774 The Marketing Book
it impact upon Marketing for SMEs? The true
answer lies somewhere in the future, however,
we can accept that technological development
willimpact upon Marketing for SMEs, but in
what way and how?
Much is currently written about the World
Wide Web, the Internet and E-Marketing, etc.
Undoubtedly, such phenomena are being
absorbed into SME Marketing. To date though
and probably for several years hence, it does
not dominate marketing activity in mostSMEs
as much as champions of the WWW would
have us believe. Certainly, many SMEs have
incorporated the ‘Internet’, but in what capa-
city? Most SMEs using the Internet do so as an
additional means of communication and infor-
mation source, both from the market environ-
ment and to their customers and potential
customers.
Many advocates of the Internet argue that
it will replace existing practices. Perhaps, but
most unlikely. How can we make such an
assertion? Examine for a moment the inherent
and fundamental characteristics and compo-
nents of marketing and SMEs entrepreneurs/
owners/managers. Fundamental to marketing
are people, either as the recipient of commu-
nication or as provider of communication.
Similarly, inherent and fundamental to an SME
is the decision making of a single ‘person’, the
entrepreneur/owner/manager. This individual
has built and accumulated experience over time
by dealing with people of importance to him/
her.
The point of this reflection is that people
need to interact in some form or other. Of
course, whilst interactions can be singular most
people prefer to interact in a variety of ways
rather than one way only. If we accept this and
the above argument, then future SME market-
ing will still be people centred, but will of
course embrace new technologies in whatever
form they develop into in the future. Future
SME Marketing will need to compatibly com-
bine the personal contact dimension inherent in
the model construct presented above and the
future technology, whether WEB based or other
new electronic and technological forms of
communication.
Newtechnologyin whatever form it devel-
ops will increasingly influence marketing infra-
structures and performance to the point of
being fully integral to marketing per se. As
technology develops so too in tandem will
marketing competency and skill, based on a
foundation of knowledge and expertise. How-
ever, regardless of the nature and influence of
technology, there will remain one overriding
factor of main influence over any perspective of
marketing, that is, the dimension that we are all
Human Beings. As Human Beingswe will con-
tinue to need to interact with each other in a
variety of forms, but most importantly as
individuals and personally. As Human Beings
we will maintain all of our senses and use these
together in our interactions. We need to seeeach
other, to smelleach other, to toucheach other, to
heareach other. Technology may find ways to
provide some semblance of these senses but
will always be a poorer substitute for the real
thing. It is argued that personal human inter-
actionwill prevail over and beyond any techno-
logical developments in the foreseeable future.
This personal interaction, inherent in the
model, is the essence of marketing for Small-to-
Medium Enterprises.Acknowledgements
Reader in Marketing, Dr Audrey Gilmore, and
former research assistants, Darryl Cummins
and Aodheen O’Donnell, the SME Marketing
Research Unit, University of Ulster.References
Aldrich, H. and Zimmer, C. (1986) Entrepre-
neurship Through Social Networks, in D.
Sexton and R. W. Smilor (eds) Art and Science
of Entrepreneurship, Ballinger Publishing
Company, pp. 3–23.