Entrepreneurial Marketing: The Growth of Small Firms in the New Economic Era

Just as society has realised the value of entrepreneurs, so entrepreneurs are gradually realising the value of strategic marketing. In this book, the authors explain the substantial role of marketing in the success of small firms which have emerged in the new business environment of the past 10 to 15 years.

Entrepreneurial marketing is especially important for small, developing firms which have to consider emerging business and market trends, and so a model is presented specifically tailored to the needs of expanding entrepreneurial ventures. The authors also critically analyse the extent to which mainstream marketing and entrepreneurship theory are useful in entrepreneurial marketing. They argue that to be fully effective, marketing must be viewed from a broad perspective and as a value-creating process.

In order to understand the dynamic pattern of growth of small entrepreneurial ventures, they emphasise the importance of making a clear distinction between:

• managerial growth and entrepreneurial growth


• entrepreneurship, management and leadership


• transactional marketing, relationship marketing and complex combinations


• focal organisations and virtual organisations


• explorative learning and exploitative learning


• value configurations and value chains.

This book will be of immense worth to students, scholars and practitioners of marketing and entrepreneurship, and will contribute to a new dialogue between the two disciplines. It will also be of considerable value to the wider business and management community learning to operate and succeed in the new economic era.