An inquiry into factors affecting marketing resource allocations in firms

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate some of the factors that impact marketing resource allocation in firms. Two key process are responsible for shaping a firm’s marketing strategy namely, value creation through investments in R&D and value appropriation through investments in advertising. As the firm is subjected to financial constraints, managers need to strategically allocate resources between the two investments. This strategic allocation of resources between investments in advertising and R&D is termed as strategic emphasis. Literature until now has investigated the impact of firm factors and industry factors on the firms’ strategic emphasis. However, research has yet to investigate the impact of managerial factors on the firms’ strategic emphasis.