Critical issues in implementing marketing

The issue of implementation consistently appears in both academic and practitioner literature as a problem for marketing. Attempts to address this problem have often adopted the notion of antecedents to enhanced marketing practice as a means of better understanding the issues involved. Within this, however, the link between what needs to be achieved and how marketing knowledge and skills can be utilized to deliver appropriate outcomes remains unclear. Analysis of this gap yields a number of research propositions which require investigation if such knowledge and skills are to influence managerial behaviour. Central to this is the idea that there are a range of competences, which include attitudinal issues, about which greater understanding is required if the implementation debate is to be progressed.