Towards Leadership Marketing: An Exploratory and Empirical Study

Background

An increasing number of companies are becoming customer-centred as a result of the long-standing recognition of the importance of marketing orientation in today’s highly competitive business environment. Adoption of the marketing concept, based on customer focus and integration of departments, has been accentuated as a foundation for maintaining long-lasting business success (Kohli & Jaworski, 1990; Harris, 2002). Furthermore, the nature of business has evolved such that companies have realised the significance of internal organisational culture and strong employee relations in achieving sustainable business performance (Carrig &Wright, 2006). From a marketing perspective, employees have become internal customers due to their ability to satisfy the needs of other employees inside the organisation, which is an antecedent to external customer satisfaction. As part of a natural evolution of marketing organisation, customer satisfaction has driven many companies to establish much closer relationships with their suppliers, partners and others in the supply chain. This in turn has emphasised the importance of collaboration between all the organisations involved in delivery of the final product. As a result, lines between internal and external stakeholders have been blurred a long time ago and the distinction between the two will further lose its clarity. This implies a new way of thinking for organisations to remain successful in the face of advancing competition and new technologies. As business strategies become more complex, culture is required to grow into the level of complexity required to implement them (McGuire, et al., 2009).