Applicability of marketing concepts and management activities in the Third World: An empirical investigation

Abstract Despite the increased literature attention on marketing in the Third World, debate persists as to the applicability of marketing know-how in Third World countries. To help shed light on the debate, this article investigates the perceived usefulness of marketing concepts, and the incidence and regularity of performance of marketing management activities in Third-World corporate contexts. The results indicate that not only are marketing concepts perceived as useful but also the incidence and regularity of performance of marketing-management activities is high—thus implying the “applicability” of marketing know-how. The results, however, suggest that corporate and country factors influence the applicability ofmarketing know-how.