The use of qualitative methods to research networking in SMEsAodheen O'Donnell, Darryl Cummins. Qualitative Market Research. Bradford: 1999. Vol. 2, Iss. 2; pg. 82

Abstract (Summary)

Network theory is becoming increasingly popular as a means of describing marketing in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), stemming from the growing recognition that traditional marketing theories are somewhat inappropriate to the small firm. Of the research carried out to date, however, the greater part has employed quantitative methods, and an appropriate methodology is suggested. This article describes an ongoing qualitative study that aims to discover how small firms use networks to make marketing decisions. The study has taken the form of semi-structured interviews with owners and senior executives of 60 small companies across a wide array of industries in Northern Ireland. The key findings of the study are discussed, together with plans for future research.

Aodheen O'Donnell: Aodheen O'Donnell is a Research Assistant in Marketing at the School of Management, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Northern Ireland, UK

Darryl Cummins: Darryl Cummins is a Research Assistant in Marketing at the School of Management, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Northern Ireland, UK

ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The authors acknowledge the contribution made by Professor David Carson, Dr Audrey Gilmore, and the wider Marketing Research Unit at the University of Ulster to the preparation of this paper.

Introduction

The description of marketing presented in most modern textbooks is being increasingly challenged by marketing academics, who question the validity of the various theoretical models proffered by such texts (Gronroos, 1994). It is widely acknowledged that these models, many of which are based upon McCarthy's (1960) 4Ps typology, are at best appropriate in only very particular circumstances. Empirical research suggests that the nature of marketing planning in practice differs significantly from the prescriptions of marketing planning advocated in the literature (Greenley and Bayus, 1993).

This conflict between marketing theory and practice is even more apparent when one examines small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) specifically. SMEs' reluctance to follow the theoretical model has been identified in many studies (Cohn and Lindberg, 1972; McNamara, 1972; Peterson, 1989; Brooksbank et al., 1992; Liu, 1995). However, despite this, other researchers provide evidence that small firms operationalise the marketing concept as much as larger firms, but that the management of the marketing variables is carried out differently in small and large firms (Dunn et al., 1987). Why this should be so is attributed to the many distinguishing characteristics of the small firm, which have implications for management in general, and marketing in particular. Some of the most commonly cited features of small firms include: resource constraints, especially time and

finance (Davis et al., 1985; McKinnon, 1972); a "survival mentality" (Hankinson et al., 1997); and lack of strategic planning (Dodge and Robbins, 1992; Fuller, 1994).

The principal aim of this ongoing research is to understand more about the marketing practices of small firms and, while this is by no means an unresearched area, most of the previous work sought to understand small firm marketing by comparing it to various theoretical marketing concepts (Peterson, 1989). This study, in contrast, views marketing from a network perspective, and in doing so attempts to overcome some of the problems associated with traditional marketing theories.

Alternative marketing theories

Given the dissatisfaction with existing models to describe marketing, and in particular the marketing practised by small firms, an alternative description has been sought. Indeed, one of the major criticisms of traditional marketing theories is their failure to acknowledge the impact that social relations have upon the firm (Aldrich and Zimmer, 1986; Granovetter, 1983, 1985). There is a growing acknowledgement that firms should be viewed in their social context, and this has led to the popularity of marketing relationship models. Such models tend to be associated with industrial marketing and services marketing, whose origins are attributed to the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Group, and Nordic School of Services respectively. Much of the work in these areas has concentrated on the dyadic buyer-seller relationships, but recently the concept has been extended to include structures of complex nets involving three or more actors (Hakansson and Snehota, 1995; Araujo and Easton, 1996).

The importance of relationships and social context is widely acknowledged in the small firm sector as well. Cromie (1994), for example, explains that the small firm owner-manager "... relies heavily on the existence of a social and economic infrastructure and on the co-operation of many people ...". He goes on to argue that for the small business:"

... success in developing new viable ideas and marshalling the resources to exploit them will depend to a considerable extent on the information that entrepreneurs can glean. While some of this information can be accessed from written reports, trade journals etc., the bulk of it will emerge from conversations with a large, diverse network of contacts who can keep the entrepreneur fully up to date on relevant issues."

This strongly suggests that the relationships in which a small firm engages are not solely buyer-seller relations, which have been the focus of most of the research in relationship marketing. Instead, small firm researchers have recognised the need to investigate beyond those relationships which are formed solely for the purposes of commercial transactions. Indeed, many studies in this area have been particularly interested in the personal network of the owner-manager at the time of the set-up (for example, Ostgaard and Birley, 1994), or in their personal contact network, defined by Knoke and Kuklinski (1982) as "... any relationship or alliance he may have or develops to further the potential of his enterprise".

Although entrepreneurial networks as a research area have been gaining increased interest in recent years (Dodd, 1997), empirical studies have produced variable and often quite

contradictory results. Such confusion has been attributed to the over-reliance on quantitative methods to investigate the subject of small firm networking (Curran et al., 1993). In fact, both the parent literatures of this topic, namely small firms/entrepreneurship and networks, have been criticised for their disproportionate amounts of quantitative research. Consequently, it is proposed that a more appropriate research methodology be adopted, and that is the main focus of this article.

An appropriate methodology

Entrepreneurship is one of the youngest paradigms in the management sciences (Bygrave, 1989; Churchill and Lewis, 1986). As such, it is recommended that its emphasis should be on empirical observations with exploratory, or, preferably, grounded research (Bygrave, 1989). Low and MacMillan (1988) recommend that research into entrepreneurship continues to move towards explaining, rather than merely documenting, the entrepreneurial phenomenon. Furthermore, it is thought that a meaningful analysis can only be achieved through an approach which preserves the social context of small firms (Borch and Arthur, 1995; Brown and Butler, 1995).

Network research too, has been described as pre-paradigmatic and it has thus been recommended that research should concentrate more on theory building than theory verification (Borch and Arthur, 1995; Bonoma, 1985; Tsoukas, 1989). Prior studies into networks, specifically small business networks, have produced useful information regarding the structural dimensions of a network, such as size, range, and density (Aldrich et al., 1989; Hand and Tomblin, 1993). However, studies in this area have mainly employed quantitative methods (Blackburn et al., 1990), and as such they have provided little understanding of the content of network relationships. Yet it is an understanding of the content that is needed if we are to appropriately address the issue of how networking is used by small firm owner-managers in the marketing activities of their business.

To this end, Borch and Arthur (1995) recommend a methodology which will increase contextual insights and will allow for a greater understanding of forces affecting the phenomena in question, through highlighting the "how and why" of organisational and individual action. Dubini and Aldrich (1991) refer to the "subtle" nature of the processes involved in small firm networks and suggest that cross-sectional data obtained from one point in time are a poor substitute for longitudinal studies of entrepreneurs in action. An approach which investigates the phenomenon over time is necessary if the dynamic nature of networks is to be captured - otherwise, all that will be achieved is a "snap shot" (Aldrich and Zimmer, 1986).

In summary, from the preceding discussion, it is clear that a research study into small firm networks should:

- allow the phenomenon to be examined within its social context;

- allow the phenomenon to be examined in its totality;

- allow the researcher to get close to the participants;

- be sensitive to the holistic nature of the phenomenon;

- be carried out longitudinally.

These conditions can be met through the adoption of a phenomenological paradigm. While there are many variants closely associated with phenomenology, they all stem from the belief that reality is socially, rather than objectively, constructed. Phenomenology has been used interchangeably with qualitative methodology (Taylor and Bogdan, 1984) and qualitative research is essentially an inductive approach to theory generation. The focus tends to be on dynamic processes, with the aim of explaining, rather than predicting, phenomena (Leavy, 1994). This kind of research is, according to Gordon and Langmaid (1988), "... centrally concerned with the understanding of things rather than measuring them". In the light of this, a qualitative research design which would achieve the aims of this study is described below, and the steps involved are illustrated in Figure 1.

According to Davis et al. (1985), any study should be designed to build upon what has been learned in previous studies. However, this research is essentially inductive and pure inductivist research works on the basis that there is no theory to consider (Eisenhardt, 1989). Such a stance is, however, usually unattainable. As Bryman (1988) has stated, "... ethnographers rarely adopt a stance of being a 'sponge' whereby they simply absorb the subject's interpretations". Indeed, several writers acknowledge that the inductivist researcher will make some use of existing theory (Deshpande, 1983; Bryman, 1988; Eisenhardt, 1989) but they do warn that care must be taken when considering how theory should be used in this type of research. For example, Fetterman (1989) has written that "... theory is a guide to practice; no study, qualitative or otherwise can be conducted without an underlying theory or model".

Given this, the starting point of a study of this type is a review of the appropriate literature, so that the researcher is aware of current thought on the subject. At this stage conceptual models may be constructed, whereby the key issues from the literature are linked together, and their interactions and relationships illustrated. This conceptualisation process should improve the researcher's understanding of the subject by showing the evolving nature of the phenomenon, as well as highlighting any conflicts or gaps within the literature. It is these models that will then provide the loose framework for the research tool. For example, if the nature of the research is such that in-depth interviews are deemed the most appropriate research tool, then the conceptual model should guide the structure and content of the interviews. As the series of interviews is carried out, the researcher may wish to amend the interview framework as required.

The data collected from this stage of the study will then either confirm the validity of conceptual models, or alert the researcher to the need to refine the models. It should be noted at this point, and will be discussed in greater detail elsewhere, that the qualitative researcher will analyse the data as they are being collected - that is, they are concurrent activities. Nonetheless, it is likely that once the researcher has left the field, a period of more concentrated analysis will take place (see Figure 1). The combination of these two forms of analysis will improve the understanding of the subject under investigation, and should highlight areas worthy of further investigation.

The refined conceptual models are then used as the framework for the next stage of the fieldwork. This could either employ the same research tool as used previously, or a different one, which would create an "integrative" research method (Gilmore and Carson, 1996). Such an integrated approach, or "stream of research" (Davis et al., 1985) allows the researcher to combine "the most suitable research methods from the social sciences at specific and appropriate stages of the research" (Carson and Coviello, 1996).

Integrative methods should be carefully designed to build upon what has been learned in previous studies (Davis et al., 1985), and by integrating research methods we can eliminate many of the deficiencies of a single research method (Carson and Coviello, 1995).

Methodological integration can also be used to achieve more confidence in the representativeness of a study's findings. Evan (1971) argues that the "... generalisability of findings is enhanced by the co-ordination or integration of findings from studies using different research methods".

In our case, the use of a variety of qualitative techniques will help to achieve a wider and more in-depth understanding of the concept under study. Moreover, they will allow the interactive dimensions of the owner-managers of SMEs within their natural setting to be studied longitudinally. An integrative variety of methods can be used to suit the purpose of the research, and to develop and build on understanding as the research progresses over time. By using a variety of methods, each should contribute some increased understanding of the issue, thereby allowing the next research stage to build on previous learning and knowledge. Thus, "the combination of methods used can provide a rich portrait of the phenomena under study" (Gilmore and Carson, 1996).

Such a multiple stage research design allows for a longitudinal dimension to be incorporated into the study. In addition, it provides ongoing empirical support for the conceptual description. This cycle of fieldwork and refinement of conceptual thought can be continued according to the level of understanding desired and the time and resources available, as can be seen from Figure 1.

This integrative process, as well as allowing for greater experiential understanding of the phenomenon, also helps the researcher to further develop their expertise in data collection and analysis methods. Furthermore, it allows the researcher to examine in increased depth and width a number of key issues and "to identify the key components in a given research topic within the context of occurrence" (Gilmore and Carson, 1996). The study itself is discussed in greater detail in the following section.

The study

It has already been shown that most studies of small firm networks have employed quantitative methods. As such, few attempts have been made to understand how the small firm owner interacts with players in the network. That is to say, what is the nature of small firm managers' networking activity? And more specifically, how does networking help the small firm make marketing decisions?

Based on what we are hoping to achieve through this research, in-depth interviews were selected as the most appropriate means for collecting the relevant data in the first stage of the research program. The main reason for using the depth interview is that it provides a means to understand why persons act as they do, and to understand the meaning and significance they give to their actions, in such a way that they can tell the interviewer in their own terms (Jones, 1985).

Also, since it is our objective to understand in greater detail the in-depth motivations as to how the small firm owner-managers carry out networking, the depth interview "... provides a framework within which respondents can express their own understandings in their own terms" (Patton, 1987). In addition, according to Tull and Hawkins (1990), the in-depth interview is the most appropriate method to probe in detail an individual's behaviour or attitudes.

For this research, in-depth interviews were carried out with 60 SME owner-managers in a regional economy (Northern Ireland). The criteria for the selection of the companies were, first, that they had been in operation for at least five years. Second, that they employed at least ten people. Finally, that they had a turnover of between Pounds 0.5 million and Pounds 35 million. The firms came from a wide spectrum of industries, with manufacturing, service, and high tech concerns all represented. At the outset, it is also important to clarify that, with the full agreement of the informants, the interviews were tape recorded.

A review of the current literature on the subject of small firm networks was undertaken and conceptual models developed, as shown in Figure 1. So while the interviews were relatively unstructured in nature, the conceptual models served as a checklist of areas to be covered (if, and only if, they were not adequately addressed by the owner-manager). However, the primary focus was on extracting the owner-managers' view of networking from their own point of view, and as such they were given every opportunity to fully articulate and explain from their point of view. In the light of this, Kvale (1983) argues that the greater the structure imposed by the interviewer, the less scope there is for respondents to offer their "constructed realty". However, it was very much up to the interviewer to decide on the sequence and wording of the questions during the course of the interview. Therefore, since, according to Patton (1987), "... the basic thrust of qualitative interviewing is to minimise the imposition of predetermined responses when gathering data", it is crucial that questions be asked in a truly open-ended way. With this in mind, the interviews contained a number of open-ended questions, beginning with, "What does your business do?".

Throughout the interviews care was taken on the interviewer's part to ensure that their language deliberately excluded marketing terminology. This was a vital requisite for the study since research at the marketing/entrepreneurship interface has recognised that entrepreneurs will adapt the mode of the recipient to their views (Hills and Muzyka, 1993). This is particularly so if the entrepreneur has had technology transfer or prior knowledge in an area of business or marketing management.

When the interviews were completed, the tapes were taken and transcribed verbatim. This yielded a large volume of extremely rich data. Once again, the conceptual descriptions

developed earlier helped the researchers to organise the data into manageable frameworks to aid analysis.

The data from this stage of the study were used to fine-tune and add to current conceptual thought. It also highlighted any areas which had not been explained sufficiently, and which therefore merited further investigation.

Follow-up interviews were then carried out with selected owner-managers who had provided particularly valuable information. The aim was to gain further clarification, understanding, and explanation of particular areas of interest. This allowed further investigation, with questions framed using the respondent's own words and terminology. For example, the follow-up interview began with, "Last time you stated '(quote from owner-manager)' ... Can you say something more about this?", or "Can you clarify what you meant by this?".

In the future, it is envisaged that selected managers will be studied in greater depth still, using other qualitative research tools, such as participant observation. This would have the effect of ensuring a longitudinal dimension, as well as creating an "integrative" methodological design as espoused earlier. This "integrative" approach, as highlighted previously, remedies many of the deficiencies associated with using a single research method and, by employing a variety of methods, the research can be viewed in a totally integrative and holistic manner. However, even at this stage, the empirical study has provided valuable insights into the nature of small business owner-managers' networking activities, and these are highlighted in a subsequent section, after a description of how the data were analysed.

Analysis of data

This study adopted a grounded approach to data analysis. That is not to say that the research programme fulfilled the conditions of grounded theory research (Glaser and Strauss, 1967), but rather that the analysis produced findings which were faithful to the participants' understanding of the data. In other words, the "... research findings constitute a theoretical formulation of the reality under investigation" (Strauss and Corbin, 1990). So while the conceptualisation process carried out before entering the field informed the researcher about what to focus on during the field-work stage, these conceptual frameworks were deliberately broad and flexible. As such, themes and patterns were allowed to emerge quite freely, and were used to merely "... round out a full conceptual description" (Glaser, 1992). Indeed, a fundamental feature of this study is that the analysis and interpretation of the field-work be allowed to refine existing conceptual description in a cyclical fashion.

Grounded approaches to data analysis encompass several variants, but they all stem from the grounded theory approach to qualitative research (Glaser, 1978, 1992; Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Grounded theory analysis provides a systematic structure that allows the richness of socially constructed knowledge to emerge (Riley, 1996). The key to grounded theory is that analysis and collection are concurrent activities. Indeed, according to Easterby-Smith et al. (1991), if the researcher is undertaking their research from a social

constructionist perspective, then they will try not to draw a distinction between the collection of the data and their analysis and interpretation.

The following section discusses the major findings to have emerged from the research so far.

Findings

The aim of the study was to investigate how small firm owner-managers network, and how their networking activity contributes to marketing decision making. Presented below is a discussion of the key issues to emerge from the study to date.

Competitors

Much of the networking between the small firm and its competitors came about through their membership of trade associations. Trade associations provide the ideal forum for owner-managers to come together and gather information about their competitors and to keep themselves abreast of developments within the industry at large. The key finding to emerge in this area was that the most valuable information was often obtained through the informal, social encounters which took place in and around the formal events. This is summed up succinctly by one interviewee:"

... the meetings for example, they would deal with customer complaints, but it's also through informal chats and you know ... these social gatherings and so on. People have a few drinks in them and they aren't long spilling the beans, so to speak!" (PVC Window Manufacturer)."

Many of the owner-managers interviewed claimed to know their competitors personally, and stated they would have no hesitation in contacting them for help or advice. To illustrate the point, a competitor contacted this petfood manufacturer before embarking on an arrangement with a cross-channel retailer :"

... there's a lot more openness between people like ourselves and "Company X" ... where "Company X" came in and said, "look, I'm going across to see 'Retailer', should I know anything about them ...?" (Pet Food Manufacturer)."

In addition, a high level of co-operation existed among competing firms in the same industry. This may appear strange, and unusually altruistic, but there were often deeper motivations at work, such as collaboration to prevent work going to a company outside the domestic market, from whence it may never return; or giving work to competitors in anticipation that they will act in a similar way, if and when the opportunity arises. The bottom line, however, is that such co-operation will only exist if all parties involved benefit (or perceive themselves to be benefiting) in some way.

The above discussion should be caveated with the notion (quite common among respondents) that, while they may claim to communicate quite openly with their

competitors, the managers will guard against speaking too freely about certain things, most notably any plans they might have for substantial changes to the firm.

Customers

Typically the owner-manager will try and build a relationship with one, or a few individuals, in the customer's company. However, the owner-managers in this study have recognised that this is a potentially dangerous stance, since should that person or persons with whom the manager or other member of staff has contact, leave the company, very often the relationship with the whole company dissolves, as the following illustrates:"

We would lose a client for a while because the personality left. A new one comes in and he of course goes to the people he's used to dealing with, then he moves on (Screen Printer)."

The company above learned a harsh lesson, but many of the owner-managers in the study are becoming more astute and aware of the inherent dangers of the above strategy. As such, they sought to develop relationships with a wide range of key personnel throughout the company, recognising the importance of individuals who may be important in the future:"

... but it is very important actually, watching the young generation coming into the business now, because some day, they are the people you are going to be needing work from ... they are going to take over some senior role in the company ... so you have to make sure you are making different contacts within that company (Precision Engineer)."

New markets

The difficulty of breaking into a new market, be it domestically or internationally, was a lament of many of the business owners interviewed. This situation is attributed to them being perceived as an outsider by customers, and existing firms, within the new market. In other words, the company is isolated from the network which is already established in the potential new market.

It is important that they develop a presence in the new market, and from the research, this was achieved in a number of ways. First, the setting up of an office in the market and employing locals to run it. Second, by inducing a member of a competing firm with experience of the market to join, bringing an extensive market knowledge and wide ranging network of relevant contacts with them. Finally, as is so often the case, word of mouth recommendation is used to develop a presence in the new market, and build upon the firm's already well established reputation.

Planned and unplanned networking

Often the networking activities of the owner-manager will be well planned and deliberate, with a definite aim of, for example, securing new business, or gathering information. However, from the research, networking often occurred in an unplanned way, often coming as second nature to the owner-manager. This opportunistic nature of networking is

illustrated in the following, where an engineering company attended an agricultural show as part of the local development unit's stand, and by chance met another firm on the same stand, which was facing problems which may lead to collaboration in the future:"

... on the LEDU stand there were a couple of girls manufacturing jam and they're doing all this by hand at the moment and the business is growing for them. They mentioned that they were nearly at the stage where they would need to think about doing this automatically, so I immediately said to them "that's my card, when you're ready to automate this process, tell me and we'll come in and help you with that because that's our business (Hydraulics and Pneumatics Engineer)."

External network players

When the firm requires skills or resources it does not possess internally, the manager will frequently turn to external sources. It is usual in such cases for the manager to consult with someone in his network before selecting an external party and bringing them on board. This consultation process is often with a network member whom the owner-manager trusts and whose opinion he respects, since it gives them more confidence and security to progress with the course of action.

Networking as a competency

While networking itself is often performed intuitively by the owner-manager, many of those interviewed recognised the importance of networking, and of using their network more effectively in order to improve their business. By continuously striving to improve their competency and skill in this area, there is the growing realisation that the time and resources expended in networking activities are worthwhile investments, resulting in tangible bottom-line benefits, rather than a waste of the company's, often limited, resources.

Networking as a means to an end

The study showed clearly that networking is seen as only being a means to an end. Although the business owners may claim to question the benefits of certain networking activities, it is clear that they will not continue to engage in such activities, and invest substantial time and resources, if they do not produce a tangible benefit, most notably in the form of increased sales.

To summarise, the key findings to emerge from the research to date regarding the networking activities of the owner-managers of SMEs are :

(1). The owner-manager's network and networking abilities are used to gather information about competitors, and keep them informed of "goings-on" within the industry as a whole. Frequently, social encounters are most productive.

(2). Often there are clear and open lines of communication with competitors, and there is a high degree of co-operation between competing firms.

(3). The owner-managers realise the importance of building a close relationship with a number of key personnel in the customer's firm, and not just with one individual.

(4). Entering new markets was a key decision facing many owner-managers in this study. They stressed the importance of networking in establishing themselves in a new market.

(5). Networking was often direct and deliberate on the part of the owner-manager, but frequently the most productive form of networking was that which was opportunistic, intuitive, and unplanned.

(6). Owner-managers were quite open to bringing in external expertise, if the internal skills or resources were not possessed in the firm, and if the external assistance was beneficial to the company.

(7). Networking was seen as a distinct competency, which many of the owner-managers have attempted to develop and improve over time.

(8). Networking is very much seen as a means to an end, and must result in some tangible benefit to the firm, if the owner-manager is to continue with it.

Conclusion

In order to understand the networking activities of the owner-managers of SMEs in the depth required, it is necessary to look beyond conventional research methods. Small firms are distinct entities, extremely different from their larger counterparts, and should be recognised as such. Yet research into the marketing and networking activities of SMEs has, on the whole, failed to provide adequate depth of understanding.

For such understanding to occur, it is proposed that a less conventional research approach be adopted. It is to this end that a qualitative methodology is proposed. Such a methodology overcomes many of the problems associated with quantitative approaches. Furthermore, it allows the phenomenon to be studied within its social context, while the longitudinal dimension permits the dynamic nature of networks to be captured, enabling the concept to be examined in its totality, with the result of achieving a holistic view of the topic under investigation. Fulfilment of these requisites enables a clearer understanding of the networking activities of SMEs to be achieved.

A model has been introduced to outline the qualitative research design which would best meet the aims of this research. While the study is essentially inductive, it is argued that some form of underlying theory must guide it. From this, the conceptual model was developed, linking together key issues arising from the literature, while providing a loose framework for the study, amended if and when required, as key issues emerged from the in-depth interviews.

The study itself saw the conceptual framework being used to keep the researchers focused during the field-work. However, the framework was deliberately broad and flexible so as to

allow themes and patterns to emerge freely, while permitting data collection and analysis to occur concurrently, thus leading to a full conceptual description of the topic under investigation.

By proposing an integrative approach to the research in the future through combining participant observation with the in-depth interviews, with each part of the research essentially building upon what has been learned at a previous stage, the concept can be continuously refined and developed allowing an even greater understanding of networking in SMEs to be attained.

To conclude, the main focus of this paper is on developing a more appropriate methodology for researching the networks and networking activities of SMEs. Existing approaches are largely inadequate, so a more relevant and innovative approach is required. Such an approach, along with initial findings, has been presented here, with the primary objective of gaining a more in-depth and clearer understanding of the concept of networking in SMEs.

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[Illustration]Caption: Figure 1; A qualitative research process

Indexing (document details)

Subjects: Studies,  Market research,  Business networking ,  Small business, Relationship marketing

Classification Codes

7100   Market research ,  2400   Public relations , 9130   Experimental/theoretical ,  9175   Western Europe ,  9520   Small business

Locations: Northern Ireland

Author(s): Aodheen O'Donnell  profile,  Darryl Cummins

Document types:

Feature

Publication title:

Qualitative Market Research. Bradford: 1999. Vol. 2, Iss. 2;  pg. 82

Source type: Periodical

ISSN: 13522752

ProQuest document ID:

86924690

Text Word 6546

Count

Document URL:

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=86924690&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=39490&RQT=309&VName=PQD