The Use of Customised Market Intelligence by Small Food and Drink Producers: The Role of Strategic Orientations and Commitment

Koerniawan, Nadia (2022) The Use of Customised Market Intelligence by Small Food and Drink Producers: The Role of Strategic Orientations and Commitment. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

The business problem this study seeks to address is the lack of evidence-based decision-making in small firms, which leaves them increasingly vulnerable in dynamic market environments. The Who Buys My Food? research project of which this study is part, involves with the United Kingdom’s (UK) largest supermarket (Tesco) and a sub-set of small food and drink businesses that supply them with local food and drink products and who have access to customised market intelligence (CMI) derived from Tesco’s loyalty card data. Despite the evidence that the effective use of market intelligence has a positive impact on firms’ performance, the use of CMI by firms involved in Who Buys My Food? varies considerably, suggesting that barriers exist and/or enablers are missing. The focus of this study is on two potential barriers/enablers to the effective use of CMI in small firms – Strategic Orientations and commitment – and the consequences for performance.

A conceptual framework is proposed and associated hypotheses are developed, with reference to the extant literature. The hypotheses are tested using data generated by a survey of account manager employed by the firms engaged in the Who Buys My Food? research project. Structural Equation Modelling was used to analyse the data using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). As hypothesised, the results highlight the importance of how small firms and the key individual (account manager) therein, make use of CMI, with performance enhanced only when CMI is used conceptually and/or instrumentally, to inform marketing planning and decision-making, but not when it used symbolically, to support pre-conceptions or justify decisions already taken. Despite the consensus within the management literature that Market Orientation (MO) is the most important of the Strategic Orientations, this study provides no evidence that a strong MO is necessary for the effective use of CMI. However, the study did reveal that firms with a strong Learning Orientation (LO) were more likely to make effective use of CMI whilst account manager reporting a low level of organisational commitment were more likely to use CMI symbolically.

This study makes a novel contribution in that it explores the use of CMI from two different perspectives. The first is from the firm’s perspective via its Strategic Orientations and the impact on firm performance. The second is from the perspective of the individual (account manager) through their level of commitment and the impact on their functional performance. The insights will be of interest to scholars with an interest in small firms and support the view that small firms cannot be treated as small versions of large firms, such are the idiosyncrasies of decision-making structures and processes in small firms. They will also be of interest to practitioners and government agencies in charge of improving the performance and growth of small firms - a critical source of employment, economic development and innovation – in which the effective use of market information is a critical success factor.

Keywords
Customised Market Intelligence, information use, Strategic Orientations, commitment, small firms’ performance

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	29 Oct 2024 09:47
Last Modified:	29 Oct 2024 09:47
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/97288
DOI:

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