The study conducted by MKOR on Romanian SMEs shows that the existence of a marketing strategy is still rare.
Another observation of the study is the correlation between a higher market share and companies that have planned their marketing actions for a period of at least 6 months.
The study was conducted on a total of 150 Romanian SMEs between August and September 2013. It shows that only 39% of Romanian SMEs have defined a complete marketing strategy for at least 6 months or even a year. The rest, nearly two-thirds, have not planned their marketing actions, making decisions “on the go.”
The link to market share
The correlation between these figures and market shares leads to the observation that companies with a marketing strategy for at least 6 months predominate in the share range of over 10% (with up to 25% of the market).
At the same time, companies that have not planned their marketing actions at all have market shares of at most 5%. Even if these figures could be coincidences, they can also be considered a signal for companies where decisions are not planned.
Decision making
For decision-making, the most important factors taken into account are financial ones, with a weight of approximately 15.5% of the total: the costs of an action, followed closely by the profitability it offers.
Upper management ranks the company’s customers only 4th when deciding on marketing actions (14%), but only after analyzing market trends (15%).
Competitors are considered last among the factors examined in this research.
Market research
A percentage of 61% of the responding SMEs use market research as a source of information for decision-making. Of these, only 15% conduct consumer studies once every 3 months and 5% on competitors.
Most companies conduct market studies once a year (42% on consumers and 38% on competition) or once every six months (26% on consumers and 40% on competition).
Managers who make decisions without relying on market research state they do not do so because they do not consider it necessary, do not have a budget, or are not interested.
Competition
Most often, companies analyze their competitors by tracking the marketing campaigns or activities they implement online and offline (48%) or simply through observation (26%).
Among the least preferred are “field” analysis methods: site visits (24%), interviews with competitors’ customers (7.5%), and interviews with their employees (6%).
Conclusion
Even if marketing is the science and art of satisfying consumers, the Romanian market is still quite far from reaching this ideal. There are still many companies that emphasize costs more than their customers’ preferences.
MKOR Consulting is a marketing consulting and research firm, established at the beginning of 2013.
The results presented are part of the Marketing Research in Romanian SMEs 2013, conducted by MKOR Consulting between August and September 2013 on a total of 150 Romanian SMEs.
For further details regarding the results of this research, please contact us at [email protected], for the attention of Corina Buzatu (Consultant, Founder) or by phone at +4 0728 853 359.
