Differences in Perceptions among Managers, Academics, and Students of the Importance of Various Aspects of Marketing Knowledge and Skills

Aims: Knowledge and skills needed to be possessed and used by marketing practitioners in order to improve marketing management and firm performance are identified in this paper.

Study Design: The data from a survey, where marketing managers, academics and senior students in Slovenia took part, relating to the essential skills for working as a marketing manager, were analyzed by the analysis of variance in order to assess the extent of convergences or divergence among the responses of the three groups.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in companies in Slovenia, between March 2013 and May 2013.

Methodology: It was decided that a questionnaire-based survey would be the most appropriate way to gather primary data, as it would allow a comparison of the opinions of samples of marketing managers, academics and students. The questionnaire for business respondents was distributed by e-mail to a single respondent in each firm, generically described as the “marketing manager”. Third and fourth year marketing students at the different faculty in Slovenia received a shorter version of the questionnaire, excluding the section relating to managers’ knowledge and skills. The questionnaire for students respondents was also distributed by e-mail. Additionally, faculty members were asked to distribute a version of the questionnaire throughout their departments. The questionnaire for marketing academics respondents was also distributed by e-mail. Total sample size was 375.

Results: In general we can say that marketing professionals widely used marketing knowledge and skills. However, the academic marketing knowledge only is not enough for a successful work in the marketing department. For a successful transfer of knowledge into practice it is necessary to gain more skills.

Conclusion: The study reports the opinions on a vital aspect of marketing education shared by the three stakeholder groups. The study could easily be replicated in other countries and other institutions for assessing the generalizability of the results.