Decision Influence of the Marketing Department in the Organization: An Emerging Country Perspective

Abstract

The role and influence of the function of marketing within the organization has been the focus of scholarly research and practitioners' attention in the business literature. Despite its central role and locus in business organizations concerns remain about the contributions of marketing and the department has received insufficient acknowledgment from its constituents in the organization. Responding to calls for research in the area this study empirically examines the antecedents of the marketing department's influence and discusses the effects of an influential marketing department on firm performance. Our non-marketer weighted sample considers marketing to be an influential function within the organizations surveyed. The findings reveal that marketing capabilities constitute a critical set of competences for business success but the department's decision influence is not an influential factor for firm performance. The study includes an advanced emerging country perspective on the notion of marketing's influence within business organizations.