How Small Businesses Market Their Products during the Different Phases of the Product Life Cycle: The Case of Swedish Ice Cream Manufacturers

Annika Hallberg (), Susana Friberg () and Paulina Myhrman ()
Additional contact information
Annika Hallberg: Gothenburg University, Sweden
Susana Friberg: Gothenburg University, Sweden
Paulina Myhrman: Gothenburg University, Sweden

Eurasian Journal of Business and Management, 2014, vol. 2, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: The Swedish ice cream market of today is dominated by a few major market leaders, which makes it a challenge for small firms to make themselves visible and survive on a long-term basis. The aim of this article is to investigate and understand how small firms in the ice cream business market their products, based on the marketing mix and the portfolio matrix, during the different phases of the product life cycle. The combination of the two models for strategic planning enables the marketing manager to conduct a more complete analysis of existing products and their place on the market and in the product life cycle. Eight CEOs of small-scale ice cream companies were interviewed. This study found that the marketing activities and strategies of large companies cannot be transferred to and implemented in small-scale businesses. Different marketing theories are developed for big businesses that have many employees and expert knowledge, which small companies do not possess. They also have less resources and knowledge to invest in expensive marketing activities in the marketing mix, and therefore the marketing mix models need to incorporate more of inexpensive marketing.

Keywords: Small Businesses; Ice Cream Market; Marketing Strategies; Product Life Cycle; Marketing Mix; Portfolio Matrix (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://eurasianpublications.com/wp-content/upload ... et-al.-pp.1-13-1.pdf (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ejn:ejbmjr:v:2:y:2014:i:1:p:1-13

Access Statistics for this article

Eurasian Journal of Business and Management is currently edited by Nidžara Osmanagić-Bedenik

More articles in Eurasian Journal of Business and Management from Eurasian Publications
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Esra Barakli ().