The Organization of Marketing in B2B Organizations

The purpose of this research is to determine how marketing is organized in South African business-to-business organizations, and to determine future directions in the organization of marketing. Much research has been conducted on marketing’s impact on business performance (see Homburg et al, 1999; Jaahkola et al, 2010; Nath et al, 2010; Auh & Merlo, 2012; Morgan, 2012). Verhoef and Leeflang (2009) found that a marketing department’s influence is related positively to market orientation, and hence to firm performance, while Auh and Merlo (2012) confirmed that a powerful marketing function is associated with improved business performance above and beyond the contribution of a market orientation. However, research into the marketing structure of organizations, particularly business-to-business organizations, has been relatively scarce (see Homburg et al, 2000; and Krohmer et al, 2002; Harris & Ogbonna, 2003).