Il marketing e la comunicazione nelle piccole e medie imprese. Uno studio comparativo su un campione di imprese italiane (PMI) e su un campione di imprese inglesi (SMEs)

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the engine of the European economy, yet few research has examined their relation with marketing and communication activities. In order to fill this gap, this study aims to investigate the role of marketing and communication in these firms, verifying the existence of similarities and differences between Italian and English SMEs. The category SMEs is made up of enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding 50 million euro, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding 43 million euro. The new SME definition, which entered into force on January 2005, represents a major step towards an improved business environment for SMEs and aims at promoting entrepreneurship, investments and growth. Literature review reveals that “SMEs develop a distinctive marketing style with little or no adherence to formal structures and models. Because of their limited resources, the marketing activity of small firms is inevitably restricted in its scope and activity. This manifests itself in marketing which is simplistic, haphazard, often responsive and reactive to competitor activity”. “There is a spectrum of competencies that can be associated with the practice of effective marketing in SMEs [that] comprised experience, knowledge, communication, judgment and intuition”. “Resource limitations affects SME investment in marketing which in turn “affects the capability of a firm to pursue alternative marketing strategies; can limit the firm in its marketing tasks; restrict market entry to markets where the business has insufficient resources to compete successfully; and can affect the purchase of specialized marketing expertise”. “To achieve marketing success, firms should focus on market-related positioning factors and the adoption of a more flexible structural design for the management of marketing”. Starting from the assumption that “marketing is regarded as relevant to both large and small organizations and generally basic marketing principles are seen to apply to both of them”, the research hypotheses have been formulated. The research is validated on a sample of 100 companies (74 Italian and 24 English companies), that operate in Italy and UK. The field research, requires administration of a questionnaire structured in single and multi-item scales, using a web-survey. In a second phase, a cluster analysis is used to summarize the results. In summary, the results are discussed in light of the research implications - with reference to the limitations and future advances of the investigation - and the managerial implications that this study could have in terms of development and enhancement strategies of SMEs entrepreneurship in the European context. [edited by Author]