Revisiting the Concept of Targeting Strategy: The Role of Regulatory Focus Orientation
(A2022-107629)

AUTHORS

Marina Kyriakou, University of Piraeus; MARKOS TSOGAS, University of Piraeus

ABSTRACT

Targeting plays an important role in the formation of marketing strategy but in comparison to Segmentation and Positioning has received little attention by academic research. This study has the ambition to address this gap by researching adopted targeting strategies of firms and aims at developing an empirical framework. The literature of international marketing was brought to bear in order to enrich Kotler’s well cited normative model with the variable of time. The new model was tested thought a web-based survey of marketing executives in a European country and a PLS-SEM modelling approach was used. Results confirmed most of the hypothesized paths, directing also to a new perspective on firm’s marketing capabilities: strategies are firstly decided and then the necessary capabilities are developed in order to succeed in the selected strategic path. The link between the developed marketing capabilities and firm’s performance is moderated by the speed of entry into new segments, as firms seem to outperform competition when the developed capabilities are deployed swiftly across the selected market segments. Finally, most of the modelled relationships are non-linear, much in accordance to the nature of the effects of both capabilities and strategic decisions.