| The American Marketing Association (AMA) has recently revised (December 2007) the definition of marketing wherein marketing is considered an organization-wide "activity" instead of just a "function." This encouraged me to investigate the role of marketing at the firm level. In a recent meta-analysis conducted by Krasnikov and Jayachandran (2008), the authors have found a stronger impact of marketing capability on firm performance than operations and R&D capability. In this dissertation, I have analyzed how organizational learning impacts marketing capability which in turn affects firm performance in the context of various strategic orientations of the firm. I have applied Miles and Snow's (1978) typology at the corporate level and further highlighted the existence of marketing at the firm level. Furthermore, I have introduced a new abstract concept, i.e., Holistic Firm-Level Marketing Capability (HFMC). I suggest that this concept is consistent with the view of marketing as an organization-wide activity. I have explored the mediating role of this holistic firm-level marketing capability in the relationship between organizational learning and firm performance. The relationships suggested in these linkages were tested by the use of secondary data. I have incorporated a novel methodology and have found empirical evidence of existence of the holistic firm-level marketing capability. I also posit that HFMC is part of dynamic capabilities of firms. Therefore, this dissertation can be described as a positive research and enhances current knowledge of marketing science in both the context of discovery and the context of justification (Hunt, 2002).;This dissertation also posits that the suggested model can be considered as a partial theory of holistic firm-level marketing capability. I have evaluated this claim based on the literature from the philosophy of science discipline. |
