The impact of internal marketing philosophy on a firm’s strategic orientation

  • Received July 23, 2022;
    Accepted October 6, 2022;
    Published October 18, 2022
  • Author(s)
  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/im.18(4).2022.05
  • Article Info
    Volume 18 2022, Issue #4, pp. 48-61
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

The study investigates the impact of internal marketing philosophy on implementing strategic goals to leverage an innovative internal marketing concept for business growth. In the context of firms’ strategic orientation, the organization’s development, market position, and practices used to promote the desired organizational behavior are being examined. The paper focuses on large companies in Greece, which belong to the retail, manufacturing, and healthcare sectors. Moreover, these companies have been certified by “Great place to work.” A qualitative method via Nvivo software was used. Data were collected from 10 semi-structured interviews. Participants are executives with significant working experience and different managerial positions. The findings document the impact of the internal marketing concept on company development through policies concerning strengthening the organization’s presence and recruiting qualified employees. Moreover, the influence of the internal marketing concept on an organization’s market position with regard to a positive working environment and management style is highlighted. Finally, team environment emerges as a dominant trait in the organizational context, while values such as honesty, integrity, and reliability appear as critical features of the desired behavior. The study provides an updated managerial perspective by establishing a link between the theory of internal marketing and business process mapping. The results enable executives to focus on elements that better serve the implementation of strategic goals.

Acknowledgment
This study has been funded by the University of West Attica / Special Account for Research Grants.

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    • Figure 1a. Internal marketing and organization’s development/executives’ perceptions
    • Figure 2a. Internal marketing and market position of the organization/executives’ perceptions
    • Figure 2b. Internal marketing and market position of the organization/coding
    • Figure 3a. Internal marketing and promotion of the desired behavior/executives’ perceptions
    • Figure 3b. Internal marketing and promotion of the desired behavior/coding
    • Table 1. Participants’ data
    • Conceptualization
      Christina Arfara, Irene Samanta
    • Data curation
      Christina Arfara, Irene Samanta
    • Formal Analysis
      Christina Arfara, Irene Samanta
    • Investigation
      Christina Arfara, Irene Samanta
    • Methodology
      Christina Arfara, Irene Samanta
    • Project administration
      Christina Arfara, Irene Samanta
    • Resources
      Christina Arfara, Irene Samanta
    • Validation
      Christina Arfara, Irene Samanta
    • Writing – original draft
      Christina Arfara, Irene Samanta
    • Writing – review & editing
      Christina Arfara, Irene Samanta