Marketing capabilities and firm performance: literature review and future research agenda

The purpose of this paper is to broaden the body of knowledge on marketing capabilities (MC) and firm performance (FP) by presenting a systematic review of literature along with providing a path for future research agenda.

In total, 101 empirical research papers from 51 different journals of online databases were selected systematically. The papers were reviewed thoroughly and summarized under strategic, functional and operational marketing capability classifications.

The paper depicts a research field that is immature and developing quickly. The results found were diverse in terms of publication trend, industries and countries studied in reviewed articles. Product, price, promotion and distribution found as majorly studied measures of MC with mainly positive and significant impact on FP. In identified 38 different measures of FP, highly used were market share, customer satisfaction, sales growth, profitability and ROI. The findings also present the summary of different internal and contextual factors driving MC. In addition, from the review some of the research gaps also found that helps scholars in future research.

The review was guided by considering peer review journals with inclusion criteria that have restricted the findings. This paper will be utilitarian for both academicians and managers.

This is the first paper that demonstrates a systematic review of literature on MC and FP for the period 1987-2014. The study also addresses gaps in this field and represent them in the form of research inquiries for further probe.