Strategic Business Decisions Research Insights

This article seeks to understand how marketing managers in Montenegro, a nation undergoing transition, view marketing analytics. This article investigates managers' level of familiarity with marketing indicators and their significance in the decision-making process of a Montenegro-based company.

Design, Procedure, and Strategy

A survey of 171 randomly chosen organizations was used in 2020 to gather data, which was then evaluated using the structural equation model and the statistical technique of analysis of variance testing.

Results

The results collected indicate that managers possess a good understanding of both financial and non-financial variables. Managers apply both categories heavily because they think these indicators offer important information that is necessary for making decisions. Comparatively speaking, non-financial measures are still given more weight than financial metrics in terms of understanding, application, and significance. Because the majority of businesses in Montenegro are service providers, it is likely because of the peculiarities of their economic operations that non-financial metrics—like customer metrics—are the most crucial for determining a company's position in the market. Furthermore, since Montenegro is currently transitioning from a planned to a free-market economy, the country's main priorities in recent years have been enhancing corporate competitiveness and promoting market orientation. As a result, managers in transitioning nations now place a higher value on non-financial metrics.

Research constraints and implications The survey's drawback is that it only includes businesses from a single nation. Consequences for practice

The results will have a substantial empirical contribution, as evidenced by the guidelines they will provide managers on how to enhance the system of monitoring and controlling marketing performance, all of which will strengthen the company's competitiveness. Additionally, the guidelines can be used by managers at different levels of hierarchy within a company to guide their decision-making when implementing marketing strategies and metrics, which will enhance business performance, multi-context customer interaction, reduce costs, and boost competitiveness.

Review of the literature

Background theory

It is now acknowledged that marketing metrics are necessary in order to measure marketing success and make timely business choices (Seggie et al., 2006). By putting them into practice, corporate operations can be directed more precisely, increasing effectiveness and efficiency for the organization overall as well as for market function (Zahay and Griffin, 2010). This is particularly critical in highly competitive markets, given that extant research indicates that firms using these indicators in their decision-making process achieve higher returns on their assets than those that do not (Pauwels, 2015). In their special issue, Zinkhan and Verbrugge (2000) explored the relationship between marketing and finance, proposing that these two divisions use various sets of marketing metrics to analyze business performances as seen through the lens of relationships with various stakeholders. Marketing managers assess business effectiveness by analyzing societal and behavioral issues derived from relationships with customers; they thus prefer non-financial marketing metrics (such as customer attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors) to financial managers, who focus on financial marketing metrics (such as financial ratios, debt levels, sales, profits, and market share). As a result, applying both sets of marketing indicators is equally crucial for accurate business performance evaluation. Additionally, Edeling et al. (2020) highlighted and summarized crucial developing research areas where the use of marketing metrics is particularly important, confirming the significance of their application. Businesses require a new dimension of measurement that is centered on accountability and productivity. Using marketing metrics and building dynamic competencies based on their outcomes are essential to the growth of the marketing function in this new dimension (Petrillo et al., 2019). Modern business practices are built on the accurate presentation of the marketing function's financial results, so when it comes to assessing the company's position in the market and, ultimately, making business decisions, marketing metrics are regarded as fundamental.

Techniques and examples

An online poll with an empirical design was carried out in February 2020, involving businesses operating within the Montenegrin transition economy. This decision regarding the nation was made for a number of reasons. This nation is still in the midst of the process of switching from a planned economy to a more open market structure. This presents a variety of difficulties for businesses doing business in Montenegro. Given that Montenegro has an open economy, local businesses' competitiveness needs to be increased. This becomes even more significant when we consider the small number of businesses that focus on exports. Therefore, it is thought that the aforementioned companies' continued survival and growth depend on their ability to remain competitive. Nevertheless, the authors claim that no study has been done in Montenegro to date that addresses the subject of marketing metrics' application and awareness as well as their significance for company decision-making.

171 randomly chosen micro, small, medium, and big businesses make up the sample. These businesses were categorized using European standards (European Commission, 2021). This random sample was chosen because, to date, no research has been done in Montenegro on this topic. As a result, there are no indications that the sample should be especially attentive to the representation of businesses with particular attributes, such as size, activity, ownership structures, etc. Therefore, the random sampling approach was deemed sufficiently dependable for evaluating the degree of marketing metrics implementation in Montenegro.