Entrepreneurial Marketing Behaviour comes from Entrepreneurial Thinking
The entrepreneurial mind and its characteristics determine the domain of
entrepreneurial marketing. According to Miller & Friesen (1983) and Covin
& Slevin (1994) and in contrast to non-entrepreneurial managers, entrepreneurs
have been viewed as:
• innovative
• calculated risk takers
• proactive
• opportunity-oriented (Kirzner, 1973).
These characteristics are underlying dimensions determining why entrepreneurial
marketing is different from traditional marketing – as decided by
managers! Managers act differently and make decisions that are different to
those of entrepreneurs.
The rationale is that important aspects of the observed entrepreneurial
marketing behaviour are not in accordance with what is prescribed by managerial
marketing. Yet firms may be highly successful. Entrepreneurial marketing
theories contribute valuable and additional knowledge that enriches
the existing view of how marketing is to be performed. To put it very simplistically,
it is not the concept of the 4 – 7Ps that is different in entrepreneurial marketing,
but the content and the combination of the Ps applied to the market by
entrepreneurs as compared to managers, as illustrated in figure 11.2. Here it is
advocated that in some business environments, such as highly competitive
and turbulent markets, entrepreneurial marketing behaviour might be more
appropriate than in markets where the logic of economy of scale rules market
behaviour.