Innovation in marketing strategy process: an integration and empirical examination

Research on marketing strategy process addresses how organizations achieve results. A significant gap exists in current models of marketing strategy process, because none of them incorporates constructs related to innovation. This article presents a framework for incorporating constructs that pertain to innovation in marketing strategy process research, which was tested on a sample of 174 firms managers in the industrial sector of "apparel manufacturing of clothing and accessories" installed in the north and northwestern Parana, in Brazil, covering the cities of Apucarana, Cianorte, Londrina and Maringa. A transversal descriptive conclusive research was conducted in a single quantitative phase, using the survey as a research strategy, and multivariate analysis techniques for data processing. The results indicate that the marketing innovation capacity cannot be attributed to mere luck, but is the result of a combination of elements during the marketing strategy process. The commitment of resources, the decision to innovate with improvements and/or changes in marketing activities, the emphasis on marketing assets and capabilities, and marketing innovation sources has different effects on different outcomes. Additionally, firms with greater organizational innovativeness have higher outcomes of marketing strategy process.