Marketing in a Recession: Retrench or Invest: Retrench or invest?

Lisa O'Malley, Vicky Story, Vicky O'Sullivan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The world is emerging from a deep economic recession. Despite extensive research indicating that reducing marketing efforts exacerbates the negative effects of recession, many firms have retrenched spending in this area. This paper uses a modified metaanalysis to review and evaluate extant research on marketing spending during recessions. The findings confirm that marketing can be significantly more important to the firm during a recession than at any other time. The paper argues that marketing budgets are cut because of a short-term focus by top management and the absence of a market orientation. The evidence also confirms that firms who curtail their marketing expenditure are likely to jeopardise future sales and profits. Ultimately, recession offers a rare opportunity for proactive firms to improve their competitive advantage through increased marketing efforts, as long as these are well considered and carefully tailored.

Original languageEnglish (Ireland)
Pages (from-to)285-310
Number of pages26
JournalJournal of Strategic Marketing
Volume19
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2011

Keywords

  • Advertising
  • Competitive advantage
  • Market orientation
  • Marketing expenditure
  • Meta-analysis
  • Recession

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