Examining the relationship between customer and entrepreneurial orientation on nascent firms’ marketing strategy

Is entrepreneurial marketing (EM) a “one type fits all” approach? Research suggests that EM is especially suitable for small firms. However, it is obvious that—despite their size—small firms show a myriad of different characteristics. In this paper, it is argued that different firm characteristics can be seen in different business orientations, namely customer orientation (CO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO). In turn, different amounts of EO and CO lead to different forms of EM strategy. The Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) serves as source to investigate relationships between EO, CO, and respective marketing strategies among nascent firms. The study suggests that innovativeness is strongly related to the importance of several marketing strategies, such as developing new or advanced product or process technologies. However, other strategies, such as lower prices or convenient location, are not related to either significant levels of CO or EO. The paper offers two main implications. Firstly, small business founders have to be aware of the fact that certain strategies cannot come “out of nowhere”. This paper shows that running proactive marketing strategies that aim for ongoing innovativeness require the existence of an underlying EO. Secondly, there are different forms of “small firm EM”; a finding that requires further research in the future.