Strategic Practices in the Process of Developing an Export Marketing Strategy - Cases from Finnish Music Industry
Piipponen, Laura (2018)
2018
Kuvaus
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Tiivistelmä
Aim: The purpose of this study is to examine the strategic practices in the process of developing and implementing an export marketing strategy for a Finnish pop-artist. Simply put, the thesis studies the export practices of Finnish pop artists.
Framework: The study combines export literature and strategy-as-practice (SAP) literature but the focus is on SAP. The export section includes an illustration of a three-phase development process of an export marketing strategy which is further expanded in the SAP literature review with four categories of practices. The created model is used in analysing the empirical findings and therefore, it ties the findings tightly to the existing literature.
Methodology: The empirical part of the thesis is a multiple case-study that consists of three separate cases from Finnish music business. The material was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with people involved in the cases. The study takes a subjectivist and interpretative approach. Moreover, the theory development is done with an abductive approach.
Findings and contribution: The practices in developing an export marketing strategy were found to be surprisingly similar between the cases. Identifying and measuring opportunities was done by searching for signals of interest. The team members and especially their knowledge can be seen as a tool in the process and therefore, the thesis emphasises the role of people in the doing of strategy. The actual development of the strategy is done with a long-term vision in mind, but the strategy formation is emerging. Collaboration and benchmarking are named as mutual routines in the strategy development. The implementation of the strategy was seen as a continuous trial and error by the interviewees and internal selling was listed as an important routine. Moreover, the role of social media as a strategy tool and the role of data analysis as a routine were highlighted as important findings because the two have not been seen as strategic issues traditionally. Overall, the findings emphasise the importance of networking because export is done primarily via existing contacts.
Framework: The study combines export literature and strategy-as-practice (SAP) literature but the focus is on SAP. The export section includes an illustration of a three-phase development process of an export marketing strategy which is further expanded in the SAP literature review with four categories of practices. The created model is used in analysing the empirical findings and therefore, it ties the findings tightly to the existing literature.
Methodology: The empirical part of the thesis is a multiple case-study that consists of three separate cases from Finnish music business. The material was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with people involved in the cases. The study takes a subjectivist and interpretative approach. Moreover, the theory development is done with an abductive approach.
Findings and contribution: The practices in developing an export marketing strategy were found to be surprisingly similar between the cases. Identifying and measuring opportunities was done by searching for signals of interest. The team members and especially their knowledge can be seen as a tool in the process and therefore, the thesis emphasises the role of people in the doing of strategy. The actual development of the strategy is done with a long-term vision in mind, but the strategy formation is emerging. Collaboration and benchmarking are named as mutual routines in the strategy development. The implementation of the strategy was seen as a continuous trial and error by the interviewees and internal selling was listed as an important routine. Moreover, the role of social media as a strategy tool and the role of data analysis as a routine were highlighted as important findings because the two have not been seen as strategic issues traditionally. Overall, the findings emphasise the importance of networking because export is done primarily via existing contacts.