Managing Marketing Spirit with Organizational Symbolism

The purpose of this preliminary study is to begin the conceptualization and research of Marketing Spirit. It is our goal to introduce the concept and justify the need for it regarding contemporary research in organizational culture and the market orientation. Hitherto, the diversity of the field of market orientation has failed to establish any conclusive link between the market orientation of an organization and its performance in the marketplace. We adopt the “organizational symbolism ” perspective of organizational culture regarding market orientation as first categorized by Smircich (1983) and later developed further by Deshpande & Webster (1989) and explore the need for a new component such as marketing spirit that could further explain the relationship of success in implementing a selected business strategy, market orientation, and business performance. The conceptualization of marketing spirit is carried out with an iterative process of literary review and fieldwork with companies