Roles Of Marketing In High Technology Firms: An Empirical Study In Process Control Industry

The purpose of this study is to advance understanding of how and by whom marketing activities are carried out in high technology firms. Data was collected by case method from seven companies in Finland. Empirical findings indicate that the most dominating marketing activities were sales or sales supporting. It was also found that a great variety existed in the ways how marketing practices were organised. There exist pure internal solutions based on marketing department as well as more complex forms where a number parties were involved in. Accordingly, three abstract roles of marketing were identified. (1) A functional role is likely to emerge in situations where marketing department alone takes care of marketing activities, and personal selling is the dominant activity. (2) An interfunctional role seems to appear when sales activities are externalised and marketing personnel specialises in technical expertise. (3) A transorganisational role is the most complex one. It is likely to emerge in companies where marketing is closely integrated with product development and customer relationships are in central focus.