respective employing organisations. The research is distinguished by the use of innovative techniques for perceptual mapping to enable cross-cultural positions to be visualised and thereby to be more fully appreciated.