Organizing scale-up startups for marketing agility : Staying agile while growing in scale
Laukkanen, Hannes (2022-06-03)
Organizing scale-up startups for marketing agility : Staying agile while growing in scale
(03.06.2022)
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
suljettu
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on:
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2022061546836
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2022061546836
Tiivistelmä
Digitalization has changed the way marketing is being conducted in companies. The speed of digital information enables companies to react quickly to new possibilities, threats, changing situations, and feedback from the markets (Brinker, 2016). As a result, more and more companies rely on data to make decisions and shorten their marketing decision cycles. Fast-growing companies, such as start-ups and scale-ups, are pioneers in adapting these new processes and workflows. In addition, digitalization has enabled marketing to track and experiment with their campaigns.
This calls for a new way of building marketing teams, and cross-functional setups across the company, as well as new skillsets for the teams. Companies that aim for fast growth, such as start-ups and scale-ups, should be looking into agile ways of working when seeking growth, as agile companies are more than two times as likely as the average company to reach top quartile financial performance (Accenture, 2019). However, marketing agility becomes more challenging as a company grows, teams get bigger, and more strict structures and operational guidelines are introduced to the company. Thus, this study focuses on scale-up companies that aim to utilize marketing agility in their organizations. The aim is to find how scale-up marketing organizations can remain agile while the company is growing.
To answer the research questions, the study starts by looking into the growth of a scale-up company and what changes typically occur at this time. The study then moves on to examine agility and marketing agility practices to build a comprehensive understanding around the topic. In the final part of the literature review, the study focuses on the marketing organization in a scale-up company to understand what elements need to be considered when building a scale-up company's marketing organization that aims to utilize marketing agility practices.
Seven marketing agility professionals were interviewed in a semi-structured interview for this qualitative study to build a thorough understanding of the topic. Their answers were analyzed and combined with previous literature to form a thorough understanding on the subject.
The research found that scale-up companies utilize marketing agility to optimize their resources and experiment with different types of marketing messages and target audiences. The organizations found that marketing agility was the most effective way to do marketing. The study confirms that as the companies grew they put more specific structures in place, which set new demands to organizing marketing. Moreover, the study found that certain triggers in organizations initiate more significant changes in the company. These changes then have an impact to the entire organization including the marketing function. Ultimately, the study identified characteristics that are critical in order to maintain marketing agility while growing in size. These findings are presented both in the revised theoretical framework and in the conclusions of the study.
This calls for a new way of building marketing teams, and cross-functional setups across the company, as well as new skillsets for the teams. Companies that aim for fast growth, such as start-ups and scale-ups, should be looking into agile ways of working when seeking growth, as agile companies are more than two times as likely as the average company to reach top quartile financial performance (Accenture, 2019). However, marketing agility becomes more challenging as a company grows, teams get bigger, and more strict structures and operational guidelines are introduced to the company. Thus, this study focuses on scale-up companies that aim to utilize marketing agility in their organizations. The aim is to find how scale-up marketing organizations can remain agile while the company is growing.
To answer the research questions, the study starts by looking into the growth of a scale-up company and what changes typically occur at this time. The study then moves on to examine agility and marketing agility practices to build a comprehensive understanding around the topic. In the final part of the literature review, the study focuses on the marketing organization in a scale-up company to understand what elements need to be considered when building a scale-up company's marketing organization that aims to utilize marketing agility practices.
Seven marketing agility professionals were interviewed in a semi-structured interview for this qualitative study to build a thorough understanding of the topic. Their answers were analyzed and combined with previous literature to form a thorough understanding on the subject.
The research found that scale-up companies utilize marketing agility to optimize their resources and experiment with different types of marketing messages and target audiences. The organizations found that marketing agility was the most effective way to do marketing. The study confirms that as the companies grew they put more specific structures in place, which set new demands to organizing marketing. Moreover, the study found that certain triggers in organizations initiate more significant changes in the company. These changes then have an impact to the entire organization including the marketing function. Ultimately, the study identified characteristics that are critical in order to maintain marketing agility while growing in size. These findings are presented both in the revised theoretical framework and in the conclusions of the study.