Marketing's Influence within the Firm

Although there is increased interest in marketing's changing role within the firm, there is little empirical research that measures the influence of marketing or links marketing's role to situational factors. Drawing on contingency and institutional theories of intraorganizational power, the authors address the following question: In what circumstances does the marketing subunit have higher levels of influence? Results from a survey among U.S. and German companies indicate that (1) the marketing subunit still has substantial influence, (2) marketing's influence is related systematically to determinants other than individual managers’ characteristics, and (3) institutional factors account for variance not explained by the determinants more commonly used in contingency theories in marketing. This implies that organizational dimensions are the result not only of adaptation to environmental conditions, but also of unique historical aspects that become institutionalized within the firm.