A Configuration Theory Assessment of Marketing Organization Fit with Business Strategy and Its Relationship with Marketing Performance

Abstract

Theory posits that organizing marketing activities in ways that fit the implementation requirements of a business's strategy enhances performance. However, conceptual and methodological problems make it difficult to empirically assess this proposition in the holistic way that it is theoretically framed. Drawing on configuration theory approaches in management, the authors address these problems by assessing marketing organization fit with business strategy as the degree to which a business's marketing organization differs from that of an empirically derived ideal profile that achieves superior performance by arranging marketing activities in a way that enables the implementation of a given strategy type. The authors suggest that marketing organization fit with strategic type is associated with marketing effectiveness in prospector, defender, and analyzer strategic types and with marketing efficiency in prospector and defender strategic types. The study demonstrates the utility of profile deviation approaches for strategic marketing theory development and testing.