Entrepreneurial Approach on Relationship Marketing in Family Owned Business

Nicolae Pop, Silvia Fotea (), Silvia Dusa () and Alexandru Palade ()
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Silvia Fotea: The Bucharest University of Economic Studies - Marketing Department
Silvia Dusa: The Bucharest University of Economic Studies - Marketing Department
Alexandru Palade: The Bucharest University of Economic Studies - Marketing Department

International Conference on Marketing and Business Development Journal, 2016, vol. 2, issue 1, 122-135

Abstract: The importance of marketing for the success of any business is unquestionable, especially in the light of the well-known saying “nothing happens in a company until a sales happens”. Despite being considered the backbone of most economies (Văduva & Fotea, 2011), little it is known about the way family businesses incorporate and communicate their identity as “family business” in their marketing process and whether this “strategic asset”, as it is labeled in the literature, helps them gain competitive advantage (Reuber & Fischer, 2011). Data regarding the marketing processes employed by family businesses is even scarcer in the context of Romania (Szabo, 2014). Family owned businesses are the playground of two apparently antagonist orientations namely the entrepreneurial orientation and the family orientation. Entrepreneurial orientation (Lumpkin et al. (2010), Nordqvist, Habbershon, and Melin (2008) with its focus on risk taking, aggressiveness, autonomy, innovativeness, and proactiveness has the potential to lead to trans-generational value creation, while family orientation with its dimensions of interdependency, loyalty, security, stability, and tradition (Martin & Lumpkin, 2003) brings forth the relationship approach that is inherent to the nature of this type of business and which leads to trans-generational relationship creation. Harnessed and synergized these two orientations can foster a unique capability and distinctive competitive advantage for this category of business in its approach of marketing because they bring forth two important ingredients for successful marketing, namely, an entrepreneurial approach and a relationship approach. The article is grounded in a qualitative exploratory marketing research conducted by authors among entrepreneurs in family owned businesses using semi-structured free discussions, in-depth interviewing technique and conversation guide as research instrument with the aim of identifying the particularities of these businesses and the role relationship marketing plays to enhance their competitiveness.

Keywords: relationship marketing; entrepreneurial orientation; family orientation; transgenerational entrepreneurship; relationship approach; qualitative marketing research; in-depth interview (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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