The Role of Marketing in the Small Firm: Evidence from a Regional Survey

When small manufacturing businesses are formed, they are often based on a particular skill of the founder. This is often craft based. The need for a wide range of business skills is usually essential to the success of the small business. This article quantifies the types of marketing skills which are available in small businesses in the electrical engineering industry in Dorset. These marketing skills are then used as independent variables in an attempt to discriminate between successful and unsuccessful firms measured in a variety of ways. This is an attempt to measure the importance of marketing skills to small businesses.