Tie-Up Technology in Marketing Strategy: A Case Study on a Small Industry Business

Abstract

In today’s business parlance, firms who possess superior technology are found to be more efficient. This paper examines the relative importance assigned by key management personnel to three broad parameters of a firm’s capabilities, namely, marketing, R&D and operations, which affect the performance of a medium-sized dairy firm operating in a highly competitive market in the city of Kolkata in India. Using conjoint analysis on the data collected from key managerial personnel, the empirical study obtained an estimation of the relative importance of the various attributes chosen within marketing, R&D and operational capabilities. The study found that the success of this particular dairy firm, where consumers generally have low involvement, lied with marketing capability compared to R&D and operational capability. Moreover, the technological know-how was the most dominant attribute within those three capability dimensions. Hence, authors chose to title the paper as Tie-Up Technology in the Marketing Strategy Formulation.