The importance of marketing capabilities continues to grow yet research
remains concentrated in developed markets. Although several researchers provide evidence of the
influence of marketing capabilities on market performance, very little of similar evidence exists
in the digital marketing domain. Empirical evidence of the impact of digital marketing capabilities
on market performance of small to medium enterprise (SME) agro-processors particularly from developing
countries remains scarce. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the impact of digital marketing
capabilities on SME agro-processors’ both intermediate and final market performance outcomes. To achieve
this, we conducted a survey of 298 SME agro-processors’ managers and owners in Harare, Zimbabwe. A mixed
sampling approach consisting of quota and stratified sampling approaches was adopted. We distributed a
closed-ended questionnaire through the drop-off & pick-up and interviewer-based methods. The data was
analysed statistically using STATA version 15. Multiple logistic regression was conducted to determine
impact of digital marketing capabilities on market performance. Our findings indicate that digital
strategy development & execution, digital market innovation, e-market sensing and leadership
capabilities positively influence intermediate market outcomes of customer awareness, customer attitudes,
availability, and brand associations. However only digital strategy development & execution capability
was positively associated with final market performance outcomes of sales growth, market share and
profitability. These results imply that agro-processors must develop digital marketing capabilities
that enable them to move beyond intermediate market outcomes to attain the primary business objectives
of profitability, sales growth and market share. Attaining intermediate market outcomes only is not
enough for business sustainability. The study contributes to literature by extending the marketing
capabilities discussion to the digital marketing environment in a developing country context. This was
important because marketing knowledge is contextual, as such cannot easily be transferred from one market
to the other.
The Impact of the Entrepreneur and Firm Related Factors on Small and Medium Enterprise Sales Growth
